Ethical Cosmetics: How to Choose Products That are Kind to People, Animals and the Environment

Beeswax. Produced by honey-bees and used in many skin-care and cosmetic products including lip balm, hand creams and eye make-up.

Cochineal Dye. Also listed as “carmine”, cochineal is a bright red dye collected from crushed cochineal beetles. It is found in most lipsticks and several blush products.

Why Vegan?

Whilst there are many reasons to go vegan, preventing the exploitation of animals is a key factor in the decision for many people.

Plant-based living is also better for the environment and people. It is estimated that a global switch to diets that rely less on meat and more on fruit and vegetables could save up to 8 million lives by 2050 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds.

Those following (or moving towards) a vegan lifestyle, monitor not just the food they eat and clothes they wear but all of the other things they buy including cosmetics.

With 2019 often being referred to as “the year of the vegan”, the number of vegan products on the market is increasing rapidly.

The beauty and cosmetics industry is no exception and that’s great news for us conscious consumers!

There are a number of brands that are 100% vegan, such as Australian brands Inika and Aesop, as well as brands who offer a selection of vegan products along-side non-vegan ones.

Lush for example say they are a “vegetarian company” with about 80% of their products being suitable for vegans.

They use milk, honey, lanolin and eggs in their non-vegan products.

So how do we make sure that a product really is vegan? Well, we can look at the list of ingredients. That can get pretty confusing though, as we might not recognise some of the ingredient names and be able to tell whether or not they come from animals. In addition to some of the more common animal-derived ingredients mentioned above, there are others like elastin and collagen from animal proteins and squalene from sharks liver, which are all are used in cosmetics. Plus it’s time consuming to have to research ingredients, and with our busy life-styles, we need it to be easy to make ethical choices.

Luckily, we have the internationally used Vegan Trademark from the UK Vegan Society to help us out. This trademark is the world’s most recognised vegan certification and guarantees that the product contains no animal derivatives. It’s registered in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and India and used world-wide on over 30,000 products.

Vegan vs Cruelty Free – What’s the Difference?

Cruelty-Free means that no animal testing has been involved in the making of the product whereas vegan means that the product doesn’t contain any animal-derived ingredients.

Here’s where it gets a bit confusing and counter-intuitive.

“Cruelty-free products”, while not tested on animals, may still contain animal-derived ingredients and are therefore not vegan.

And vegan products, while they don’t contain any animal ingredients, may still be tested on animals (which surely doesn’t sit well with the whole ethos of veganism).

Natural & Organic

Why Natural?

Natural skincare products are a much healthier option, both for our bodies and for the environment. Natural, plant-based ingredients have been used for thousands of years and have a well-known ability to rejuvenate, replenish and protect our skin. Because we don’t know the long terms effects of putting chemicals on our skin, choosing natural products is an investment in our everyday health.

Natural products are much better for the environment too. Less chemicals and fewer processes mean less pollution, a reduced carbon footprint and overall, a more eco-friendly product.

Organic and natural products have been trending for a number of years now as conscious consumers have become more aware about their own health and the health of the planet. But there’s also been some misleading marketing and false claims, which causes confusion.

So, how can we tell the difference between the real-deal and the not-so-real-deal?

European organic standards. The major European organic and natural cosmetics standard-setting organisations are the Soil Association (UK), BDIH (Germany), Cosmebio (France), EcoCert (France) and ICEA (Italy). Each one has natural and organic standards of their own.

In 2011, these five major European organisations came together to create a new, pan-European standard called COSMOS. Some companies still choose to go with the individual national standards though and as the COSMOS standard took such a long time to get sorted some European beauty brands got together and created another standard, NATrue that was launched in 2008 and backed by brands including Weleda, Dr Hauschka and Lavera.

US Organic Standards. The best known standard in the USA is the UDSA Organic Seal, used by companies like Badger and Avalon Organics. The seal means that at least 95% of the ingredients are organic, but it only covers food ingredients. Other non-food ingredients are covered by the NSF “Contains Organic Ingredients” standard where products must be 70% organic.

Australian Certification: Certified Organic by the Organic Food Chain. The OFC certify to the Australian National Organic Standard, a guarantee that the product contains a minimum of 70% certified organic ingredients.

Fewer chemicals on the land, means less damage to wildlife, less pollution going into waterways and less toxins going into our bodies. So organic is another important ethical criteria, for people, animals and the environment.

So far we have looked at three ethical criteria; vegan, cruelty-free and organic. Some brands score more highly one some criteria than others and some are really trying to cover all three. For example, Australian brand Inika, are 100% vegan and cruelty-free and use certified organic ingredients in over two thirds of their range. Lavera, a German company are 100% organic and cruelty free, with 95% of their products registered with the Vegan Society.

As well as environmental degradation, land has also been stolen from indigenous peoples. resulting in human rights abuses and conflict. The work in many of the plantations is often unsafe and poorly paid.

What can we do? We can either boycott palm-oil by making sure that the products we buy are palm oil-free or check that products are using sustainable palm oil.

One way to know if the product you’re buying contains sustainable palm oil is by looking for the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) label. The RSPO is a not-for-profit that unites stakeholders from different sectors of the of the palm oil industry in developing and implementing global standards for sustainable palm oil.

Lush is one company leading the way with regards to palm oil. In 2017, the company stated that it was no longer using palm oil or palm kernel oil, and was in the process of removing palm oil derivatives from all products.

Fair-trade

Fair trade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.

Small-scale farmers in over 50 countries, including Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Dominican Republic produce ingredients such as coconut, argan, apricot and brazil nut oils for beauty products. Fair trade means they get a fair price as well as support to invest in community projects like clean drinking water and improving their local healthcare.

Lush have taken the zero-waste concept and run with it. Ever since their iconic bath bombs hit the market in the early 90’s, the cosmetics company has become famous for it’s “naked” products.

While many of Lush’s products still come in recycled plastic pots (which can be returned for re-use), Lush has gone the ‘naked’ route with many of its products including shampoo bars, deodorants, and hand creams. Lush opened their first UK plastic, packaging free Naked store in Manchester in January. Before this they were making efforts to reduce plastic waste by encouraging customers to take five empty black Lush pots back to a store in exchange for a face mask.

It would be great to see more brands ditching plastic in favour of refills, biodegradable packaging or easily reused and recycled materials like glass and tin.

When checking out a brand’s ethics, a good place to start is their “about us” page. What is their mission? Are they committed to sustainability and what positive steps are they taking towards a fairer, healthier world? The Ethical Consumer is also a great resource, carrying out research and providing the full ethical low-down on hundreds of different companies.

We might not always be able to buy products that tick all of the ethical boxes but we can do our best by learning about the issues involved and making the best choices that we can, working towards a sustainable future, one vegan lipstick at a time!