EP84. The beauty industry is avoiding the elephant in the room

I've just finished recording an episode with my colleague Anna here at Formula Botanica in which we talked about waterless beauty. And by the time this recording goes live, you'll already have listened to our discussion in your favourite podcast app because it was released last week. I always love chatting with Anna because we get to unpick some of the most complex topics in sustainable beauty together. We've already covered carbon neutral beauty, circular beauty, biodegradable beauty, beauty miles and skinimalism, so it made sense to add waterless beauty to the mix. And if you listen to our episode together then you'll know that we did not think much of the marketing term waterless in relation to beauty, since every single product has a water footprint. In fact, we concluded that waterless beauty might just be a load of greenwashing. And the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I got that we allow these conversations to continue. So for that reason I wanted to jump on quickly, record this super short opinion piece and challenge you to join me in asking why the beauty industry keeps avoiding the elephant in the room. 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 we released last week. In this short episode I put forward my main thoughts on the topic we last discussed and as well as setting you a challenge to make the beauty sector a better place. So if you've listened to last week's podcast, then you'll know that Anna and I unpicked the term waterless and questioned whether using less water is really going to be the answer to our sustainability challenges. You'll also know that we concluded that waterless is a marketing term that's generally been used by well meaning people who genuinely want to do and make the beauty industry a better place, but just seem to be focusing on the wrong things. And I see this everywhere I go. The beauty industry as a whole keeps latching onto concepts such as biodegradability or veganism or cruelty free and then heralding their choices as the ultimate sustainability solution rather than just being a tiny component of the blueprint a sustainable future. The media doesn't help either. I can't even begin to tell you how many articles I've read about how wonderful waterless beauty is, which gloss over the main sustainability issue. We face the fact that the industry encourages rampant, out of control consumerism. Even recently I had an email from a major cosmetic industry publication that asked the question, what would it take for the beauty industry to actively clean up the environment as it innovates and grows? And there's the elephant in the room, overlooking the fact that this industry still wants to achieve infinite economic growth with finite natural resources. Why do they try and herald a concept such as waterless beauty as the answer to our problems, but simultaneously try to get us to buy as much waterless beauty as possible? How do those two concepts even marry together? The fact is that no one wants to face the ugly truth that the beauty industry needs a complete and total overhaul. That's really what my green beauty opinion is all about this week. When can we expect true leadership in the cosmetics industry? A consortium of the world's largest personal care brands has recently announced a harmonized environmental labeling scheme for consumers. It's a step in the right direction, but it doesn't push far enough and still expects us to follow the same outdated model that's been around for decades. I see a lot of indie brands talking the right talk, and my hope is that they will start to push change from a grassroots level. After all, indie beauty has completely overhauled the beauty sector in the way it works with naturals in just a decade. So I think we can absolutely achieve the same with the way that we embed sustainability into our beauty products. So that's my challenge to you for this week. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We are in this together. And if you're listening to this, I want you to consider yourself part of the Global Sustainable Beauty Task Force. To quote the infamous words of the Lorax by Dr. Seuss, unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. I want you to join me in having these conversations. I want to encourage you to speak up. I do feel like I'm shouting into the void a little bit at the moment as the industry trade bodies, the big players, and ultimately the shoppers don't seem to be on board with the idea of going right to the heart of what makes the beauty industry unsustainable. But I can see a future where we take our bottles and jars to a local shop for a refill made by a local company with sustainable ingredients. And I don't think that future is that far away. We've just got to push for it a little bit harder than we're currently doing. I hope you'll join me for my latest challenge. We are all in this together, and no one ever said any of this would be easy, but it's conversations like the one I had with Anna 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 next episode.