Beauty Products - How To Improve Your Impact On The Environment
Written by Wildlife & Welfare Researcher Rose Little
The beauty product industry comes with a heavy polluting price tag.
The bottles, tubes and containers alone account for 120 billion units of plastic packaging annually with 70% of this ending up in landfills.
Many beauty products also contain products such as microbeads which have been shown to be negatively affecting marine ecosystems. The demand for resource intensive products, such as soy, palm oil and sugar cane, for the beauty industry continues to the continued loss of forests and increases issues of food security for many developing countries. For more information about Health of the Oceans and Deforestation check out our Environmental Calendar.
With all the problems surrounding our skin care and beauty routines, is there anything we as consumers can do? Can we swap out anything for a more natural and sustainable alternative?
The first thing and the simplest thing to change is the quantity of water you consume. Water is an essential part of the human body and drinking 2-3 litres of water per day can significantly improve your health but it can also be great for your skin care. Drinking water can flush out toxins in your body and improve the health of your skin. Some toxins will clog small pores on your skin causing acne and pimples but staying hydrated your pores will clog less often. By staying hydrated you help maintain your skin’s elasticity and so are less likely to suffer from scars and wrinkles.
Using cleansers such as coconut oil, olive oil to remove makeup is a simple, natural alternative to make up removers. Apply and remove using natural cloths (such as bamboo cloths) in order to reduce the risk of developing acne or pimples. These oils also work as moisturisers and some contain antioxidants which also help keep your skin look younger and healthier. We all know that using aloe vera gels is an amazing relief for sunburns. This is because it is a great alternative to oil based moisturisers. It can help soften skin, unclog pores and even help to heal small cuts and acne.
Many people use daily scrubs and exfoliants to wash their faces however a daily face wash should not be exfoliating. Exfoliants remove dead skin cells and should be used 1-2 times a week however excessive usage can damage the skin and leave it more prone to developing acne or pimples. Using natural products such as coffee grounds or sea salt can be a zero waste solution to exfoliants.
So moving on from general skin care is there anything we can do to make our beauty regime more natural and sustainable?
Anyone can use the term “natural” on a beauty product, as the FDA doesn’t regulate the term. There is also no standardised definition of what makes a beauty product “natural” therefore you need to check the ingredients list when buying a product. It also sounds counterintuitive but those with sensitive skin should be careful when selecting natural products. Having reactions to botanical or plant-based products is much more common than reactions to synthetic products. If you are planning to move to more natural products remember to perform a patch test to ensure you do not have an adverse reaction.
There are a lot of websites with non-exhaustive lists of more natural products and alternatives including Naturia Beauty. These websites are a great start to exploring the world of natural beauty products.
Regularly changing your skin care or beauty routines can also negatively affect your skin. When you find something that works for you, stick to it. It also takes 4-6 weeks to see the effect of a routine change.
Alongside changing the product you use you could also consider moving to plastic free alternatives. More and more makeup and skincare products are packaged in non-plastic materials such as metal which are easier to recycle. There are also many brands that do refillable products which reduces the packaging used and lowers the waste.
Between 20-40% of all makeup products head straight to landfill. There are charities and organisations which are designed to give unused or gently used products to people in need. BYRDIE is a really good guide to what can be donated and how to donate many beauty and skincare products.
Skincare and beauty routines can have a negative impact on the environment but with simple swaps to more natural products and plastic free products, consumers can influence the skincare and beauty industries to make sustainable changes to become more environmentally friendly. Only buy the products that you need to avoid wastage but if you have a surplus of products that you have never used or decided after one use it is not the product for you, don’t toss it in the bin. Donate it or give it to a friend.
If you would like to learn more about the impact of beauty products on the environment and ways in which you can help reduce this, please visit our Environmental Calendar:
