You might want to clean out your makeup bag after you read this! Recent research by Aston University in Birmingham, the United Kingdom showed that nine in 10 makeup products that are currently in-use contain potentially life-threatening superbugs.
Source: Medical Xpress
In the study published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology, they studied 467 makeup products that had been used before. These were donated after use and include lipsticks, lip-glosses, eyeliners, mascaras and beauty blenders. The results from the study show that the researchers found harmful bacteria like E.coli, staphylococcus and fungus.
These dirty beauty products can cause sicknesses such as skin infections and blood poisoning if they are used near eyes, mouth or cuts or grazes. Beauty blenders were found to be the dirtiest of all the products, as 92% of them had germs while 72% contained staphylococcus with high levels of antibiotic resistance, 25% carried E.coli and 57% had fungi.
Source: IFL Science
Be honest, how many of us clean our makeup products properly after use? Researchers surmise that users rarely clean their cosmetics after use, which causes them to be infested with superbugs. In fact, 93% of beauty blenders had never been cleaned even though 64% of them had dropped on the floor before. Beauty blenders are also damp after use, which makes the sponges ideal for germs and bacteria to grow.
Meanwhile, the scientists found that 69% of mascaras and 7% of eyeliners are infested with staphylococcus bacteria, 37% of lipsticks and 28% of eyeliners tested contained fungi, while 10% of lipsticks and lipglosses were found to contain E.coli.
Source: My Kind of Sweet
These findings are worrying, as many users do not know that using these dirty cosmetics means that they are putting themselves at risk, especially those who have immunocompromised systems. This also means that it is not safe to use beauty store makeup testers as it is easy for people to pick up an infection.
Testers are usually not regularly cleaned and exposed, with many people using and trying on the product. Hence, the researchers advise the public to always wash their makeup tools, avoid sharing cosmetics and be careful when using makeup testers in shops and throw away any expired makeup products.
Now that you know, make sure to check your makeup okay!
Also read: 32yo Woman Who Didn’t Remove Her Makeup Properly Found Mites Living in Her Eyelash Follicles
