Healthy eating habit is good for your body. You’re feeding every system, every cell and every organ with fresh, soothing, nutrient-rich foods.
Doesn’t your skin, your main organ deserve the same respect?
Just like the foods you put into your body show on the outside, the products you put on your skin can create their way into your bloodstream. So it makes sense not to put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t want inside your valuable body, right?
Clean beauty definition tends to vary depending on who you ask and is a subject to marketing spin as well, so let’s try to understand what is it all about…
So, what does “clean” beauty really mean?
The truth is that just about every blogger, manufacturer and make-up columnist has a different opinion about what clean beauty really is. After all, terms like “botanical”, “natural,” and “green” are completely unregulated, meaning anyone can use them.
Most experts and brands use “clean beauty” phrase when a product doesn't contain certain controversial unsafe ingredients, like phthalates, paraben, phenoxyethanol, and many more.
You can read our updated dirty list here - https://www.metapora.com/pages/the-dirty-list
What about us?
To us, Clean Beauty is defined by products that are carefully created and produced without any proven or doubted toxic ingredients. Clean Beauty products include ingredients properly sourced and are made with the health of our bodies and the environment in mind.
Many of the beauty purchases we use on a daily basis are made with synthetic chemical ingredients that are toxic to some degree – but are they really compulsory? Are there choices that are just as effective, but kinder to your skin and the environment?
The fab news is that thanks to the fame of natural beauty ingredients and wonders of green chemistry, it’s easy to get your hands on them.
Concept of wellbeing and beauty
I use my skincare carefully and I believe a happy and healthy woman is her most beautiful self. In my view, clean beauty very much fits this philosophy because it ties the concepts of wellbeing and beauty firmly together.
Again, this is a point well agreed by those in the clean beauty sector: beauty and wellbeing go hand-in-hand. In fact, I would go as far as saying that our view of beauty transcends that of the typical cosmetics industry – beauty is not achieved by attaining a certain smooth look or definition of ‘perfection’; beauty is instead attained by nurturing your skin and hair to its strongest state, wrinkles and all!
The clean beauty sector is driven by a desire to do the very best for its customers by creating real and nourishing botanical formulations. When we bring these two concepts of wellbeing and plant power together, we combine botanical extracts and green chemistry to create skin- and hair care that makes us feel healthy and happy.
"Clean" vs. "natural or organic"
Clean beauty contains nontoxic and noncontroversial products that are proven safe and effective. Natural/organic product is usually mixed with some percent of chemicals that might be toxic or unsafe at some degree, but still can be marketed as "natural' or "organic". While "clean" means safe. We would recommend still to read the labels, cause none of those labels are really regulated. And it's better to check the ingredient at least at the beginning before you develop trust in the brand.
Today’s customer is more health conscious and wants to understand the products they are using on their skin. This trend has caused skincare companies to use visibly labeled packaging and eco-friendly ingredients. While “natural” and “organic” products appeal to customers because they are thought to be formulated with chemical-free ingredients, this isn’t the case, since skincare products have no FDA regulations regarding the terminology “natural” and “organic”.
While the chemicals in cosmetics make us look, feel, and smell better, research intensely suggests that at certain exposure levels, some of these chemicals may contribute to the increase of cancer in people. But because personal care products contain a various combination of chemicals, it's nearly impossible to show a definite cause and effect for any specific chemical on its own.
One US survey found on average, American women use 12 personal care cosmetics and/or products a day. The overall products they used contained 168 different chemical ingredients. Consequently, exposures to cosmetics ingredients can occur through digestion of contaminated food and water as well as from inhalation and skin absorption.
Support health instead of compromising it
Clean beauty products should not contain any ingredients believed to cause bad health effects. The protection of the ingredients should be a primary focus when you select the brands and products you choose to purchase. While truly natural products aren't the only clean beauty options, they are often the simplest when it comes to proving the safety of ingredients.
Be on the lookout for known endocrine hormone or disruptors, including phthalates, some chemical sunscreens like parabens and avobenzone, in particular.
Suspected or known carcinogens are another kind of dirty ingredient that shouldn't be in beauty products but often are. One place that questionable things often hide in plain sight is "fragrance," which can be just about anything.
Also, search for to understand why an ingredient is considered bad and what usage scenarios can pose risk. An ingredient may only be considered the high risk if visible to certain materials for example or only if used at certain levels or ingested vs. topical use. Know your own limits, but don’t just take the face value of certain evaluations.
There are many independent sources for ingredient info. Seek to understand and based on the info they provide come up with your safety net given your own needs and what makes the most sense to you. This is a key component to choosing safe ingredients that often time’s people tend to dismiss.
What You Can Do to Be More "Clean"?
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Do an ingredient check:
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Choose fragrance- and dye-free:
Products that have no fragrances or dyes are by nature better for the environment, as they use fewer ingredients, and people can have sensitivities to both.
Even fragrance from natural sources can cause reactions. Plus, brands aren’t compulsory to list the ingredients in “fragrance” on labels, so in many cases, there’s no way to know what’s in those products.
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Buy (green!) beauty that gives back:
Seek out beauty brands that donate a portion of their profits or make a contribution to environmental causes.
Anything that is going on your skin will end up inside your body finally so in the end, if you can, I think it’s best to keep it all clean. It’s not the best situation to just throw all of your products away, so start small if you must. Change your cleanser or moisturizer and then fill in the gaps as you go. Figure out your main concern and that will lead you to the right brand.