Six Degrees of Separation: Lipstick

During this project, our class was assigned to research a topic and separate the topic into six different subjects. I chose to study lipstick, and to research and separate the:

1. Ingredients
2. Production
3. Labeling and packaging
4. Byproducts
5. Quality control
6. And importation

Essay:

Since I began high school, I have noticed that many girls, including myself, rely on makeup each day. We put it on before school, during school, after school, and constantly reapply. As I recorded my daily journal, I noticed that this was important in my routine, and noticed that it’s been a key factor in many of my friends’ routines as well. Because of this, I decided to research the effects of makeup, and narrowed it down to lipstick due to the myths I previously heard such as the production involving fish scales. Throughout my research, I learned today’s six degrees of separation for lipstick include ingredients, production, labeling and packaging, byproducts, quality control, and importation. Through this project, I learned that much of the degrees of lipstick production does not harm the environment, and actually uses environmental savvy reusable techniques due to the expenses.

Lipstick’s ingredients include Beeswax, Candelilla wax, Carnauba wax, Vegetable oil, Lanolin oil, Mineral oil, Castor oil, Cocoa butter, Bromo acid, pigments and dyes, antioxidants and preservatives, and fragrance. During the production, there are many machines including: Mixing machine, Seizing machine, Grinding machine, Tri-Rolling machine, Heating mixing machine, mold sets, filling machine, Mold releasing machine,
Box folding machine, Carton machine, carton tapping machine. The manufacturing of lipstick begins with mixing several pigments and oils together. The oil base material is then mixed with fats and waxes, and heated to create a paste. A perfume will be added to the paste, as well. The mixed materials are then heated to about 70-90 degrees Celsius. (158-194 Fahrenheit). After the paste is heated, it is placed in a copper or aluminum mold to form its shape. After the paste is molded, it is cooled to about 0-5 degrees Celsius, and then packaged and labeled.

As for the packaging and labeling, normally this depends on whether or not the lipstick is packaged in bulk, or individually. In bulk, the packaging of lipsticks are through a machine, while as the individual packaging is done by hand. Surprisingly, lipstick packaging and labeling machines are available to the public for sale. In the production of lipstick, there are rarely any byproducts due to the expense of the ingredients. They are
usually reused and kept for later manufacturing. However, in the normal manufacturing process, there are no byproducts and waste portions of lipstick will be thrown out with cleaning materials.

Due to the FDA standards, quality control procedures for lipstick are strict, especially since it is the only cosmetic truly ingested. Materials are tested because lipstick is supposed to be mixed in a controlled environment, free of contamination. Tests for quality control ensure that it meets the required specifications. To further ensure the quality of lipstick, there are two tests called the Rupture test and Heat test. Each makes
sure there is no distortion of the lipstick under harsh conditions. Each manufacturer sets its own parameters. Usually, the importing and exporting depends on the brands, but most lipsticks are imported from Asian countries such as Thailand and China.