EP48. Do you know your Beauty Miles?

Foreign. Beauty Conversations, the podcast that challenges you to think about how you buy, use, make and sell your natural beauty formulations. We tackle topics that will make you think and encourage debate about green beauty with your friends, followers or customers. I'm your host, Lorraine Dahlmeer. I'm a biologist, chartered environmentalist, and the director of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school, Formula Botanica. We have thousands of students in over 150 countries around the world who study with us to become organic beauty formulators and entrepreneurs. Visit our website@formulabotanica.com to try our free formulation training. In today's In Conversation with Formula Botanica episode, we're talking beauty miles and carbon footprints for your cosmetic ingredients. This is a big topic, but with the rise of conscious consumerism, it's also a topic that we need to be talking about. So I'm joined here today by Anna Green, our membership and content coordinator. And we decided that for our first ever podcast, In Conversation with Formula Botanica, we were going to talk about beauty miles, which is quite a meaty topic, I'd say quite a controversial topic. And so we put it to our community and asked them to tell us what they wanted to hear about beauty miles. Miles. So In Conversation with Formula Botanica basically involves us answering the questions that have been put to us by our students. So welcome onto the podcast, Anna.

Hello, Lorraine, and thank you for having me.

Right, so let's dive straight in. I guess, I suppose the first question.

Would be, what are beauty miles? Lorraine, we're all really interested in knowing this topic.

It's a term that I'm starting to see a few more people talk about. So I'm really pleased that we can have this podcast to really shape this conversation before it goes off in a direction that it maybe shouldn't. So to answer your question, you've probably heard of food miles, which measure the distance that your food travels before it reaches your plate. But beauty miles measure the distance that our beauty products are transported from the time of harvesting to processing, to manufacturing, to retail, until basically that lotion ends up on your bathroom shelf. So, similar to food miles, beauty miles are, I suppose, one factor that we can potentially use when testing the overall environmental impacts of our beauty formulations. And I'll provide an example in a bit, actually, because I think it'd be quite useful to talk through a more detailed example, but I think that's a sort of a summary of what beauty miles are.

I suppose Everybody's talking about the topic of sustainability, environmental impact of our purchases. So this is a big topic at the moment that people are thinking about a lot. So why are we asking ourselves this question? Why are beauty miles important?

Yeah, it's exactly as you say. You know, people are really talking about sustainability at the moment, and I think the beauty industry needs to do quite a lot more to become truly sustainable. So I worked as an environmental consultant for over a decade before I took over Formula Botanica, and it really, it continues to shock me, actually, how little our industry is actually doing to become sustainable. And exactly as you've just said. Actually, you know, conscious consumerism is on the rise. People are starting to think about their carbon footprints and ultimately, I suppose, the impacts that our lives are having on climate change. And so I think we need to be talking about topics such as beauty miles to see if they offer the right measurements for determining those impacts. And we need to address these topics and then question the overall impacts of the beauty industry. But I suppose one point I would make just before we start is that I don't use imperial measurements, so talking about miles is a source of great agony for me. But I think it sounds better than beauty kilometers. So we're just going to go with miles in this podcast. So we got some questions from our students, didn't we?

We did indeed. We've got quite a few really interesting questions here. So the first question is from Laurie, and she says, how do I go about calculating beauty miles?

Well, I spent some time thinking about this, and because not that many people are really talking about this topic in the beauty industry, I really wanted us to frame how we go about this. So whilst a food item is harvested and then maybe undergoes some processing or storage in a warehouse before it reaches our kitchens, a beauty product will travel from source to processing, from processing to manufacturing, from manufacturing to distribution to retail, and then finally to our bathroom shelves. So it isn't just a case of picking an almond in California, pressing it to oil and shipping it to us, because that serum, the oil serum that will contain the almond oil that you ultimately use, will likely also contain other ingredients and have gone through multiple stages of preparation before it makes it to us. With food miles, we're generally looking at one ingredient, whereas with beauty miles, we're looking at a formulation of multiple ingredients, which makes it quite hard to calculate the distance it's traveled. So I was sat here thinking, how do I calculate this? So I decided to take the example of a simple lip balm that contains shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, almond oil and beeswax. Something simple that we might make, for instance, when we're learning how to formulate, which quite a few of our students would do at Formula Botanica. But then you look at it and shea butter typically comes from Ghana. Cocoa butter often comes from Cameroon. Coconut oil often comes from Indonesia. Almond oil is generally produced in California. And beeswax, for instance, might be produced locally to you. So if you're a formulator in the uk, where we are shipping those ingredients to you for manufacturing, I calculated, will cover a distance of almost 19,000 miles. If you're a formulator in the US, that distance rises to more than 23,000 miles. That's a vast distance covered when you look at it like that. At this point you've received your ingredients, you can then set about producing that lip balm, and that product will then either be shipped directly to your customers or to retailers, who will then potentially ship it further. So if you sell locally, your beauty miles might not grow significantly beyond those initial numbers. But if you sell internationally, you may add thousands of miles onto that total calculation. So I guess a summary in answer to that question is calculating your beauty miles isn't a simple equation and obviously takes quite a bit of detective work.

I guess that's a really interesting answer and I think that was quite a simple formulation. When you think about a very complex formulation, that's going to be a really difficult thing to calculate. So, yeah, very interesting indeed.

Yeah, I completely agree. I think if you're looking at a more complex formulation, you know you might have anywhere up to 40 ingredients in some of the lotions and serums you see on the shelf. And yeah, that 23,000 miles may quickly add up to 50 or 100,000 miles even.

Our next question is from Sarah. Is it ever possible for a small brand to truly know the miles traveled when buying small volumes from retailers? In the early years of business, to buy direct usually requires high volumes, cost, and therefore risks and a lot of detective work. Large brands will have a team dedicated to sourcing.

I guess, in short, the answer is no, unless you have a direct relationship with your suppliers. So, interestingly, I see quite a few of our graduates at Formula Botanica really get to know their suppliers and build up relationships with them directly, whereas others, of course, decide to outsource everything to manufacturers or buy through resellers of ingredients. So I guess it really depends on how you've set your business up and how you build up your supply chain. Because if you want to think about your carbon footprint and incorporate sustainability into your formulations, you'll need to find ingredient suppliers who, you know, who you trust and I guess, who ultimately embody the same ethical principles that you have. So, yes, it will definitely require detective work. And I know I said, no, it isn't possible, but it is as long as you put all that work in. And that's going to be very hard for indie brands, particularly when it's maybe just one formulator. So you may never know the exact distance that your ingredients have traveled to you. But I think with a bit of detective work, you can certainly generate an estimation.

Yeah, that's an interesting point as well. I mean, I think larger brands will have larger teams to help them with all of these things, but they won't necessarily be interested in the beauty miles. A lot of the larger brands will just outsource to a certain lab and maybe won't have thought about that. Whereas I tend to find that indie brand owners think about some of these issues a little bit more. So they might be more interested in finding that information out than a larger brand would be.

Yeah, quite possibly. It really depends on the overall credentials and ethos of your brand. I mean, I was on a podcast recently with the Body Body Shop, and clearly, you know, there's an example of a brand that deeply cares about the sustainability of their products. So they have a whole team dedicated to this, whereas other brands probably aren't looking at this at all. It varies hugely in the beauty industry.

Next up, we have a question from Jenny. Is it even feasible to only use locally sourced ingredients? Do the benefits of supporting communities through buying fair trade, ethical and sustainably sourced ingredients outweigh the environmental impact of transport?

So that's a great question from Jenny, and I suppose the answer depends entirely on what you make. I mean, I've, for instance, seen entrepreneurs in Ghana make amazing whipped shea butter. Their product is just whipped shea butter and that might be their best selling product. But I've also seen beauty entrepreneurs in the UK use British oils and British beeswax to make lip balms. And I've seen formulators in our community basically all over the world, even grow and harvest their own ingredients. So one of our wonderful graduates in Hungary recently sent me her cleansing balm and gel serum to test, along with a bottle of her own essential oil from her own lavender farm. And I'm starting to see this more and more, that people are growing their own local ingredients. But I guess, do the benefits outweigh the environmental impacts? That can only really be determined on a case by case basis. And this is where I think formulators can really shine by delving into their supply chain. Understanding exactly where those ingredients have come from and building up relationships with their suppliers. At the end of the day, it may well be feasible to only use locally sourced ingredients. I'm not always sure if it's the right answer, but we'll come to that, I think, in a minute.

It's a really interesting question from Jenny because I think it's very difficult to separate environmental impact from also social impact and all of the other things that go along with something like fair trade. So you've got a huge amount of things to think about there that don't just involve the environmental aspect of sourcing.

Yeah, you're quite right, absolutely. Sustainability isn't just about environmental sustainability. It also brings that social element into it. And some of these cooperatives that produce ingredients around the world, they provide employment for hundreds, if not thousands of families. So, yeah, that has to be weighed into it, too.

Violeta asks which regions of the world produce the most of raw ingredients and which ingredients? Exactly?

That's a very specific question. So cosmetic ingredients are grown, harvested and produced the world over as they form part of our global agriculture systems when they're natural and they are harvested, unless, of course, they are synthesized in the lab. So in the example I gave earlier of the lip balm, we used butters from Africa, oils from North America and Asia, and local beeswax. And in reality, there are hundreds of different oils that can be grown all over the world. Although in reality, the beauty industry typically ends up relying on monocultures of palm oil or almond oil. And butters will often come from hotter climates. But then saying that many of our functional ingredients ultimately have palm oil or coconut oil at their base, so will again come from those biodiversity hotspots around the world. It really depends on which raw ingredients you're dealing with. I mean, you can harvest herbs from your back garden and distill them into hydrosols. You can probably find someone who's making essential oils in your country. There are probably some kind of carrier oils that are being grown in your country regardless of where you are. It's just finding those ingredients that mean something to you, mean something to your formulation, and then incorporating those into your final beauty products.

Really interesting to think about these big monocultures of almond oil and things like that. If you're in a certain part of the world, what is available to you is going to be much broader than other parts of the world.

Yes.

Okay. Kirsten asks, what is the overall impact of importing ingredients? I do agree with you with what you are talking about. After all, Reducing carbon imprint is important. I just know that for me, some ingredients, like the Fair Trade from Africa are not feasible. Shea butter is only sourced from Africa. So if I was a Brit making a cream using butters, what would I use instead?

Well, I suppose this question gets to the very heart of what we're talking about today. Are beauty miles really the right measurement for looking at our carbon footprint? So while fresh foods will often be flown to us because they're so perishable, many cosmetic ingredients will be shipped, which obviously has a lower carbon footprint overall. And we've seen this in the food industry. You know, here in the uk we import a lot of green beans from Kenya, for instance. I know that I sometimes stand in the supermarket and I'm standing there thinking, no, I don't want to buy beans from Kenya, it's so far away. But actually, those beans are grown using manual labour. Nothing is done mechanically. They don't use tractors, they use cow manure as fertiliser, they have low tech irrigation systems. And in fact, the carbon footprint of those green beans may well be lower than us growing them here in the European Union. The overall impact really depends on how the ingredients are grown and harvested. And that means that we shouldn't necessarily stop using ingredients that have traveled a long way to get to us. But it does mean that we need to think more about the overall impacts of our supply chains in the beauty industry. And that's a piece of information that's often missing and will really require, again, I come back to it, that detective work where you have to get to know your suppliers and find out what they're actually doing and maybe even go and visit them. Because if you want to build a sustainable beauty brand, creating, you know, amazing formulations with ingredients that are grown far away, I would argue that any ethical brand needs to understand exactly where those ingredients have come from and how they've made it into your final formulation. So it's not an easy question. Definitely not.

No, definitely. I agree with you there, Lorraine. And I think the consumers are hungry for more information on where things have been sourced. It's definitely, you know, a big piece of the market that is missing at the moment. Jo asks, what questions should we be asking? If the beauty miles were considered not so environmentally friendly, is it possible to reduce environmental impact and still formulate products? Customers have come to love, demand, want or need?

So I think every formulator should be thinking about the carbon footprint of their ingredients and their operations. So not just the ingredients, but also the way you run your business and I think that's the only way forward here for a responsible, sustainable beauty industry. And I think indie brands can lead the way here. And you touched on this earlier, Anna, because indie brands can then start to force the big players to start being more sustainable and to greenwash less. There is still so much greenwashing and we've seen that indie brands can shape the beauty industry. And I really want indie to lead the way in terms of sustainability. So I think Jo asked what questions we should be asking. So I guess the first question is, where have my ingredients come from? Then how are they grown, harvested and shipped to me? Do my ingredient suppliers have the same ethical principles as I do? I suppose the final one is what is my overall footprint? Now, you may not have an exact figure for that final question, what is my overall footprint? But you can certainly still build up an overall picture as you get to know the provenance of your ingredients and get to know your supply chain. So I would really like to see indie brands lead the way here because we're an amazing community. In fact, we're a global movement and I think we can make significant and major change if we start to challenge mainstream greenwashing and also start to spread that information to customers all throughout the beauty industry. Because together we can then start to really make big changes.

Absolutely. We've already seen so much change happening over the course of the last couple of years, so I'm excited to see where else we can drive that change forward. Shell, is there or will there be in the future a miles traveled carbon footprint grading system for beauty products? I suppose she's asking similar to some kind of certification system for beauty Miles.

Yeah, I think that's a really interesting question. I, I was giving this some thought and I think it's unlikely that something like that is going to happen in the future given the complexities of calculating distance traveled and also overall impact. Because as we've seen, the two don't necessarily go hand in hand. What I do think we're going to start seeing more of is brands claiming to be carbon neutral. And at that point there may well be certification schemes that they can use for those specific products. And that would be really exciting because as conscious consumerism rises, as you were just saying, you know, I think a lot more people will be standing in the shop thinking, okay, I've got two serums in front of me. They both look pretty similar. This one's carbon neutral and this one isn't. I know which one I'm going to choose. So I think that's the certification scheme we're going to see more of in the beauty industry. Maybe not so much a miles traveled scheme though, but definitely a carbon neutral or sort of carbon reduction scheme at least.

Nasim asks, can the new fad of natural actually create more harm than good to nature?

So this is just a brilliant question. And in short, yes, if we're not responsible in how we use natural ingredients, we can actually do more harm than good because natural does not mean sustainable. This is a point I still see a lot of people be confused about. They think natural death by its inherent meaning means that we're doing a better thing by the planet. And that isn't always the case. So if we could produce a palm oil equivalent in the lab, I would argue that it would be irresponsible of the beauty industry not to use that synthetic ingredient. But saying all of that doesn't mean we shouldn't use natural ingredients, because many of them can be grown sustainably and can have a low environmental impact. And we know that natural ingredients can do wonderful things for the skin and hair, which is ultimately why we're all here and probably also why you're listening to this podcast. So a responsible formulator needs to be thinking about the provenance of their ingredients and also telling their customers proudly about their sustainability credentials. So I know that some countries around the world are not embracing sustainability as much as others, and this is a topic that I've discussed with a number of our students who come from all over the world, of course. But I think indie brands have an opportunity to change that mindset by spreading that message. The other thing to think about is that there are a lot of fads in the beauty industry and lots of ingredients that we feel we must rely on because everyone uses them. And we also easily get excited by the latest exotic botanical ingredient, which I see at all the trade shows. When you're surrounded by these stands that have these beautiful posters up showing you the most incredible botanical ingredients that they've unearthed from a jungle somewhere, when in reality all of us are surrounded by really interesting plants that are often viewed as weeds, but which can have similar effects on the skin and hair. So I think there needs to be a dose of reality as well in how we find and source ingredients, and we need to look a little bit more locally sometimes. So my advice would be to think local, but also think sustainable. Local doesn't always mean a lower carbon footprint, but it can certainly be an interesting avenue to explore and it might give your formulations a very interesting edge in the beauty sector. That might actually really help your business at the end of the day, too.

Really good points there. There's a trend at the moment for seeing brands using sort of ingredients that have come from byproducts from other industries, which I think is really interesting and really a clever way to use ingredients that otherwise would go to waste. So there's. There's ways, I suppose, of using those natural ingredients, but also making them more sustainable at the same time.

Absolutely. And that's exciting.

El Nizulf asks, how should I proceed when the ingredients I need can only be found abroad if I want to limit the carbon footprint of our products?

Yeah, it's a tricky one because I know that it can be really hard for some beauty formulators to find in particular functional ingredients in their part of the world. But what I would say is that every country grows some ingredient that can be used in cosmetic formulations. You could even grow them yourself. And we see many, many of our students do that. But I suppose that isn't always realistic for a lot of formulators. They can't always do that. So my advice to you is, if you live in a place that doesn't produce many cosmetic ingredients, get to know your suppliers and find out more about the methods through which your ingredients are grown, harvested and shipped. So I always recommend that our students and followers at trade shows to speak directly to suppliers. So, for instance, Formula Botanica I'm very excited about this is going to be the official indie beauty partner at In Cosmetics Global in Barcelona this spring. And just as an example, this show gives you a fantastic opportunity to speak directly to suppliers, because when you're stood face to face with them, it's very different to when you're trying to communicate with them by phone or by email. So if you take the time to travel to some of these shows globally, and you may have to put in the time and the air miles to get there, it will help you put your questions and concerns directly to the people who provide you with your ingredients. And you may well then be able to find ingredients that can meet your ethos and can have a lower carbon footprint overall. Again, I come back to it. I suppose it is a bit of detective work, but you can do it. Absolutely. And if this is something you really, truly care about, then I do recommend putting in the time and the effort to get it right.

Yeah, there's so many new ingredients coming out that also might have lower carbon footprints and beauty miles than previous ingredients. I suppose there's the issue of reformulating something for brands which I know can be costly and time consuming. But it's also an interesting thought, isn't it? As new and more sustainable ingredients come out, should brands be embracing those and moving forward with those rather than sticking with their previous formulations?

Yeah, absolutely. And the more demand there is, the more supply there will be. So when you go to these big trade shows and you know, if 100 people turn up at a stand and say, why isn't your emulsifier carbon neutral? Then that supplier may well go back to the lab and think, hang on, why did all those people ask me about that? This is obviously something they care about. So the more you ask these questions, the more likely the industry is willing to provide.

So I suppose the big question to wrap up the podcast then, Lorraine, is should formulators be considering beauty miles when they're designing their beauty products? Is it something we should be worrying about?

So, as you say, this is the big one. And the answer, which I'm sure everyone's going to be really disappointed by, is yes and no. So let's start with the no. Well, as we know, food miles have long been shown not to be the right measurement for looking at your paper carbon footprint because you could, for instance, grow a cosmetic ingredient with manual labor, with minimal irrigation and minimal pesticides. And palm oil is a great example of such an ingredient. And that may well then have a lower carbon footprint than an oil, for instance, grown local to us, such as sunflower oil or rapeseed oil here in the eu. But we know that palm oil can have devastating impacts on biodiversity, so it isn't that simple. The other point, of course, is that cosmetic ingredients will often be shipped rather than flown because many oils, butters, waxes, functional ingredients are not as perishable as our foods. But on the other hand, we should be thinking about our overall carbon footprints and then distance traveled in that order when designing and manufacturing our formulations. So yes is the other side of the answer. We should be considering our beauty miles as part of our overall impact. Are there local ingredients that are grown sustainably that could form part of your beauty brand story? Could you build up long term relationships with ethical and sustainable suppliers? What is the overall carbon footprint of your formulations and your operations? And then how are you sharing this information with your customers? How are you changing hearts and minds to try and get customers out there thinking about sustainability too? So if you can answer all these questions, then I think you'll be well on your way to creating a brand that might just make a difference. It's not easy and it will take some time, but if this is something you really care about and your customers care about, then I think as an industry, the indie sector can make a massive difference. I hope we can all do that together.

Definitely.

Well, thank you for putting all the students questions to me today, Anna, and I hope you enjoyed this episode of In Conversation with Formula Botanica and I'm sure we'll be back in the near future.

Thanks Lorraine.

So what do you think? Is it feasible for indie brands to think about the provenance of their ingredients? Should we be talking about Beauty Miles at all? Given the carbon complexities of growing, harvesting and shipping cosmetic ingredients? Can indie brands lead the whole beauty industry industry in terms of sustainability? Or is this simply too big a burden to place on small businesses? Whatever your views on this controversial topic, I want you to join the debate and leave us a comment on our social channels. The Formula Botanica team and I love hearing from you, so come and tell us your views. Thank you for joining Anna and I for this latest episode of Green Beauty Conversations on Beauty Miles. I hope you enjoyed it. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast on itunes, Spotify or Stitcher, and stay tuned for the next episode in which we'll be talking about in cosmetics. Follow Formula Botanica Formula Botanica on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn. Visit our website at formulabotanica.com and sign up for a free formulation training class today. Sam.