I see many brands including myself using the term “clean beauty” but how clean is it really?
If we really dive deep nothing is pure once it has been removed from its original source, it now becomes a chemical “why” once taken from source it will be processed, manipulated, combined with other substances, altered from its natural state in some form.
Its important to take note of brands who use the word clean or pure beauty. While its hard to believe conventional beauty companies would ever include harmful ingredients in products, they do, its still common practice and perfectly legal today. Although there is a focus upon ingredients being natural and organically sourced, the main trait of clean beauty is that is toxic free meaning there are no ingredients that will cause harmful health effects.
When purchasing beauty products what is most important to you?
What are the brand ethics, are the products sustainable, who is the person behind the brand, does the brand give back in some kind of way, is there brand transparency, and of course what are the ingredients used in there products. What is so clean about your beauty brand. More and more beauty brands are producing beauty products that are cleaner for the skin and sustainably packaged, without the long list of ingredients linked to harmful health effects. The harmful effects may range from hormone disruption to cancer, to skin irritation just to name a few.
The science of it all can be a little murky, what's considered “clean” or “dirty” when it comes to ingredients can vary depending on the brand. There is no official definition of “clean beauty” This is where it starts to get misused. However the clean beauty movement has grown over the last decade; creating a stem of conscious consumers being more aware of what’s in there beauty products and can they trust them. As a result, consumers are increasingly questioning and scrutinizing ingredients labels. If we know what to look for, we can avoid some of the obvious harmful ingredients such as antifreeze (propylene glycol) in our moisturisers. The content of a product by law must be stated on the label or on the website. The first ingredient listed, is the higher percentage of what that product is mainly made up of. In many cases you will see (aqua) water as the first ingredient on moisturiser labels. If you find the very natural ingredients being advertised is a high concentration of vitamin C but this is at the bottom of the ingredients list then you may want to question how authentic is this product.
Ingredients to avoid
Parabens| Synthetic Fragrances| Aluminum Compounds| Ethoxylated Agents| Formaldehyde| Refined Petroleum| Hydroquinone| Talc| Tricolsan| Silica| Oxybenzone| Artifical Colours| Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)| Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS)
Keep in mind, whether an ingredient is safe or not, it’s not as straight forward as you may think. Depending on where in the world you are. The EU has banned over 1300 ingredients from cosmetics where as the US has only banned around 30. You also have to consider that every ingredient in the world can be toxic in the wrong dose.
