Short opinion episode (Green Beauty Conversations EP74) by Lorraine Dallmeyer responding to an interview with Jasmine Alvarez (Pretty Well Beauty). Lorraine argues that beauty retailers must begin formal sustainability assessments of brands they stock (e.g., climate-neutral or circular standards), recognises the practical difficulties and potential for alienating popular brands, and calls on consumers to question retailers and demand evidence for sustainability claims. Episode closes with a call-to-action to try Formula Botanica's free online formulation course and to subscribe to the podcast.
Chapters
So I've just finished recording an episode with Jasmine Alvarez of Pretty well Beauty, and by the time this recording goes live, you'll already have listened to that interview with Jasmine in your favorite podcast app as it came out last week. Now, I really enjoyed recording that episode because it was so refreshing to talk about the role that beauty retailers have to play in the drive towards sustainable beauty. I haven't yet heard many retailers acknowledge the responsibility that they have in making the beauty industry more sustainable, and it was wonderful to hear how Jasmin brings her principles to the forefront of the way she runs her business. The retail sector has the power to make sweeping changes to an entire industry, so I hope that this episode helps drive forward that conversation. For that reason, I wanted to jump on real quick, record this super short opinion piece and challenge you to join me in calling for a change to the world of beauty retail. 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 share my takeaways from the podcast interview that I released last week. In this short episode I put forward my main thoughts on the topic we last discussed, as well as setting you a challenge to make the green beauty sector a better place. So when I first heard about Jasmine's mission to embed sustainability and how she works with beauty brands from around the world, I sat there and I thought what an incredibly logical and sensible stance to take when it comes to onboarding new brands to any retailer. Of course, if you were going to stock brands, you would want to check that they're doing the right thing in terms of sustainability. But then that thought was instantly followed by me wondering how on earth you would undertake that sort of assessment. The fact is though, that beauty retailers will have to start undertaking some kind of sustainability assessment of the brands they stock. It's a foregone conclusion that this is going to happen, and honestly speaking, those retailers can either get in on the act now or they can wait for their customers to force them. I personally hope that it's the former, but I appreciate it won't be easy to take some of these steps as they may end up alienating some of the most popular brands. So you may have heard of Clean at Sephora or Target Clean. These are sizable retailers who have created their own internal standards to reject certain ingredients. Now imagine if these retailers designed standards such as Climate Neutral at Sephora or Circular Beauty at Target. In theory, they should already have the systems in place to extend their existing internal certification standards to embrace sustainability principles. The problem, of course, means that you would then reject the vast majority of beauty brands on the market. After all, most of them aren't climate neutral and they aren't designed to circular principles yet. So I appreciate that this is a big ask for an industry that only just seems to become aware of the very concept of sustainable development. But change needs to happen, and beauty retail has a big role to play in that change. The fact that there are people like Jasmine out there already challenging brands on the way that they operate is a great thing. Of course, this kind of systemic change won't happen overnight, and it will involve challenging conversations at all levels. But I strongly encourage beauty retailers to start having those conversations with brands they stock to find out what they're doing to tackle our global climate and ecological crises. Simply paying lip service isn't going to cut it in the long run. So when it comes to retailers future proofing your business as well as those of the brands you stock is also just good business sense. Ultimately, beauty retail has to change. So my challenge to you for this week is that the next time you're shopping with a retailer and you have the option to speak to a store rep, ask them. Ask them how the brands they're trying to sell to you are sustainable. Ask them to back up their statements with facts. If they claim the packaging is biodegradable, ask them what that means. If they claim their ingredients are better for the environment, ask them how they've tested that. If they claim the brands they're selling to you are zero waste, ask them how they know that. Remember to challenge people when they make bland, meaningless statements. We have the ability to make great change by leading these sustainable beauty conversations with integrity. No one else is challenging these topics sufficiently. So I hope you'll join me on my mission to make the beauty industry a better place. 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 in your favorite podcast app. And I'll be back soon with my next episode.
