Clean Beauty or Greenwashing?

Clean Beauty is the pursuit of self-care and beauty products that are safe and toxin-free. 

The frequent use of words like "natural", "organic", "botanical", "green", and "vegan" in company advertising convinces consumers that we have many such healthy options, but the reality is quite different.

The practice of using these buzzwords to imply product safety is "greenwashing," and it triggers buying decisions made by health-conscious shoppers, but the words themselves are not regulated and therefore mean nothing.

Shocked? Angered? So was I. Let's discuss ways to take back control of this situation.

Greenwashing

Greenwashing is the use of unsubstantiated buzzwords in advertising to trigger purchases. Industries are well aware that no regulations exist for the use of words such as: all-natural, botanical; or green; therefore, they use these terms on labels to imply the safety of various products so an unsuspecting public purchases them in their effort to live a healthier lifestyle. 

Wow! What a disturbing image. 

Read more in this article from French Vogue

Which of the following indicates that a product is safe?

• vegan

• free from artificial dyes and fragrances

• organic

Answer: none of the above

Then what do we do?

Clean beauty, like all other areas of living a healthy lifestyle, require us to be our own advocates.

- educate yourself

- find companies that you trust

- read the ingredient list - always!

Read What is Clean Beauty?

Where do I begin???

If you are overwhelmed at the thought of finding clean alternatives for all of your beauty, self care, household and outdoor products, here is a short list to get you started.  

• Begin with the products you use on your face and head

• Find one or two companies that you trust and stay loyal to them

• Know where to go to find accurate information

Wrap Up...

Clean beauty is something we all would love to attain, but that means a little something different to each of us and we are all at different levels of awareness and preparedness to do so. 

Like so much in life, if we want to help one another become the best we can be, let's share what we know without condescension or angst in the true hope of bringing life-giving options to others and not simply in the pursuit of "being right". 

If you would like to add to the conversation, I would love to hear from you! Please comment here in my blog or on YouTube but I ask that you lead with kindness so your message can be heard. 

For more information:

These groups are known for providing cutting edge information about health and wellness products; which ingredients to look out for; and brands that you can trust; with no ulterior motive. 

Environmental Working Group

The Good Face Project

Think Dirty

Look for my live interview with Katie Jeroudi, The Shocking Truth About Clean Beauty You Need to Know NOW, on YouTube. Katie is a representative for Pure Haven, a direct sales company that strives to make the safest, most effective products with only non toxic ingredients

Side note: I planned on providing the ingredients to look out for in skincare and cosmetics, but every site that I visited had a slightly different list. This is something you will truly have to research on your own. The good news is that once you determine the ingredients you want to avoid, you will be equipped to find the right products and brands for you.