You watch what you eat and you’re careful about reducing your exposure to toxins at home and in your work space. But have you thought about what ingredients make up your skincare? You’ve heard the word ‘clean’ being thrown around in the beauty sphere but we get it — it can get confusing. Here, we the basics.
What is clean beauty?
While there’s no official definition, most skincare experts agree that the term clean beauty refers to products that use non-toxic ingredients. This can be natural ingredients that you know and recognise, as well as lab-made safe ingredients usually with plant extracts. Ingredients that have proven to be harmful or suspected to be are not included. These include parabens, sodium lauryl sulfate, triclosan and synthetic fragrances and dyes.
If my skincare doesn’t irritate me now, why should I switch?
You may be facing mild irritation or skin reactions that you may not even notice. Similar to feeding your body whole foods instead of processed alternatives, this is the same way with clean beauty. You may not notice strong adverse reactions to your non-clean beauty products now, but non-toxic alternatives will not cause long-term irritations.
The problem is the beauty industry does not regulate what is considered clean and what isn’t. That means, adopting a clean beauty way of life takes a little bit of work, namely scanning the labels for the big offenders or picking out products from brands that are known to be clean. Note that just because a product is natural or organic, it doesn’t mean that it’s free of parabens.
Here are some of our favourite products you can try.
Tata Harper Daily Essentials Set, $103
While this is perfect for travel, it’s also a great way to completely switch your skincare regimen to Tata Harper’s and fall in love. Just don’t blame us when you’re obsessed.
RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek Tint, $45
Great colour payoff, long lasting and incredibly versatile — what’s there not to love about this?
More product recommendations on the next page.
Herbivore Botanicals Blue Clay – Spot Treatment Mask (Cambrian Clay), $35
One of buzziest clean beauty brands on Instagram, Herbivore Botanicals’ clay mask is not drying, effective and totally worth the dough.
Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum, $37.43
Flower power, natural antioxidants and active essentials work to tighten, brighten and smoothen skin.
