Spilling the tea on clean & natural beauty.

Are you noticing more 'natural' or 'clean' beauty products hitting your local shelves recently? Are they all safe? The answer is NO 😅 Don’t feel so bad if you’ve been a victim to brand’s greenwashing tactics, I’ve been there before too.

The tea ☕

The truth is that the regulatory system for beauty products (especially in North America) is the equivalent to allowing you to mix a bunch of ingredients in a bottle of who knows what, slap a label on it, and then call it a day, no questions asked. I'm exaggerating, but pretty close. Although Canada is more diligent than the US in terms of banning harmful ingredients, those are considered "low risk" are still allowed, and only 500+ chemicals in Canada are banned compare to Europe where there are 1,328+. That's pretty scary to think about, especially if they have a significant impact on your health, mess with your hormones, and mental well-being in the long term.

Although there has been no legal definition of what truly defines each category, the ingredient list says it all. I've listed some digestible bits of what you should look for to stay safe and find products that represent what they preach:

Natural Beauty? 🍊🍋🥥

What to look for 🧐:

Generally made from ingredients that are directly derived or lab extracted from the earth. A product is allowed to be labeled as 98% natural aloe, but what they mean is the one aloe extract ingredient is, not the entire product, so don't be green-washed. Confusing right? So look at the ingredient label, it should be quite clear what the product consists of and shouldn't look like morse code throughout. 

Myths 🦄 : 

All pure form of the ingredient is great to put directly onto our face.

When we think 'natural', we think of seed to plate and right onto our bodies. We also tend to assume nature is much safer for gentler on our skin or that handmade by an actual person is somewhat more reliable. This is often not true. Pure ingredients directly applied (for example, putting a DIY face mask together containing lemon) have high potencies, sometimes irritating, disrupt your PH levels, and may cause allergic reactions to the skin. It also can be an invitation for pesticides to be smeared directly on your face. Just something to think about when picking out your natural products.

Clean Beauty 🌱🌱🌱

What to look for 🧐:

Clean beauty can be defined as products that do often contain synthetic as well as naturally derived ingredients that are deemed non-toxic ( fact check always). They should be created with ingredients that are proven to be safe, or otherwise, no evidence that they currently are not. It is quite ambiguous, and it comes down to doing the work - READING! 

Myths 🦄:

If they are branded or labeled as clean/natural beauty, they must be clean.

I'm sorry to break it to you again, but no, you need to read the ingredient list or you can download the Think Dirty App for convenience (scans and rates products based on ingredients) or check EWG Skin Deep . One pro tip - stay away from fragrance (unless you trust the brand). It is the perfect breeding ground to mask harmful ingredients since fragrance is categorized under intellectual property. 

If you're now doing double-take as you walk past your beauty counter - I'm glad. I'm sure you look at 'natural' or 'clean' beauty in a whole new light. I hope this pushes you to ask more questions and demand answers from brands. Some good news 🤗? There are plenty of clean and natural beauty choices in 2020, and you may already have some on your counter! I'll make sure to share some of my go-to's with you soon ;)