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The Evolution of the Beauty Industry

When looking at the beauty industry as a whole we can date it back to ancient times. In a thesis presented by Brianna D. Connelly, we discuss “the historical economic perspective of the traditional beauty industry and the development of the organic beauty industry” (Connelly). Although many companies are switching over to being cleaner and organic for a good reason, some of them aren’t doing it right. They are using unnecessary amounts of our naturally derived ingredients which is causing and ingredient shortage (Connelly 46). This is why many companies are using harsh chemicals, to keep the scarce ingredients persevered. However, they are approaching it the wrong way instead of thinking of healthier and less harmful alternatives, they are using unnecessary ones that are causing problems with consumers. “Although organic consumers are 47 willing to pay higher prices for these beauty products based on preferences, most consumers will choose less expensive options and therefore enter markets that may not be sustainable or organic at all” (Connelly 46-47). However, this is becoming much less of a problem now. Many brands are coming out with affordable organic products because they have noticed the surge of organic products. For example, Sephora has a whole beauty section that is marked as clean beauty. This is super helpful especially because it had a huge range of low-end and high-end products. Being able to have this platform is necessary for those who need help starting their collection. Social media is also a huge influence in the beauty community. Beauty bloggers on every platform get paid to promote products, follow trends, and give their thoughts about topics in the beauty community. They do this by reviewing and testing out products, so the consumers don’t have to do. It also helps the brands by getting their names out there and having influential people promote their products which bring them more business. However, through this, there is also a problem with the bloggers not know what they’re reviewing some of them just promote the products for the money which isn’t helpful for anyone. This is why we must have reliable sources helping us out to find good and affordable products.

Being a watcher of these videos, I find it helpful for me to base my opinions off of something. It helps me to stray away from the bad products as well as test out the good ones but making sure it helpful towards me. This is something we all strive for and with our history of the beauty industry not being regulated, we need to make this change not only for the consumers but for the environment as well.

Connelly, Brianna D., "The Organic Beauty Industry: A Gendered Economic Review" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 138. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/138

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My Skincare Routine

I believe that I have a very eclectic skincare routine and a variety of different products. I try to keep my products as clean as possible, however, because I’m on a college budget, it's hard sometimes. I don’t think there is a huge difference between products from the drugstore versus products from stores likes Sephora. The first step in my skincare routine in a face wash. I use the double cleansing method. This method is derived from Korean Beauty and it used to make sure your skin is as clean as it can be. I start off with a mild cleanser, being the Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser that has amazing ingredients in it that are amazing for the skin such as Squalene, Vitamin E, and Apricot Kernel oil. This product has very limited ingredients and has few harsh chemicals, they are also cruelty-free. The second cleanser I use is the Clean and Clear Black Head Eraser. This brand claims to be cruelty-free, but they have many harsh chemicals in their products, unfortunately. For toners, I use two as well. I like to use the Kiehl's Ultra Facial Toner daily and use the Clinique Clarifying Lotion 1. I like to use the Kiehl's one every day because it’s more hydrating than the Clinique one and has a lot less chemical. The Kiehl's Ultra Facial Toner also has Squalene and Vitamin E oil in it. The Clinique Clarifying Lotion, on the other hand, is extremely alcohol-based, which is why I only use this when I have breakouts which the alcohol dries out. After my toners, I use the Sephora Collection Ultra Glow serum to bring brighten and even out my skin. This is one of Sephora’s clean beauty products, so it’s is free of most harsh and harmful ingredients. For my facial mist, I use the is the Heritage Rose Petals Rosewater Facial Toner, this is also a clean product that can be found at Whole Foods. I use this to hydrate and bring some glow to my face and neck. For my moisturizer, I use the Sephora Collection Nourishing Moisturizer. This is also another product form Sephora’s clean beauty products. The final step in my skincare routine is my eye cream. The eye cream I use the Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Eye Cream. This product is free of parabens and phthalates which is important to me especially because it is around my eyes. Overall, most of the products I use are cleaner and more organic than most, and I try my best to follow this. Once I find a brand that I like and I like their morals I tend to stick with them because I know I can trust them.

“Nourishing Moisturizer - Hydrate & Repair - SEPHORA COLLECTION.” Sephora, https://www.sephora.com/product/nourishing-moisturizer-hydrate-repair-P438620.

“Ultra Glow Serum: Glow Strengthen Vitamin C Serum - SEPHORA COLLECTION.” Sephora, https://www.sephora.com/product/ultra-glow-serum-glow-strengthen-vitamin-c-serum-P442594.

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My Clean Beauty Journey

I always knew about the clean beauty movement and I would follow it loosely. I stayed away from brands that I knew tested on animals and I was aware of brands that irritated my skin, so I tried to stay away from them. Up until recently, I wasn’t really concerned about it to the point where I would only shop clean, however that changed this summer. My mom and I were shopping at Sephora and I wanted to buy some skincare products from a brand that I was hearing about constantly. As I was looking at the different products the brand had to offer, an associate came up to me and started to ask me about what I was looking for. I told her I was just browsing this brand looking for some new products to add to my collection and she started to shake her head me. She expressed to me that my skin was too young for the hard chemicals that were in this brand's products. I never knew my skin could be too young for these products. The one chemical she told me that was in these products that I didn’t need in my collection yet was Retinol. Retinol is basically Vitamin A and helps to reduce fine lines and create my collagen, which is super harsh, especially for youthful skin. After telling me this, she directed me towards a section that had clean beauty products. I have extremely sensitive skin, so I have to be careful what products I put on my skin, so I don’t have irritation and breakouts. This section was meant for skin like mine. She gave me more details on their different products and the lack of chemicals in them, which is what I wanted. Something I didn’t know that Sephora offers is a clean beauty section. In stores, they have a leaf symbol next to the products that are until the clean beauty branch. They also have a page on their website that gives you hundreds of clean beauty products, makeup, and skincare. To be this is a genius idea, especially since it makes it so much easier to find the good products narrowing down your options.

Ever since I learned about this feature, I try to only shop this way. I understand that it can be hard sometimes because many brands rack up the process of their products just because they are labeled clean beauty. I believe that if you do your research on the different chemicals you know for 100% you should avoid and no longer buy products that have them, your collection can be much more beneficial.

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Laura’s Journal on Animal Testing For Cosmetics

Animal cruelty and animal testing have been a huge part of the beauty industry from the start. Today, many brands are still testing on animals, however, many of them have begun to no longer test this way. After being exposed for their horrible treatment of animals, many people have petitioned to put this to an end. In a law journal, Laura Donnellan discussed animal testing in cosmetics giving serious insight into the problem at hand. “For many years, animals were denied rights because humans believed that animals' apparent lack of communication skills meant animals also lacked reason” (Donnellan 252). Although there have been extreme improvements in animal testing over the centuries, they are this unbelievable. In Europe, this topic was a huge discussion. People in the European Union have realized that this is a highly important issue and them to stop the suffering of animals. In the past this wasn’t seen as an important enough issue, so they just pushed it to the side and there was no legal action taken. When the first began pushing for regulations and bills related to the beauty industry, these started with the safety of the consumer as well as the materials used in packaging. The only cared about the consumers because they were considered “sentiment beings”, whereas the animals these products were being tested on weren’t. There was a lot of back and forth regarding laws to put a ban on the testing. Bills were proposed and then postponed and if a bill was passed another bill ratified it. These industries kept trying to find loopholes to keep their testing styles the same. The journal discusses how there was a final bill to be passed in 2009, that prohibited “the sale of any new or existing product that has been tested on animals” (Donnellan 257).

Personally, I think that every brand and industry, from food to beauty, should ban all forms of animal testing. I don’t see how this is beneficial to humans. If there is a worry that it can be harmful towards humans, then why create it. If you even have to think about testing it to make sure it’s safe, it’s not. If you wouldn’t test on humans, why would you test on animals? They have just as many rights that we do, and this is something I have always believed. As of now, I am proud that there has been a push to improve this issue, but it needs to be pushed further. We have come this far, so we must put an end to it completely.  

Donnellan, Laura. “Animal Testing in Cosmetics: Recent Developments in the European Union and the United States.” Animal Law, vol. 13, no. 251, 2007, pp. 251–280. HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/anim13&id=261&men_tab=srchresults.

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Interviews With My Roommates

I asked my roommates a few questions to get their thoughts on the clean beauty movement to get a wider point of view on the topic. We all discussed clean beauty as a whole and what we all know about it. I already had previous knowledge from doing my previous research, so it was interesting to me to hear what their thoughts and feeling about it was. My roommate Alana is more involved in skincare and beauty than my other roommates. To her, clean beauty consists of organic and cruelty-free products. Jordanne explained how clean beauty involves minimal ingredients, mostly derived from plants and the earth. After getting our bearings on what clean beauty means, we discussed how we all take part in the movement. Alana, for the most part, said that most of her skincare consists of the clean elements. However, she thinks that she should do an inventory of her makeup because she believes that most of her products stray away from the guidelines. Jordanne follows the movement by shopping for cruelty-free products as well as ones that have a shortlist of ingredients present. The question we all had similar answers to was if we noticed a difference in our skin when we use clean products or not. Alana says she notices a real difference in her skin. In middle school and high school, she used to struggle horribly with acne. Because of this, she had to use a variety of prescribed treatments, which completely changed how her skin reacted to different chemicals. By switching to cleaner products, the appearance and quality of her skin improved immensely. Jordanne noticed that her skin felt overall cleaner like it could breathe. She also struggles with sensitive skin, so these cleaner products didn’t make her skin feel irritated. Knowing where we all stand in our personal journey with clean products, we put into thought how this is a societal issue. Alana talked about how when it comes to animal cruelty and skin safety, this is an important topic. Clean products can also be helpful to our environment by getting rid of harsh chemicals. Jordanne agreed with this 100%. She tries to be an advocate of animal cruelty and stray away from the brands that have a past in animal testing. Jordanne believes that this is a huge issue that needs to be taken into considerations by the consumer. After our discussed we took a look at the products they use every day and we talked about it the brands are known for being clean or not. For face wash, they use the brands Clean and Clear as well and Neutrogena. Clean and Clear claims they are cruelty-free however, their ingredients are not considered clean, they have many harsh chemicals and fragrances. Neutrogena has the same issue, they have harsh chemicals, such as fragrances and plastics. For toner, they use Mario Badescu and Clinique. Mario Badescu is cruelty-free and has a minimal list of ingredients, but they alcohols and fragrances as well. Clinique also has many harsh chemicals and they are not cruelty-free. Jordanne uses tea tree oil as well, which is all-natural and derived from plants. They both use many Lush products, which are cruelty-free and organic but they still contain some fragrances and other chemicals that can be considered harsh. 

Overall, many people have a consensus on what clean beauty is, but we don’t know for certain what is considered clean. Many of the brands that we see as all-natural, still have sneaky ingredients that can cause harm and irradiation to our skin.

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Gwyneth Paltrow's Need For Change

Why should I worry about clean beauty? What does it even mean? Clean beauty isn’t just about ugly ingredients being put into your products, it’s about the need for regulation in the manufacturing. Gwyneth Paltrow is a key advocate for clean beauty. Paltrow has taken the need for regulation and education on clean beauty, and she does this through her wellness site called Goop. Goop is setting the example of what the standards of beauty should be, especially within the beauty industry. The cosmetic industry is probably the most unregulated. “The personal care industry is effectively unregulated—the last piece of regulation (a single page at that), was passed in 1938—which means that companies are essentially free to do whatever they want, with no government oversight” (“Clean Beauty-…”). Many of the companies we know and probably use today were involved in this push for cleaner products. This is something that needs to be changed. Many of our products we use every day such as toothpaste, facial cleanser, and lip balms are being penetrated into our skin. These products carrying harmful ingredients are being soaked up by our skin. How can this be safe long term? It can’t be and that is why we need to fight for change. The clean beauty industry is pushing to regulate products left and right. Clean is simply living a non-toxic life, which is what we should be doing anyway. Companies originally didn’t feel the need to disclose what is in their products because people were buying them without a care. Moistures costing a ton, to just be filled with toxins. Quantity or quality I guess, right? Wrong. Just because it is a “luxurious” brand doesn’t make it better. This is not safe for the consumer. Not only are we spending horrendous amounts of money on products that are harmful, but we are fueling these companies, making it harder to shut them down in the long run. Clean beauty is being pushed harder than ever, especially because of the need for environmental clean-up. Clean beauty isn’t just related to the ingredients, but it also has to do with the packing and making sure they are safe for the environment. Our planet cannot break down certain plastics and metals used in our products’ packaging, but by getting rid of the toxic materials in those as well no only are we making our bathroom routine safer, but we are keeping our planet healthy too.

You can begin this movement by weaning out the products that aren’t necessary. Do your research on the ingredients in your products and if they are toxic, get rid of them. When shopping, go the organic and clean sections, chances are you will have an easier time finding the clean products here. If you are in need of some inspiration on where to start with your products, you can fist Goop and they have everything clean laid out for you.

“Clean Beauty - What Is Clean Beauty & Why Is It Important?” Goop, Goop, Inc., 26 July 2019, https://goop.com/beauty/personal-care/clean-beauty-and-why-its-important/.

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Bazaar’s Guide to Clean Beauty

When we think about clean beauty, most of us don’t know where to start, or what this even entails. Clean beauty is sweeping the nation and is being used by thousands of people every day. The need to cut out the harmful products, such as parabens, sulfates, and artificial fragrances, in our everyday life is something people all over the world are trying to fix. Bazaar is a central hub for health, wellness, beauty and so much more. They joined in on the topic of clean beauty and laid out the ultimate way to approach your lifestyle change. Not only did they discuss good ways to start, but they also gave you the rundown on all the nasty things being placed in our products. Overall, the clean beauty movement started with the harmful ingredients in our food and is now being looked at from every industry. “Clean beauty is a spectrum, but a case can be made that some ingredients should be avoided altogether” (Fleming and Rosenstein). Parabens are one toxic ingredient that is in so many of the products we use on a daily basis. Parabens are used as a preservative in many beauty products such as shampoo, moisturizers and shaving products. Parabens are to worry some for the mimicking of hormones, that can be released into our bodies through our pores, which can cause different interlay problems, there is talk that parabens can lead to cancer. However, this has not been confirmed, but if this is a possibility, why should we be using them. Fragrances are also being taken out of different products because of the new information that they cause irritation to the skin. The different chemicals in fragrances aren’t disclosed, which is scary. They carry so many different harmful chemicals that we are kept in the dark about. One chemical in fragrances that are a high concern is phthalates, which can be linked to infertilely, breast cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Most of us are probably aware of formaldehyde, which can be found in nail polish, laundry detergents, and furniture, but you might be unaware of it in your beauty items. This chemical is known for having harmful long-term effects when exposed to it for long amounts of time. Many hair care products use formaldehyde to keep the hair particles sleek and straight, but are these products worth it? 

Next time you go shopping for some new facial cleansers and shampoos, try to be aware of the labels. Many shops now have a clean beauty section that is more considerate of consumer and environmental health. You should also be aware of the ingredients in these products. Read your labels!

Rosenstein, Jenna, and Olivia Fleming. “The Ultimate Guide To Clean Beauty.” Harper's BAZAAR, HEARST Magazine Media Inc., 21 Aug. 2019, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/skin-care/a28352553/clean-beauty/. Accessed on October 27, 2019.