Green Skincare and Beauty
The beauty industry has not been slow to respond to consumer demand for environmentally friendly products. Dame Anita Roddick, founder of the Body shop, is very much responsible for raising the awareness of shoppers and for making an enormous contribution toward the developing trend for ethical consumerism.
One of the biggest green-related issues with many beauty and skincare products is their packaging. Excessive packaging in the form of presentation boxes, gift wrapping and containers places a huge load on our environment when disposed as waste.
Here are few suggestions that may help you to minimise the environmental impact of your beauty and skincare product packaging:
- Choose products with minimal packaging to help reduce waste.
- Try to find products that use packaging made from recycled materials (look for the logo - green arrows in a triangle).
- Ensure that the packaging can be and is recycled (look for the logo - white arrows outlined in green inside a green circle).
- Where possible, buy in bulk or buy larger containers as this will not only save you money but also save waste.
- If possible, go for refillable containers that can be taken back to the shop for a top up. (Not so easy with online purchases).
- Rather than buy beauty products as gifts, choose gift certificates instead as this will further reduce wastage.
When buying beauty and skincare products be sure to examine the ingredients carefully. Many of today’s products are promoted on their apparent green credentials, advertising that they are not tested on animals and contain plant extracts. But this doesn’t mean that they don’t also contain unwanted synthetic ingredients derived from chemical production plants or animal derivaites. As a good rule of thumb, if you don’t recognise the stated ingredients look for an alternative product.
Try to avoid:
- GM Ingredients and animal derivatives (except silk or beeswax which are animal by products)
- Propyl Alcohol or PEGs
- Synthetic colours or fragrance
- Parabens
I can heartily recommend the excellent range of top quality skincare and beauty products from the Aromatherapy Associates range. These are currently available at exceptional prices from: The Beauty Room.
Written by Hybrid on August 7th, 2008 with
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#1. August 16th, 2008, at 5:46 PM.
Packaging is a major issue, not only for beauty products but for much that we all buy from supermarkets. It’s time for a return to the old days of brown paper bags and no more cellphane and fancy gift wrapping or presentation boxes.