How to spot toxic cosmetics?

Taking care of your appearance can go hand in hand with a healthy lifestyle and help you feel good about yourself. But sometimes, by wanting to take care of your image too much, you can, on the contrary, adopt bad habits for your body.

Lighten your skin, straighten your hair, put on certain cosmetic products or increase your weight artificially… All of these practices can have harmful long-term consequences on the skin and on health in general.

Can we know if a cosmetic product is potentially toxic based on the indications on the label? ? Which ingredients in skin lightening products are particularly dangerous? What sometimes serious illnesses can we catch because of these products?

• Dr Henriette Meilo, dermatologist and venerologist at the Roseaux Medical Center in Douala, member of the association “ African Women Facing AIDS » (Society for Women and Aids in Africa SWAA)