Consciously Shopping for Clean Beauty Products

Legitimate concerns about harmful chemicals used in beauty products have led to exponential growth in the clean beauty products industry. However, due to the lack of regulation, it’s all too easy for manufacturers to mislead consumers with labels such as safe and natural. This article will help you navigate your quest in shopping for clean beauty brands.

What are clean beauty products and brands?

Skincare products that are free of hazardous components are referred to as clean beauty. This usually indicates that clean beauty brands choose natural ingredients instead of synthetic ones because they are safer for consumers’ health and the environment. It’s an outright rejection of mainstream beauty products that use harmful substances like parabens, synthetic fragrances, phthalates, artificial colors, fragrances, and many more.

Clean beauty focuses on two important elements:

Remove bad components so it’s better for ‘me’.
Manufacture sustainable and environmentally friendly products so it’s better for ‘we’.

Why is buying clean beauty products a wise choice?

Harmful chemicals can irritate the skin, be carcinogenic, and disrupt the endocrine system. The skin is the largest and most essential organ in the human body as it protects other critical organs, muscles, bones, nerves, and more. This is why it is crucial to be extra cautious about what we apply to our skin.

Up to 60% of what we put on our skin is absorbed and it can have a beneficial or negative impact on our health and overall well-being. Any ingredient can be used in a formula, some of which are quite harmful to your health. Many components in traditional skincare products have now been linked to health problems such as allergies, dermatitis, cancer, hormone disturbance, and reproductive problems.

Tips for Buying Clean Beauty Products Online

Natural skincare has grown from a small but loyal following to a big global movement. There’s more choice and variety than ever before thanks to the plethora of clean beauty brands on the market. However, the number of options available can be intimidating, so how can you tell if a clean beauty shop sells truly “clean” products that are not harmful to your skin and overall health?

Labels

Labels are important indicators to understand the product’s manufacturing standards and processes. Labels that include terms such as raw ingredients, vegan, cruelty-free, non-GMO, organic, sustainably sourced, and non-toxic are positive markers for an authentic clean product.

Raw Ingredients: These are mineral resources and plant-derived components. Filtration, extraction, drying, distillation, pressing, milling, lyophilization, and screening are safe techniques used to extract substances that involve minimal processing to preserve the nutritional qualities, vitamins, and useful elements.
Vegan: A beauty product does not contain any animal by-products or substances derived from animals. Beeswax, honey, lanolin, and tallow are common non-vegan components included in clean beauty products.
Cruelty-free: Indicates the product has not been tested on animals at any point throughout the manufacturing process or before the sale. It could also imply that no animal-derived substances were extracted at the price of an animal’s well-being. Note that a cruelty-free beauty product may not be vegan, and vice versa.
Non-GMO or Organic: Ingredients are harvested botanicals, naturally generated minerals, and organic oils that have not been treated or grown with pesticides, herbicides, or other potentially harmful agents.
Sustainably sourced: This establishes that all components sourced to manufacture the product were done without any damage to the environment that would displace or deplete any natural ecosystem.
Non-toxic: It signifies that any synthetic chemicals are proven not to be harmful to health (in any dose), so even if you apply more than the recommended amount to your skin on a daily basis.

Ingredients

The ingredients listed on a product can be overwhelming and complicated to decipher. Sometimes cosmetic products label themselves as “clean” based on what isn’t in the recipe, rather than what is. On the product or website, this is usually written as a list of “free from…”

Although clean beauty encompasses a wide range of products, some elements should be avoided at all costs. The most prevalent beauty ingredients to be concerned about, as well as the reasons behind their notoriety. There is an extensive list of ingredients to avoid altogether, which is worthwhile researching.

Parabens, fragrances, aluminum compounds, ethoxylated agents, formaldehyde, refined petroleum, hydroquinone, talc, triclosan, silica, BHA, BHT, and oxybenzone are some of the hazardous chemicals often used in mainstream skincare.

Pricing

Quality comes at a price. Online shops that offer bargain prices for ‘miracle’ products should be a warning sign. To produce clean beauty products, a lot more investment is required, which increases the retail price. Sustainable packaging, sourcing special ingredients, and innovation, safety, and research come at a premium. High-quality clean beauty brands typically cost more than what you find on the supermarket shelf because the companies have a dedicated mission that requires more resources to create the best products.

Reputable Brands

Last but not least is looking at reputable brands and reading online reviews. Trustworthy suppliers of clean beauty products like PureRaw are dedicated to providing health and wellness products that are certifiably clean. Researching reviews and the company’s website will tell you a lot about their sincerity in ensuring they are offering the best quality products that benefit you and the environment.

Consider small, niche beauty firms as well because they have been quietly expanding for the past decade. In comparison to large, established competitors, smaller businesses are more focused on providing a new generation of products to a consumer base that has a higher awareness of health and the environment.

Avoid and identify products and shops with greenwashing claims

Unfortunately, greenwashing is a widespread occurrence in the consumer goods business. It occurs when a firm deceives you into believing you are supporting items and brands that correspond with your own beliefs when, in fact, you are not. Some cosmetic brands may try to appear more sustainable than what they are, making It can be difficult to distinguish between the good and the bad.

However, you can do a little homework and use these tips to verify a product and retailer is trustworthy:

Always look at the buzzwords being used. You’re looking for evidence to back up assertions of being “clean” or “sustainable”, look for seals of approval and read the product’s labels.
If you’re unsure about a brand’s credentials, then simply ask them and take careful note of how they respond.
Claims lack credibility without independent third-party investigation, testing, and certification. There are independent bodies, reviews, and many online resources that will help you corroborate statements made by any brand.