EP238. 8 ways we must embrace slow beauty

Most people who are conscious of their environmental footprint are very aware of the concept of fast fashion. And you might even have seen those devastating photos of unwanted discarded clothes piled up high in the Atacama desert in Chile, for instance, where they receive an incredible 46 million tons of unwanted clothing each year. 46 million tons. Now, this idea of buying big hauls of clothes and discarding unused or unwanted items, let's face it, it's not unique to fashion though, is it? Because the business model that we have for cosmetics right here, right now is fast beauty. And as you heard on the podcast last week when I interviewed Lia Yu of Krave Beauty, slow beauty is the way forward for this fast industry. Because this fast fashion model, well, we know it in beauty too. We see beauty influencers talk about their hauls. We see people being encouraged to buy lots and lots of beauty products, in fact, sometimes enough to be able to do 10 steps in a beauty routine. In fact, Leah last week was talking about 14 steps. We see people damaging their skin by using too many potent products. As a direct result of this fast beauty approach, we also see mountains of packaging waste, although the cosmetics industry is deliberately vague on how much waste it actually produces. So in today's episode, I want to put forward eight ways that we must embrace slow beauty. And this will help us define what slow beauty actually is and show us a variety of ways that we need to change the cosmetics sector. Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmeyer, chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my green beauty opinions in which I challenge the beauty industry's terrible track record on sustainability and share my thoughts on how we can make the beauty sector a better and more sustainable place. If you want to be the first to hear all of my latest episodes, make sure you subscribe to this podcast. So let's go through my eight ways that we must embrace slow beauty. Number one is that we should buy beauty products because we need them. Now, I know this might seem pretty logical, but when it's really easy to pick up a whole haul of different formulations, then it's easy to get carried away. Everyone will know, however, which cosmetics they actually need. You know, what your skin or hair needs. In fact, a few years ago I polled our community and I asked them what their essential formulations actually were. We even used that information to record episode 61 of this podcast on the rise of skinimalism, which is a great episode that I encourage you to listen to. And the answers we received on that poll varied, but there were a few formulations that were most popular, so a cleanser, a moisturizer, a serum, and a sunscreen. I was a bit surprised at the time that sunscreen SPF came so low down the list. Anyway, I recommend that to embrace slow beauty, you pick what you need and only buy what you need. So that is step number one. Step number two is to buy what you need when you need it. Now, you don't need big hauls, you don't need to stockpile, you don't need to plan ahead. Don't fill up your cupboards with products that might go out of date before you use them. You know from experience that it's really easy to buy new beauty products when you run out of the old ones. So go for quality over quantity. This is a really important part of slow beauty. Now, number three ties in with the first two, which is that slow beauty encourages you to buy a cohesive product range. So tying in with what I said in the intro for this episode, there are people who are using so many products that they're actually causing skin issues for themselves. So I encourage you to be a minimalist because honestly, your skin will likely thank you for it. I see this with our graduates all the time as well. At Formula Botanica, they learn how to formulate and then they create these lovely capsule ranges of products like a cleanser, a moisturizer and a serum. And they start a brand with them and they sell them. They. That's a capital range and that's step number three. Now, the fourth way that we have to embrace slow beauty is through being mindful of when we apply beauty products. A few years ago I read about a new trend called beauty snacking, which honestly is as ridiculous as the name suggests. It basically means that you stop at multiple points throughout the day to indulge in a tiny self care beauty ritual. And whoever came up with this called it beauty snacking. Yes. So if you need to reapply your sunscreen or if you want to reapply your makeup, honestly, go for it. But this idea of stopping deliberately to indulge yourself and snack on your beauty products is just another way of getting you to consume more. Be deliberate in when you apply your personal care products. You will know when you need to. You don't need to set an alarm clock to do it regularly. Nor do you need to cover your desk at work or wherever you work with beauty products so that you can snack away throughout the day. Be mindful, go for less Clutter, more calm. Number five is to embrace multipurpose products. Now, when you're working with one cosmetic product, let's say a balm that you can apply to your lips, elbows, feet, cuticles, hair tips, eyebrows, whatever works for you, whatever you need, then you are starting to slow things right down too, because you don't need lots of products stood in front of you to repeat the word I used just a minute ago. It's about being more mindful. There is something very lovely about being able to use a multi purpose formulation. The sixth way that we must embrace slow beauty is by rejecting the influences that encourage those big halls of cosmetics. Just please stop following those people. Follow people like Leah who are actively out there in the world encouraging a slower, more sustainable beauty industry. Number seven looks at the outcome of our rampant consumption and it's about embracing circularity. And one thing I think we can probably all agree on is that we need less waste in the beauty industry. We need less packaging going into landfills or our waterways. We need to reuse our packaging. We need more upcycling and cosmetic ingredients. We need more biodegradability. I'd encourage you to start seeking out brands that do refills. There are some really cool, pioneering brands out there that are doing amazing work. So please go and support them. Finally, number eight is slow beauty is about being responsible. It's about embodying that ethos of sustainability and ethics that will automatically seek to do the right thing in the right situation. Look for brands that care and are doing more than just slapping the word sustainability across their website without any meaning behind it, or only donating to charity without thinking about their own impacts. If you're ever unsure or you're ever in doubt, just move to another brand. There are some brilliant ones out there. So that was my eight ways that we must embrace slow beauty. And it probably won't surprise you to hear that my challenge to you for this week is to follow those eight steps whenever you can. Let's go for less clutter and more calm in our beauty habits. You can still have great skin and hair. In fact, it might even be better by being more mindful about what you apply to it. So let's try and create a movement. Not enough people are talking about slope beauty, so I want all of us to make this part of our conversations and I really hope that you'll join me too. Thank you for listening to my green beauty opinions. Remember to visit the Formula botanica website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. And if you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, please make sure you do so now in your favorite podcast app. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations I host and I'll be back soon with my next episode. Sa.