Sustainable Beauty

Our skin is our biggest organ, let's start caring for it properly...

Ethical beauty

Finding genuinely good, ethical and sustainable beauty products can be difficult, to say the least. We mean, have you ever tried to decipher labels, let alone read an ingredients list!?

That's why we've created this page. To help you find genuinely great beauty products that are better for the planet, for the people who produce them, and for you.

We've been researching ethical beauty for a while, but there’s still a lot to learn. Join us on the journey of discovery and we'll promise to keep sharing with you all of our top beauty tips, tricks and recommendations...

Beauty Ingredients

We’ve all heard the saying “It’s what’s on the inside that counts”. Well, when it comes to the ingredients in our skincare, it couldn’t be more true.

The skin is our biggest organ. Yet even those of us who are conscious about what we eat slather our skin with a whole bunch of harmful chemicals – which are then absorbed into our bloodstream – without even really thinking about it.

Most of us are not scientists and it’s really difficult to read an ingredients list and understand what’s harmful for us and what’s not...

That's why we do the hard work for you, finding brilliant natural ingredients for you to look out for and naming and shaming the ones to avoid.

Of course, there is also a wealth of ingredients that aren’t necessarily harmful to people, but they are sourced unethically and/or are destructive to the environment.

For instance, did you know that Oxybenzone, a popular ingredient listed in sunscreens, is said to act as hormone disruptors and cause sex change in fish, reduce their growth or egg output and destroy coral reefs around the globe? Researchers found a single drop in 4.3 million gallons of water — about six and a half Olympic-size swimming pools — is enough to be deadly to coral.

Another one to watch out for is Palm Oil which is found across a staggering amount of products. Palm Oil is linked to huge deforestation and human and animal rights abuses because huge swathes of land are being cleared to make way for plantations.

And these are just two examples...⁠

Greenwashing in beauty

The Cambridge Dictionary definition of greenwashing is: “Behaviour or activities that make people believe that a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is”.

We hate to say it, but greenwashing is rife in beauty. And we know it. The Soil Association’s Campaign for Clarity revealed that 76% of respondents felt misled by the labels on cosmetic products.

'Organic' and 'Natural' are pretty much meaningless, when it comes to beauty:

The most concerning aspect of beauty marketing is that there is no regulation when it comes to use of the words 'organic' or 'natural'.

This means brands can use the word organic, even if organic products make up just 1% of their product. They can also claim to be natural if one ingredient comes from a plant and the bulk of the product is made up of petrochemicals.⁠

So, lots of brands include one or two organic or natural ingredients alongside a whole bunch of harmful chemicals and still put ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ on their packaging.

Essentially, unless certified, 'organic' and 'natural' are pretty much meaningless...

The importance of certifications:

Your best bet, when looking for a genuine sustainable beauty brand, is to start with looking for third-party certifications. But, take some time to look into the certification to ensure it truly aligns with your values.⁠

COSMOS (international) and Soil Association (British) are both robust stamps of approval. They require that every ingredient that can be found organically is and they ban harmful ingredients, too.⁠

PETA and Cruelty-Free logos guarantee that no animals have been harmed in the making of a product.⁠

Fair Wild and Fair For Life consider the human impact of ingredients and guarantee better prices for farmers across the world.⁠

Period Care

Did you know that we each use around 11,000 disposable period products in our lifetimes? That’s a lot of period products.

Have you ever considered what menstrual products are made of? ⁠ We’ve been doing some research and what we’ve discovered is pretty staggering.

We talk the good, the bad, and the sometimes messy of period care and answer all your period-related questions...

To put it bluntly, conventional tampons and pads are toxic. Not only do they contain traces of pesticides and insecticides (used in the farming of non-organic cotton), chlorine (used for bleaching) and fragrances (which can interfere with the vagina’s pH balance), they also contain a significant amount of plastic.

A standard menstrual pad can be made of up to 90% plastic. Just think how unpleasant that must be for our bodies, not to mention the environmental impact. ⁠

One solution is to try using reusable period products, such as reusable pants or the trusty menstrual cup. Understandably though, they're not for everyone. ⁠So, the next best step you can take before your next period is to switch to organic tampons and pads.⁠

Subscribe

to Our Newsletter

Subscribe

* indicates required