Clean beauty may have started with organic products found exclusively in hard-to-find specialty stores, but it has now become a buzzword worldwide.
Sephora has entire sections dedicated to clean beauty, mini-chains like Credo offer luxury products touting their organic ingredients, and even mainstream beauty brands are diving into the wildly popular category.
However, the FDA has not yet defined the term, which some critics believe is the case on social media to speak out against clean beauty products.
Despite the critics, there are plenty of beauty veterans who have created clean, safe lines that are open about the ingredients they use and the benefits, as well as dermatologists who recommend the products for sensitive skin.
FEMAIL spoke to makeup artists, clean beauty brand founders, cosmetic chemists and dermatologists to find out what the definition of the movement really is.
Clean beauty is a hype, but many shoppers buy products without knowing what the term means
How do you define clean beauty?
Dermatologist Dr. Margarita LolisMD says the definition of clean beauty is “open to interpretation.”
“The FDA has not yet defined this term, so if you see products that are clean, it could mean many different things as brands determine their own definition,” she said.
The New Jersey-based dermatologist says the term usually refers to “products… made with non-toxic (ingredients) or (without) harmful chemicals such as endocrine disruptors, carcinogens and anything that knowingly causes skin irritation.” It is also made without ingredients like formaldehyde, parabens, phthalates, and sulfates.
Clean often also means biodegradable and not tested on animals, and certain brands have certifications to ensure they don’t use specific ingredients.
Dr. Lolis explains that these products are unlikely to irritate the skin, which is better for those with sensitive skin, but warns ‘this doesn’t mean they are as effective’ depending on the brand.
Kirsten Kjaer Weisbased in New York, she worked for many years as a makeup artist for publications such as Vogue before founding her own luxury-focused natural beauty line, Kjaer Weis.
She works directly with honey farmers to harvest ingredients, create sleek, biodegradable packaging, and ensure everything is sustainable and organic rather than synthetic.
The makeup artist explains that clean beauty is “categorized by removing harsh chemicals and synthetics from beauty products, which have been shown to be harmful to the human body.”
Kirsten Kjaer Weis grew up on a farm in Denmark, where she learned the importance of using natural ingredients in skin care and makeup
Kirsten describes that clean beauty products are not about removing ingredients, but about ‘adding more wellbeing and more vitality to a product, understanding that the skin is our largest organ and that it matters what is applied, in a similar way like what we eat.’
‘Normally, sensitive skin has a lower tolerance for harsher ingredients. I like to think of it as a superior boundary to what is acceptable,” Kirsten explains.
‘My experience is that natural, high-vibration ingredients have a resonance, a recognition with the human body that is natural and efficient.’
Based in New York City medical and aesthetic dermatologist Kiran Mian, DO, FAAD, explains: ‘The problem with the term clean beauty is that there is no set definition or criteria.’
‘Often, ingredients have carcinogenic potential at some level, but are safe below a certain threshold,” adds Dr. Mian.
‘Clean beauty products avoid the use of potentially harmful ingredients.
“This can be a problem in the industry because, while the intention is good, these terms are often used for marketing purposes to drive sales regardless of whether a product is effective or not.”
Why are more and more brands venturing into the clean beauty world?
Rose-Marie Swift is a clean beauty pioneer after founding her brand RMS in 2009
Based in New York Rose Marie Swiftwho worked as a make-up artist for 30 years, is the founder of RMS Beauty, one of the pioneers of clean beauty, known for its luxurious, sustainability-focused products.
The famed MUA founded RMS in 2009 in an effort to “clean up the industry and set a higher standard for beauty.”
“When I first started there was a lot of raised eyebrows and rolling eyes, to say the least,” Rose-Marie told DailyMail.com. Despite initial resistance, Rose-Marie has “educated” people who “began to open their eyes,” especially when they began to notice “the correlation between diet and makeup” and think about what happened over time is healthier.
Rose-Marie says she now sees many brands venturing into clean beauty “because the industry is exposed to so many ingredients that are under scientific investigation, due to their endocrine disruptors and unhealthy synthetic ingredients.”
Why are more and more people choosing clean beauty products?
Rose-Marie thinks clean beauty is ‘better for consumers because more people are experiencing problems with some of the products they use every day and the skin is rebelling.’
Krupa Koestline started working as a cosmetic chemist with clean beauty brands
Krupa Koestline, the Orlando, Florida-based cosmetic chemist who founded the clean beauty-focused concept KKT consultantsshifted her focus to clean beauty before it was a term a decade ago, when she noticed “a lack of transparency in conventional beauty and wanted to focus on formulating products without questionable concerns for skin, overall health or the environment.”
“With the increasing popularity of healthy foods and stores like Whole Foods and Erewhon, that focus is naturally shifting to what people are putting on their skin,” says Krupa.
“For a long time, ‘clean’ beauty products were also seen as not being as effective or cosmetically elegant,” Krupa explains, hypothesizing that a shift toward clean beauty is due to “social media attention, people developing more allergies, or people with health issues’. conditions that question conventional beauty.’
According to Krupa, there is now a ‘demand for greater transparency in beauty,” and a “focus on clean sourcing of ingredients and extraction methods,” which will allow “cosmetic chemists to create more innovative formulas that are as effective and cosmetically elegant as any conventional product.”
Dr. Mian explains that ‘the effectiveness of a product depends on the active ingredients and absorption into the skin’
What ingredients should people avoid?
Dr. Mian recommends checking the ingredients list for possible allergens or irritants patch test on the inside of the wrist and wait 24 hours for a response.
“Not everything found in nature is good or healthy for your skin, like poison ivy for example,” says Krupa, who calls it “natural but very irritating.”
“For people with very sensitive skin, I would recommend using simple products with a short ingredient list that are clean,” says Krupa, urging people to “avoid ingredients that are often irritating, such as fragrances and dyes.”
Krupa also says that for people with sensitive skin it’s best to “avoid botanical extracts that can be irritating, such as cinnamon alcohol, linalool, and limonene,” but notes that “not all essential oils are irritating,” with blue tansy being one is an example of a calming effect. ingredient.