原文: 10 Cosmetic Questions Everyone Should Be Able To Answer

I read a great article over at The Universe of Discourse about the 10 questions everyone should be about to answer about science.  It inspired this post on 10 things that everyone should know about their cosmetics.

1.  What is a cosmetic?

In the United States, the official definition of a cosmetic as stated by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is

“articles intended to be rubbed, poured, sprinkled, or sprayed on, introduced into, or otherwise applied to the human body…for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance”

This definition includes more than just lipstick, blush and eyeliner.  It also includes things like skin moisturizers, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail polishes, shampoos, conditioners, permanent waves, hair colors, toothpastes, and deodorants etc.  Pretty much any personal care product, except soap, is considered a cosmetic by the FDA.

Note that cosmetics are only supposed to alter the appearance.  Anything that is “intended to affect the structure or any function of the body…” is a drug.

2.  What ingredients are in your cosmetics?

In the United States, all legitimate cosmetic manufacturers follow the guidelines of the PCPC (Personal Care Products Council).  One of these group’s requirements is to list all the ingredients on every product sold.  Companies also have to follow specific listing guidelines based on the amount of each ingredient in the product.  See this post on How to read an ingredient list for more information.

3.  Do expensive products work best?

This is one of the most common misconceptions about cosmetics.  Price and performance are not related.  Some of the best cosmetics you can find are available at your local grocery stores for reasonable prices.  The things you buy at department stores or specialty shops have not been shown to work better.  In fact, the best scientific research is done by companies like P&G, Unilever, and L’Oreal.  The same companies who make the grocery store products.  Be careful not to fall for the halo effect.

4.  Are there animal ingredients in cosmetics?

While some companies claim mainstream store brand cosmetics are full of animal ingredients, the truth is they aren’t.  Most companies have stopped using animal ingredients because they don’t provide much extra benefit and there are suitable alternatives.  For a list of animal ingredients that are still used see this animal cosmetic ingredient post we recently wrote.

5.  Do cosmetic companies lie to you?

YES and NO.  For the most part, large cosmetic companies do not lie to you. Any claims they make about their products are regulated in the United States by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  The FTC requires that companies can not blatantly lie about their products.  You’ll find many small or internet-based companies do actually lie about their products, but the things you can buy in the stores rarely contain outright lies.  However, cosmetic companies are not above subtly misleading you as we describe in this post about how cosmetic companies trick you.

6.  Are cosmetics tested on animals?

Despite what you read on the internet, animal testing is still done in the cosmetic industry. And every company is using ingredients that at some point have been tested on animals. It is not something that companies want to do. It is expensive, morally contentious, and terrible for a company’s public image. The incidence of testing is certainly much less than in the past. You can read more at this post we did about animal testing of cosmetics.

7.  Do cosmetics cause cancer?

No. At least that’s what governmental bodies, industry regulators and the American Cancer Society conclude based on all the best research available. This is not a thing that you need to worry about. See this post for more about cosmetics and cancer.

8.  What cosmetics do you really need?

This depends on what you want. Strictly for health reasons, you need cleansing products like body wash. To have soft, supple skin you’ll need a daily skin moisturizer. To protect your skin, you’ll need to use a product with SPF. To keep your hair from getting unruly, you’ll need a moisturizing shampoo or a daily conditioner. And if body odor is a concern, an antiperspirant, deodorant or body fragrance is needed.

9.  Do cosmetics ever expire?

Yes, some cosmetics do expire. OTC products like antiperspirants and sunscreens actually have expiration dates. These dates are based on ingredient efficacy tests. Most cosmetic chemists would recommend getting rid of any cosmetic that is older than 1 year. It’s rare that stability testing is done on products for longer than this amount of time. If you want to know if your cosmetic is still good, see this post on 4 ways to tell if your cosmetic has expired.

10. What is the best way to prevent wrinkles?

The best way to prevent wrinkles is to avoid smoking and always use a sunscreen. For reversing wrinkles, proven treatments include botox injections, plastic surgery, topical retinoic acid, carbon dioxide laser resurfacing, and injections of cross-linked hyaluronic acid.  Expensive creams and lotions are rarely effective. One other option is to embrace your changing face and make the most of what you’ve got.

What crucial beauty questions did we miss? Leave your comment below.

译文: 每个人都应该能回答的10个关于化妆品的问题

我在《论文天地》上读到一篇文章，它是关于每个人都应该能够回答的10个关于科学的问题。这激发了我的灵感写这篇帖子，讨论每个人都应该能够回答的关于化妆品的十个问题。

1.什么是化妆品？

在美国，食品药品管理局给出的化妆品的官方定义是：

“化妆品是可以檫，倒，撒，喷和进入或者应用于人体的，用来清洁，美化，增加吸引力，或改变外貌的物品。”

这个定义不仅包括口红，腮红，和眼线膏。它也包括润肤乳液，香水，唇膏，指甲纹饰，洗发水，护发素，永久性卷发，发色，牙膏，除臭剂等等。食品药品管理局将许多个人护理产品视为化妆品，香皂除外。

注意化妆品是用来改变外貌的。任何 “要改变身体的结构或功能”的产品是药品。 

2. 你的化妆品里含有什么成分?

在美国，所有合法的化妆品的生产商遵守PCPC（个人护理产品委员会）.的准则。这些组织的要求之一就是每一件销售的产品都要列出含有的所有的成分。公司也必须以产品里每一种成分的含量为根据而遵循具体的列明准则。看看关于如何阅读成分列单来获取更多的信息这篇帖子。

3. 昂贵的产品效果最好吗？

这是人们对化妆品的一个最常见的误解。价格和效果并不相关。你能找到的一些最好的化妆品在当地的杂货店也能以合理的价格买到。你在百货商店或者专卖店买的商品不见得效果更好。实际上，宝洁，联合利华，欧莱雅等公司已经做过最好的科学研究。这些公司也生产在杂货店销售的产品。小心不要被那些光环效应所蒙骗。

4. 化妆品里含有动物成分吗？

尽管一些公司宣称主流的商店品牌化妆品里含有许多动物成分，事实上并不是这样。许多公司已经停止使用动物成分,因为它们并不提供附加的利益，也不是恰当的选择。要了解关于仍在使用的动物成分清单请阅读我们最近写的关于动物化妆品成分的帖子。

5. 化妆品公司对你说谎吗？

是和不是。就绝大部分而言，大型化妆品公司不会对你说谎。他们对自己的产品所做的任何的宣称都受到美国联邦贸易委员会的管理规范。联邦贸易委员会要求公司不能公然明显地对自己的产品宣传不符实，然而你能在商店里买到的商品很少包含太直白的谎言。但是，化妆品公司可能会隐约地误导你，就如同我们在关于化妆品公司怎样欺骗你的帖子里描述的一样。

6. 化妆品在动物身上做测试吗？

无论你在网上读到什么，在动物身上做测试仍存在于化妆品行业。每一家公司都在使用某种情况下已经在动物身上做过测试的成分。化妆品公司并不想这么做。因为在动物身上做测试花费昂贵，在道德上容易引起争议，对公司的公众形象极为有害。如今在动物身上做测试的发生率当然比过去要低了。你可以阅读我们的这篇关于化妆品的动物测试的帖子。

7. 化妆品会引发癌症吗？

不会。至少这是政府机构，行业管理者和美国癌症协会根据所有的可行的最好的实验得出的结论。这不是你需要担心的事情。看看这篇帖子了解更多关于化妆品和癌症。

8. 你真正需要什么化妆品？

这取决于你的需要。严格地出于健康考虑，你需要清洁产品如沐浴露。要拥有柔软，有弹性的皮肤，你需要日常使用的润肤露。要保护你的皮肤，你需要有防晒指数的产品。为了保持你的头发平整，你需要保湿洗发水或者日常护发素。如果体味是一个问题，你需要止汗剂，除臭剂或者喷洒身体的香气。

9. 化妆品会到期吗？

是的，一些化妆品会到期。非处方的产品如止汗剂，防晒霜实际上都有截止日期。这些截止日期是基于成分效果测试界定的。许多化妆品药剂师会推荐不要使用超过截止日期一年的产品。公司很少对超过截止日期的产品做稳定测试。如果你想知道你的化妆品是否仍然有效，阅读这篇关于4种方法告诉你化妆品是否过期。