Sustainable Beauty and Why it Matters

Hello again everyone, while we are here all stuck at home and under quarantine waiting for COVID-19 to be resolved, we will bring you more beauty articles to expand your knowledge and keep you busy. Our prayers are with everyone in these rough times.

Today, we will discuss why should you make ethical and sustainable choices within your beauty routine?

I hear and read the words “sustainability”, “eco-friendly” and “ethical” every day, whether I am listening to my friends chat about their food choices, reading a blog review of a foundation or just scrolling through my Instagram feed. With the prominent place that sustainability is taking in our daily lives, I couldn’t help but wonder why would my mascara choice be of any importance to anyone else other than myself?

I bet I am not the only one with this approach. We often disregard the subject of sustainability because we can’t understand the power of a single choice over the other 9 billion people making one for themselves. Yet, if we all implemented simple changes to our daily lives, then it would make a difference, wouldn’t it?

A new decade is approaching, so why not use that cliché “New year, new me” to focus more on beauty products that are good to your skin and the environment. Join me for a series of articles that will give you a better understanding of the benefits of shopping for eco-friendly products and how to find them.

Let’s start with what ethical and sustainable beauty means?

Ethical beauty refers to cosmetics that are free of animal-derived ingredients, cruelty-free and free of chemicals that have a potential health risk. Ethical also applies to the processes of creating the products that we will then see on the shelves. 

Sustainable cosmetics use natural ingredients, produced from renewable raw materials. The sustainable beauty movement is based upon the so-called bio-based oleochemicals, which are derived from plant and bacteria sources that can be renewed.  

What are the key characteristics of ethical and sustainable beauty?

Once we have decided to switch up our beauty routine with eco-friendlier products, it is time to hunt the right ones.  Reading the labels is the first step of this process, but don’t worry, it is not all tedious as it may seem. There are a few criteria you need to look for when navigating through products and the list below will guide you through it.

Criteria at a glance:

Vegan

Vegan products don’t contain any animal ingredients. This means that some of the most common ingredients in the beauty industry such as beeswax, milk, eggs, honey, and collagen, have not been used in the production of cosmetics.

Cruelty-free

Cruelty-free entails that the ingredients or the product have not been tested on animals at any stage of their development. This practice should be certified with the symbol on the packaging. So, just follow the bunny when looking for cruelty-free products. 

Organic & Natural

Products that are organic and natural don’t contain any GMOs, artificial fertilizers, artificial coloring, preservatives or chemicals. Beauty brands tend to use artificial preservatives to make their products have a longer shelf life. The products could be sitting there awhile before you lay your eyes on them and decide they are the ones you want. However, many of the synthetic preservatives can be irritating for your skin, as well as carcinogenic and neurotoxic. Not ideal, right?

Palm Oil-free

Palm oil-free products don’t contain any palm oil or its derivatives. The growth and harvesting of these oilseeds are responsible for the destruction of the rain forests. Once they have been destroyed, the animals that lived there will suffer the consequences.

Ethical sourcing

Ethical sourcing involves emphasizing on ensuring that the raw products are sourced responsibly, the workers are treated fairly and have safe working conditions. The companies should consider the social and environmental impacts throughout the process of developing the products.

Thoughtful packaging

More often than not, cosmetics packaging can’t be recycled as it is a mix of plastic, metal and often glass (in the shape of mirrors). It is better to look for packaging made of glass, recycled/ recyclable cardboard, or recyclable plastic. Some companies are offering a refillable option which is not only great for sustainability but also for your bank account as the refill tends to be cheaper.

Why should you consider switching to ethical and sustainable beauty?

You may still be on the fence about making the change to eco-friendlier cosmetics. I get it, my first reaction was “Can I afford to buy these products, they must be more expensive, right?”. Yes, a sustainable mascara might run me a few more dollars. However, I will know that the products in it are good for you and to the planet. One of my previous articles features a product that is sustainable in all possible ways and great for your armpits, read here.

Curious to learn more about which brands to look for that offer ethical and sustainable beauty? You don’t need to go to the shop or the website and start reading every label. Stay tuned for the rest of the articles in this series that will help you discover sustainable brands as well as ingredients that are natural and eco-friendly.

But in the meantime just to get you started, check out this website which checks and rates your product of choice’s ingredients.