Bad reputation and negative stigma is attached to kohl eyeliners as a result of findings that it contains harmful ingredients and toxic levels of lead.
This puts many people who are attracted to the potential cosmetic and health benefits of kohl eyeliners in a difficult situation ; wandering wether or not to use kohl and confused about its safety.
So just how dangerous is kohl eyeliners and should you be avoiding them?
Natural Kohl is safe
Kohl in Arabic refers to anything applied in or around the eyes. It does not refer to any specific type of substance. Anyone who gives blanket advice on kohl eyeliners without specifying type or substance is therefore ignorant on this subject, and this includes unfortunately experts who issue guidance for health agencies.
Whether a certain type of kohl eyeliner is safe or not depends on what it is made of as well as how it is made. Kohl eyeliners made from all natural ingredients with a long history of use are safe, even if some of the official advice says otherwise. This is because the official advice is often short sighted and rushed, and overlooks or omits important factors.
A good example of this is the FDA position on kohl which considers anything referred to kohl as unsafe. This comes from their lack of understanding that kohl is just a general Arabic term and does not refer to specific kind of product. According to the FDA, “Kohl consists of salts of heavy metals, such as antimony and lead“. This clearly indicates their lack of understanding on the subject as kohl can be made from crushed almonds or burning of cotton cloth soaked in olive oil as well as wide range of substances, none of which conform to FDA`s definition of kohl.
The type of kohl the FDA is probably referring to is the type made from natural rocks and stones which contains compounds of heavy metals but even on this they are wrong for the simple fact that the type of rocks used differs from one producer to another so the amount of these metals varies.
0 comments