For one of my other classes, I made an infographic about nail polish. While researching, I found myself falling down a rabbit hole of a topic: what chemicals are even in cosmetics? 

Beforehand, the topic would cross my path once in a while — a sheet mask had made reviewers break out in hives or an indie nail polish brand caused nail diseases — but in general, I had an implicit trust in the network capitalism had provided, trusting that in some way or another the dangers would be filtered out. If it wasn’t the brand itself that ensured my safety, then it would be the reviewers, or then the store that I bought it from. 

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) doesn’t actually assess the safety of cosmetics or even their ingredients. They only take action once there has been a sufficient amount of consumer complaints or injuries. The manufacturers are the ones with the ability to decide what goes into products. The EU has required the removal of toxic chemicals that are still widely being sold in the US, and the evidence can be found in many American women’s bodies. 

Triphenyl phosphate, or TPHP, is a plasticizer in nail polish. It’s used to make nail polish flexible but stronger at the same time. It’s also an endocrine disruptor, meaning that it interferes with hormones. Animal testing of TPHP has resulted in reproductive and developmental deterioration, and though research with humans has been preliminary, the chemical has already been linked to weight gain in humans. 

It was introduced as a replacement to phthalates in nail polish, which have been definitively linked to reproductive issues in humans. In a study done by Duke University with the Environmental Working Group (EWG), they found that 49% of the over 3,000 nail polishes they tested contained TPHP, even with ones that said that they didn’t. 

(Which is another thing that really frightens me, how another study by California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control found toxic chemicals in nail polishes from “non-toxic” brands and labels basically mean anything anyone wants them to!)

To quote an article talking about the TPHP study, the researchers “tested the urine of 26 participants before and after they painted their nails with a polish that contained 1 percent TPHP” and “10 to 14 hours after painting the nails, every single participant had DPHP levels increase by nearly seven times.” 

While the TPHP study is shocking, other chemicals are far more frightening. Benzophenone, an extremely common chemical in non-mineral American sunscreens, is  a proven carcinogen and has been linked to  endocrine disruption, developmental and reproductive toxicity, organ system toxicity, irritation, and ecotoxicity (Hawaii has recently banned the use of sunscreens containing it to save their aquatic wildlife). I checked my facial sunscreen for benzophenone through EWG’s Cosmetic Database and yup, it’s an active ingredient. 

How much do I actually know about what’s going into my body? How much will I never know?