7 tips for adopting Clean Beauty
Tempted by Clean Beauty ? But how do you actually get started? In practice, how do you choose a cosmetic product from the Clean Beauty family? How do you follow the right paths and avoid making mistakes?
Type #CleanBeauty on Instagram… and you will come across 3.4 million photos to date. Needless to say, the Clean Beauty topic fascinates the masses. Between a concept that is still vague where everyone can put what they want behind the English term “clean beauty” and your desire to do good, how can you trace your own path? Here are 7 simple, practical and quick tips to help you adopt the Clean Beauty attitude on a daily basis.
Tip #1: Define the product you want
What are your expectations? Eliminate silicones? Hunt down endocrine disruptors? Buy 100% local? Favor only vegan or organic products ? The easiest way is to imagine your list according to your own criteria. This wish list could include ingredients to avoid, brands, products and influencers that match your values. You will be able to stay connected by following the right accounts on Instagram. Later, when you need a new day cream, mascara or other… you will know who to turn to.
- The right move:
Stay clear-headed. While some ingredients, like essential oils or fragrances, are allergenic, your skin can still tolerate them. So, avoid becoming an uncontrolled ayatollah of Clean Beauty.
Tip #2: Decipher the INCI list of ingredients
The INCI list, with its scientific name "International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients" is mandatory and allows you to know the ingredients used in the product. If the principle is good, it is difficult for a novice to identify the ingredients that are not clean.
- Not very clean ingredients
For example: paraffinum liquidum seems to be a rather harmless ingredient, but it is nevertheless a mineral oil. A mineral oil evokes minerals, therefore nature. Yes, but a mineral oil (like petroleum and other petrolatum ) is anything but natural. A mineral oil is 100% derived from petrochemicals, so it is not clean at all. This petroleum derivative also has the good taste of clogging pores. Which is something that blemish-prone or sensitive skin is not likely to appreciate.
- Barbaric words to avoid
Another tip for spotting unclean ingredients: all the barbaric terms ending in "thicone" which are silicones that suffocate the skin (like dimethicone) . The much-maligned paraben family is easier to spot: methylparaben, ethylparaben, butylparaben, propylparaben, etc. Read the labels carefully to identify terms like sodium lauryl sulfate (LSS) or certain phthalates (DBP, DEHP, DEP, BPA, etc.) that Clean Beauty doesn't like at all.
- The hierarchy of the INCI list
Small nuance to know: brands are also required to indicate the list of ingredients according to their concentration and only substances greater than 1% are obligatory mentioned. The more concentrated the ingredient is in the product, the higher it is on the list. So, look at the ingredients located first on the list, this will already give you a good indication of the product.
- The right move:
This INCI list is written on the packaging, so if you want to become the queen of Clean Beauty shopping, decipher your product before throwing away the pack (which most often ends up in the recycling bin) or, better, at the time of purchase. This will save you many disappointments.
Tip #3: Download the right apps
To sift through beauty products without getting a PhD in cosmetology, all you need to do is download specialized (and free) apps . With a single scan, apps like “Clean Beauty,” “INCI Beauty,” and “Yuka Beauty” highlight controversial ingredients, endocrine disruptors, and other suspect agents. It’s a quick and effective way to familiarize yourself with the INCI list.
- The right move:
Give yourself time before transforming into the perfect Gwyneth Paltrow, undisputed goddess of Clean Beauty. Learn a little every day without spending your life on your INCI list decoder.
Tip #4: Favor natural ingredients, but not only
Of course, natural ingredients are more in line with the spirit of Clean Beauty. But what should we think of claims like "XX% of ingredients of natural origin" ? Haven't the products in question undergone chemical modifications before ending up in a creamy and fragrant beauty cream? Similarly, should all synthetic ingredients, particularly those derived from green chemistry, also known as sustainable, ecological or renewable chemistry because it reduces substitutes that are bad for the environment, be rejected? No.
- In Clean Beauty, not everything is good
Is an organic product without preservatives but containing high doses of alcohol (instead of the so-called preservatives) worth your attention? Finally, the presumed "toxicity" of the ingredients depends on the regulations of each country. In Europe, for example, 1,300 substances are banned in cosmetics. Elsewhere, the regulations are much more lax.
- The right move:
Avoid marketing arguments that sell and be wary of brands that practice greenwashing (these look like natural products… but very, very, very far away if you look more closely).
Tip #5: Watch the packaging
Adopting clean beauty in your bathroom also means undertaking a more general "cleaning" approach. So obviously, we recycle cardboard packaging and plastic over-packaging and we don't hesitate, in all areas (beauty, but also food) to call out brands on this habit of constantly over-packaging products.
- The right move:
Look at both the content and the container. There is a huge challenge for tomorrow on all the packaging of our beauty treatments (material, refillable, etc.)
Tip #6: Choose clean distribution and brands
Faced with the Clean Beauty wave, distributors and brands are increasingly playing the transparency card and that's a good thing. So find out about the worlds of the brands you like. Sort through them, stay alert (things are changing quickly) and also applaud the efforts of the giants who offer lines dedicated to Clean Beauty without cleaning all the other products... this will inevitably take time. Clean Beauty is also a policy of small steps.
- The right move:
Be consistent with yourself. Being “clean” means starting a global approach to responsible consumption in all areas, not just in your bathroom. Everyone does it at their own pace, but it is important to keep this holistic vision in mind. Everyone puts the cursor where they can, but for example, hunting down suspicious ingredients in the bathroom while buying organic vegetables that come from the other side of the world… it may not make much sense if you think about it for two seconds.
Tip #7: Sort out your bathroom
If you are on a Clean Beauty journey, you can already start by sorting out your bathroom shelves . In Marie Kondo mode of the cream jar, the queen of tidying up with her KonMarie method, identify what you do not use or no longer use. There is also no point in keeping for the sake of keeping, cosmetics perish quickly. Make a pile "to give away" and another "to throw away".
- The right move:
Sorting… is good as long as you don’t fall back into compulsive purchases afterwards. Clean beauty also means consuming less but better. And keep an eye on your budget because often buying “Clean Beauty” also means spending a little more than for traditional cosmetics.
