There are encouraging
trends among consumers for more “sustainable” beauty products, unlike
pharma-based products which are less eco-friendly and are potentially harmful
for skin. A recent research report revealed that many of the 82,000 ingredients
used in personal care products are industrial chemicals, including carcinogens,
pesticides, reproductive toxins, and hormone disruptors. Many products include
plasticizers (chemicals that keep concrete soft), degreasers (used to get grime
off auto parts), and surfactants (they reduce surface tension in water, like in
paint and inks). Recent legislation
banning use of micro-beads in skin care products is just one effort to
eliminate use of plastic micro-beads which are proving environmentally
disastrous.
It is well known that
many products carrying the ‘natural’ label might not have substantial natural
ingredients to justify such claims, but manufacturers of such products are
taking advantage of lax provisions of Cosmetics and Personal Care Products Act
of 1938, and marketing their so-called ‘natural’ products blatantly and with unverifiable claims.
Happily, top brand
manufacturers are now increasingly engaged in searching for alternate
plant-based formulations for their products. This is mainly due to the rising
awareness among consumers to opt for natural products which are eco-friendly
and, therefore, sustainable products. Consequently, in the currently valued $
50 billion cosmetics industry in US, the share of plant-based products is going
to rise steadily.
At HERBALLY RADIANT we
are witnessing another trend where online companies are offering cheap, but
potentially harmful, face care products. Some customers have come to us, and
have stayed with our herbal products, after having suffered damage to their
skin as a result of using cheap products bought from online companies. Such
online companies are beyond the need to observe safety specifications in their formulations.
Bodies like EWG and
other NGOs need to raise the level of public campaign about the adverse effects
of toxic chemical ingredients in skin care products. The growing menace of such
products being marketed aggressively could soon pose a public health issue as
we are getting young children as new customers who have developed skin
allergies because of the use of unsafe products
being marketed with glamorous claims.
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