Clean beauty very simply means products that are good for you and the environment. It means all raw materials used are sustainably sourced from audited supply lines, obsessively tested for toxic ingredients and safety endpoints like carcinogenicity, reproductive harm, and every ingredient is transparently listed on every label.
Regardless of the myriad reasons we may express for going gray, we all have at least one commonality: in doing so we have helped limit our exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals and minimized our toxic load as a result.
While many of us made our decision to go gray at least partially on the desire to escape the toxic ingredients, too many are unaware there is even a reason for concern, even after the research surfaced two years linking breast cancer with hair dye and higher cancer rates for salon workers.
A recent discovery of asbestos in children’s makeup at Claire’s, which they refused to recall, brought new awareness, shock, and outrage, and rightfully so. But asbestos is in many makeup and self-care products targeted to all of us.
Clean/ vegan/natural/ cruelty-free/ green/ organic….What does it all mean?
Very little, unfortunately. Companies can claim to be whatever they want because there is no accountability and very little transparency.
Find companies who are certified Corps, those committed to full transparency in all business practices from sourcing to production to final product, or at least companies who print all ingredients on every label and do not use fragrance. There should be nothing to hide.
I am approached regularly to promote “clean” products that are not actually clean. The website and label claim an all-natural product that is maybe free of sulfates, but a quick search reveals parabens and phthalates in the first ten ingredients, and almost always. . . fragrance.
True, clean beauty products will cost more until the industry requires higher standards for all because the proper formulations, environmentally sound and humane product sourcing, extensive testing, and sustainable packaging costs more.