Colours and (dental care) Cosmetics-What You Should Be Aware Of
No commentsBy Constantine Lekendiros
People are weary of artificial ingredients in their foods. The thing is that most people don’t worry about all the artificial ingredients in cosmetics. It is only in recent years that cosmetics have started to carry a full list of ingredients on their packaging.
Making sense of the ingredients can be difficult for the lay person. This is particularly true for colorings, which often go under the guise of numbers rather than names.
In many countries colors in cosmetics are listed as colour index numbers. C.I. numbers are allocated by the Society of Dyers and Colourists. The scheme covers colours used in food, personal care products, cosmetics, household products and fabric dyeing. So, for example you will not normally see tartrazine listed in your lipstick ingredients, but it may be there listed as C.I. 19140. Erythrosine will be listed as C.I. 45430, and so on.
The USA uses a different system: the FD & C colors have been categorized by the American Food & Drink Administration for use in foods, drugs and cosmetics. So in this system tartrazine is FD & C yellow 5, and amaranth is FD & C red 2.
The E Number system is used by the European Community (EC). This is a system of giving code numbers to food additives, some of which are also used in cosmetics and personal care products. This system is also used in some other countries but without the E prefix, so E102 becomes simply colour 102.
All this confusion for the average consumer would not be important, but for the fact that some of these colours are known to cause problems in susceptible individuals. For example, tartrazine (also known as FD & C Yellow 5, CI 1914 and EI02) can cause migraines, itching, rhinitis and agitation in susceptible individuals. Many individuals avoid its use in food, but do not realise how extensively it is used in cosmetics, such as lipstick, and personal care products.
The big worries in terms of colours in cosmetics and personal care products are lipstick, coloured lip balms, lip gloss and lip pencils, because anyone who uses these regularly eats a fair quantity over their life time, but these colours also appear in skin cream, foundation, mascara and so on too. (Remember also that these colours can also be in ‘natural’ cosmetics and skin care products.)
Another worry is that even the ‘experts’ cannot agree on an international ’safe’ list of colours, so that a colour may be allowed in one country, but banned elsewhere. For example, quinoline yellow is allowed within the European Community and in some other countries, but is banned in Japan, Norway and the United States.
As ever, the advice is: keep yourself informed and read the label. Stay informed and make sure you check the ingredients on anything and everything you put on your skin.
For great skin care products go online and get the Lancome Trans Hydrix, the lancome aroma tonic oil as well as the Lancome Impactive and other cosmetics.
Creating The Brilliant Smile You Deserve
The Difference Between Group and Individual Dental Plans
By Matt Chang
Dental insurance is a benefit typically provided by employers to help offset some of the high cost of dental care. Depending on your situation, you may be able to have dental insurance with your employer, or you may be self employed and be needed to look at other options. Let’s take a look at both dental insurance and group dental plans. Both work to get you dental coverage, but each is a little different.
A good general health plan includes good dental health. Dental insurance is a benefit typically provided by employers to help offset some of the costs of dental care. Dental insurance generally pays claims directly to the dentist for most dental procedures. Dental insurance will pay the dentist a fixed amount or percentage for each dental procedure. Normally, dental benefits allow you to use any dentist you choose. Check your plan details to make sure you understand your options.
Individual dental care plans are also available and provide dental benefits similar to dental insurance you can get through an employer. Individual dental insurance is often more expensive than group dental. And, medical and dental insurance like this can come with waiting periods. The benefit to an individual plan is you can choose the features you want, and are not bound by the groups’ plan.
Sometimes, reducing dental plans would be a better fit for dental insurance. Depending on your financial situation, you can opt for a discount dental plan. Discount dental plans generally do not have waiting periods or application forms and are less than the cost of dental insurance. The other options of dental plans offer a payment schedule for dental procedures performed by dentists in a network of dentists. People with any reduction of dental plans can make significant savings on procedures such as cleanings, fillings, crowns and root canals if it is done by a dentist within the network. The downside of the discount plans are usually features. Because you are paying less, you often have less choice and control over the benefit providers. But for someone with little income, any dental plan is better than nothing.
Dental insurance and reduced dental plans can work together to provide better dental care. Many plans have dental waiting times of up to 12 months before major dental services are covered. Dental insurance also typically covers a maximum annual of $750 - $ 2000 for dental procedures. If someone needs dental care immediately, reduced dental plans would save money on dental procedures immediately, dental insurance and could start paying once the waiting times are met.
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Creating The Brilliant Smile You Deserve. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
