Beauty is becoming increasingly important for fashion brands, who are positioning their lipsticks and palettes as the new designer sneaker or ‘IT’ bag. But what are the consequences of this? If the fashion industry already has a massive impact, what happens when we add the beauty industry to the equation? The answer is shocking, yet no less sad: an enormous negative impact.
Rising awareness about these impacts has led to a growing demand for sustainable beauty practices, giving birth to movements like green beauty and, more recently, Blue Beauty. No, it’s not an eyeshadow shade or a color trend; it’s much deeper—it’s as deep as the ocean…
What is Blue Beauty?
We can categorize ‘blue beauty’ as a subsection or evolution of ‘green beauty’ or ‘sustainable beauty.’ While the latter focus on eco-friendly protection through natural, organic products with less waste, Blue Beauty takes it a step further by addressing the specific ways in which beauty products harm our planet’s waterways.
This much-needed movement emerged as a response to growing concerns about ocean health and involves creating products that not only avoid harming marine ecosystems but also actively contribute to their restoration. Some examples are Blue Beauty brands that use recycled ocean plastics for packaging and support initiatives that protect marine life.
This movement understands that our actions over the next 10 years will determine the state of the ocean for the next 10,000 years and reflects a broader consumer shift towards eco-conscious products, driven by increasing awareness of the environmental impacts of beauty and personal care products.
How Is The Beauty Industry Impacting Our Oceans?
Packaging
“I love this packaging! It feels so luxurious.” “I think the brand could do better; the packaging is so boring!” Today, the Internet is filled with videos where influencers review beauty products, weighing not only the content, but also their packaging. In response, beauty brands have stepped up their marketing game, creating increasingly elaborate and eye-catching packaging. However, to no one’s surprise, this often results in wasteful and impractical designs aimed purely at marketing that ends up in landfills and the ocean.
So, there you have it, one of the biggest ways the beauty industry harms our planet is through single-use plastic. It is estimated that more than 120 billion units of packaging is produced every year globally for that industry and that most of these are not truly or fully recyclable. Let this sink in: every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic enter our oceans on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate in marine environments.
Microplastics
We already know that the beauty industry is one of the key contributors to the millions of tons of plastic waste that are dumped into our oceans. However, it is not just the packaging itself, but what is inside them what is damaging the environment. Microplastics found in beauty products are generally called “microbeads” and these include polyethylene, polypropylene, polymethyl methacrylate, nylon, terephthalate, and polyethylene.
Do you remember the times when we used to exfoliate our skins with face scrubs? If you are a millennial then you probably do! Well, those scrubs were filled with microbeads that would end up in the ocean were they would be accidentally consumed by larvae, zooplankton, small crustaceans, bivalves, and fishes as a food source. Ultimately, they would end up being a part of our dinners.
Despite being on the decline and banned in certain regions, microbeads are still widely available for sale in many markets. Even in countries where they are already banned, such as the U.S. (which banned plastic microbeads in 2017), there is no way to know if every company has adhered to the ban. This means that you can still find these ingredients in facial exfoliating creams, shower gels, toothpastes, lip products and more.
Other Harmful Ingredients
Yes, microbeads are on the decline but we haven’t won the war yet! There are still many toxic ingredients used in beauty products that negatively affect marine ecosystems and pollute our oceans. How? When we wash our bodies, the products we previously applied are rinsed down the drain. Unfortunately, wastewater treatment plants cannot break down all the ingredients in beauty products, allowing some to enter marine environments. These ingredients can persist in aquatic ecosystems, causing toxicity and disrupting the ecological balance.
A sad example of this are coral reef-bleaching chemicals such as oxybenzone and octinoxate which are commonly found in chemical sunscreens, soaps and body fragrances. Among other things, these chemicals impair the growth of green algae, cause deformities in baby coral and reduces fertility in fish.
Another harmful ingredient is triclosan, an antifungal agent in skincare creams whose accumulation in waterbodies could prove lethal to algae, crustaceans and other fish. Although this antibacterial agent was originally used in hospital cleansers, its popularity has grown and can be found in toothpastes, deodorants, facial cleansers and shampoos.
Harvest Of Marine-Derived Components: The Squalene Dilemma
This might break your heart. Did you know that the beauty industry is driving sharks to extinction by using shark-derived squalene in its products?
Squalene is a colorless, poly-unsaturated hydrocarbon liquid naturally found in human sebum, in various fish oils (particularly shark liver oil) and in several plants such as olives, corn, sugar, wheat, amaranth, or tobacco. A shark’s liver is made with up to 96% of squalene, making them the richest source to exploit. But if squalene can also be found in plants, why do we use sharks? You guessed it, money! Shark squalene is valued at 30% less than plant-derived varieties.
The dilemma surrounding squalene is not only about how it is harvested, but also about its impact on the ocean ecosystem. Sharks have a late age of maturation and have very few offspring. As top predators, they control the number, location, and variety of all plant and animal life that are below them in the food chain. If sharks disappear, algae would bloom grow unchecked, coral reefs would collapse, and biodiversity would be lost. This would lead to problems like ocean acidification and disruptions in the food chain.
Additionally, when large sea creatures like sharks are removed by fishing, it disrupts the ocean’s natural carbon cycle. Normally, these creatures would die naturally, sinking to the ocean floor and taking their stored carbon with them. Without them, this carbon stays in the atmosphere. So now you know, having a healthy shark population is essential for maintaining the health of our oceans.
A Blueprint For Blue Beauty
Now that we know the beauty industry’s impact on our waterways, it is time to focus on how to solve this. To effectively reduce the beauty industry’s impact on the oceans, we need to replace the traditional linear production model by a circular one. This means that we need to design products with their entire lifecycle in mind, ensuring they can be reused, recycled, or safely decomposed.
This is where Blue Beauty comes into play, as it shows the ways in which beauty brands can work towards a bluer future, and how we, as consumers, can help:
Better Ingredients
There are many ways in which beauty brands can work towards a bluer future, and it starts with better ingredients. Beauty brands should switch to ingredients that meet rigorous standards, ensuring healthy formulas free of toxins, disruptors and unsafe synthetics.
This is not as difficult as it sounds – microbeads for example are actually easily avoidable if we choose products with natural exfoliants such as coffee grounds. When it comes to sunscreen, you can switch to mineral-based alternatives that do not contain oxybenzone, and for marine-derived ingredients, like squalene, there are brands like Biossance, who use biotechnology to create plant-based alternatives (aka squalane).
Transparency
Transparency is key for assessing how sustainable a brand is, but achieving true transparency requires active engagement and commitment. In the beauty industry, transparency goes beyond simply listing ingredients: it involves a meaningful dialogue with consumers about what is in a certain product, what is not, and why. Full disclosure is key and can only be achieved if consumers are allowed to track the supply chain from farm to finished product and openly know about the brand’s production and sustainability processes.
As consumer interest in transparency grows, certifications are increasingly resonating with beauty consumers. So, given the complexity of supply chains and incomplete information from suppliers, and to counter greenwashing, third-party certifiers can play an important role in uncovering hidden practices.
Better Packaging
This is a no-brainer: beauty brands should avoid virgin plastic and one-time-use products (like sheet masks and product samples). Luckily, many brands are increasingly using recycled materials, and there is a push for glass and paper packaging over plastic. For instance, some brands have implemented take-back programs, encouraging consumers to return empty packaging for proper recycling. Also, beauty brands should provide clear recycling instructions and offer refillable, reusable, biodegradable packaging, and modern solutions like bio waste.
Additionally, many blue beauty brands are using “ocean-bound” plastic (plastic found within near the coastlines) or “ocean-waste” plastic (plastic that has already made its way to sea). By doing this, brands are helping clean up the mess we have made while preventing future ones.
Social And Marine Impact
Beauty brands should integrate social awareness and accountability into their business, contributing regularly to causes promoting equality and animal rights. Some beauty brands are partnering with companies and non-profits that are also dedicated to preserving our waters and marine life – Biossance for example has partnered with Oceana, the largest international advocacy organization focused solely on ocean conservation. Through these partnerships, brands may help participate in beach cleanups, donate revenue from product sales, commit to conservation goals, and more. Shopping from these brands is an easy way for consumers to show their support too.
Conclusion: The Future Of Beauty Is Blue
The Blue Beauty movement is a response to the urgent need for sustainable practices in the beauty industry. As consumers, we need to surf the blue wave by making informed choices. It is important to understand the ingredients that make our products, the type of packaging that beauty brands use, and the broader environmental implications. Remember: what we apply to our bodies does not always stay there—it impacts our planet too.
Simple actions like finishing your current moisturizer before buying a new one, seeking out biodegradable or recyclable packaging, or avoiding plastic packaging can have a significant impact. However, we need to address the elephant in the room: while consumers play a big role, the responsibility for making beauty bluer largely falls on corporations and governments to enforce standards that prevent harmful practices. This includes banning toxic ingredients, promoting sustainable packaging, and incentivizing circular production models.
In the meantime, until the major players take drastic actions, do not stop trying! The products we use today should not compromise the world we live in tomorrow.
Did you know about the Blue Beauty movement? Do you know any “blue” brands? Share them with us in the comments below!
