Author: Hee-yeon Gu, Eun-joo Lee
Publisher: Georum
232 pages | 223*152mm
| Important! Please read before you order! |
| >>>This book is written in Korean. |
About This Book
Book Reveals Danger of Cosmetics
Recently, baby powders and cosmetics for adults containing asbestos have
driven consumers into shock. It has not only raised the safety concern
for babies but also rang alarm bells over women's long-standing desire
for perfect spotless white skins.
Korean women wear, on average, 12.9 cosmetic products daytime and 6.47
at night, according to the latest survey. Every year, they spend a lot
of money in beauty products but many don't realize that they are
exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals.
"Secret of Korean Cosmetics" written by Koo Hee-yeon and Lee Eun-joo
points out that Korean consumers are overusing cosmetics for being
deceived by clever cosmetic marketing strategies.
One of the common marketing strategies is a set of four basic skincare
products ¯ skin, lotion, essence and cream ¯ which is supposed to be
applied in that order. It has been touted by the cosmetic brands for a
long time to "protect skin from aging." But it is hard to find such
"set" products in any other countries' cosmetics shops.
The authors, who worked for the cosmetic companies for many years and
now study cosmetics at graduate school, said that this is the most
common trick of the cosmetics companies to sell their products more.
"All these four types of products only differ in thickness and are
basically the same in the formulation of the ingredients. In accordance
with how to formulate synthetic polymer with similar ingredients, it
determines thickness which makes the four types look different," the
book says.
According to the book, the genetic inheritance makes up about 70 percent
of the skin quality and the care determines the rest 30 percent. "We
Korean women expect too much from the cosmetics effects, mainly due to
over-touted cosmetics advertisements," the book says.
The media has shed light on the danger of the makeup products but little
on the basic skincare products. "But the basic skincare products can be
more harmful than the makeup products unless they contain safe
ingredients because we cleanse makeup at night but we don't remove the
basic skincare products," the book says.
The authors recommend the most essential items for consumers ¯ skin
toner (one of any of freshener, clarifying lotion and astringent), cream
(one from any of lotion, essence, serum an cream) and sunscreens. "You
don't have to apply all these four types in order. Just pick one from
each category in accordance with your skin type. The minimum use of
cosmetics is the best way to keep skin healthy and younger," the book
says.
Also, if some products have immediate improving signs, they usually
contain harmful ingredients such as mercury or lead. Although the
products use natural ingredients, they are also formulated with chemical
materials.
Array of local cosmetic products. The products shown here are not
related to the story.
Most of the cosmetics companies use petrochemical materials because of
the low cost for the mass production. Many of the chemicals including
parabens found in beauty and skin products have been linked to cancer,
infertility, hormone disruption and other chronic diseases. The amounts
of chemicals found in skin care products can easily range in the
thousands and hundreds are being added each year.
"Korean women are now standing on the mines ready to go off," the book
says, meaning that it is a matter of time for the "lump of chemical
additives to explode with the harmful results."
The Korean cosmetics industry only spends 1.8 percent of its budget in
R&D sector among the total sales but pour 24 percent on promotion,
marketing and advertisement.
"They don't invest their money in R&D but the number of the functional
products increase ever year. What does that mean?"
In the case of whitening products, such banned materials as
hydroquinone, peroxide and oxidized mercury are often used for quick
fix. But once skin is destroyed by these materials, it can hardly be
restored and even they are accumulated in the body.
Also, the overuse of eye creams can cause the reverse effects. The area
around the eyes is the thinnest in the body skins and soft and so it
needs to be less greasy than other skin areas. In Korea, women are
encouraged to use the wrinkle cream around the eye areas from their 20s
to see the effects in the old age. But the over-nutrition can cause
flab, wrinkles and milium around the eye areas. The authors recommend
lighter ordinary cream on the areas if you feel dry on them.
The Korean cosmetics industry began indicating the ingredients of their
cosmetics products from 2008. The authors offer a list of 20 harmful
ingredients used in the beauty products to help consumers choose them
wisely.
Twenty harmful ingredients are avobenzone, isopropyl alcohol, sodium
lauryl sulfate, triethanolamine, polyethylene glycol, synthetic colors,
isopropyl methyphenol, sorbic acid, hormone-related ingredients, dibutyl
hydroxy toluene, paraben, triclosan, butyl hydroxy anisole, oxy benzone,
imidazolidinyl urea, mineral oil, thymol, triisopropanolamine, synthetic
gragrances and phenoxy ethanol.
"We think technology should contribute to human life positively. But
sadly, it is used for 'cheaper and more' products. Many corporations
seeking profits hardly change their practices unless their sales sharply
decrease. Only consumers can change them. When consumers reject the
products containing harmful ingredients, they will change," the book
says.
--Chung Ah-young, www.koreatimes.co.kr
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