Painting the ‘Trick or Treater’

Halloween may include a paint job. And it should be:Lead free, paraben free, synthetic preservative free, nanoparticle free, gluten-free, cruelty-free, phthalate-free, talc free, non-toxic, eco-friendly, zero fillers, toxin-free.

Free--from the following to be precise: Lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury, mineral oil,  parabens, ethylbenzene, vinyl acetate, silica, petrolatum, talc, fragrance, VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) like formaldehyde, toluene, styrene, benzene. Kids love the VOC’s, especially prominent in flavoured lip balms. 

Your kids deserve ‘safe’. While many adults enthusiastically celebrate Halloween with costume and makeup, we choose our poisons. Children depend on us to protect them. We buy the makeup for them. We paint the faces. 

But what if, for example, the paint contains heavy metals: Lead, that alters brain development. Cadmium, that disrupts the hormones? The darker the paint, the higher metal contaminations. 

One might say…”Oh. It’s just Halloween. One day of dressing up is not harmful.” Is even a little poison, OK?  Maybe, maybe not. But remember, toxins can accumulate. Occasional face or body painting aside, count in the bubble bath, shampoo, body wash and body lotion, and exposure to carpets and other household products. And many teen girls often start wearing make-up, daily, not just on Halloween.

Ridding of toxic accumulation is possible

UC Berkeley where biomonitoring of a dozen Central Valley California teens showed a big drop in the chemical body burdens of girls who switched up their beauty regime. The girls saw reductions of 25 to 40 percent in 4 endocrine disrupting chemicals—phthalates, parabens, triclosan, oxybenzone—after only 3 days of switching from products that contained these harmful chemicals to products that did not.10 This study shows that if you take toxic chemicals out of cosmetics you can take them out of people in just a few days. This study argues parents can take proactive steps to reduce their kids exposure to unsafe chemicals via the make-up, face paints and other cosmetics and personal care products they use each day. 

Back in 2015 Forbes listed some US companies that sell safe alternatives. One is Natural Earth Paint and it has a Canadian distributor. ‘Natural Earth Paint makes a 100% vegan set that is “free of nanoparticles, heavy metals, parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, and animal products such as carmine,’ aka as cochineal.

Halloween reigns soon. Have fun. But be cautious concerning the costume make up. Buy toxin free. While we do not sell the paint, we do sell the aftermath.  Our nutritious and chemical free soaps and toners will help to remove the make-up. An all-year-round delight and a perfect Halloween clean up!