Today’s Beauty Industry Standards- What You Can Do About It

July 31, 2018 23:05

By Renee Tavoularis

130 - Explorer

After 20+ years in the beauty industry, Renee & her co-founder, Lynne, decided to start anew, creating a business that spoke to their passion and pursuit of well-being and becoming the healthiest versions of themselves. Renee’s journey led to her health coach certification at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, resulting in nutrition becoming 1 of the 3 pillars of wellwithinbeauty.com - an online destination for plant-based solutions for skin health & wellness. It houses well-edited and expertly curated intel across Beauty, Nutrition and Lifestyle as well as showcases their organic, plant-based skincare called PLANTED IN BEAUTY.

How It Works

Every one of us has a goal to properly support our health and well-being. Our efforts may be doing the reverse, though. In an attempt to cleanse, soften, moisturize, and protect our skin with countless mainstream personal care products, we have been exposing ourselves to hundreds of harmful toxins.

We’re talking about altering the chemistry of our bodies, upsetting our hormones, and increasing our risk of cancer. According to information from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), the average woman uses approximately 12 personal care products which may contain as many as 168 different chemical ingredients. Chemical exposures to hormone-altering toxins like parabens and phthalates are happening on a daily basis for many women— every day for a lifetime.

PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT REGULATION

Most people understand the significance of choosing organic foods, but very few recognize the importance of making safer decisions concerning their personal care products. This uninformed state is due to their being very little changes in personal care product regulation laws. In fact, the last time they were changed in the United States was 1938. The European Union, on the other hand, has banned more than 1,300 ingredients over the past several decades. In comparison, the U.S. has banned 11 since 1938.

Furthermore, the average consumer assumes that if a product has made it to the shelves of their local department or drug store, this product has undergone extensive testing. It may have, but not the kind we think...

THE FDA AND REGULATION

There's a lot of confusion about what is and isn't regulated by the FDA. For example, some personal care products fall into the category of “drugs” such as hair treatments for dandruff or cleansers for acne. These are subject to regulation. On the other hand, a range of products meant to cleanse or beautify— including moisturizers, nail polishes, shampoos, perfumes, and makeup— are only classified as “cosmetics”.

Products labeled as cosmetics (other than color additives) are not subject to FDA premarket approval. This means that, depending on what the product is, the company may not have to test the ingredients for safety, report adverse reactions, or even list all the ingredients on the label. Cosmetics companies are expected by law to substantiate the safety and effectiveness of their products, but there aren’t any parameters in place to assure this.

HERE’S 4 THINGS THAT I SUGGEST:

1. GET INFORMED: The EWG, an American environmental organization committed to consumer choice and empowerment in regards to personal care products, offers a comprehensive database for consumers. The Skin Deep Database is designed to educate you about the harmful ingredients used in personal care products. To date, the database has detailed information on thousands of chemicals.

2. SUPPORT CONSCIOUS AND TRANSPARENT BRANDS: Many personal care products and cosmetics brands like Well Within Beauty are committed to manufacturing high-quality, organic, vegan, and sustainable products that are both safe and effective. Plus, we go above and beyond to attest product safety by securing third-party certifications and seals from esteemed organizations like Cosmos Cosmetic Standard, Leaping Bunny, and EWG Verified.

3. SPREAD AWARENESS: Pass along what you learn about harmful ingredients in personal care products to your family, friends, and social networks. Help those you care about make more informed choices in the products they use. Advocate for brands that are working to produce non-toxic products and hold accountable those that aren’t.

4. GO GREEN: Committing to a green, conscious, and sustainable lifestyle is a major undertaking— a completely worthy undertaking. Raise the standards with your personal care products, but keep the momentum going. Using the EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning, start making better choices in your household cleaning products, too. Slowly but surely you can work to drastically reduce the chemical exposures you and your family experience.