The Dirty Truth About the Clean Beauty Industry
Clean beauty is trending. In fact, its name makes you think that all your other makeup and skincare products are unclean, dirty, and bad for you. It’ll even make you second-guess whether you should abandon everything you used to love, all your holy grail products, and make the switch to using clean beauty products exclusively. But it’s not as simple as that.
What is clean beauty?
Clean beauty brands like Beautycounter and Versed give themselves a pat on the back and award themselves the clean beauty badge. They use buzzwords like “clean” to inform consumers that their products don’t contain specific ingredients that are controversial, such as sulfates and parabens. The problem with these labels is that there is no industry standard or federal regulation on cosmetics.
While the FDA may ban harmful ingredients, like chloroform and mercury, in cosmetics, it also “does not pre-approve cosmetic products or ingredients.” So the FDA makes sure that companies can’t use 11 ingredients that can directly harm you, that’s as far as it goes — leaving it up to the cosmetic brands to make sure the final product is safe.
Here are a few examples of how much the clean beauty industry can vary:
Sephora has 40 ingredient categories that are prohibited in order to earn the “Clean at Sephora” badge.
Ulta has 24 ingredient categories that brands must exclude to make its “Made Without List.”
Target lists 13 ingredients to avoid for brands to get its “Target Clean” beauty badge.
Are chemicals bad for you?
No. Chemicals are not inherently bad. Even water, if you recall your high school chemistry class, H2O, is a chemical. Oxygen, yes, the very gas we breathe, is also a chemical.
There’s no such thing as a chemical-free product. It’s not important whether or not it’s a (natural or synthetic) chemical, but the quantity and how you use it. So when crusaders quote scientific studies with claims that specific chemicals are toxic, interferes with your hormones, or cause cancer, you’ll need to look at the context of the study itself.
For example, some argue against chemical sunscreens, claiming toxicity and that the ingredient oxybenzone is a hormone disrupter. But if you look at the study, these rats were fed an astronomically high dose of the chemical over four days.
To quote the first toxicologist Paracelsus, “The dose makes the poison.” And so does the method of administration. Just like we can’t breathe 100% oxygen, and we shouldn’t inject it into our veins. Instead, there is a “normal” or “safe” range of a chemical and a proper way to use it.
The issue with “all-natural” makeup
On the flip side, all-natural makeup is a marketing ploy. For example, arsenic is natural. But you wouldn’t want it in your foundation.
On the other hand, iron oxide, a commonly used pigment in lipsticks, is a naturally occurring mineral. But most countries ban “natural” iron oxides because, naturally, they can be contaminated with heavy metals. Instead, the law requires that iron oxides in makeup be synthetic. So obviously, “all-natural” lipsticks can’t actually use this ingredient. It’s a catch-22.
And to top it all off, some natural brands are owned by chemical giants. For instance, Burt’s Bees is owned by Clorox. Yes, the same chemical company with disinfecting wipes that kill COVID-19 is the parent company of that earth-friendly, nature-loving company whose products are made with at least 95% “natural” ingredients.
And I still love products from both brands! For example, I use Burt’s Bees Firming Moisturizing Cream every day to lock in The Ordinary’s hyaluronic acid AND I use Clorox Disinfecting Wipes all around my house to keep my family safe. You don’t have to pick and choose.
Should you avoid preservatives?
The latest fad is to look for products that are preservative-free, giving chemicals like parabens a bad rep.
Preservatives keep our cosmetics safe. They prevent the growth of harmful microbes, which can irritate your skin and cause more serious health issues and infections. They also extend the shelf life and stability of the product. So I’d rather have a mold-free mascara than a preservative-free wand of bacteria.
Busting the myth: Your skin absorbs 60% of what you put on it in 26 seconds
You’ve likely come across these types of statistics on the internet, or you’ll often hear it from natural or clean beauty promoters. Another variation is that your skincare and makeup get absorbed straight into your bloodstream in 26 seconds. That’s such a precise time that it must be true, right? No. It’s a fake statistic that no one can track down the origin of and is designed to scare you.
You don’t suddenly get heavier when you take a bath. And most of our makeup is still on our face at the end of the day. And if that were true, your skincare should be phenomenally more effective.
Unfortunately, most makeup and skincare products can’t even penetrate the outer layer of the skin (the epidermis), let alone the other two underlying layers (the dermis and subcutaneous fat layer). That’s why people opt for Botox injections because their anti-aging cream just isn’t cutting it. So the products you put on your skin have a long way to go before it hits your bloodstream.
And if it does make it to the bloodstream, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s harmful to your body.
Should you “clean” up your beauty routine?
Maybe. It depends on your budget, values, and what works for you. Here are a few things you can do:
1. Check the ingredients.
If you know an ingredient that irritates your skin or makes you break out, it’s best to avoid it. But no brand’s “clean” beauty sticker can do that for you.
2. Opt for fragrance- and dye-free.
Fragrance and color don’t make a product more effective. And some people are sensitive to the added ingredients. Plus, you’ll often see “fragrance” labeled as an ingredient itself, but not what was used to make it. So it may be better to skip the extras altogether.
3. Choose eco-friendly products.
Environmentally-friendly brands pay attention to how a product is sourced, made, packaged, and distributed. If you want less waste and a gentler impact on the earth, opt for “green” or “sustainable” beauty.
4. Go with vegan or cruelty-free brands.
Vegan means that the product doesn’t contain animal-derived ingredients or its byproducts. Cruelty-free indicates that the company doesn’t test on animals. But these two labels are not interchangeable.
Vegan brands don’t generally have a third-party certification to validate their claims. But you can always look for the Leaping Bunny certification to check if a product is cruelty-free.
5. Support charitable beauty brands.
Another way to do more is to choose brands that give back. For example, 10% of every Burt’s Bees purchase goes towards human and honeybee health, and Tatcha donates a portion of every purchase towards funding girls’ education in countries like Cambodia and Nepal.