The new con is “Clean Beauty”. But, behind the con, there is a real problem we can help solve.

Green, organic, natural, they keep adding empty adjectives to cosmetics. Sustainability, eco-friendly, honest, so many words and more will be added to the advertising dictionary.

Why empty? Because they have no legal definition so that advertising people can fill the words with whatever meaning is convenient (or none). Words devoid of meaning are used to cheat.

But let’s be clear: behind all that advertising and marketing, there are objectives worth pursuing. Why, then, do these words bother me so much?

Because they are used to hide ingredients and packaging that contradicts the “pure sentiment” behind the words.

What are the objectives?

• Effective products. If not effective, why sell them?
• Safe ingredients and products. If not safe, why on earth are you selling them?
• Low environmental cost (e.g. biodegradable ingredients). Let’s not destroy earth in our pursuit of clear skin!

The following  are not worthwhile objectives

• Natural. Our body doesn’t care how the ingredient was made as long as the chemical structure is the same
• “Plant-derived” “Nature derived”. Empty wording
• Using biodegradable packaging that may react with the product it contains

We shouldn’t forget our priorities: we must supply products that are effective and safe. When you ignore the basics… this is what happens:  It’s very bad when companies that produce organic baby food end up supplying food containing a high concentration of heavy metals

Then, let’s keep in mind the objectives: safe and effective. This doesn’t mean that we forget about our environment!

We at Skin Actives have been at the forefront of the sustainability issue since long before we created our company.

What can we do for the environment while producing good, effective, and safe skincare products?

• Avoid sourcing from species in danger of extinction
• Avoid sources that employ transgenic plants, a day of the triffids danger
• Promote projects that recycle plastics, like the Plastic neutral initiative
• Promote projects that decrease our carbon footprint
• Cruelty-free: no products tested on animals, a useless practice anyway
• Offer vegan products whenever possible

Do you have any suggestions? Please let me know.

Hannah