“Carbon Neutral” and “Carbon-Negative” Beauty

Supporting a carbon-neutral beauty brand means purchasing products from a brand that actively works to reduce its carbon footprint, or the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by a person or entity. To be carbon neutral means to offset your release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by contributing to causes around that world that help tackle climate change.

Carbon-negative brands are similar, except they offset the carbon they produce, in addition to removing extra carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in an effort to help reverse climate change.

“PCR” or “Post-Consumer Plastics”

Post-consumer recycled plastics (or PCR) are materials made out of recycled everyday items. The difference between these kinds of products and recyclable beauty products is that PCR material can’t be recycled again since it’s already made from recycled materials. Several brands are jumping on the PCR train since investing in this type of packaging helps to reduce a company’s carbon footprint.

“B Corp Certification”

A company that’s B Corp certified is one that finds a balance between purpose and profit and consistently considers how its practices may affect its workers, customers, suppliers, and community and the environment. As explained in a previous POPSUGAR article, the B Corp certification is an initiative created by B Lab, a global nonprofit started by three people who left their careers in business and private equity to make it easier for mission-driven companies to have a positive impact (which is continually improved upon overtime) on people and the planet. The ultimate aim of B Lab is to use the power of business to address social and environmental issues.

Any company hoping to become certified will be assessed exam-style in five areas: governance, workers, customers, community, and the environment. The exam in question includes 4,000 questions about how each company conducts business, and to receive the certification, businesses are required to score a minimum of 80 points across all categories. Davines, Dr. Bronner, Ethique, Beautycounter, and The Body Shop are just a few of our favorite B Corp-certified beauty brands.

“Fair Trade”

Fair trade is when workers in developing countries are paid fair prices for their products by those in developed countries, ensuring the sellers can create their goods sustainably and pay those who work for them fair wages as well. It essentially means paying enough for goods and services so those who provide those goods are making enough money to live comfortably in their respective countries. For a company to be fair-trade certified, it also must be able to ensure its employees are working under safe and healthy conditions.

An example of a popular fair-trade beauty brand is Alaffia, which sells products like unrefined shea butter and African black soap that are both handcrafted by women’s cooperatives in Africa using traditional methods before being finished at the company’s US headquarters in Olympia, WA. Once the products are sold, the proceeds are immediately returned to Togo, founder Olowo-n’djo Tchala’s home country, to help fund a number of initiatives like maternal health, education, reforestation, and sustainability. The goal is to alleviate poverty, encourage gender equality, and ultimately protect women, whom Tchala said in a previous interview with POPSUGAR are the backbone of West African communities.

“Clean” Beauty

Clean beauty may be the most commonly misunderstood term of the bunch. In 2010, the David Suzuki Foundation released a list of ingredients now referred to as the “dirty dozen,” or 12 common chemicals found in cosmetics that are potentially harmful to the health of consumers. This list in mind, a clean beauty product is one that’s formulated without controversial ingredients like phthalates, parabens, oxybenzone, aluminium, some fragrances, and more. However, because there’s little regulation from the Food and Drug Administration in terms of what can be labelled “clean” and what can’t, any brand can slap a clean label on its products for the sake of marketing.

“There is no official definition for ‘clean’ as it pertains to [beauty] products, and different companies may use it referring to different things,” dermatologist Francesca Fusco, MD, previously told POPSUGAR. “When I ask companies to explain, I get responses like that a product is vegan, organic, natural, or has no chemicals, preservatives, is ‘ethical’ with minimal waste, or ingredients that are on the warning list with the Environmental Working Group that would be glass and not plastic.”

Despite the lack of official definition, the market around “clean” beauty products is booming – and expected to be worth $22 billion by 2024.

“Vegan” Beauty

In the same way vegan foods don’t contain any animal byproduct, vegan beauty products don’t contain animal-based ingredients such as beeswax, lanolin, milk, and honey. Determining whether a product is vegan can be slightly tricky, though, considering the label on the back isn’t always going to point out whether a specific ingredient is animal-derived. (For example, you’d only know that a product containing lanolin isn’t vegan if you were already aware that lanolin is derived from sheep wool, not because the label tells you that.)

These days, though, many brands make it clear whether their products are vegan, and there are certifications from groups like PETA and the Vegan Society that help validate these claims. That goes for fan-favourite brands like KVD Vegan Beauty, The Lip Bar, E.l.f. Cosmetics, and more.

Read the full article by Danielle Jackson here.