The beauty of clean beauty
For decades, designers, beauty distributors, influencers, and gurus have determined beauty and fashion trends
The lifespan of a movement usually begins at fashion weeks. It is then popularized by celebrities and ultimately reaches the masses. But what does this year hold for us in terms of trends? A few days into 2022, we saw the rise of many beauty trends, from negative space eyeliner to fluffy brows, from contoured lips to draped blush, and from scalp treatments to waterless products.
The age of conscious beauty
A trend that catches everybody's attention and hopefully never goes out of style is clean beauty. While the concept has been around for a while, the movement is rapidly growing, bringing clean beauty into this year's spotlight. Unfortunately, natural beauty, organic beauty, and green beauty are often confused with clean beauty. Similarly, with organic food, there is no doubt that organic ingredients in cosmetics have numerous benefits. Still, non-organic ingredients can be just as safe and efficient.
A short guide to clean beauty
What does it mean to be clean in the realm of beauty? First, we must "clean" up certain misconceptions about clean beauty. Clean beauty products are created without ingredients suspected to harm the environment or human health and instead with mindfully selected non-toxic products that are efficient. Organic ingredients were previously considered essential for a product to fall under the clean beauty umbrella. While clean beauty can be organic, it is not a requirement. Clean beauty doesn't have to be 100% organic, preservative-free, or all-natural. Likewise, an organic, natural, or green product isn't necessarily non-toxic. The science of beauty has evolved enough to include synthetic ingredients in clean beauty products. Clean means a product without ingredients linked to harmful health effects. No skin irritation to hormone disruption and even cancer, just manufactured ingredients qualify as clean as they are safe and non-toxic.
The path to clean beauty is paved with transparency
Today's consumer is not only curious to discover new products but also more and more educated, with increasing attention towards the beauty products they use. This means they carefully read the ingredients labels and appreciate a beauty brand's effort to list them. But a proper label won't suffice in making a brand clean, as clean beauty is more than non-toxic ingredients and a desire to label accordingly. In addition, the concept includes other ethical considerations, such as safety, sustainability, and transparency regarding a product's ingredient sourcing and supply chain. Simply put, people are more considerate of the planet and its impact on it.
Why go clean?
Today's educated consumer carefully selects beauty products, considering the benefits they have and the impact certain products have on the environment. This is a common-sense approach to the industry, and cosmetic distributors strive to satiate their consumer's desires. With more options than ever before, women of all ages and races have started using clean beauty products, and many are willing to spend lavishly on one!