Sarah Carter and Kestrin Pantera's Blog
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Operation Ugly Beauty: "Why I Need Red Lipstick"
- Posted on 10.13.08
When in doubt, I often ask myself, "What would Jackie O. do?" and the answer is usually, "Wear red lipstick." When I wear red lipstick, people treat me like a princess and open doors for me, I take better pictures, and I feel like a hot chick (instead of a little German boy).
So, what did I do when Sarah Carter (citing her work with The Breast Cancer Fund) told me that my favorite red lipstick has LEAD in it?
a) I pretended I already knew.
b) I continued to wear it religiously, because I need it.
c) I kept doing so until someone stole my purse in Copenhagen and I was "forced" to buy new lipstick in Denmark, in order to take a new passport photo.
In the EU, there are laws banning toxic substances in personal care products, so the lipstick I "had" to buy in Europe was the non-toxic alternative I should have been using all along—but it literally took getting my passport stolen in a foreign country to get me off the Viva Glam II. (For the record, it was more traumatic walking around Copenhagen with no lipstick than losing the passport).
Many Americans have a similar relationship with at least one product in their lives-- something they "need" to feel complete, that relates directly to their ability to feel attractive and their sense of self-worth. Whether it's that "special" mascara (full of mercury), the "best" deodorant (with aluminum), or that de-frizzing hair gel (with pthalates, which cause birth defects), Operation Ugly Beauty searches for the "red lipstick addict" in everyone, and intervenes to educate and replace toxic products with healthy alternatives.
- Kestrin
www.kestrin.com.
Related causes: Health
