(Newswire.net — June 22, 2021) — Lauren Balsamo, writes in a thoughtful piece for Cosmopolitan magazine, that clean beauty is plagued with a variety of myths. The piece is written at a time in which the magazine is promoting what it calls, “Clean Beauty Month”. The purpose of the month is to promote clean beauty and sustainable brands. Balsamo spent a lot of time researching on the subject and uncovering a lot of positive information, but, as she states in her piece, she also discovered a great deal of misinformation. In this piece, we will highlight some of her key findings.
One thing to bear in mind is that there is no agreed-upon standard for clean beauty, not even at the regulatory level. So, anyone can claim to have a clean beauty brand, so long as they meet certain expectations.
A second point to note is that people tend to embrace negative information as true and fall into a panic. This can have drastic consequences in the beauty industry where word of a product being unsafe or toxic can drive down sales. Add to that the complexity of cosmetic chemistry, and the average consumer is ill-equipped to deal with any misinformation out there.
Balsamo discusses six myths: (1) that natural ingredients are superior to synthetic ones, (2) that clean products are gentles products, (3) using natural, clean products is more sustainable, (4) products free from chemicals, preservatives, and toxins are necessarily good for you, (5) that your skin absorbs approximately 60% of what you apply on it and (6) that the American cosmetics industry is essentially unregulated.
Let’s look at two of these myths.
The first myth that Balsamo uncovers is that natural products are necessarily superior to synthetic ones. Yet, as Balsamo finds, nature has its own share of poisonous substances, such as arsenic and botulinum toxin. Natural ingredients can also be very difficult to work with and given changes in the environment, the results from using them are not always stable. Whereas working with synthetic ingredients guarantees a certain level of quality and results. This isn’t to say that natural ingredients are bad, it’s to say that the picture is more complicated than the simple “natural is better” trope allows. So there’s no reason not to visit a Solarium Spray Tanning because the ingredients are synthetic. Natural v synthetic is a useless distinction when it comes to value.
The fourth myth is one that many of us can admit to believing: that products free of chemicals, preservatives, and toxins are necessarily good for you. Yet, as Balsamo notes, these labels are extremely misleading. The European Union has actually banned such labels for this reason. You see, no product is chemical-free because chemicals are just substances produced by chemical processes, for example, water, air, etc. So for a product to be “chemical-free” would mean it didn’t exist! As for preservative-free, well, the only way that happens is if you are willing to replace products every three days. Almost all formulas have water and that carries the risk of bacteria and mold growth. You need preservatives. Finally, toxicity is a question of doses. Even water can be toxic. Peaches contain toxic formaldehyde but are still edible. The actual ingredient is not as important as the dosage.