Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating General What is CLEAN beauty?

  • What is CLEAN beauty?

    Posted by Ghita37 on January 12, 2023 at 9:50 pm

    Hello everyone

    I read countless articles as to xwhat might be CLEAN beauty but the last article says there is no consensus as to what is clean.Personally when i hear clean i think its opposite is dirty and dirty means that it would hurt the skin (toxic for the skin); dirty means the way it is made is not clean, dirty means that it hurst the envirionment. so all these would be the “opposite” of clean beauty. what else comes to your mind when you hear clean beauty? Clean doesnt necessarily mean natural as many natural substances are bad for the skin or cause photosensitivity. 
    What is your take on “clean” beauty? 

    Ghita37 replied 1 year ago 16 Members · 45 Replies
  • 45 Replies
  • graillotion

    Member
    January 12, 2023 at 11:54 pm

    Anything you think you can get away with….right up to the point they sue you.  :D

    Sorry… I don’t participate in that nonsense.  But….I also don’t succeed well in marketing either.  :D 

  • CedarWind108

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 12:26 am

    As a clean focused brand owner and someone generally obsessed with health, to me clean is about what is less likely to cause potential health problems we don’t necessarily know about yet or may never really connect the dots that for e.g. using a certain ingredient will increase the chances of developing liver cancer after 30 years of daily use. There are so many things that get banned or restricted over time, and aiming for clean is doing our best to anticipate and predict what may be more likely to cause some type of harm. And while every approved ingredient is in theory “safe”, so is most food, yet we know that a banana is healthier than a bag of doritos. So with clean, my aim is for using ingredients least likely to cause any harm. It takes some guessing and intuition combined with an understanding of biochemistry, but obviously we can’t know everything for certain. So it’s about making the best educated guess.

  • jemolian

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 12:54 am

    “Clean” beauty is not really regulated so you can claim it to be whatever you want. You can make it part of your brand concept but don’t make it it’s main one. 

    Personally it just makes me roll me eyes, we are moving towards better ingredients regulations, but i’m really not impressed with brands making “clean” beauty it’s “personality”. 

    If you have to choose, choose something more meaningful like local sourcing, sustainability, upcycling, etc. 

  • markbroussard

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 1:42 am

    Clean Beauty is a marketing term that retailers and brands use to indicate that their products do not contain any ingredients that are on a prohibited list.  The list containing the ingredients that are prohibited are defined by each individual retailer and/or brand.  The various “Clean” lists of prohibited ingredients are fairly uniform across retailers, but each retailer has its own list.

    “Clean” has no legal meaning. It is essentially “Free-From” marketing with a more postive name.  Although Clean and Free-From claims are used together in the virtually all cases where a retailer (more-so than a brand) has defined its version of Clean.

  • mikethair

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 4:53 am

    It’s marketing jargon.

  • RobboAU

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 5:59 am

    Just for fun, I decided to try the OpenAI chatbot that’s making social media news recently. I was rather impressed with the result it generated.

    “Clean beauty is a term used to describe cosmetics and personal care products that are made with ingredients that are considered safe, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly. Clean beauty products often avoid the use of certain chemicals and synthetic ingredients that are believed to be harmful or potentially harmful to human health or the environment.

    Some of the key principles of clean beauty include:

    • Using natural, plant-based ingredients whenever possible
    • Avoiding synthetic chemicals and preservatives
    • Avoiding known irritants and allergens
    • Using minimal and safe synthetic ingredients
    • Avoiding animal testing
    • Using sustainable and environmentally friendly packaging

    The term “clean beauty” is not officially defined or regulated, so different companies and organizations may have different criteria for what constitutes a clean beauty product. Generally, clean beauty products are those that prioritize the use of ingredients that are considered to be safe and non-toxic, while also being mindful of environmental impact.

    It’s important to mention that there’s no standard definition of clean beauty, so different companies and organizations may have different criteria for what constitutes a clean beauty product. Also, some certifications can help consumers identify clean beauty products, but it’s important to read the labels and make an informed decision.”


  • Ghita37

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 9:42 am

    @jemolian i concur with you 100%.I was juts asking what is clean beauty because like i said i read a lot of articles everyday and a lot of brands claim they are clean but when you look closely at their products you can sense they are far from that.In regards to my brand i dont intend to use the word CLEAN whatsoever.im trying to move away from what everyone is saying. Clean has become a trendy word. 

  • oldperry

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 2:01 pm

    To be fair, companies use the words “Clean Beauty” because it works to sell products. Fear mongering is detestable but it does work for marketing to some extent.

  • PhilGeis

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    @RobboAU
    “…considered safe, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly.
    Bull - the functional term is “considered” as in marketed under these meaningless terms.

    I’m impressed they put so much BS behind it.  

  • markbroussard

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 6:33 pm

    @RobboAU

    Damn!  That Chatbot is good!

  • PhilGeis

    Member
    January 13, 2023 at 7:16 pm

    @MarkBroussard
    LOL  - you are a marketing devil!

  • Ghita37

    Member
    January 14, 2023 at 11:00 am

    Hello @PhilGeis , im not sure I udnerstand your joke lol. You said the gpt chatbot said that clean is what is “considered” safe and env fiendly/But isnt it the definition somehow? I know there is no consensus but i just want to understand why you highlighted the word “considered” please

    Could you tell me in your own words what do you understand by CLEAN beauty?

    Thanks dear 🙂

  • PhilGeis

    Member
    January 14, 2023 at 11:59 am

    considered - as regarded, thought of as
    Less than consensus - there is no objective definition.
    Safe - clearly clean products as a group are LESS safe - with their limited, sometimes ridiculous preservative systems.  We are charged to market safe products - Clean ingredients, esp. relevant preservatives, typically have profoundly less safety data than the priority materials they replace - materials specifically addressed by the FDA as safe in use.
    Eco-friendly is a technically garbage term.
    I understand/know Clean as an advertising claim without technical significance.

  • Ghita37

    Member
    January 14, 2023 at 5:23 pm

    Thanks a kit @PhilGeis
    So you are saying that what they call CLEAN is not necessarily safe because they put a s,all amount of preservative; So on one hand the product might be clean but on the other hand the product is not safe;So the conclusion is that if its not safe its def not clean!! lol

  • oldperry

    Member
    January 14, 2023 at 8:57 pm

    @Ghita37 - Phils point is that products that market themselves as “clean” often use ineffective preservative systems. This means that the product will likely be contaminated with bacteria and other microbes and is not actually safe to use.

  • Ghita37

    Member
    January 14, 2023 at 9:39 pm

    Exactly @Perry.So basicallt this means that safe cant be achieved only if you put for instance preservatives? 
    Are there preservative for different formula?  can i use the same preservative of a moisturizer in a face scrub? 
    Is Caprylhydroxamic Acid considered a good preservative? 

  • PhilGeis

    Member
    January 15, 2023 at 12:07 am

    @Ghita - that one is a weak chelator that can inhibit fungi.

    Leave-on versus rinse off products typically have different preservative systems.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    January 15, 2023 at 8:00 am

    To me the less ‘natural’ fluff it contains the cleaner :)

  • Ghita37

    Member
    January 15, 2023 at 9:00 pm

    Hello @PhilGeis are you saying that Caprylhydroxamic Acid can inhibit fungi? If yes; why do brands start boasting that they are using quality ingredients? This is so bogus and unethical. 

  • PhilGeis

    Member
    January 15, 2023 at 9:04 pm

    @Ghita37
    It just more meaningless advertising.  Every one (definitely better) use quality ingredients.

  • Ghita37

    Member
    January 15, 2023 at 9:08 pm

    @PhilGeis im not sure i get your point :(

  • PhilGeis

    Member
    January 15, 2023 at 9:35 pm

    Meant that a claim of “quality ingredients” is meaningless - no one should use poor quality ingredient.?

  • markbroussard

    Member
    January 15, 2023 at 10:01 pm

    PhilGeis said:

    @MarkBroussard
    LOL  - you are a marketing devil!

    LOL … I had the ChatBot rewrite my Signature Line.

  • BUNSEN87

    Member
    January 21, 2023 at 3:16 am

     clean beauty is about to avoid using any controversial ingredient in your product. So clean beauty concept is being constantly updated based on cosmetic trends. 

  • ketchito

    Member
    January 21, 2023 at 3:36 am

    @BUNSEN87 The question is, controversial to who? All cosmetic ingredients are safe by definition, since they go through a thorough review of evidence before being approved. So, products are already “clean”. Ingredients with changes in restriction are way fewer than the ones that are part of this controversy…and the ones that are banned are even more rare (and are mostly removed out of extra precaution, rather than having a definitive data supporting its lack of safety).

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