The Worst Green Beauty Crime Of All : What Is Greenwashing + Why You Should Care!

Last Modified: September 3, 2021 at 8:02 pm by Tianna | Leave a comment

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The Worst Green Beauty Crime Of All

You know what the worst green beauty crime of all is? It’s green washing, of course, but what is green washing? If you’re unfamiliar with this term, then this post is for you! Green washing is very common in the beauty industry in recent years and it’s made for a very confusing experience when it comes to figuring out what exactly IS natural and what isn’t.

What Is Greenwashing?

So, what is greenwashing? Green washing is a practice among many mainstream brands in which they use one or several plant ingredients in order to claim that their product is 100% “natural” or “organic” when it’s anything but.

In fact, often times, you’ll find that this showcased ingredient is one of the last on the ingredient list which means it’s at the smallest percentage possible and won’t do your skin, hair, or nails any good whatsoever. Moreover, the terms used in marketing in the beauty industry are not federally regulated so they can use the terms (natural and organic, that is) as loosely as they like. After all, everything “technically” comes from the earth so it’s natural, right? Even petroleum comes from the planet.

Thankfully, the government has slowly been changing their regulations on cosmetics and the beauty industry is having a shitfit. What with green beauty coming up in the world, it’s no wonder mainstream brands that often manufacture their chemical-laden products on a massive scale are looking to get a piece of the clean beauty pie, but they’re doing so in a very unethical way. Many brands will claim their product has argan, marula, or some other well-known and popular plant ingredient in order to claim their respective beauty benefits, but the truth is that they’re selling you the same toxic products with a shiny new label and maybe a few plant ingredients tacked on for credibility.

It’s not natural, organic, and it will not do a thing for your beauty goals.

So, what’s a beauty enthusiast to do in such a confusing market? My advice is to BE EDUCATED. Read up on brands and figure out their ethics. What do they stand for? What’s in their products? Where are their ingredients from and where are the products manufactured? Do they treat their employees well? All of these things will give you insight into what kind of brand they are and if you want to make things really simple: sit down and READ the ingredient lists of their products.

You can also get help from EWG Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. Type most products in and it will break their ingredients down for you. They have a rating system where 1 is considered pretty safe and the higher the number (10 is the worst), the more toxic it is. You can discern product ingredients for yourself with the help of that website. It’s pretty awesome. If you want to skip all the trouble of researching mainstream beauty brands there is a simple place to figure out which brands you can trust. Check out my brand new official guide to green beauty brands. In it, I offer a comprehensive list of the brands I know and love (a guide that took me months to put together for you guys!).  

Why You Should Care

So, maybe you don’t give a crap about what’s in your skincare. Maybe you think it’s okay for your skin. What if I told you you were 100% wrong and not just for the environment or animals?

Even if you’re not a vegan, there are many reasons to care about what goes into your skincare. First and foremost, this is YOUR MONEY we are talking about, people! I’m all about making a dollar count. Don’t you want equal value for the money you’re paying rather than dishing out a small fortune for crap quality skincare that does more harm than help?

Moreover, most mainstream skincare and makeup include parabens which have been shown to  accelerate skin aging, skin allergies (including acne, eczema and rosacea), and other skin sensitivities.

Now, sure, buying green beauty products will help the environment, save animals from a sad life of being tested on, and it might even help improve the lives of the people who need it most, but they also include more potent, high quality and effective ingredients giving you more bang for your buck for products that actually work. I’ve talked many times about what you really get when you go green so I don’t need to wax poetic about it here, but you catch my drift.

Who’s Doing It

So, who are the culprits of this green washing?

It’s mostly mainstream beauty brands that green wash, but other supposed green beauty brands that you might think are all-natural do it, too. I’ve taken the liberty of drawing up a list of brands I have researched and seen marketing themselves as “natural” when I promise you they are so not; they just want us to think they are.

How do they do it? They use images of plant on their packaging, give their products buzz word titles such as “Eco,” “Organix” and “Naturals,” and amp up their advertising campaigns to include lots of lush green images which aim to trick you into thinking their products are natural, safe and good for the environment.

Beauty Brands that Greenwash: 

  • Herbal Essences

  • Arbonne

  • Aveeno

  • Moroccan Oil

  • Korres Natural Products (so sad)

  • Origins

  • Covergirl NatureLuxe

  • Organix

  • Josie Maran

  • Pure and Basic

  • Simple Skincare

  • Natures Organics

  • Neutragena Naturals

  • The Body Shop

  • anything from Johnson & Johnson

  • Nivea Pure & Natural

  • Boots Botanics

  • Tarte Cosmetics (sadly)

  • Avalon Organics

  • Toms Naturals (still uses floride…)

  • JASON Pure Natural and Organic

  • Kiss My Face

  • Nature’s Gate

Sadly, even I’ve fallen into the natural traps of some of these beauty brands and it sucks because I’d like to support them, but their ethics and ingredients are lacking and the fact that they are okay with marketing false claims says a lot about how they do business. You can learn more about the misleading terms the beauty industry uses according to BeautyCounter and how to avoid those traps! For a list of safe, clean and green beauty brands, be sure to have a look at my official guide to green beauty brands!

Have You Fallen Victim to Greenwashing?

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