Bismuth Oxychloride
🤓 You ready for a whopper ingredient awareness post!?
This is an ingredient on our BLACKLIST that we educate on avoiding… that is also an EWG “1” 🤯 Let this be your reminder that apps like Think Dirty and EWG are great starting points, but definitely not the end-all be-all.
When you look back at the history of the safer beauty industry, “mineral makeup” was really the leader in awareness.
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While I admire every step taken to shed light on the dangerous effects of the toxic ingredients in the MAJORITY of the beauty industry… we’re still missing the mark by a landslide to think that all mineral (or “mineral based”) makeup is safe!
•Bismuth Oxychloride is one of those common ‘filler’ ingredients that mineral makeup companies use in their products because it is cheap. Some cosmetic companies will claim this is a “natural” ingredient… but I wouldn’t consider an ingredient that has been synthetically manufactured from bismuth (a metal), oxygen, and chlorine a safe choice.
•Bismuth is a heavy and brittle metal, whereas bismuth oxychloride is a pigment that comes in either a pearl or diamond finish, and is used to give mineral makeups either a matte or shimmery appearance.
•Bismuth is rare, so to create the high amounts needed by U.S. manufacturers, bismuth is also produced as a by-product from refining lead, tin, copper, silver, and gold ores. Once separated from these elements, it has to go through a lonnng process of refining which adds new dangerous elements and doesn’t eliminate the impurities from the metals used.
The main concern with this ingredient (besides impurities from metals mentioned above) is that it often results in itchy, irritated skin that can show up as little red bumps, and develop into full blown cystic acne with continued use.
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The good news is that WE will never use it…AND we won’t substitute it for other potentially toxic minerals like talc or titanium dioxide. No woman should have to compromise her health for her beauty, or her beauty for her health!
