Clean Beauty For Healthy Skin - Myth Or Reality?

Take a walk down any beauty aisle, and you’ll most certainly find yourself lost in the vast array of skincare creams on display, all packaged with labels containing words such as ‘non-toxic, ‘free from’ or ‘no nasties’. It appears our quest for a healthy lifestyle has now resulted in the idea of natural skincare ‒ or so-called ‘clean beauty’.

- Dr Tarryn Jacobs

According to the Global Wellness Institute, ‘Personal Care, Beauty & Anti-Ageing’ is the industry’s largest sector, accounting for almost $1.1 trillion in spending. There is no denying that the clean beauty movement is gaining momentum!

What is clean beauty?

Clean beauty is mostly taken to mean plant-based ingredients and formulations free from certain villainised preservatives. While this notion itself is noble, one of the biggest problems with this clean beauty movement is that the terms ‘natural’ and ‘clean’ have no legal definition. And as an unregulated marketing term, it is potentially open to misuse by brands and retailers. Any company can use the label ‘clean’ or ‘natural’, but it is meaningless without any set industrial standard. So where does this leave us as consumers?

Some marketing terms try to play on our fears and lack of knowledge in cosmetic science. Preservatives are ingredients in various food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and skincare formulations. Parabens are, for example, the preservative everyone loves to hate – but these are found naturally in some fruits. Furthermore, parabens were named the non-allergen of the year in 2019 by the American Contact Dermatitis Society. The natural skincare movement has been seen to forgo well-known preservatives like parabens for potentially more allergenic preservatives.