EP82. The beauty industry has a problem with transparency

I've just finished recording an episode with Jessie Baker of Provenance, and by the time this recording goes live, you'll already have listened to my interview with Jessie in your favorite podcast app because it dropped last week. I loved chatting to Jessie because I am so excited about the way that she and her team are making the beauty industry as well as other industries more transparent and traceable. There's been a lot of talk about transparency in the beauty industry for years, but it's mainly been focused on whether an ingredient is natural or synthetic, and the conversation has never really gone much wider. In fact, even last week I was contacted by a podcast listener on Instagram who highlighted to me that some online influencers are still stuck in that binary discussion of synthetic is good, natural is bad, or vice versa, and haven't really embraced the nuances around sustainability. For that reason, I wanted to jump on quickly, record this super short opinion piece and challenge you to join me in thinking about how we can embrace transparency the right way. Hi, I'm 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 main takeaways from the podcast interview that we 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 the polarising discussion around naturals versus synthetics has been ongoing for at least 15 years in the beauty industry. It's a discussion that has attracted millions of people to the natural beauty world, as I even recently covered in my podcast episode number 63, in which I laid out how parabens kickstarted the indie beauty sector. Until now, when people have talked about transparency in relation to beauty products, the discussion has always boiled down to the question, are there any synthetics in your formulation? And if so, are they safe? Now, I've watched people build apps and large online databases just to answer this question. We are all familiar with the giant ingredient database that even scores ingredients based on their supposed safety. The problem, of course, is that you can't boil down this question to a binary answer. As with all ingredients, it comes down to dose and exposure. So if you've been following Formula Botanica for a while and we reach over a million people per month, then you'll know that this is not part of our ethos. We work exclusively with naturals and botanicals because we love them, not because we fear the alternative. So I do question whether the transparency discussion we've all been having in the industry has been the right one. And I think my conversation last week with Jesse really highlighted that point. After all, is it more important to you to know if the organization you're buying from thinks about and mitigates its climate, ecological waste or social footprint? Or is it more important to know for sure that none of the ingredients are synthetic? I stood on stage at In Cosmetics in Paris back in 2019, back when in person events were still a thing, and I gave a talk to hundreds of people in the cosmetics industry on this very topic. I said at the time that we need to focus on how we create sustainable formulations using sustainable ingredients housed in sustainable packaging sold by sustainable brands. And I still stand by that point. The concept of transparency and beauty must now transcend the tired debate we've been having for the last decade and instead focus on eradicating greenwashing. So I hope that the beauty industry starts to embrace transparency at a different level. I don't know how you feel and I really hope you come and tell me on my Lorraine Dallmeyer account on Instagram where I talk about sustainable beauty. But for me, I want to know the provenance of my BC ingredients. I want to know how the brand that I'm buying from is managing its climate footprint. I want to know if the formulations are designed to circular principles. And I love that the beauty industry is starting to embrace systems that demonstrate and verify these points with proof. So my challenge to you for this week is simple. Next time you're about to buy a beauty product, I want to challenge you to think about what's important to you in the formulations you buy. Do you want that the brands you buy from pay everyone a living wage? Do you want to support female owned businesses? Is it important to you that your beauty formulations are in fully recycled packaging or contain upcycled ingredients? Go grab a piece of paper and a pen and then make a list of the criteria that are most important to you. If you need some inspiration, go check out the provenance.org website as they list lots of different impact claims and it will give you an idea of what you're going to look for in in the beauty brands you want to support. The fastest way we're going to make the beauty industry more sustainable is by all of us buying from brands that embrace our own ethics and principles. So I hope you'll join me for my latest challenge. We are all in this together, don't forget that. And no one ever said any of this would be easy, but it's conversations like the one I had with Jessie Baker last week, which I really hope you've listened to already, that will propel the beauty industry to a better, more sustainable 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. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations I host and I'll be back soon with my new next episode.