Does Lipstick Really Contain Fish Scales?

Some time back, i remember hearing that lipstick contains fish scales. Anyway, i decided to find out how true that statement is, so here...

Lipstick does contains fish scales. Some lipstick, anyway.

The ingredient under discussion is called pearl essence. (Some sources give this as "pearlescence.") It's the silvery stuff found in fish scales that's used in some lipsticks, nail polishes, ceramic glazes, etc., to make them shimmery. Pearl essence is obtained primarily from herring and is one of many by-products of large-scale commercial fish processing. Synthetic versions have been developed though and are used in some cases. Fishermen still collect the stuff though, and one presumes it's being put to good use.

People are still alarmed to discover that consumer products contain animal body parts. You want the pearl essence to go to waste? It would otherwise be left over after they extracted the more obviously useful parts of the fish, and surely it's preferable to have the stuff wind up on the lips of women than on some heap of toxic slag.

Pearl essence is just one of a long list of unsuspected animal ingredients in cosmetics. If you think fish scales in lipstick is gross, get a load of cerebrosides, used in skin-care products to create a smoother skin surface, increase moisture retention, heighten "luminosity," etc. According to the Food and Drug Administration, "the raw material for cerebrosides in cosmetics comes from cattle, oxen, or swine brain cells or other nervous-system tissues." Eww...

If you're bothered by this sort of thing you might prefer to get your cosmetics from environmentally aware companies. In addition to minimizing the use of synthetics and volatiles, some of these companies rely on plant- rather than animal-based ingredients. "Some colors, for example, are very difficult to create without using carmine, but the company decided that crushing insects to derive the ingredient is unethical". One smiles, but in the era of the rape of the rain forest it's charming to hear about companies so good-hearted that they wouldn't hurt--well, if not a fly, at least a Dactylopius coccus.

Note: Fish scales might be disgusting, but at least we don't use cosmetics containing mercury, as the Romans and ancient Egyptians used.