SK-II poisonous?

Filed in archive Beauty , News on October 2, 2006

Thanks to various gods and goddesses, I never got round to purchase the SK II moisturizer. Although I had a very good intention of skipping a few meals to buy myself the famous SK II cream, in the middle of collecting the needed sum of $300 my car managed to brake down, and then I found this uber-cute skirt...

But, to get to our story - Today Online reports that SK-II products might be, in fact, bad for you:

"Chinese authorities found chromium and neodymium ions in several SK-II products imported from Japan, including powder, foundation, lotion and cleansing oil.
The substances are also banned in Hong Kong. Chromium can cause eczema, while neodymium irritates the skin and can damage the lungs and liver if inhaled."

And we were wondering what the heck was the mysterious pitera, a secret ingredient in all SK-II cosmetics. All of this sounds bad enough that some of the SK-II products were removed from shop shelves.

Nonetheless, SK-II cosmetic line can still be purchased in Saks, and the SK-II website has issued their response to all this fuss:

"SK-II does not add these elements as ingredients in any of our products. It is common for trace amounts of these minerals to show up in consumer products -- they are naturally occurring elements that can be found in anything from tap water to vitamins. For example, the amount of chromium that you would get from use of SK-II products is 100 times less that what the World Health Organization considers safe in your everyday diet."

By the way, did you know that SK-II is not some ancient Japanese manufacture? They are in fact property of Procter and Gamble, as many other cosmetic brands (such as Wella, Herbal Essences and Max Factor). I will not state that there is or isn't something fishy going on with SK-II, but I do love some of the other brands under P&G.