I am often asked about what clean beauty even means? Is there a such thing as clean skincare or is that just a marketing scam?
What does everyone means by clean beauty?
In general, “clean beauty” refers to a cosmetic product created without toxic chemicals and ingredients that could harm your body or irritate your skin. Think of ingredients such as parabens, phthalates, oxybenzone, and synthetic fragrances, just to name a few.
However, some people refer to clean beauty as natural, not synthetic, organic, green, etc.
Well, let’s dissect it here..
1. Non-toxic definition is quite clear. Non-toxic basically means that the products are formulated without ingredients that are considered toxic.. However, the question still remains what the definition of toxic is? Non-toxic as defined by the dictionary, FDA, EMA or any other standard…
2. Natural, Green, Not Synthetic etc are are all questionable terms… What does natural really means? What does green means? And non-synthetic is a complete marketing bs ‘claim’ since most ingredients need to be synthetic or chemically made and derived to be considered safe and free from impurities.
There is a lot of Greenwashing in the industry.
What is greenwashing?
Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company’s products are better, cleaner and more environmentally sound. Greenwashing is really an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly, more ‘natural/green” etc.
So, is clean skincare even real?
Yes, it is real but you need to know what you are looking for.
1. More and more beauty companies stopped using products that are considered toxic by the authorities. I would recommend to consult with the Department of Public Health and also the Environmental Working Group. But also be aware of the statements such as “EU has banned over 1,400 ingredients, while the U.S. has banned less than 20”.
Close examination of the EU Annex II banned list reveals the vast majority of those chemicals are not, have not, and never would have been, used in cosmetics in either the U.S. or in Europe. The EU banned list includes substances such as jet aircraft fuel, pesticides, barbiturate drugs, the cancer drug Methotrexate, antibiotics, arsenic, strychnine, cyanide, rat poison, and carbon monoxide.
Clearly, these are not ingredients that would ever be used in a cosmetic. Read more about this in our blog.
2. There are some products that are ‘questionable’ such as phenoxyethanol, petroleum jelly etc. There are very passionate groups of people that claim that these products will kill you and yet, many of those products are not only used in skincare/cosmetics but also in the medicinal products. Please be aware of quick judgements. Often, the concentration of the product is what is important. Usually those products are the needed preservatives and are only used in a very minimal concentration that is considered safe.
What is a medically clean skincare?
We have decided to start a totally new category of medically clean skincare. The foundation is the same as of that of many other beauty companies, meaning the use of non-toxic ingredients in the right concentrations.
However, many people suffer from gluten sensitivity, autoimmune conditions such as celiac, eczema etc, allergies and other sensitivities. If someone is allergic to nuts, then the coconut in your face cream may affect their face skin cells in the similar way as if they would have ingested it. Same for gluten, dairy, casein, peanuts and other allergens.
Therefore, medically clean for us means not just free of toxic ingredients, but also free from most common and even less common allergens.
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