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

Vegan nail polish? Organic shampoo? Fair trade lipstick?

There are so many products out there marketed as “vegan”, “natural”, “organic”, and “fair-trade”, but what do these words mean and how can we be sure that these products really are what they say they are?

If you’re on a quest for ethical cosmetics, it can easily get a bit overwhelming. Labels and ingredient lists can be confusing and how do we make sure that companies are telling the truth and not just “green-washing” (pretending products are ethically and environmentally sound when they aren’t).

In this article, we take a look at 6 ethical criteria, vegan, cruelty-free, organic, palm-oil free, fair-trade and plastic-free. We’ll find out what they mean, why they’re important and what certifications we can look out for to help us make a good choice.

Vegan

What Does “Vegan” Mean?

A vegan product doesn’t contain any ingredients that are derived from animals.

It’s surprising how many animal-derived ingredients can be found in cosmetics. Some of the most common ones include:

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.

Crystalline Guanine. A substance extracted from the scales of fish and used to provide a pearly, iridescent, shimmering affect in products such as mascaras, nail polishes and lipsticks.

Gelatin. Gelatin is derived from collagen, taken from animal body parts. It’s found in various products including face creams, body lotions, shampoo and sunscreens.

Lanolin. Also known as wool wax, or wool grease, lanolin comes from sheep’s wool and is often found in lotions and lipsticks.

There’s really no need for cosmetics to contain animal-derived ingredients, there are plenty of plant-based alternatives.

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.

Cruelty-Free

Is Animal-Testing Still Happening?

Sadly, yes. Whilst there has been great progress in recent years, with an increasing number of governments introducing legislation that will put a stop to the suffering and death of animals for the testing of cosmetics, there is still a long way to go.

According to Humane Society International, as many as 500,000 animals are being tested on across the world each year with the largest proportion of these animals being used to meet test requirements in China. While many brands are committed to not testing on animals, others have a caveat that states “except when required by law”.

So how can we be sure that the products we are buying are actually cruelty-free?

The three major trusted, cruelty-free, certification bodies are the Leaping Bunny (an internationally recognised symbol), PETA (US based but recognised internationally) and Choose Cruelty-Free (an Australian based certification).

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).

So, how can we make sure that a product is vegan and cruelty-free? The certified Vegan Trademark from the Vegan Society covers animal testing as part of it’s standards:

The development and/or manufacture of the product, and where applicable its ingredients, must not involve, or have involved, testing of any sort on animals conducted at the initiative of the company or on its behalf, or by parties over whom the company has effective control.

So if your product has the Vegan Society trademark, it should also be cruelty-free. Otherwise you need to check that your product has no animal-derived ingredients and also has a cruelty-free certification, from either the Leaping Bunny, PETA or Choose Cruelty Free.

Right, that’s vegan and cruelty-free covered! Still with us? Great! Let’s move on and have a look at some more ethical issues!

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?

Natural or Organic?

While “organic”, for the most part, is a fairly regulated term, the same can’t be said for “natural”. Unless you spot a recognized certification label, “natural” can mean just about anything!

However, unlike organic food, there is no specific legislation that requires a beauty product labelled as ‘organic’ to be certified. This means that anyone can make an organic claim, no matter how the product was made or how much organic material it actually contains. A company can label or name a beauty product ‘organic’ even if it only contains 1% organic ingredients. Clearly we need some standards here! Luckily, there are some certification bodies to help us.

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.

So what does organic actually mean?

Across the USA, UK and Australia, certified “organic” has a very similar definition. Generally products certified organic (whether food or the ingredients in your cosmetics), come from a farming system which:

Avoids the use of synthetic chemicals including chemical fertilisers, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives and irradiation
Avoids genetically modified (GM) seeds
Promotes sustainable land management
Works towards environmentally, socially and economically sustainable food production.

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.

The Problem with Palm Oil

A large number of cosmetic products on the market contain palm oil, an ingredient responsible for the destruction of rainforests.

It’s almost impossible to avoid palm oil, the stuff is everywhere, from biofuel to biscuits, crisps and cosmetics. Global production of palm oil doubled between 2000 and 2012 which led to increased industrialisation of palm oil cultivation. Palm plantations have replaced huge areas of tropical rainforest, destroying the natural habitats of animals like the orangutan, Sumatran tiger and Asian elephant.

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.

So what Fair-trade labels can we look for?

The most widely used fair trade certification is Fairtrade International’s Fairtrade Mark, used in Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Odylique were the first UK brand to launch skin care products that were certified to both fair-trade and organic standards. In 2009, they introduced their face mask, certified both organic and fair trade and in 2011 they launched their natural mineral make-up range in which the lipsticks and eye liners are made with fair trade certified shea butter. In 2016, their natural sunscreen became the first UK sun cream to be approved by both the Fairtrade Foundation and the Soil Association.

Ethical Supply Chains

As well as ensuring that farmers are paid a fair price for the raw materials, it’s important to be aware of potential human rights abuses in the supply chain. Recently Mica supply chains were called into question.

Mica is the name of a naturally occurring group of silicate minerals used in the cosmetics industry (especially in eye-shadows), as well as in the paint, plastic and car industries. In 2016, the Dutch NGO SOMO and Terre des Hommes Netherlands released a report which confirmed findings of up to 20,000 child labourers being involved in the mining of the mineral in North East India. 25% of the the world production of Mica is sourced from these illegal mines.

As expected, some of the brands who align themselves with an ethical business model were responsive to this information. Green People stated that they did not buy mica from India and instead sourced it from Malaysia. Odylique stated that its mica was “ecologically and ethically obtained according to organic standards.” Lush also took a proactive approach and following reports of child and forced labour in mica supply chains, removed the mineral from its products.

Plastic Free Packaging

So far we’ve looked at product ingredients and identified vegan, cruelty-free, organic, fair-trade and palm-oil free as important ethical criteria, but before we wrap up, let’s consider at one last thing – the packaging!

The zero waste movement has been gaining momentum in recent years with consumers holding companies accountable for their use of packaging materials. Single-use plastic is a big no, biodegradable packaging is definitely in and so are re-fills, with the ideal being no packaging at all!

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.

Power to the People!

The good news, is that as conscious consumers, we have the power to influence the direction in which cosmetic companies go with all of the different ethical considerations.

The huge increase in the number of ethical brands shows that the demand for these products has increased. We can join in with different environmental and social campaigns and we can vote with our wallets, boycotting those companies whose practices we disagree with and choosing to support those companies who ethics are closely aligned with our own.

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!