Ingredients in your makeup could make you sick

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's a booming industry to make women look and feel glam. But do you really know what's in the makeup you wear?

You may want to after this.

A local expert suggests your makeup may contain ingredients that over time may make you sick.

It's a growing concern for a lot of people, including Debbie Nance. She loves to try out new cosmetics. You may know her -- you probably hear her on your ride home from work. She's the star of the Charlie and Debbie show on 103.7 WSOC radio in Charlotte.

So, we brought Barry King of to the radio station to dig through Nance's makeup bag.

He runs an internationally-known, all-natural, organic online beauty store based in Charlotte. He's a pro when it comes to the ingredients in makeup.

"Are you concerned at all with the things that might be in your cosmetics," King asked Nance.

"Absolutely, it goes directly onto my skin and my face," she said.

So, she unzipped her makeup bag and began sharing her beauty regime with King.

It didn't take long for him to find a few things he was concerned about in her makeup.

"There are two types of parabens in this," King said, pointing to one of the products Nance wears.

Parabens are a type of preservative that King says you should avoid.

"There's been elevated levels of parabens found in breast tumors, for example," King said.

He also pointed to an ingredient called sodium lauryl sulfate.

"Sodium lauryl sulfate is an industrial cleanser, if you have it strong enough," King said.

Another ingredient he's concerned about is called propylene glycol.

"It's what's also known as antifreeze," King told Nance.

By definition, propylene glycol is used in antifreeze, brake fluid and as a preservative. In your makeup, the amounts are small, but King's concern is what it may do to your body over time.

"You think once you wash it off at night, you're OK," Nance said.

King says about 60 percent of what you put on your skin is absorbed into your body. For the average person, King says that's about 5 pounds of chemicals absorbed through your skin every year.

"It almost sort of makes you ill to think about," Nance said.

We found a cosmetic database by the Environmental Working Group that suggests propylene glycol is a moderate hazard and may be linked to infertility, birth defects and multiple types of cancer.

"That's why people are avoiding these chemicals," King said.

We checked with the EPA, too. Its website says propylene glycol hasn't been completely evaluated to determine whether it causes cancer, but many manufacturers put it in makeup.

"These are not outlawed chemicals," King said. "Some data that's put forward might be supportive of its continued use. There's other data that suggests it is harmful."

That means it's up to you to decide.

"The industry is not regulated by the FDA," King said.

We checked on that, too. The FDA says it's up to the cosmetic firms to regulate themselves. The FDA says it doesn't approve makeup before it hits the market. Only when an ingredient is proven to be harmful, can the FDA take action.

That got Nance thinking about what she puts on her face. And it's had similar effects on a growing number of people.

In fact, organizations like the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics are trying to get manufacturers to phase out certain chemicals, many of which are already banned in Europe.

"They've banned 1,100 substances from cosmetics and skin care formulations," King said.

So far, more than 1,000 companies have pledged to get rid of the chemicals in question within three years, vowing to follow the same standards set by the European Union.

For a list of companies that have signed the agreement to do that, go to .

Visit the where you can check out the makeup you wear.