Amber Marstella / Scroll

Tanning, for example, has become a trend among youth.

“I go tanning,” said Lara Danielson, a freshman from San Lorenzo, Calif. “It’s not necessary, but it’s nice to be tan. I’m not going to go crazy with it but it is kind of addictive. Plus it feels really nice in the tanning booths.”

Certain organizations have made tanning easily accessible for students; the Starving Student card offers free tans and many off-campus apartments have tanning beds in their facilities.

However, according to the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, tanning beds can cause skin cancer as well as damage the immune system and prematurely age skin.

“I know it may cause cancer,” Danielson said, “but I do it anyway. I only do it twice a week, so that shouldn’t give me too much cancer.”

However, other beauty regiments can cause damage as well.

According to Alive, a Canadian health magazine, some of the world’s health problems are caused by harmful chemicals in every-day beauty products.

According to Alive, products like hair dye have been linked to bladder cancer, dermatitis, depigmentation (discoloration of the skin), rheumatoid arthritis and respiratory ailments. Deodorants have been associated with breast cancer and some shampoos may have chemicals in them that create carcinogens which promote cancer.

Other beauty products have been known to cause lung disorders like asthma, female infertility, skin damage and many other harmful conditions and disorders.

However, it is not likely that everyone would discontinue their use of daily hygiene products like shampoo and deodorant — even if the general public was aware of their harm.

“[If deodorant and shampoo caused cancer] I would definitely still use them because [not using them] is uncleanly and nasty,” said Katrina Usher, a freshman from San Leandro, Calif.

However, knowing that harm can come from using these products is enough for some to change certain aspects of their beauty and hygiene regiment.

“I use products that I know have harmful chemicals in them as sparingly as I can... There are products that use much safer ingredients,” said Rachel Johnson, a freshman from Stirling, Alberta, Canada. “It usually costs a bit more to buy at a health store but it’s worth it in the long run.”