more into the Therapeutic Goods category, which would then change all regulations in regard to that item.

Interesting, my head was now filled with strange government body information and regulations. But I found myself still no closer to finding out whether my daily skin care regimen is actually slowly poisoning me.

Further investigation showed the NCINAS (

National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme) acknowledged that "

Many ingredients in cosmetic products are classed as industrial chemicals, even those described as naturally occurring. To make sure these products are safe for the workers handling them, the environment and for use by consumers, the Australian Government regulates the ingredients used in the manufacture and importation of cosmetics in Australia.")" This product has even been linked to mouth ulcers, yet the NCINAS seems happy to let that one through, what other interesting, and potentially harmful compounds are in our skin care products?

Ok, so someone, somewhere is monitoring what goes into our beauty products (even the industrial chemicals) but what are their standards?

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a common ingredient that I found on many bottles and jars in my cabinet. According to Wikipedia, SLS "may cause a number of skin problems (for which the non-specific term is dermatitis

Now, here's where it got scary. After more Googling, I came across The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. The Environmental Working Group is an organisation, who's purpose is "to use the power of information to protect human health and the environment." Skin Deep is a cosmetic database, it lists products, their safety rating depending on ingredients included, as well as known and possible side effects of said products.

Rest assured that this database helped me do something that had needed doing for a while. I cleared out my medicine cabinet. Who knew that a couple of those evil face masks could actually cause cancer? Or that one of my moisturisers could cause developmental and reproductive toxicity? Sure, I'd probably have to lather myself in these products from head to foot 205 times a day before I got harmful doses, but I decided it wasn't worth the risk. (Besides, who needs 5 different face masks?)

Getting back to that lovely ladies t-shirt, what about organic? Are there organic face care products? How do we know if they're really organic? And just because they are, does that actually make them better

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