The Best Gluten-Free Makeup
The Best Gluten-Free Makeup
When you can’t take risks, it’s best to remove gluten from everything.
If you’ve gone gluten-free for health reasons, you’ve probably gotten familiar with the foods you need to avoid to stay comfortable. Sometimes though, you may find that you’ve been ‘glutened’ despite how carefully you’ve been monitoring what you eat and drink. Have you ever thought to look at the beauty products you use so dedicatedly?
As it turns out, not all beauty products are gluten-free! Here, we’ll cover a general overview of the things to look out for when picking your go-to products.
The most scientifically agreed-upon concern with celiac disease and other gluten sensitivities is consumption. While some studies have made claims that gluten can be absorbed through the skin, the majority of the scientific community agrees that this is not problematic for those with celiac disease or other gluten sensitivities. This is different for those who might have a wheat allergy, which may affect the skin when contact occurs. Even dermatitis herpetiformis, which is a skin rash caused by celiac disease, is widely accepted to be tied to consumption rather than contact.
So if gluten has to be consumed to have an impact, why should you care about whether there’s gluten in your shampoo or lotion? Obviously, most of us aren’t intentionally ingesting these products. The problem lies with the unintentional consumption of gluten-containing products.
An obvious example would be lipstick. When applying lipstick, some might be on the inside of your lip, be broken down or rubbed off, then swallowed. When taking a bite of food or sip of a beverage, it’s common for some of the lipstick to rub off on the food or glass, leading to some ingestion. For a certified gluten-free lip balm option, consider Badger, which is additionally organic and cruelty-free. If you’re looking for something with a bit more pigment, try these options from Zuzu Luxe or Ilia. Other examples of makeup that may be less obvious are foundations or concealers. If you’re wearing a face product and are doing strenuous activity or in a particularly hot environment, you may start to sweat. As you sweat, some of the product may be removed from your face and onto your lips, eventually going into your mouth. Popular makeup brands, such as Too Faced, offer gluten-free concealers to try.
Moving on, what about the products not being used on your face? A great example of this would be shampoo and conditioner. While you may not intentionally get soap or conditioner in your mouth when in the shower, these products occasionally can run down with the water into the mouth. The normal reaction is to spit it out and maybe rinse your mouth, but there may be a small amount of consumption. Try Acure’s gluten-free shampoo and conditioner to avoid this contamination point. Even outside of the shower, you may have the habit of nervously chewing on your hair, or even get hair in your mouth due to an unexpected wind gust. These, too, can lead to unintentional consumption depending on the amount of product left in your hair.
Lotion is another example of a less thought-about contamination source. When your hands are feeling dry, you may naturally put on some lotion, and of course, you wouldn’t wash your hands after, because that would simply defeat the purpose. Instead, you would go on with your day with more hydrated and potentially contaminated hands. If the next activity is to eat, it’s easy to see how finger food could contribute to consuming some of the lotion from your hands. Not only are you holding and transferring some of the lotion to the food, but you may even lick your fingers when you’re done eating if the food is something with sauce or seasonings. We recommend trying Kopari lotion, which is both gluten-free and organic.
Obviously, the quantity of gluten consumed in the examples given in this article is very small. Not all people with celiac disease or other gluten sensitivities will have issues with consumption on this scale, but for those who do, it can be life-changing to know the little areas in your life that gluten might still be affecting.
It isn’t required that possible contamination be listed on products, so if you think this is something that might affect you, it may take a bit of digging to get the facts about your favorite products. If it isn’t clearly marked on the label, reach out to customer support for more information, or consider switching to a product with more easily accessed information that you can be sure is gluten-free. Always check for the FDA or GFCO certification stamp as well as check the GFCO website for safety alerts. For more information about these certifications check out our What does certified gluten-free really mean? article.
If you’re feeling like you have taken all the possible steps to reduce consuming gluten when it comes to food and drinks, but you’re still feeling like you have been contaminated by something, it may be worth looking through your beauty products. Everything from makeup to lotion could be the cause, and there are plenty of gluten-free options out there to choose from! Get out there and make well-informed decisions about your health!