Cochineal beetles eat the prickly pear cactus in South America. Pucker up because according to "The New York Times" when they are full of cactus juice, these insects are scraped off the plant, boiled and dried out and crushed into "carmine," which is used in a particular red dye that's used in some lipstick and blush. The good news is, by 2011 Malkan says that cosmetic companies will have to disclose any bug ingredients in their makeup.
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Infant Foreskin (NouriCel-MD)
A San Francisco-based company has patented a baby foreskin formula (no joke) in a special blend of soluble collagen, antioxidants, natural growth factors and matrix proteins that are said to help fight the signs of aging, reports StyleCaster. While it's getting lots of press and might actually minimize fine lines and wrinkles, there's just too much of an ick-factor here, no?
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Whale Vomit (Ambergris)
According to "The New York Times", Ambergris, which is waste from the digestive system of sperm whales (um, vomit), is used as a fixative perfume base. Thankfully, most companies have phased out whale vomit and switched over to synthetic alternatives.
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Dynamite (Diatomaceous Earth/Diatornite)
Diatomaceous earth (DE) is one of the two components that make up dynamite. According to StyleCaster, due to its hollow and porous properties, DE makes a pretty good abrasive and is found in most mild exfoliators, natural toothpastes, deodorants and powders.
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Bull Semen
Although that famous scene in "Something About Mary" was clearly a farce, this is no joke -- protein from bull semen is being used in some European salons � as a treatment to enhance hair's shine, reports Relativity Online. (And you totally thought we were gonna say it's used as hair gel, right?)
If you're one of those folks whose mantra is "ignorance is bliss" then stop reading right now. But for those of you who don't mind a little disillusioning every now and then, you'll most likely be repulsed, yet fascinated by these gross ingredients found in some cosmetics. It's like when you get an email with a ridiculous YouTube video of a dog tap dancing and you just have to forward it to your friends or post it on Facebook -- these findings are just too dang interesting not to share.
We did some online digging and got in touch with our researcher friends from Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database and Stacy Malkan from The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, author of "Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry". We reported not so much on the dangerous ingredients to avoid, but more like omg-we-can't-believe-our-lipstick-has-bug-juice-in-it (yes, bug juice) type of stuff. And it doesn't stop there. We found that some beauty products contain pretty much everything in the circle of life from placenta to road kill -- we're not making this up.
The purpose of this story is not to point fingers or out any makeup, skin care or hair care companies because sometimes there is a communication break down in the supply chain, and some cosmetic companies aren't even aware of the shocking ingredients in their products. In addition, many companies have phased out the use of some of these disturbing ingredients such as whale vomit (more on that in a minute�). Instead we just thought we'd lift the veil of the amazing smells and technologies of beauty products and unwrap the cute packaging to show you some of the medieval-sounding ingredients that are shockingly still used in some cosmetics. See what gross ingredients might be lurking in your lotion, powder, soap or lip gloss now.
