I was reading through the ingredients of my all time favorite makeup product today and I was shocked at what I found! I love my lip and cheek stain, it’s my favorite makeup product ever but I don’t think I can use it anymore, the potential health effects are just too scary – cancer being one of them.
I know you’re probably thinking that I’m crazy and paranoid, but really I’m not. You can take a look for yourself. The Body Shop very kindly lists ingredients for all their products on their website. All you need is to look up the ingredients to see for yourself. Even their products that they advertised as ‘Specialist Skincare Powered By Nature’ contain a heap of questionable and even proven bad ingredients.
The Body Shop is great how they’re against animal testing, they support community trade, activate self esteem, defend human rights, and apparantly protect our planet …but even though that’s all great and I’d love to support them because of it, I just can’t see why they put all those really bad chemicals into their products.
Take my favorite lip and cheek stain as an example. I put that stuff on my lips. We all know that our skin is a porous organ that absorbs anything we put onto it, but our lips are even worse. Anything you put onto your lips you’ll probably end up eating. So I’m eating chemicals in my lip stain that could potentially lead to cancer, neuro and reproductive toxicity, allergic reactions, hyperactivity, skin rash, hyperthyroidism, gene damage, asthma, light sensitivity, learning difficulties, benign tumours and thyroid tumours. Err, no thanks.
Sorry Body Shop, you did have my most favorite makeup product of all time, but there are just too many natural makeup and skin care lines appearing every day that do a good job of not testing on animals and manage to create quality chemical free products as well. I’ll come back when you’ve got a new 100% natural line of products.
Fran
7 responses ↓
FRAn!!
does this mean that the tea tree oil they sell have bad chemicals too??
because i just bought bunch of stuff from the body shop such as tea tree oil, concealer, blotting tissue, lip gloss, body butter, face cream(4 my mom)
does this mean i have to throw allllll these away?!!!! =0
Hi Holly, Check the ingredients but I think the TTO at the body shop is just diluted with water and nothing else so it’s fine. And remember, even though the Body Shop is not natural, it’s still not tested on animals so at least it’s ethical!
I was a big fan of the Body Shop when I was young because I thought I was doing something good for the planet and myself, however, as I got older and gained wisdom I noticed that the ingredients left much to be desired! As a result I have not used them in a long, long time.
If you want to use really natural products that are great for you and the planet google: Musq – they are in Canterbury (10 mins from Melb) and you can purchase on-line and even pay by Paypal. Julie the owner is one of the most amazing and knowledgeable skin people I have met and she is not into hard pushy sales, she is into educating people first and having them make the most sound purchase possible for their needs.
Unfortunately you’re mislead about the animal testing. The BODY SHOP does not do animal testing, but heir ingredients are animal tested by the source suppliers.
Sorry
Hi there. As an employee at The Body Shop, I am an expert when it comes to the products, and the values. I have worked there for a considerable amount of time now, and have learnt all there is to know about The Body Shop. I am however am not biased. I believe that The Body Shop could do something’s better, and whilst I think that they are an amazing company, that treat their staff, and customers well with respect, and care; I think they need to concentrate on what the customer needs from the values, and help that the consultant is there for. The reason I have commented on here is because of “BEEN THERE’S” comments. I have gone away and have done some research about this statement. I have found that there is NO way that The Body Shop test on animals in the slightest. Not the ingredients, not the pre-ingredients, not the final product. Myself as a consultant work because of them 5 values, and if The Body Shop did test on animals in the slightest we wouldn’t be working to put that message across, that The Body Shop DON’T test on animals. Thanks for the comment “BEEN THERE” but I thought that I needed to research this, and having done so, thought I would write it up on here. Thanks, Robert.
Robert, I too work for The Body Shop and have done for a while now. I joined the company not long after the company was taken over by L’Oreal and, as I can imagine you did, endured disappointed and disgusted responses from customers. I wholeheartedly agreed with the comments and the amount of regular customers our store lost. As much as I love The Body Shop and its original ideals, I do find now, as an employee, that the way the staff are treated does not go by the way of ‘Activating Self-Esteem’. I do feel as if I am being bullied and feel that I am being forced to lie as a result of the animal testing. By that I mean now we are owned by L’Oreal, we have NO definite proof that our new products are not tested on animals. And as for the ingredients, most of them would have HAD to have been tested on animals at some point. As I do not know for definite, I will continue to work for The Body Shop, however I do not buy products and do not sell as much as I used to. The company has changed to a such a degree that staffs views are either ignored or beaten down because those above you supposedly know better. But these are the people who earn big money who just don’t seem to care about the customers or the staff. The power of business is so great that I feel The Body Shop has lost its way and I am thoroughly disappointed. Thanks.
OMG the review so right and the comments so apt!
I wished I was less naive and took heed of all the negative publicity that was directed at The Body Shop. I was too idealistic and thought I wanted to be a part of this wonderful company…
Why? I was hired 2 years ago at the corporate office.
Alarmingly, I got to realize how low quality the products really are. The thing abt animal testing, they claim to not test new products on animals…guess what they test on? Their EMPLOYEES! We were given samples and told to give feedback. Upon trying some of them, I broke out in hives and rashes! That went away after I stopped using the products, well maybe it was just me and my unworthy skin…
Anyway, when I talk to some of the veteran staff, they told me they wouldnt use the products themselves, you really dont know if it’s safe!
Other than the products, the way they treat their employees is not what you would expect. I was hastily fired less than 3 months into the job coz I just found out I was pregnant. They said its a business decision, and didnt want to be responsible for my maternity benefit – couple of months of paid leave. I was called in early one morning and told to go immediately, my email account and login name was already erased.
Nature inspired or not, judge for yourself if this is ethnical behaviour? Something you do to a pregnant lady? Thanks to them, I had to battle depression and could not find employment, coz who will wanna hire a preggie who will be away for maternity leave shortly.
Oh well, sharing this so people are more aware of what they are buying into and dont believe all that green washing. I’
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