In this monologue, the speaker critiques the "clean" and "non‑toxic" beauty industry, arguing that large corporations prioritize profit over consumer safety and often employ deceptive marketing. They explain that claims such as "no parabens added" can be misleading, as they only indicate that the company didn't add more parabens, not that none are present. The speaker notes that terms like "clean" and "non‑toxic" lack any regulatory definition, making them unreliable labels. They describe greenwashing tactics, including natural‑sounding packaging and language that suggest purity without substance. The difficulty of interpreting ingredient lists—filled with scientific or Latin names—is highlighted, suggesting that most consumers would need a chemist to decipher them. As a practical solution, the speaker recommends using the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database to research product ingredients and safety ratings, acknowledging its comprehensive coverage of mainstream products while noting that some niche brands may be absent.
Chapters
So what's the deal with clean beauty? Clean beauty sounds so good in theory, but you have to keep in mind that all things made by larger corporations, huge corporations, they are not typically concerned with you. They're concerned about their bottom line and making their boards money, which doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to be honest about the things that their containers say, or maybe not even say but allude to. A good example is, is you will find, especially in a lot of products that you find in like TJ Maxx or those places, where they will have something on them that say no parabens added. But that doesn't mean that there aren't parabens in the product. It means that when they took this product that they got from somebody else, they didn't add any more to it. So even if you see that on the label, you should always look for it. Um, so clean, like within the, within the world of beauty and skincare If you see something that is labeled clean, you really need to do the due diligence to see what's in them. So, clean doesn't have a definition. So, there, there is no definition that you have to— if you're going to say that you're clean, there is no, like, definition on how that— like, you have to have, like, certain things to be labeled as being clean. That doesn't exist. Same kind of thing with non-toxic. You can take the idea of non-toxic and if you, if you have any of those things in higher concentrations for one person versus another person can make it toxic for one versus the other, which can also be detrimental to your skin. Sneaky tricks that they use in greenwashing as well Where like natural doesn't always— natural doesn't necessarily mean that it is all natural. It might have some natural ingredients, but it doesn't mean it's all natural. They will also do things that lead you to believe that it's going to be natural through their packaging, through leaves or neutral color tones or greens or things that really make it feel like it's earthy and homegrown and that kind of thing. So be careful of that. Um, within that greenwashing, they use a lot of language that can mislead you, where it says something not added. We talked about that with parabens earlier, but it can go into anything. So reading labels is important. But reading most mainstream labels is very difficult. Between the scientific or Latin versions of the common names for things, you, you almost need your own professional chemist to be able to read them. So your best bet is to find resources. My favorite is EWG's Skin Deep database. And it will— it has almost every skincare out there that is mainstream. Some of your smaller natural, like actual homegrown micro brands, are not in there. Um, so, so they are a good place to find out if your skincare— how it rates with its ingredients. They have a very comprehensive breakdown of it. So if you're really curious about it, look up what you use and see what it says about it.
