What Does Green Beauty Actually Mean? It’s an elusive beauty term used often in the industry but is it actually better than non-green beauty?
It’s a confusing world out there.
Clean, green and sustainable – aren’t they all the same? Are they just buzzwords?
Well, this post is going to try to explain it to you in the most efficient way possible.
The definition
Green beauty defines itself as moving towards using products that are not harmful to your health and the planet.
This category of products use ingredients which have been sourced from nature.
They are not ‘chemical free’ because they could use pesticides, so they are not clean beauty.
They’re also not sustainable because they could include ingredients that are scarce.
The problem with this definition is that, what is harmful is often objective.
Secondly, there is an assumption that other ingredients are harmful.
Thirdly, it’s difficult to trace farming methods – how do you know if it is harming the planet?
The problem
The issue that comes with alot of these terms is that they are not regulated very well.
This means that the definition is flexible and can mean whatever the person wants it to mean.
It’s a good thing that consumers and brands want products that do good for them and the earth but in ostracising some ingredients we might be ignoring their benefits.
For example, using ingredients made in a lab may not be ‘green’ to some people but by not taking it away from the earth isn’t it better for the planet?
However, if it means that you choose to use products that contain Fair Trade ingredients, then that’s a great thing.
