The cosmetics industry is destroying the environment. Unsustainable practices are used to create beauty products, while the production process itself pollutes the environment. Consumers are increasingly smart about this, leading to them choosing eco-friendly beauty brands more and more.

It’s easy to see why. Environmentally friendly beauty brands don’t have the environment and use sustainable sourcing and production practices. All that without compromising on quality.

As a conscious customer, you’ll want to make the switch. As well-intentioned as you are, making the switch and choosing the best eco-friendly beauty brands and products can be overwhelming.

How do you even make the switch, and why even bother? Let’s dive in.

The Problem with Conventional Beauty Products

Few people actually research the brands and products they use, so they’re often unaware of the impact their choices have. If they put a little effort into it, they’d realize conventional beauty products play a significant role in deforestation, the destruction of aquatic environments, and even pollution.

Then there’s the waste issue, with plastic (and even chemicals) ending up being tossed aside once the production process finishes. The packaging you get your products in can impact the environment for decades after you’ve thrown it away.

The beauty industry – and cosmetics specifically – have been tied to an excessive amount of plastic pollution, with 120 billion units a year ending up in landfills and other areas. Even the products themselves contain microbeads; minuscule bits of plastic smaller than 5mm in size. Usually used in exfoliants, these end up polluting water sources after they’re used.

All this is without mentioning how some products can affect your health. Some brands use formaldehyde, a carcinogen that causes cancer, in their formulae. The chemicals beauty products leach into the environment also make their way into your diet by being picked up by fish and other animals.

They’ll go from your trash to a habitat, eaten or drank by an animal, and eventually wind up on your plate, or even your water supply. Since they’re toxic to human health in large enough doses, they’re best left avoiding completely.

Then there’s the issue of animal testing. While cosmetics brands don’t exactly advertise this, many of them try their products – and even ingredients – on animals while developing formulae. The process involves severe discomfort for the animals involved and can end up in health issues or even death. These animals can also be kept in isolation for large swaths than thought.

That doesn’t exactly paint a positive picture and could be more than enough to make you reconsider your cosmetic choices. There are alternatives, however, and the best eco-friendly beauty brands avoid all of this.

Benefits of Eco-Friendly Beauty Brands

Image Credit: Kinkates from Pixabay.

Environmentally friendly beauty brands have seen a boom in popularity over the past few years. Consumers have been the primary driver of this, as many no longer settle for products that actively harm the planet. There are also benefits that eco-friendly beauty brands offer.

Some of these are quite obvious. They’ll have an almost negligible environmental impact, with some even going out of their way to implement environmental initiatives. They try to have a net positive impact on the planet and undo the impact their unsustainable counterparts have.

Eco-friendly beauty brands also refuse to test on animals and are 100% cruelty-free, making them a better choice for vegans. Outside of the obvious are a few other benefits:

  • Better-Quality Ingredients – Environmentally friendly beauty brands only use natural ingredients, which are usually of much better quality than their synthetic counterparts. They shouldn’t have a negative impact on you or the environment.
  • Healthier Skin – Speaking of the impact on you, your skin should be healthier because of these ingredients. Since eco-friendly products are usually chemical-free, they’re not going to harm your skin, even if you have sensitive skin.
  • Save Money – Did you know eco-friendly beauty products are usually more affordable than their harmful counterparts? By making the switch, you could end up saving much more money than you would’ve thought.
  • No Allergic Reactions – We’ve mentioned how environmentally friendly beauty brands use natural ingredients already. What you mightn’t have realized is these are less likely to set off allergic reactions. Most brands use hypoallergenic ingredients, so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

The benefits of eco-friendly beauty brands make them more than worth considering, but now you’ll have to put the effort into actually finding and getting them. Where do you even start with this? Thankfully, it’s far easier than most consumers could’ve thought.

Key Characteristics of Eco-Friendly Beauty Brands

Some of the first things to consider when switching to environmentally friendly beauty brands are their characteristics. While some elements change from one company to another, a few are relatively common. The best eco-friendly beauty brands tick the box on almost every one of these, with a few characteristics being worth focusing on.

  1. Reusable/Recyclable Packaging – Everyone knows the importance of recycling and reusing products as much as possible. Few beauty companies put effort into making sure their packaging can be recycled or reused, however. With a properly eco-friendly brand, that shouldn’t be an issue.
  2. Organic Formula – Organic ingredients are a major part of making sure a brand is environmentally friendly. Anything synthetic risks harming the environment. For a formula to be considered organic, it must use at least 95% organic ingredients and an organic production process.
  3. Responsibly Sourced Ingredients – Where brands get the ingredients for their formulae matters just as much as the formula itself. Responsible brands use sustainable practices when farming and sourcing their products, ensuring that workers on all levels of the supply chain are properly paid and treated.

When making the switch to eco-friendly beauty brands, it’s worth focusing on each of the above characteristics. The more of them a particular option meets, the better of a choice they can be.

Top Eco-Friendly Beauty Brands

The best eco-friendly beauty brands have all of the above characteristics, but there are still quite a few of them to choose from. If you want a quick way to choose options that won’t wreak havoc on the planet, focusing on a few environmentally friendly beauty brands is essential.

Let’s dive into the seven top options.

1. Aveda

Aveda has a great history of creating environmentally sustainable cosmetics across various ranges. Made from high-quality and natural ingredients, they pose almost no risk to the environment. The brand also goes to great lengths to minimize or avoid any negative impact on the environment. From responsible packaging and manufacturing to carbon-neutral shipping, there’s nothing not to like here.

2. RMS Beauty

RMS Beauty offers lip- and eye-related products on top of its environmentally friendly skincare ranges, with each of these being as eco-friendly as you’d expect. All of these are consciously bottled, with many of the products coming in refillable packaging, cutting out on any environmental harm. With these packages being made from at least 80% recycled packaging, it’s a great choice for cutting down on your plastic pollution.

3. Tata Harper

Using high-quality and sustainably sourced ingredients, Tata Harper is one of the more appealing eco-friendly beauty brands to choose from. It’s got one of the more environmentally friendly supply chains on the market, so there aren’t many issues with their face masks, oils, serums, or other product ranges.

Even their eye treatment and superkind ranges are quite appealing. Tata Harper also boasts multiple certifications, such as being certified cruelty-free by PETA. 

4. 100% Pure

As the name suggests, 100% Pure concentrates on making sure their products don’t include any chemicals or harmful ingredients. Outside of making eco-friendly beauty products, it’s involved in multiple sustainability initiatives, such as partnering with multiple environmental organizations around the world. 

Then there’s the fact 100% Pure offers eco-friendly shipping and environmentally conscious packaging. That’s more than enough to consider its range of cleansers, masks, serums, toners, and other product ranges.

5. ILIA

Featuring lip, skin, face, and eye products, ILIA has some of the more extensive ranges in the eco-friendly cosmetics world. It’s not just worth mentioning for the various environmentally friendly beauty products, though. Its packaging is also some of the more sustainable you can find, making this one of the more well-rounded eco-friendly brands.

6. Herbivore Botanicals

When it comes to cruelty-free and vegan products, few eco-friendly beauty brands can compare to Herbivore Botanicals. Offering face creams, skin creams, bath and body options, and more, anything you buy from the company is guaranteed to be environmentally friendly. The company emphasizes high-quality and natural ingredients, so you wouldn’t need to worry about any environmental damage or skin-related issues.

7. Youth To The People

Youth To The People combines nutrient-rich plant extracts with the latest in skincare technology to produce high-quality eco-friendly beauty products. It takes more of a scientific approach to skincare and beauty than some other brands and continues switching things up a bit as the science around eco-friendly products evolves.

The company has a rich history, with much of this being based on family heritage. It offers more than a few products, including serums, moisturizers, eye creams, and face masks. Almost anything you need, it has.

Tips for Choosing Eco-Friendly Beauty Products

As recommended as each of the above eco-friendly beauty products are, you’ll still need to choose the right option for you. How do you decide which ones you should actually buy? A few tips are sure to help:

  1. Focus On Packaging – Even if a brand uses organic ingredients and environmentally friendly production processes, the packaging still poses a risk to the environment. If it’s made from plastic or similar materials, it might be worth avoiding. Choose options with biodegradable or reusable packaging.
  2. Research, Research, Research – Research is vital to picking the best brand possible. It avoids you falling for any greenwashing and makes sure the products you pick actually live up to their marketing claims.
  3. Pick From The Right Brands – Many environmentally friendly beauty brands are already known to be high-quality and recommended. They’ve been tried and tested to make sure they don’t harm the environment. Choose from these, and there’s nothing to worry about.

Once you’ve narrowed down your options to the best eco-friendly beauty brands you can find, it might be worth experimenting with them. You’ll already know they won’t harm the environment, so trying a few of them could be a great way to find the right one for you.

Making the Switch to Eco-Friendly Beauty

With the impact that traditional beauty products have on the environment – and even your health – it’s natural to want to make the switch to eco-friendly alternatives. Sometimes, starting this process seems complicated, and you mightn’t even know where to start.

In other times, a few of the steps can be obvious, but it’s easy to overlook a few of them. Focusing on some areas is recommended, as they make the switch much easier, and you wouldn’t need to worry about looking and feeling great with your new beauty routine.

  • Use as few beauty products as possible to avoid any potential harm to the environment
  • Choose beauty bars rather than ones put in any kind of plastic packaging
  • Focus on using brands with eco-friendly certifications

Making the switch to eco-friendly beauty brands is much easier than most consumers could’ve thought. With how important it can be for the planet, there’s no reason not to put the effort into it. You’ll feel better about your skincare routine while looking better than you could’ve thought.

Conclusion

Switching to eco-friendly beauty brands makes sure your beauty routine doesn’t harm the environment. Don’t support brands that actively use harmful production processes, destroy the environment, and eradicate aquatic habitats. With the right eco-friendly beauty products, you’ll avoid that while still looking and feeling your best.

As an environmentally conscious consumer, there’s no reason not to switch to the best eco-friendly beauty brands on the market. From RMS Beauty to Youth To The People, and quite a few in-between, there’s plenty to choose from. Make the switch and be the change.