Clean Beauty for Beginners: An Easy Guide
In This Artice
The interesting thing about “Clean Beauty” is that it is pretty subjective, meaning it is highly unregulated in most countries. That means companies have no actual requirements if they want to slap “clean” on their product.
That puts us, consumers, in a difficult position where it becomes our responsibility to choose products that do not harm our well-being.
This article will discuss how some products in our makeup bags can make us sick, what ingredients we should avoid when buying beauty stuff, and the most important things to consider when choosing self-care products.
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What is Clean Beauty?
The official definition doesn’t seem to exist so each individual may have their own interpretation of clean beauty. In the broadest sense:
Clean beauty products are self-care items free from ingredients that are known or suspected to be harmful to human health.
Some of those toxic ingredients in personal care products can cause minor issues such as allergies and skin irritation, while others can disrupt your hormones or be cancerogenic.
Makeup Bag Full of Surprises
When it comes to makeup, not all products are created equal. Many items in our makeup bags contain ingredients that can pose serious risks to our health. Common culprits include parabens, phthalates, and sulfates.
Parabens, often used as preservatives, can disrupt hormone function, while phthalates, found in fragrances, have been linked to reproductive issues.
Sulfates, which create lather, can irritate the skin and strip away natural oils. Being aware of these ingredients is crucial for protecting your well-being and making safer choices in your beauty routine.
How to Choose Safe Self-Care Products Better?
“Organic”, “Clean” and “Green” labels don’t have any specific requirements to slap them on the package in the US.
So, instead, we need to learn how to read labels, what sources to trust, and what apps can help us to choose the safest products.
Check the Ingredient List
If you grab a makeup product and you see that the ingredient list is longer than the line of tourists in front of the Louvre, you need to check it out for the most commonly known toxic ingredients:
- Parabens (e.g., methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben)
- Phthalates (e.g., diethyl phthalate)
- Sulfates (e.g., sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate)
- Formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing agents (e.g., quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea)
- Triclosan
- Synthetic fragrances
- Toluene
- Polyethylene glycols (PEGs)
- Diethanolamine (DEA) and triethanolamine (TEA)
- Chemical sunscreens (e.g., oxybenzone, octinoxate)
Use Established Resources to Verify Your Makeup:
Clean Beauty Labels You Can Trust:
Some of the labels that you can see on the package of a product can be trusted. There are a whole bunch of well-known organizations that make sure that something you put on your skin is will not harm you. Here are these labels:
Bad Smelling Business – Why Your Fragrance Can Be Toxic
Fragrances might make you smell good and be extremely pleasant for your nose, but they can hide a multitude of toxic ingredients that are anything but pleasant for your health.
In the United States, the regulation of cosmetics, including fragrances, falls under the jurisdiction of the FDA. However, unlike drugs, cosmetics do not require FDA approval before they go to market, except for color additives. The FDA enforces laws that ensure cosmetics are safe and properly labeled, but it relies on companies to substantiate the safety of their products and ingredients.
Companies that create fragrances are still not obligated to disclose what exactly they mean when they put “perfume” or “fragrance” in the ingredient list. They can still legally hide a multitude of potentially harmful chemicals under the term “fragrance” or “perfume” on ingredient lists.
From skin irritations to serious health risks like cancer and endocrine disruption, it’s crucial to understand the hidden dangers of your perfume or cologne.
Skin Irritations on the Rise
Certain products or environmental factors can cause these triggers. Soaps, laundry detergents, fragrances, perfumes and skin care products can cause skin sensitivity
Banner Health
The amount of people who refer to their skin as “sensitive” has skyrocketed in the last two decades. That could be increased stress levels as the main factor, but our excessive love of cleanness, soaps, over-exfoliating, and putting gallons of fragrance on our skin contribute.
Cancerogens
Some ingredients in fragrances are not just irritants but potential carcinogens. For instance, certain phthalates, which are used to help fragrances last longer, have been linked to cancer. Diethyl phthalate (DEP) and dimethyl phthalate (DMP) are commonly found in personal care products and have shown adverse effects in animal studies.
Again, legally speaking, companies are not obligated to state that those compounds are, in fact, in the formula of the fragrance. Nor do they have to specifically state it somewhere on the package. There are a lot of loopholes that some big companies use to no disclose the actual, full ingredient list of the product.
The thing is that it is impossible to say whether your specific perfume is safe for you. Since any rubbish can be hidden under a carpet named “fragrance”, it is easier to just eliminate the majority of fragrances. The good thing is that there are non-toxic perfumes on the market available.
Endocrine Disruptors and Their Real Danger
Fragrances can also contain endocrine disruptors—chemicals that interfere with the body’s hormone systems. Compounds like butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), often used in fragrance formulations, can mimic or inhibit hormone actions, leading to reproductive issues and developmental problems.
If you are on a mission to start a family or experience some hormonal imbalances, one of the first things you may think to do is to limit your exposure to artificial fragrance at least in your home.
Greenwashing is the New Fashion
Greenwashing is a growing concern where companies mislead consumers by falsely marketing their products as environmentally friendly. This practice exploits the increasing demand for sustainable and clean products, making it difficult for consumers to discern genuinely eco-friendly options.
The United States has limited regulations to combat greenwashing, relying mainly on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and its Green Guides, which offer guidelines but lack stringent enforcement mechanisms.
In contrast, the European Union has more comprehensive regulations, including the EU Ecolabel and stricter advertising standards, which provide clearer criteria and more robust enforcement against misleading environmental claims.
Knowing all of that how can we help ourselves when choosing safe products? We should check for credible third-party certifications like the EU Ecolabel or Fair Trade!
Can we Eliminate All Toxic Ingredients From Our Life – Realistic Approach
Realistically speaking the very fact of being alive means that there will always be toxins around us, outside, in our home, in our food, in our self-care products. That is a part of life. We definitely cannot eliminate all of it from our lives. Trying to do that is ultimately failing.
What we can do, on the other hand, is to slowly change things in our homes to minimize the amount of toxicity around us. This is what is in our power. That way it happens over time, without stress and it doesn’t seem hard and expensive because it happens steadily.
When we realize that our makeup bag is full of products that are terrible for our health, we don’t throw it all away in one step. We keep using them and as they finish themselves, we can try new, cleaner products instead. That way it doesn’t overwhelm us, it gives us a sense of control over the situation. And one day you will realize that your whole makeup bag consists of products that are relatively harmless and still give you good results. Here are some helpful articles on clean beauty swaps:
Articles on Clean Beauty
The same manner works for home. Here’s some material that will help you to go steadily and slowly make your home more of a safe place for you and your loved ones:
