What's in Lipstick? Recently, I figured out that if I applied lipstick that my face would grow to two times its regular size. If I wiped off the lipstick, I could get my head back almost into its regular shape. I didn't have a lot of time to figure out what was in lipstick but I put it down to fragrance and some of the others on the ingredient list. One day I was so tired of not wearing lipstick that I went to a drugstore to find out. I took my small daughter. Within a couple of minutes of being in the make-up aisle, my daughter started to have her head grow to twice its regular size and she didn't even have lipstick on. I went over to the counter and asked the girl, what was in lipstick and make-up to make both myself and my daughter have allergic reactions? I was still at that point considering that maybe a certain brand wouldn't have whatever the ingredient was in it. She smiled at me, started to show me the book of ingredients that nobody can truly read without a dictionary and then she looked from me to my daughter and finally said, "The shimmer in lipstick is from ground up fish and shellfish. It doesn't come out and say that on the lipstick ingredients." I nearly fainted. I couldn't believe that something that people have as an anaphalaxis type allergy is not marked on all of the make-up. Still, I perservered. "What kind doesn't have it in it?" I asked, assuming that one of the thirty brands would give me a break. "None of them," she assured me. "It's not marked down anyway. There's a big word for it." "What about lip gloss?" I asked. "No," she said. "Whale blubber. Sorry. Allergy medicine is in aisle five." So, off we went to go get some medicine and some fresh air. This news sent me realing. Why isn't this in the media? Why doesn't anyone know about what is in lipstick and lots of other kinds of make-up? I realized too that potentially all kinds of men and owmen do not know about the risks involved in simply freshening up their lips. I mention men because of the kissability factor. I went onto talk to friends and relatives. Did you know...? Nobody did. I only recently met someone who had an inkling of what I was talking about. Her dad worked in a lipstick factory all of his working career. Unless a make-up line specifically says that it does not have animal byproducts in it, then the shimmer is most likely caused by ground up fish and seafood. Not that they're apparently aiming to include the seafood but much like the tuna caught in a big net with other creatures of the sea, same problem. For those of you who have allergies, seek out cosmetic companies such as Mary Kaye who do have that guarantee. There are several other lines that will promise this no animal byproducts such as Body Shop. Remember that while you may not have this allergy yourself, your child could have this allergy, your husband, boyfriend or your co-workers.