Beefy Cosmetics

Beef, it's what for dinner. We have all heard this phrase coined by the national beef industry. For many of us, beef is what's for dinner on a regular basis. After all, what's better than a big juicy burger or perfectly cooked peppered encrusted steak (with a side of white cheddar mashers....). Can dinner get much better?

While you are probably thinking I am headed down a path to lecture you on the benefits of being vegan- that is far from my agenda. While Americans consume millions of pounds of meat per year, I am more concerned with what happens to the parts of the animal we don't consume. The dead carcasses of slaughterhouse animals and euthanized Humane Society rejects get sent away to a plant where they are boiled down. As the remains of the animals simmers like chicken noodle soup, a white fatty layer rises to the top where it's scraped off and added to the lovely smelling lotion you slather all over your body or the "all natural" shampoo you rely on for shiny and bouncy hair. SICK! Think your $80 Lancome or Estee Lauder creams are exempt from the cheap filler- think again. Even the Body Shop, advertising no animal testing, still uses animal fillers in their products.

Why is bad to cover your body with dead animal nastiness? Well, it's disgusting for starters. But aside from the obvious, many can actually do more harm than good. Collagen, for example, covers the skin in a layer of petroleum or another heavy oil that forms a water impenetrable barrier. This gives a temporary appearance of plumpness by slowing the release of moisture from the skin.It also puts a layer over your skin which does not allow it to breathe properly, causing breakouts, wrinkles, and irritation.

Go grab your products and look for the following: Stearamide, Stearamine, Stearates, Stearic Hydrazide, Stearone, Stearoxytrimethylsilane, Stearoyl Lactylic Acid, Stearyl Betaine or Stearyl Imidazoline, Sodium Tallowate, Tallow Acid, Tallow Amide, Tallow Amine, Talloweth-6, Tallow Glycerides or Tallow Imidazoline to name a few.


So how do you get around this? Look for labels that are free from animal testing and animal by-products: Aveda, Burt's Bee's, Annie's Organics, and Arbonne are just a few of the brands that don't believe road kill belongs in cosmetics.

So keep eating that steak- just stop wearing it!