Are Drugstore Products Considerably Worse For Your Skin & Hair?

Mar 16, 2012

Cassandra M.

I'm trying to research the ingredients and chemicals in drugstore products compared to high end products, but I can't find any good, legitimate information. If anybody here is a professional or very knowledgeable when it comes to makeup, can you please answer these few questions?

1. Is drugstore skin care/makeup/hair products worse for you than high end products are?
2. What are bad ingredients/chemicals should you watch out for in cheap makeup?
3. Is higher end makeup really better for your skin/hair? Is it made with safer ingredients? 

Mar 17, 2012

Alexa W.

I can't really answer your questions too well but I'll give you a pretty basic answer. It always depends on the product you buy. It doesn't matter if it's high end or not, some high end products may have nicer ingredients though because they are spent more money on but drugstore products can also be just fine for the skin. You may need to do some research on the best and safest brands and also what ingredients to look out for if any answers here aren't clear enough.

Mar 17, 2012

Jane A.

I'm no expert, but something to think about is that drugstore products and high end products are run by the same companies most times. Take for example, L'Oreal. The company that owns L'Oreal also owns Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Biotherm, Cacharel, Diesel, Maison Martin Margiela, Viktor & Rolf, Ralph Lauren, Kiehl's, Shu Uemura, and Stella McCartney.

L'Oreal mascaras often bare a great resemblance (sp?) to Lancome's mascaras (the wand and all).

Mar 17, 2012

Jane A.

As for ingredients, there are a lot of high end and department store product that have sulfate's in their shampoo (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate "SLS" or Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate "ALS"). Sulfates I hear are what can cause people to lose hair (this is the same chemical found in dishwashing liquid, etc. and can be very harsh). Sulfates are what causes shampoos to have that bubbly effect, and a lot of people out there think that "no bubbles" means their hair isn't getting cleaned. So they tend to add more shampoo, which could be a bad thing.

Then there are ingredients like Silicone found in high end and drugstore products from primers, foundations, moisturizers, etc. Silicone has it's pros like primers with them help make your foundation go on smoothly, etc. etc. But there are quite a few people who need to use silicone free products because it breaks them out.

Mar 17, 2012

Lizz N.

Also, the company that makes L'Oreal owns Maybelline, and in turn, Garnier, and Essie as of last year. They have a HUGE corner of the drug store market lol

Mar 17, 2012

Angela H.

It definitely depends on the individual product. As far as hair and skin care is concerned, it's definitely the ingredients that are the issue. Most drugstore hair/skincare products contain lots of alcohol and synthetic ingredients that can be drying and irritating to your skin and hair, while higher end products tend to be made with real, natural ingredients (real shea butter or coconut milk, etc) that since they are natural work with your skin and hair a lot better. This does not mean that you can't find good skin and hair care in a drugstore, just that you have to pay attention to the ingredients and know what your particular hair and skin needs.

With makeup, the issue is not typically ingredients, but performance. Drugstore makeup is not made with less-safe ingredients, at least not in the USA. Our FDA regulates cosmetic ingredients, and does not approve the sale of items that are not safe for cosmetic use. If a makeup item is not safe for eye or lip or whatever use, it has to be labeled as such, In fact, the American FDA is much more strict than most similar agencies in Europe and does not approve many dyes as eye safe that European countries do consider to be eye safe (neon dyes are a good example). So, what this means is that with drugstore makeup your main concern isn't usually safety but value..drugstore makeup as a whole is not USUALLY as pigmented, blendable, or long-lasting as high end or department store makeup tends to be. There are always exceptions, the above ladies have mentioned Maybelline and L'Oreal, both of which have been doing great things as far as pigmentiation in recent years. Hopefully more drugstore brands will follow suit and make GOOD QUALITY makeup more accessible to more people, because that's what really matters..the quality, not what the package says :)

Mar 17, 2012

Shelly T.

Cosmetics in the US, no matter which brand it is, use virtually the same ingredients. If drugstore makeup wasn't safe it wouldn't be sold.

http://cosmeticsinfo.org
http://cosmeticscop.com (look for the ingredient dictionary)

There are drugstore brands with products that are good value, and there are higher-end brands with products that are overpriced for what they are *cough*MUFE-HD-Powder*cough*.

Mar 17, 2012

Cassandra M.

Wow, I'm shocked at how many helpful answers I received! Thank you all so much, I learned many new things from your replies...I wanted to know more about the ingredients in drugstore and high end makeup to see if drugstore makeup was lesser quality and worse for your skin as a whole, for a future reference for a video I wanted to make on my beauty channel (CassandraMakeup).