I've spoken before about moving away from only vegan ingredients in the interests of sustainability, and now I've also relaxed my position on synthetic ingredients, for similar reasons.
When I started Oh Goodness I knew very little of the history of cosmetics, or the ingredients used in their production. I just started making things, and mostly my information came from recipes and blogs I found on the internet. I proudly labelled my products “natural” and “fragrance free”, without really thinking about why, and if that was truly better.
The more you know, the more you realise you don’t know.
Since studying cosmetic formulation I have realised how simplistic this thinking is, and how I had listened to voices on the internet who didn’t know much about these topics either. I’ve come to see how a lot of the messaging around cosmetics and skincare is deeply flawed, and how much misinformation and scaremongering in the form of "free from" and other "clean" beauty messaging is out there, based on very little but the echo chamber from whence it came.
The big, scary sounding names of chemicals can be intimidating but the ingredients themselves are often completely benign. The narrative of “natural good and synthetic bad” is simplistic and false. Brianne West (founder of Ethique) once said: “I'm an advocate of ingredients that have been scientifically proven to be safe, whether they are natural in origin or not.” I have to agree. What does "natural" actually mean anyway? We did a whole section on this in my study (but that’s a whole other blog post).
Leave on vs wash off
Synthetic ingredients available for use in cosmetics often sound intimidating, but are also extensively tested. While the most stringent rules governing use come from the EU, there are strict guidelines for usage rates and suitability for different products worldwide.
Many of the guidelines for use of particular ingredients depend on their function. An eye cream, left on very delicate skin near the mucous membranes of the eye, serves a vastly different function than, say, a soap, which makes contact with skin briefly and then is washed away (and hopefully you never get it anywhere near your eye!) So the suggested levels of these ingredients take into consideration all these functions and the rates at which they have been shown to be safe and fit for purpose.
“Free from” claims, a thing of the past
The EU and other jurisdictions have recently introduced bans on the use of "free from" claims. The reason for this is because a claim about a particular ingredient can skew public perception such that people believe it may not be safe and avoid it in other products, often for no reason. Read more about this in a NZ context here.
Essential oils - really the best choice?
The essential oil market has boomed in recent years and is set to grow even bigger, and has created a billion dollar industry. Certainly soap and cosmetics makers in the handmade space proudly proclaim their use of essential oils and I was no exception, I jumped on that bandwagon with both feet, believing it to be the righteous path.
But this uptick in people utilising essentials for scent and therapeutic benefits means a huge surge in growth requiring more and more oils, and the amount of land needed to produce these quantities also increases exponentially. That's an awful lot of plant material, used for, at best, around 1-2% of the entire crop. In a world deeply troubled by climate change, extreme weather and crop failure, is this the best use of land?
Production of essentials simply isn't sustainable. For example, It takes around 4 tons of rose petals to produce 1 kg of pure rose essential oil (which is also why it’s so incredibly expensive). Sandalwood is a good example of a species currently protected thanks to over harvesting
Which ones are problematic?
Some other of the essentials on my list to consider include Frankincense trees, which are under huge strain thanks to the constant harvesting of their sap for the oil. (I plan to remake my intense moisturiser in the future, and it won’t contain frankincense oil eventually. I love its smell, but it's not worth it for me).
Sometimes it’s a case of a small shift in the type of essential oil used - for example I've started using Virginian cedarwood rather than atlas (which is currently a threatened species.)
If you are interested in this topic, have a read of this article, or this podcast from Formula Botanica, not the cosmetics school I studied with, but who are a good source of information.
Sourcing from good places
So, having chosen to forgo certain essential oils, I was getting my head around including - gasp - fragrance to achieve my scent goals. This was new territory!
Aotearoa NZ, compared with the EU, has fairly relaxed standards when it comes to production and sale of cosmetic and skincare products. As such, I feel even greater pressure to ensure my products are safe. For the fragrance I do use, I’ve made sure I’m using a reputable supplier who sells fragrance compliant with RIFM and IFRA standards. These organisations ensure safe use of fragrance, and include strict guidelines and usage rates. For example, a cinnamon fragrance oil can be used only up to 0.7% in cold process soap, and others are usually between 1-3%.
Why does any of this matter..
..for me, a one woman show making small amounts of soap in a far flung country at the bottom of the world? In making assessments about which ingredients I am comfortable with, it’s not about the volume of ingredients I am using, but rather that if we all make small changes, this adds up. Additionally, if I communicate about my choices, it might make people think about these things just a little bit more. I have no beef with anyone who chooses to craft with different ingredients than I do, I just hope that by choosing ingredients for these reasons, and communicating my why, I can get people thinking about sustainability issues. I do think to embrace a sustainable future we need to think about all these things instead of just blithely continuing on the way things have been before. It's good to challenge the status quo sometimes, no?
My conclusions?
I have spent many hours pondering the best ingredients and going around and around the interwebs trying to figure out the best, most sustainable choices, risks vs benefits.. No easy feat! So, without writing an essay, what does it all mean for Oh Goodness?? Here's my takeaways:
- As always, the choices I make for Oh’G products are often a tradeoff between the benefit in the finished product and the environmental cost
- Not all synthetic ingredients are bad, as with all things their safety is dose dependant and they may be more environmentally friendly than “natural” ones (eg certain essential oils)
- Synthetic fragrances, when sourced carefully and used at recommended levels are safe in soap (a wash-off product) and can reduce the exploitation of natural resources required to make essential oils
- Some of the issue surrounding use of fragrances stem from their possible inclusion of phthalates, and all the fragrances I use are free from these. However, I won’t be claiming that in any of my marketing communications, as most other people are ALSO using phthalate free fragrances, so it would be misleading to do so.
As an aside, I would encourage you to run a mile from anyone claiming their products are “chemical free”. This is just nonsense, considering our whole world is composed of chemicals! They very obviously don’t know what they are on about. The same goes for phrases such as "no nasties". WHY are they are nasty? ARE they actually nasty?
Be informed, choose wisely, according to a code that is acceptable to you. Don’t believe the hype!
Yours, Sustainably
Ana