Beauty products are those items which are especially made to preserve and enhance the beauty quotient of the human body. Beauty products or cosmetics form a very important segment of the beauty industry world over. The business of beauty generates huge revenues on earth in human inhabited areas.
Beauty products include cosmetics like creams, powders, lotions, lipsticks, perfumes, eye and facial make up items and kits such as eye liners, mascaras, blush on’s and eye shadows, nail polishes for fingers and toes, gels, perfumes, deodorants, coloured contact lenses, permanent waves and false hair dos, hair dyes and hair colours,foundations and under eye creams, bath oils, bath soaps, bath salts, bubble baths, butters and many many more things.
The use of beauty products is wide spread since time immemorial especially in the more developed western countries. The term make up is used for coloured beauty products, which are applied on the face to alter the user’s appearance.
Manufacturing beauty cosmetics is still the domain of a small number of multinational corporations which have their roots in early 20th century. However there are a wide range of business enterprises actively engaged in the distribution and sale of beauty products all over the world.
FDA ( U.S. Food and Drug Administration) , the regulating body of cosmetics in America defines beauty products as “ intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the body’s structure or functions.” However this definition excludes soaps while including a huge range of other beauty products.
The origin of beauty products goes back to Egypt in around 3500 BC according to archeological findings. Ancient Romans and Greeks are also said to have used cosmetics. However the use of beauty products emerged in the western world in the middle ages, and as consumer items for the upper classes of society. Mid 20th century found cosmetics being used widely by all the women of the world. Beauty products have now broken all shackles of orthodoxy, and are being used by one and all.
L’oreal, Nestle, Max Factor, Elizabeth Arden, Revlon, Helene Rubinstein, Lakme, Estee Lauder, Garnier, Mabelliene are some heavy cosmetic manufacturer with a world presence. The beauty product industry is notorious for resisting government regulations and is always lobbying against the same. This has proved to be dangerous to human health time and again. Advertising and the presence of more and more varied and attractive beauty products, such as flavored lipsticks, face glitters and glosses in the market has led to girls being bitten by the beauty bug at very young ages now.
The social impact of this is not favorable in terms of human development. Criticisms of beauty products have come from many sources like animal activists, feminists, writers, social workers, naturalists and nutritionists. Alarm and misgivings on the effect of chemicals like parabens, petroleum and other toxic substances has given birth to a parallel industry of organic beauty products in modern times.
Organic beauty products are gaining popularity now for their ability to preserve and enhance beauty in a safe way and for a longer period. Many cosmetic manufacturers are marketing “all natural” and “organic products” derived from plants, minerals and organic agricultural sources. However these products are labelled organic only after a “USDA organic “certification.
