Green Skin Care Products?
When you think of shopping green, ideas of buying a hybrid or solar panels probably conjure up inside your head. However, you can be green with virtually everything you buy… even skin care products.
It boils down to this: everything we buy is either manufactured in an environmentally friendly way… or not. The same is true in the beauty industry. Some companies source their products’ ingredients in ways that don’t damage or pollute the environment. For example, many cosmetic products, including lip stick and certain face creams, use an oil that is derived from whales. Besides the animals being killed, the delicate marine habitats are also disturbed by the ships used to catch them. For years, L’Oreal sourced the compound squalene from skark oils. They were using it in everything from anti wrinkle cream to lip stick. But thanks to pressure from conservationists, thankfully they have switched over to using plant-based sources for this ingredient.
However, there are still a number of other ingredients you should check the label closely for next time you are buying beauty products:
Spermaceti – It’s is a wax derived from the heads of sperm whales, as well as certain types of dolphins. This is used in all sorts of products; shampoos, candles, and skin creams.
Turtle Oil – This is a popular additive used in soaps and creams. It comes from sea turtles.
Keratin – This ingredient is found in shampoos and conditioners, as well as perm solutions. It comes from the feathers, hooves, and horns of certain animals.
Ambergris – It’s used in colognes and perfumes. It comes from the intestines of whales. What’s even more gross is that it’s also used as a flavoring in many foods and beverages on you find on grocery store shelves today!
Of course there are number of other animal derivatives found in skin care products, like retinol A, but the above have been listed because they are considered to be the most environmentally damaging. You can use Google to find out more about which companies use these ingredients.