The beauty industry can use ingredients that are not FDA-Approved. You may be asking yourself, just as it posed on the FDA website: "Who is responsible for substantiating the safety of cosmetics?"
And the FDA replies, “Companies and individuals who manufacture or market cosmetics have a legal responsibility to ensure the safety of their products.” Read more about it here.
Yup, you read that correctly. The beauty industry is supposed to regulate itself.
That means that all of your cosmetics could potentially have all manner of harmful things in them- and if they are not organic or from a trusted brand you’ve already researched, they probably do. What kind of harmful things can be in your cosmetics? It’s the usual mix of endocrine disruptors, and carcinogens, in addition to chemicals that cause birth defects and reproductive damage. Read more about it here.
The most famous of these products is talc powder, also known as baby powder, that is marketed to women, especially Black women, as a way to keep themselves smelling “fresh”, which was later discovered to have caused ovarian cancer, and sometimes death, in many of these women. Read more about it here.
We are sold on the idea that we are not enough as we are, and so we buy beauty products to become this “more” that we should be, and those products can, and sometimes do, kill us.
Over the years I’ve really cut back on my beauty products and it makes life so much simpler and cheaper (I know a Zero Waste lifestyle can be expensive but the first fundamental is to not buy what you don’t need, which always saves you money). In this post I talk about how I use olive oil for a myriad of beauty uses, and in this post I discuss the merits of shampoo bars (olive oil and shampoo bars are fantastic as well because they are zero waste at the end of their lives, which makes disposal very simple. Winning all around!). At this point in my life, I aim for everything that I put anywhere on or near my skin, because, of course, our skin is our largest organ, to be food grade. It’s a pretty safe bar to set when you’re considering what to purchase.
Make-up is a bit of a trickier beast to tame. I picked up some tinted lip balm that can also used as rouge and eyeshadow, from Sustain Yourself. What I love about this stick, besides the triple duty, supporting small business, and clean ingredients, is that it comes in a cardboard container that you can compost at the end of its life (why can’t all make-up do this??).
Etsy is also a great place to go for make-up. The make-up is often handmade, the ingredients are listed, you can find products in metal or glass containers, and you are supporting small business (I also find that when you message the business owner and ask them for no plastic in their shipping, they will happily comply. I know this is a special request so I always leave a review full of gratitude when they fulfill it in hopes that maybe this style of shipping will become the norm!).
For more conventional yet still safe make-up, Zao is a great choice. Their products are organic, cruelty free, vegan and they have a refill option for many, but not all of their products- so double check. I recently tried out 100% Pure’s Fruit Pigmented Mascara. The ingredients are safe and the product works really well overall. The only issue, which is the same with Zao’s mascara, is disposal at the end of the life of the product.
Conundrums like these are part of the reason why I invested in my own TerraCycle box but I know that TerraCycle is a last resort method, only to be use sparingly so always aim for as little waste as possible. If you live in Los Angeles, you can also mail or drop off your empty and clean beauty product containers at the non-profit, H&B Prodex for free recycling (they also use TerraCycle).
Have you found any Zero Waste beauty products that you fell in love with and now can’t live without? I would love to hear about them!
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