SO...WHAT NOW?

You received 4 story likes and two whatsapp messages. Countless promotional emails and a project rejection.

‍The neighbours upstairs are playing loud music. Sounds like shitty tech house. You reheat the weekends leftovers of tomato chickpea sauce as you choose a show to watch on a LEGAL STREAMING SERVICE. You fall asleep at 1AM. And wake up, again. Someone knocks on your door. You open it, wearing nothing but black underwear and a white T-Shirt you stole from your ex situationship. It’s your neighbour, giving you the package, wrongfully delivered to them instead of you. You forgot you ordered it since it’s still before-coffee-time. Happily tearing the box apart, you take out the little container, full of slimy cream. Satisfied and excited to try it, you get dressed for another day of work.

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If everything was cut and dried, life would be too easy. However, most things exist in the space between, in the so-called grey area. An area with unclear boundaries, limitless possibilities and ambiguous complexities. After all, we know grey has at least fifty shades.

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With this article, I take on the role of a mythbuster and a hard thinker- debunking the concepts of good and bad, bringing context into light, as context is everything (in most cases! See! this is what I’m talking about!), and showing that things are never ever as they seem to be. I offer transparency, knowing that the life I lead is not nearly as sustainable as it could or should be. So I share my discoveries, experiences and reflections on the skincare industrial complex as we know it. No single human, company, community or other entity can be 100% sustainable since there is no such thing. Not in the system we built and live in. However, we can all try being better, more honest with each other: and that’s more than enough to start relevant discourse which serves as a catalyst for change

In 2024, the Skincare market is estimated to generate a revenue of US$186.60 billion worldwide.

I, too, consider myself a consumer of skincare, and have recently re-ignited my love for experimenting with different brands, products, moisturizers, oils, masks, etc. So, from personal experience, I know how hard it is to decide which product to get when we are constantly getting bombarded with information left and right.

I mean seriously, how do they keep this shit up? By ‘they’ I mean basically every brand ever, especially the big ones, putting their shitty billboards on top of historical buildings, saturating social media with influencer sponsorships and paid articles, ads on every single website, video, music (of course, if you don’t pay more to keep the monsters at bay), articles, etc. producing producing producing just so we subconsciously consume consume consume

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From pure frustration and from my brain being too overwhelmed by the insincere offerings of the self-care machinery, I decided to gather some information on sustainability and transparency within the beauty, more specifically, skincare industry.

When I googled ‘sustainable skincare’ only articles from different beauty brands showed up.Most of which use our favorite buzzwords with no data to back it up with, such as: ORGANIC and NATURAL. So, let’s break it down.

It’s fair to assume that natural ingredients are more environmentally friendly than synthetic ones. However, in many cases(dare I say, most), this descriptor is used mainly for a product to sound more sustainable than it actually is -

‍GREENWASH ALERT!!

For example, producing even a small quantity of essential oil requires a huge amount of botanical material. The yield for essential oils is very low, and the increasing demand is straining the sustainability of many botanicals used in their production: wild licorice has been over-harvested to such an extent that the amount being sold on the market now exceeds the amount being produced.

‘Aromatherapy educator Andrea Butje emphasizes the point by explaining that it takes all of the petals from 30-50 roses to produce a single drop of Rose Otto Essential Oil.’

However, not all is lost! A study on citrus peel waste (A Review of Yields and Technologies for Sustainable Management of Essential Oils) shows that by optimizing extraction methods, reusing residues, and promoting sustainable practices, a circular bioeconomy is achieved, where waste is minimized, resources are efficiently used, and economic and environmental benefits are maximized. So, of course there is a ‘natural’ way of getting ingredients: however, in global companies it’s rare that the production process does not hurt any local areas (deforestation, habitat destruction, detrimental impacts on ecosystems .), its inhabitants (exploitation of local workers, negative health effects..), etc. because to acquire more ‘natural’ material in a sustainable way means more money to invest in the production process: which, with big business, is often than not, a no-go.

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01 WASTE:

Key points of waste in the skincare industry, according to Luka:

a. Single Use Products

During the course of my life, I have probably used hundreds of sheet masks. Maybe even thousands. But they have used me, too. So it’s fair play at this point. I suppose we are conditioned to view sheet masks as the ultimate form of self-care. Does that mean health and self-care can be directly obtained by a trip to your local drugstore? Of course not, however it offers us the idea of taking care of our bodies and minds. And sometimes, that’s all it takes to feel better. Stressed at work? Relax with a face mask. Just gave birth? Relax with a face mask.

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If we invest into relaxing, it makes us actually do it, to get our money’s worth. It’s sick but it works. Could one not relax by simply taking a few breaths? Or meditating? These things are free.

Except if you travel with your own oxygen supply like some celebrities, or if you use a meditation app (such as Headspace or Calm) which costs around 12,99 or 15.99 euros per month. These things (things=air) have also been monetized, and therefore privatized in different forms.

But again, this is not intrinsically bad. Paying for guided meditation makes it more accessible (to people who can afford it lol!), provides necessary levels of motivation to do it, and most of all- a level of comfort or familiarity. So, in the end, it does make sense, to an extent.

According to Statista, in 2018, the estimated global sheet face mask market volume was some 206.7 million units, and is forecasted to reach 332 million units by 2026.

“There’s something about the ritual of smoothing on a premoistened sheet, luxuriating in the spa-like effect for 15 to 30 minutes, and maybe snapping a selfie or two that truly elevates the process. It’s why people keep using sheet masks even if they might not do a heck of a lot.”

What a sheet mask does, is basically lock in moisture and/or product into your skin. Here is an article I found about compostable/sustainable/reusable sheet masks. This goes hand in hand with makeup wipes, cotton pads etc. Why use a million makeup wipes when you can just reuse a nice little towel instead? Think of all the cotton pads you have used, then imagine everyone in the world using the same amount as well. That’s a lot of cotton pads. And regular cotton pads don’t even biodegrade due to the bleaching and mixing processes used to create them!!

So look into reusable ones, or cloths instead! I will look into it, too!

b. Packaging

According to the Zero Waste Week campaign, more than 120 billion units of packaging are produced every year by the global cosmetics industry. Plastic packaging is a major contributor, with many products using complex materials that are difficult to recycle. Apparently, the best choices for skincare packaging are recyclable materials such as Glass, aluminum, and certain types of plastic (like PET), biodegradable and/or compostable packaging(Plant-based materials such as polylactic acid (PLA)), refillable, upcycled or innovative (such as packaging made from mycelium).

c. Chemical Waste

‍The production and disposal of skincare products more often than not releases harmful chemicals into the environment, both in the manufacturing process and throwing away products containing active ingredients which can also be harmful to the environment. Let’s take sunscreen for example. Controversial! Oxybenzone, octocrylene, and octinoxate, found in sunscreen products—can harm marine life and cause coral reef bleaching. In 2019, the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) proposed a fresh set of sunscreen regulations to make the market safer, noting that zinc oxide (based on the assumption that it’s natural) and titanium dioxide were the only two sunscreen ingredients generally recognized as safe and effective.

However, “when zinc oxide sunscreen gets washed off your body, it doesn’t necessarily end up someplace that naturally has zinc oxide. And even if it does, it can raise the concentration there compared to before. Since how harmful something is depends on how much there is (“the dose makes the poison”), extra zinc oxide can be a problem."

As zinc is a micronutrient living beings need, it is also a heavy metal: in larger amounts it is proven to be toxic!! So, what now?

After spending hours trying to research sunscreen, I quickly realized I was going in circles. The whole spiel about sunscreen is that it destroys coral reefs and that people should buy specific types of it in order to avoid that. Then, a study comes out saying that very type is even more toxic. Afterwards, five more studies come out pointing at one another who’s the worst sunscreen, what’s more toxic to people, what’s more toxic to animals, BLABLABLA...

It’s a shitshow of misinformation!!

And here lies the obvious, yet shocking revelation: the idea that the sunscreen we, as individuals, use damages the coral reef to such extent instead of climate change (and other factors) which is directly affected by large companies is laughable, to say the least. It reminds me of the controversial ban on plastic straws, even though plastic straws are not even 1% of plastic pollution.

“However, The top global plastic polluters of 2023 are The Coca-Cola Company, Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo, Mondelēz International, Mars, Inc., Procter & Gamble, Danone, Altria, and British American Tobacco. “Top global plastic polluters” are defined as the parent companies whose brands were found polluting the most countries with the most plastic waste, according to the brand audit data.”

“A lot of those studies report toxicity, but the real question is whether the organisms are being exposed to a level of that chemical they would ever see in the environment,” says Timothy Bargar, PhD, an ecotoxicologist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Wetland and Aquatic Research Center. “Field researchers generally find much lower levels of chemicals in the water than what is used in laboratory settings. ‘Even in areas popular with swimmers, and with the highest concentrations of sunscreen chemicals, the levels of those chemicals in the water, on average, are still quite a bit lower than those reported in the majority of studies to be toxic to marine life.”

“In some cases, studies that show that oxybenzone can kill coral use concentrations that are 1,000 times higher than what you’d find in a natural environment, according to Gonsior. “That’s not to say that lower concentrations have no effect,” he says. “There may be harmful effects from chronic exposure at lower levels.”

‍d. Product Waste

A big chunk of waste comes from unused or expired products. Consumers often throw away skincare products before they are fully used, contributing to landfill waste and potential environmental pollution from the chemicals they contain. e. Microplastics Tiny tiny plastic particles easily pass through water filtration systems and end up in oceans and waterways, harming marine life and ecosystems. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean if current trend/ways of production continue. And that’s not good! Not at all!

02 CONSUMPTION

“Consumption and beauty are mutually exclusive. Beauty does not promote itself. It does not tempt you to enjoy or to possess it. Rather, it invites you to linger in contemplation”

(56).- Han, Byung-Chul. Saving Beauty. Translated by Daniel Steuer. Polity Press, 2018

Context: The President’s News Conference December 20, 2006, CHATGPT scanned the transcription:

In his press conference on December 20th, 2006, President Bush addressed several issues, including the economy and consumer confidence. Notably, he urged Americans to maintain their usual activities, emphasizing the importance of continued shopping to bolster the economy amidst economic uncertainties. This call underscored his administration’s strategy to promote consumer spending as a crucial factor in stabilizing the economy and sustaining public confidence in the market.

Don’t get it twisted. I love shopping. Who doesn't? If you say ‘let’s go shopping,” most will be into the idea and ready to rumble. Though, shopping means different things to different people- if someone tells me: “hey you are super cool, I love you, let’s go shopping,” I would:

A. Be flattered and B. Assume we are talking about going thrifting, visiting markets or second hand shopping, because that’s what me and my friends do!I

I can’t remember when was the last time I bought a ‘brand new,’ clothing item, excluding underwear and socks. However, I still am a shopping addict (amongst other things). Being a maximalist on a budget is actually way easier than you think. And this is where sustainability plays a key role: swapping clothes, acquiring items, repurposing, upcycling, modifying everything over and over again, re-gifting… This is what makes us girls. We all look for heaven and put love first.

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And heaven would be…dopamine? Ah, dopamine… good old dopamine..

‍The feel-good neuroreceptor. Also called the ‘anticipation molecule’ because it’s been proven to release in larger amounts when anticipating a pleasurable experience.

Temptation leads to desire, which leads to addiction to pure pleasure. Or something like that.

Every time you purchase something, an object of desire, a stream of dopamine appears, releasing positive vibes in your brain. A rush of pure joy and excitement. And then, it quickly crashes. So you look for more. So you buy more. Apparently, we all need a 15-step skincare routine nowadays.

And that’s according to brands and influencers.

When, in reality, what we need the most is moisturiser and sunscreen!

"The term “retail therapy” originated in the 1980s. The Chicago Tribune claims one of the earliest uses of the term, penned by journalist Mary T. Schmich, referenced the now-familiar phenomenon: hitting the stores to improve mood and outlook on life. At some point, shelling out the dough for something new became a more potent ameliorative than exercise, sunshine, or anti-depressants."

Before retail therapy there was trading. And after trading there was mass-production. Manufacturing things in larger amounts, faster, cheaper and on a bigger scale:

“18th-century England marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in which mass production was first used on a large scale. One key development that led to the use of mass production was the use of James Watt’s improved steam engine which replaced humans and animals as an energy source. This improvement to the harnessing of steam energy allowed for the use of heavy machinery in production on a mass scale. “

In ancient times, skincare consisted of ingredients like olive oil, honey, plants, and herbs, which moisturised and cleansed the skin. And now, thanks to the online shopping evolution and globalization, mass production has yet again been elevated to a whole new level. In 1979, an English guy called Michael Aldrich invented the earliest form of e-commerce, allowing online transaction processing between not only business and customers but business and business. Fun Fact: The first item sold on the Internet happened in 1994. It was a CD of Sting’s 1993 album “Ten Summoner’s Tales” to Phil Brandenberger in Philadelphia, who apparently purchased the item ‘around noon’ for 12.48$ plus shipping. I wonder if he still has it. Apparently he lives in New York.

Also, in Mid-1994, Amazon was founded by he-who-shall-not-be-named. Initially for books, but later on for pretty much everything a person would ever need. Today, Amazon’s worth is 1.9 Trillion USD. 

“For the years 2021 and 2022, Amazon disclosed part of its global plastic packaging footprint but has neither reported its plastic use at the country level, nor for all transactions including those fulfilled by third-party sellers.”

Oceana’s report “Amazon’s United States of Plastic,” estimates that Amazon generated 94 347 213 kilograms of plastic packaging waste for all transactions in just the United States in 2022.

But it’s quick and convenient, right?

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03 SOCIAL MEDIA: 24/7

I feel like a hunter and a gatherer with stitching all this information together. Hopefully I still have your attention, as there are just a few more things I need to mention. In the following section we will look at the connection and do a short inspection of digitalization and commercialization of capitalistic intentions.

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 I, too, am a product of the internet and social media influences. These days, I find it hard to differentiate my thoughts from the ones that I’m fed with. I feel like there is a constant flow of information entering through each orifice of my body, as I try holding onto each and every one of them, stuck in a loop of slipping and falling, over and over again. I keep tripping over random thoughts and forgetting their original sources. I catch myself trying to make sense of each day as it happens, but I am always overwhelmed by this feeling of: everything, all at once. I feel non consensually bombarded by heaps of (mis)information and I am more tired each day. Yet I keep going back to my phone. I keep pressing the ‘not now’ button that appears after spending two hours on instagram. And it seems it always appears in the mornings.

 A few months ago, my Instagram screen time was 24 hours and 32 minutes. Which means out of seven days I spent one on Instagram. I feel my brain rotting as I type this, wanting to throw my phone away but also rationalizing (and justifying) that I need my Instagram for staying in touch with friends, job opportunities, accommodation, etc. It’s a necessary evil. And I’m complicit. The perpetrator and the victim, a tale as old as time. An addiction as sour as a slice of lime.

Trend Cycles and clean beauty propaganda 

Today, the growth of the wellness movement, combined with increasing consumer awareness about ingredient safety and product efficacy, has driven the skincare industry to prioritize quality and transparency. And greenwashing, using terms previously discussed as coverups for unethical sourcing. However, it is important to note that with the rise of DECIEM’s The Ordinary, which is now a staple in most skincare users, the shift to transparency and the ingredient-based ‘craze’ had started. Launched in 2016, the brand instantly became popular mainly to its revolutionary tactic of displaying active ingredients and their concentrations on their products, allowing consumers to make informed choices but also educate themselves on what they are actually putting on their faces and skin. But also, cheaper prices: the Ordinary was the first big brand with ingredient transparency and accessible pricing, making it an instant success. 

However, the quick popularity of the brand had its controversies and drama, regarding the founder and CEO’s behaviour, struggles and decisions. More on this can be found in Nicola Kilner’s 2023 interview about the company and its story. Based on this story, it is important to note the layered implications and interactions of mental health within the skincare industry and big business, which not only affects the consumers, but industry insiders, too. 

In June 2021, DECIEM came out as anti clean beauty:, “Everything is chemicals, including ‘clean’ beauty.”

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CLEAN BEAUTY: The clean beauty trend refers to products formulated without potentially harmful ingredients such as parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and artificial fragrances, often emphasizing natural, organic, and sustainably sourced alternatives (ChatGPT Definition). 

“If you ask 10 different people what clean beauty means, you’ll get 10 different answers,” said Caroline Hirons, a prominent British skin-care influencer. When you scrape away at it, she said, it “doesn’t really mean anything.”

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On instagram, at the time of writing this (16th June, 2024, 14:46) there are 123,448,453 posts with the #skincare hashtag. And #cleanbeauty has 6,696,045 posts. Due to the fast-paced trend cycles, fast fashion, skincare and sites like Temu or AliExpress, are at an all time high. We consume way too much content, most of which is sponsored and sandwiched between ads, slowly making their way into our brain so one day we wake up and think we need a 15 step skincare routine. Even my adblocker keeps popping up asking me to pay more money for it. Clean beauty was one of the bigger trends in the last few years on social media, a term basically greenwashing itself. It suggests that non-”clean” skincare products are toxic or bad, which is misleading. For instance, while natural brands promote “paraben-free” as safer, parabens at low concentrations are deemed safe by both the FDA and the stricter EU, as they prevent harmful bacteria growth in products.

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Very long story super short, the clean beauty movement is intrinsically flawed because it oversimplifies ingredients into “good” and “bad,” disregarding fundamental toxicology principles: everything depends on the context! And exist in the grey zone, as we have already mentioned. 

Despite the hype, clean beauty doesn’t necessarily make us healthier and could even do the very opposite. Since there are no regulations, any brand can write ‘clean’ or ‘natural’ on their products. Talk about a scam... 

“The risk is a product between exposure and hazard, which means that if there is no exposure, even if the hazard is very high, the risk is very low. And when you come to cosmetic products, it just means that a substance by itself is not good or bad – it is more how you are exposed to this substance that is so critical.”

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This text/article serves as a reflection and critique of contemporary consumer culture, urging whoever reads this to consider the ethical and environmental implications of their own purchasing decisions. I call for greater transparency and accountability within the skincare industry, realizing things are always more complicated and more rotten than we think they are. Creating conversation is great, but making a change is even better. With the array of sources, quotes and imagery included, I hope to have inspired/evoked some thoughts and contemplations previously suppressed. By sharing personal insights and gathering knowledge from different reference points, I am trying to be better, I am trying to stay aware; it’s a slippery slope. The benefits and pitfalls of the current system we live in go into every aspects of our lives, so I firmly believe it’s as important as ever to provide discourse and engage more critically in deeper consideration of our roles as consumers.

If anyone finds my face, let me know. In the meantime, I will keep questioning every single choice I have ever made.

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MY FINAL THOUGHTS

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As I close my window, dim the lights and pull the curtain ever so slightly, I start thinking about my skin. My elbows, which are dry, yet I keep moisturizing them every day, so they can look a bit less dry than they would without the cream. I think of my neck and how irritated it becomes after shaving, no matter what I do and which products I use. The redness stays red for days. I think of my face, and how it’s been looking better: but now that summer is around the corner, the mission for the perfect non-oil inducing sunscreen continues for all of us. I think of my friends giving me recommendations and advice. I think of my hands, and how I carry a tiny hand cream in my purse, so that I always have something to do with my hands when I sit at a cafe, at a cinema, at a bar. Something to fidget with. 

In the last few months I have been using a purple Melem cream because the scent is comforting and reminds me of my childhood. Since I am currently living alone, I can’t help but notice the amount of packaging, plastics, papers, products I abuse each week. It’s overwhelming, so I start getting ready for bed. I light an incense and stick it into a jar, put a headband on and wash my face with soap. For some reason, there always seems to be more soap on the left side of my face, I guess I apply the soap first to the left and them move it to the right. I put on my eye cream, which I bought 50% off because it expired, but the lady at the pharmacy told me it should be good until August.

Funnily enough, I have to use it because the skin around my eyes is too sensitive. I apply my moisturizer, which is unexpectedly good. Because of its thickness, originally I thought it would clog my pores but it actually doesn’t. Then I realize I should’ve brushed and flossed before putting the cream on. So I do it now and no matter what position I put my hands in, product gets in my mouth and I can taste it for the next twenty minutes. 

I can’t remember the last time my face felt real. I pop my nighttime pills and hope the magnesium doesn’t get stuck in my throat. Rolling under my two duvets, I scrunch up a pillow for my head, one for my knees and one to hold. The whole day I’ve been wanting to be in bed and sleep, and now that I’m here, my mind keeps running and flashing images. It feels like my brain is doing the jump to hyperspace like in Star Wars as soon as I get into bed.

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THE END

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