The Real Guide to Sustainable Beauty Products

Let’s be real: the beauty industry can be a mess. Between plastic waste, harsh chemicals, and brands pretending that they care about the planet, it’s hard to know what’s actually sustainable. Luckily, this guide is here to help you make sense of it all, with no fluff, and no greenwashing. 

What Does Sustainable Beauty Even Mean?

You have likely heard the term “sustainable beauty” before at some point. Are these just meaningless buzzwords, though? They can be. It all depends on the policies implemented by the beauty company that’s using them.

In the most general sense, “sustainable beauty” is supposed to mean practices or products in the cosmetics industry that: 

• Promote transparent and ethical business operations
  
  
• Prioritize the minimization of the company’s environmental impact 
  

 

If you are trying to support companies that claim to operate in the realm of sustainable beauty, these are the two components you are presumably going to be looking for. Any business entity in the cosmetics niche that doesn’t check each of these two boxes should not be considered “sustainable beauty compliant.”

It’s Not Just About the Ingredients

When a company talks about sustainable beauty, it’s natural for a potential customer to think about the ingredients that go into what they are potentially buying from that brand. Ingredients are absolutely a part of what you should be looking at when trying to decide whether a company is one that you’d like to support. That’s only part of it, though. 

Let’s look at some other areas that can help you determine whether a company is following sustainable beauty practices.

• The Packaging: Is the packaging or are the receptacles that the company uses either recyclable, refillable, or both?
• Labor: Were the workers treated fairly? This is another question that typically goes into the determination of whether a brand is really living up the code of sustainable beauty.
  
  
• The Carbon Footprint: How far did this product have to travel to get to you? Typically, the further it went to reach you, and the more the planet was negatively impacted by the process, the less sustainable the product is.  

Watch Out for Greenwashing

Now, let’s talk about greenwashing. The term refers to companies that deceptively try to convey misleading information or to give a false impression to their customers. They are trying to virtue signal that their products or practices don’t harm the environment, when in fact, the opposite is true. 

A great example would be any company that tries to throw around terms like “green,” “sustainable,” or “eco.” However, when pressed, they can’t point to any actual practice or tendency that lends credence to the use of these terms. 

If you want to feel better about the beauty products you use, and you want to only financially support companies that you think aren’t harming the planet, then look for detailed descriptions of their green initiatives. If a company can’t or won’t tell you how their product is sustainable, then it probably isn’t. 

Why More People Are Ditching Traditional Beauty Products

There are many types of beauty products you can buy, from small batch ones you might get at a craft show to mass market ones you can purchase at your local grocery store. It’s sometimes hard to tell which ones are sustainable. 

However, the reality is that more people seem to be moving away from mass market products, and often, it’s because the mega-conglomerates that manufacture them can’t convince their would-be customers that they’re green-friendly. It makes sense, since the mass production of any product often pollutes. It can be genuinely difficult to make a company more green when it’s running a factory that produces tens of thousands of the same product every day. 

However, there are even more specific reasons why some individuals are getting away from traditional beauty products. They include the following:

Health Concerns

A lot of mainstream products in the beauty niche are loaded down with fillers and additives like artificial fragrances, parabens, and sulfates. These can negatively impact your hormones, trigger allergies, or dry out your skin.

Environmental Damage

Increasingly, more members of the general public want to be more ethical with their beauty routines. They feel that such routines shouldn’t come at the expense of the planet. They know that plastic caps, single-use wipes, and bottles add up quickly. The microplastics from cleansers and scrubs can end up in the oceans, but also in our food chain.

How to Know if a Product is Actually Sustainable

This leads us to the question of how you can tell whether a product is actually sustainable. If green buzzwords and companies virtue signalling can’t necessarily be trusted, are there more dependable ways to tell if a business entity is engaged in sustainability practices?

There are, and the following are some of the more reliable ways you can make sure the beauty companies you’re supporting are actually following through on their creed to protect the environment. 

Labels and Certifications That Matter

The labels and certifications that you might see on a bar of soap or a moisturizing cream matter more than you may have thought. For instance, look for:

• The FSC Label: This is the Forest Stewardship Council logo. When you see it, it means this company supports sustainable forestry practices.
  
  
• The Leaping Bunny or Cruelty-Free Logo: These mean the company does not test its products on animals.
  
  
• The EWG-Certified Label: This one means the product adheres to safety standards set by the Environmental Working Group for the purpose of health and transparency. The company engages in sound manufacturing practices and discloses all of its ingredients. 
  
  
• The Plastic-Free or Compostable Logos: These mean the product either uses no plastic or that it is made with strictly biodegradable materials.
  
  

The more of these you see, the more you can trust the company and feel good about buying its products. But what about logos or markings on a beauty product you should avoid?

Read the Ingredients Like a Pro

Avoid these red flags:

• SLS/SLES: These are drying agents that went into the creation of the product. They stand for sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate. They will often dry out or irritate your skin.
  
  
• Parabens: Though these preservatives are added to many beauty products, they can wreak havoc on your hormones. 
    
• Synthetic Dyes and “Fragrances”: These can hide toxins that went into the creation of the product. 

Small Swaps That Can Make a Major Difference

It might seem difficult to switch out all of the products in your life that seem problematic once you take a closer look at their labels. You can start to make positive changes, though, and it needn’t be as hard as you might have envisioned. 

Everyday Products You Can Replace Today

Any of the following changes should make you feel a lot better about your beauty routine. 

• Shampoo Bars Instead of Plastic Bottles: These days, many companies that are mindful of green concerns offer their shampoos in bar form rather than in plastic bottles.
  
  
• Refillable Deodorants with Aluminum-Free Formulas: Some companies have started creating refillable deodorant containers. They have also purged aluminum from their list of deodorant ingredients. Aluminum has been repeatedly linked to health concerns like breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease in older users. 
  
  
• Bamboo Toothbrushes Rather Than Plastic Ones: You can now buy toothbrushes with bamboo as their primary source material instead of plastic. Plastic won’t biodegrade, so if you can use less of it, you’re helping the planet.
  
  
• Cotton Rounds You Can Wash and Reuse: Cotton rounds are a part of many daily beauty routines. Some companies now offer ones you can wash and reuse.
  
  
• Solid Lotion Bars Instead of Pump Bottles: Much like shampoos, you can now purchase solid lotion bars rather than buying your favorite kind in a pump bottle that will probably end up in a landfill.

Our Top 5 Sustainable Beauty Favorites

Now, let’s look at some of our favorite sustainable beauty options you may want to try as you get more into the green lifestyle.

• Ethique Shampoo Bar: These have legit amazing smells, and you can get ones that add volume to your hair, enhance its shine, or give you better scalp health. They also last an incredibly long time.
  
  
• Meow Meow Tweet Deodorant Stick: In addition to having a fun name, this deodorant stick gives you a fresh, clean smell and can eliminate the odor from a hard day of work.
  
  
• Wild Refillable Lip Balm: This lip balm has a sleek, reusable case, and it comes in flavors like cola and orange marmalade.
  
  
• EcoRoots Reusable Pads: These pads come in sets of 10. They are soft and ideal for applying face cream, toner, lotion, etc.
  
  
• Attitude Body Lotion Bar: This bar melts just like butter, so there’s no waste left behind. It’s also free of harmful additives and plastic waste.
  
  
• Real Talk: Is Sustainable Beauty Worth It?

At this point, you might be wondering whether it’s worth it to try to live a greener lifestyle when it comes to your daily beauty routine. Many individuals feel that it is. It all comes down to your sense of personal responsibility. 

It’s Worth It, But It Can Be an Imperfect System

If you want to help the planet, and you feel like one of the best ways to do that is through modifying your beauty routine, know that you might have to pay a little more upfront. Part of why beauty companies that pollute the planet proliferate is because mass marketing products with harmful environmental practices often makes them cheaper to buy. 

Your new routine may cost a little more upfront. However, there’s a flip side to that, as many of the more sustainable products on the market last longer. That’s a way you can look at your new planet-friendly beauty routine as balancing out if the upfront cost of making a change seems prohibitive.

You Don’t Have to Go 100% Green Overnight

There’s another factor that it’s crucial to mention. You can make small, incremental changes in your beauty routine if that’s what you feel up to right now. You don’t have to make wholesale changes all at once. 

Nobody’s perfect, so maybe you’ll start by switching out one or two products. Perhaps you’ll swap out your toothbrush one month, and then your shampoo the next. You can build a better routine step by step. 

Where to Start Your Sustainability Journey

If you’re unsure where to begin, looking at the labels of your regular beauty items makes sense. See whether any of the logos we’ve mentioned appear there, either the ones to avoid or those that indicate you’re dealing with an ethical company.

You can also try to incorporate some of the following.

What We Use at Home (And Love)

We’ve tested dozens of beauty products, and these are our go-tos if you’re ready to go green in your beauty routine:

• A Solid Shampoo Bar for Travel: This avoids you having to use a bottle that probably can’t be recycled. Plus, you can get it through security at the airport so much easier.
  
  
• Refillable Face Cleanser: Using face cleanser that comes in a refillable receptacle means less waste. 
  
  
• Bamboo Cotton Swabs: The versatility of bamboo might surprise you, and not least among its properties is that you can use it for the creation of eco-friendly cotton swabs. These swabs feature a sturdy bamboo stick rather than a plastic one, along with organic cotton tips.  
  
  
• Compostable Floss: This is dental floss made of 100% biodegradable material.

We’re not perfect, but we’ve tried to make gradual changes, and you can too. 

Brands That Actually Walk the Walk

We’ve mentioned that a lot of beauty brands claim to be ethical or green, but not all of them are. Here are a few that impress us. You’ll find no sponsored links here. All the brands on this list earned their spot.

• Ethique: This brand uses several proven, sustainable practices, including no use of plastics or microplastics in their packaging.
  
  
• Meow Meow Tweet: They only use ingredients for their products that promote sustainable, regenerative farming practices.
  
  
• Plaine Products: They have gotten rid of single-use plastics by only offering refillable receptacles for their skincare, hair, and body products.
  
  
• Wild: They use all-natural ingredients, support reforestation, and have eliminated single-use plastics in their packaging. 
  
  
• EcoRoots: They use zero plastics in their packaging and make as many of their products suitable for multiple uses as possible.
  
  
• Bite: They have a carbon-neutral certification. They also use no plastics, use only sustainable ingredients in their products, and offer reliable, stylish bamboo toothbrushes.
  
  
  
  You can find many products from these manufacturers right here in our store.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Keep in mind that helping to protect the planet should be a lifelong mission. Taking small but meaningful steps can not only aid the environment. It can also help you to feel you’re making a positive change in the world.

This Process is About More Than Just Beauty

Everyone wants to look their best, but most people would agree it makes little sense to do that at the expense of the planet, especially when you can avoid such practices relatively easily. 

Choosing sustainable practices means you’re a part of something bigger than yourself. You’re part of a movement. You’re caring for your skin, and also the environment. 

Ready to Try One New Thing?

If you’ve read this far, that probably means what we’re saying is of interest to you. Here’s this week’s challenge: swap out just one of your beauty products that you know harms the environment for a more sustainable one. You might be surprised by how good it feels.