The world reflects this appreciation, too: the clean beauty market is estimated to reach $22 billion globally by 2024.
WHY CLEAN BEAUTY?
WHAT IS CLEAN BEAUTY?
There has been a recent shift in the awareness of beauty consumers. As the world is rapidly changing around us, it is necessary now more than ever to prioritize a wellness-forward lifestyle, along with the transparency, safety, and ethics of cosmetic + personal care products.
As beauty industry trends shift from a strong makeup focus to an emphasis on skincare + skin health, the appreciation for clean, conscious ingredients runs deep across many generations.
However, we have distances yet to travel. No federally regulated standard or policy exists to clearly define clean beauty. Little by little, we inch closer to this affirmation as many beauty brands + public health leaders advocate for change.
I am SO here
for it.
To me, Clean Beauty means:
Striving to be free from as many as possible ingredients that can be harmful to the human body or one's well-being.
The ingredients are safer, start with a nontoxic base, and are backed by standards that ensure attentive evaluation. It’s beauty that is considerate, ethical, and fully transparent. Clean beauty limits or even eliminates levels of risk to the consumer.
Retailers are here for it, too. Many cosmetics stores are developing a framework to consider products "clean."* (My favorite retailer leading the way in clean beauty is Credo Beauty.)
Get started on your clean beauty journey with this Ingredient Awareness Guide, a helpful introductory guide to the ingredients I avoid in my beauty products.
*Every retailer uses a different standard to determine which ingredients need to be excluded for consideration in their “clean” list. These standards are not yet regulated by any legislation.
COSMETICS AND PERSONAL CARE FACTS:
- The main law governing the beauty industry, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, was passed by the United States Congress in 1938
- In the past 80+ years, tens of thousands of ingredients (many of them chemicals) have been introduced and included in personal care products like cosmetics, skincare, hair care + perfume.
- The European Union bans about 1,300 ingredients from personal care products. The United States only bans 11.
- With little to no testing, the FDA allows known toxins, endocrine disruptors (hormone disruptors), reproductive disruptors, organ function disruptors + carcinogens into our personal care products.
- Through the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the use of “Fragrance” is a common loophole to hide toxic ingredients in personal care + cosmetics products. This act exempts “Fragrance” and related ingredients from the need-to-know facts on product labels. Therefore, companies are not required to disclose all of the ingredients in their products to protect their “trade secrets.”
