Even more hideous cosmetics ingredients

You’re probably getting the gist now: make-up and other cosmetics are often made of weird stuff. Here are just two more examples.

Firstly, diatomaceous earth, which is an ingredient in exfoliants. This is basically a form of fossilised algae – algae being the green gunk that makes ponds go all scummy. On this occasion, it’s not as bad as it sounds, because the algae is so old, it’s basically become rock.

Then there’s guanine, which you’ll typically find in shampoo and nail polish. It’s sometimes called ‘natural pearl essence’ which sounds very nice. However, you could more accurately think of it as being ‘fish scales’.

More unusual cosmetics ingredients

Unlike the food we eat, we rarely consider the ingredients that go into cosmetics. To our eyes, they are something in themselves - they are ‘facial cream’ or ‘lipstick’. However, this obscures the fact that many different things go into every beauty product and not all of them are appealing.

For example, shark liver oil is often used. Moisturisers, suns cream, eye make-up, lipstick and bath oils are all likely to feature this ingredient, known as squalene.

Or what about ambergris? It sounds innocent enough, but it’s actually the substance that protects a whale’s stomach from squid beaks and the like. And how do people get it out of the whale? Well, actually, the whale gets rid of it in two ways. You don’t want to know about either. Amergris is used in perfume.

Weird cosmetics ingredients - vegetable oil

The cosmetics industry relies on all sorts of ingredients when making its products. It’s often best not to think about this, particularly when it comes to the inclusion of urine which acts as a skin softener.

Another common ingredient in moisturisers is hydrogenated vegetable oil. In many ways, we are literally greasing ourselves up when we apply cream. Hydrogenated vegetable oil appears in body creams and lip balms.

If you use skin firming products, there is another ingredient you might be applying to your skin: egg white. It constricts when it dries, giving the firming effect that many people are looking for.

Male beauty: moisturiser?

It seems odd to write about male beauty. Even the phrase seems flawed. Men aren’t beautiful. They are handsome, rugged or just plain ‘good looking’. To describe a man as beautiful could easily be considered an insult, like saying he is a touch effeminate.

Yet the male beauty industry is booming with new men seeking out all sorts of products that are historically more closely associated with women.

Moisturiser is something often used by men. However, admitting this is to invite jokes from other men. The cosmetics industry recognises this and tries to get round it by producing aftershave creams, which somehow seem more manly. This is ironic, because conventional aftershave isn’t actually for use after shaving, it is really just a way of branding perfume for men. However, aftershave cream is suitable for use after a shave.