A breast cancer diagnosis can change how someone looks at even the smallest everyday decisions, including what they put on their skin.<\/p>\n
For Prosper mother, Dallas Fears, that experience led to a new business venture and an opportunity to help her visually impaired daughter, Finley.<\/p>\n
Fears was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in September 2023, just months after a mammogram had shown no signs of the disease.<\/p>\n
She said her husband discovered a lump, prompting additional imaging and a biopsy that confirmed the diagnosis.<\/p>\n
“I think there’s something there, but I’m sure it’s nothing,” Fears recalled her husband saying. “And I said, no, it’s something.”<\/p>\n
Fears underwent a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, followed by reconstructive surgery. Now 47, she says she is cancer-free and considers herself more than a survivor.<\/p>\n
“I think surviving is just like surviving; I didn’t just survive, I overcame,” Fears said.<\/p>\n
Her diagnosis also prompted her to reconsider her everyday health habits, from what she ate and drank to the ingredients in products she had used for years.<\/p>\n
“I started looking at every single thing that I put in and on my body, like truly,” Fears said.<\/p>\n
She stopped drinking alcohol, cut out refined sugar and began exercising regularly, including running several times a week.<\/p>\n
Skincare became a particular focus.<\/p>\n
After more than a decade working with and promoting another skincare brand, Fears said she began researching cosmetic ingredients and questioning whether the products she had trusted were right for her.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t want to just jump ship into another skincare brand that, you know, I didn’t know what was in their ingredients,” she said.<\/p>\n
That search eventually led her to create The Pure Original<\/a>, a skincare business using products made with beef tallow, a rendered animal fat, and other ingredients she personally selected.<\/p>\n Fears makes the products in small batches and says she prioritizes knowing where the ingredients come from.<\/p>\n While her decision was influenced by concerns about synthetic ingredients, the American Cancer Society says there is little evidence that normal use of cosmetics increases cancer risk, although the long-term effects of some ingredients remain unclear.<\/a><\/p>\n Researchers continue studying whether exposure to certain chemicals found in cosmetics and personal care products may influence cancer risk.<\/p>\n The distinction is important because some ingredients have raised scientific questions, but those concerns do not mean every product containing synthetic ingredients is dangerous.<\/p>\n According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration<\/a>, most cosmetics do not require FDA approval before being sold, although manufacturers are legally responsible for ensuring their products are safe.<\/p>\n The FDA can take action against cosmetics that violate federal safety or labeling laws.<\/p>\n For Fears, however, the experience was about taking greater control over decisions she felt she could make after cancer.<\/p>\n Her lifestyle changes also reflect some established recommendations for reducing cancer risk.<\/p>\n