Environmentally friendly cosmetics:
reality & myths

Sustainable, green, natural, organic, eco-conscious… the use of these environmentally friendly sounding terms abound in the cosmetics industry. But how true are these statements, and are they overused?

This blog will look at the myths and realities of cosmetics and their ingredients to answer the question, just how environmentally friendly are cosmetics? And how can you make sure your cosmetic brand is providing the reality, rather than adding to the myths?

As mentioned before, exosomes show promise in accelerating skin regeneration, skin barrier support, skin inflammation reduction, and collagen synthesis. However, I researched that exosome formulations face substantial hurdles extreme sensitivity to temperature, pH, and oxidation makes stability a major issue. Many marketed products may not contain viable vesicles by the time of application, and a lack of global standards for exosome verification makes purity and dose difficult to confirm.

In response, ingredient manufacturers are developing “exosome-like” technologies, synthetic vesicles, and engineered peptides that mimic delivery functions but ensure greater consistency, safety, and regulatory compliance. Peptide technology! A rising trend in cosmetics formulations.

Did you know that claims such as ‘contains 95% naturally sourced ingredients’ typically count somewhere between 70 – 90% of water as part of that claim?

Sure, water is used in a vast majority of cosmetic formulas as one of the major components, and while it is natural, it does make a consumer think their cosmetic product contains a much greater input of natural plant oils and extracts rather than pointing out the actual water content.

Make it a reality: wouldn’t it be more truthful to state the % natural excluding the water input? For example, a claim such as ‘contains 95% naturally sourced plant ingredients.’

Another more truthful approach would be to use the higher % input, but make it clear that it contains the water input? For example, ‘contains 95% naturally sourced ingredients including water.’

Even if your cosmetic formula does contain a high percentage of natural and sustainable ingredients, have you considered the carbon footprint of that product?

Here are some things to consider:

• What processing is needed to obtain the cosmetic ingredient? For example, many esterified materials (which includes a vast majority of emollients and emulsifiers) and surfactants need very high temperature processing to go from the raw form to the ingredient that actually gets used in a cosmetic formula. This can add significant carbon burden. Learn more about how this impacts many common cosmetic materials with this video: Sustainable and carbon neutral beauty.

• How far has that ingredient travelled, and then your finished product? If you are using cosmetic ingredients from far off locations and then shipping your finished products a long way to consumers, that travel component and the fuel needed to cover the delivery is adding to the carbon footprint.

• Was high temperature processing or high shear needed to manufacture your product? If so, there is an increased carbon loading.

• Don’t forget your packaging! Is it truly as sustainable as you claim – or is it more recyclable than sustainable? See sustainable packaging tips and products here.

Now that we’ve looked at the items you need to be wary of, let’s look at tips on how to improve the environmental score on your cosmetic ingredient choices, and cosmetic formulas.

• Review your cosmetic formulas and calculate the water content, natural ingredient content, or upcycled ingredient content and promote this on your label. Learn how to calculate the sustainability content of a cosmetic formula here.

• Switch to more locally sourced cosmetic ingredients or make functional ingredient choices that provide performance benefits as well to minimise the number of ingredients needed.

• If you are shipping a lot of products, consider if you could make them ‘concentrated’ so the consumer adds water before use, rather than shipping a high content of water. You could also consider which products you could make waterless: powder to foam, waterless bars and other waterless forms can be an innovative way to send product without water. This would also help with the % natural claims (excluding water) too!

• Use upcycled ingredients where possible – upcycled ingredients, those that would otherwise be considered waste, are a fantastic way to boost the environmental benefits of your cosmetic formulas.

• Use cosmetic ingredients source using biotechnology – commonly fermentation – as this has a very low carbon footprint.

• Use cosmetic ingredients that enable you to cold-process the formula – manufacture large quantities of product without needing a heating or cool down phase. This saves dramatically on manufacture times and energy requirements to be much more environmentally friendly.

• Check the true sustainability of your packaging and avoid heavy packaging such as glass. While glass sounds ‘natural’, it takes very high temperatures to create, needs extra packaging to prevent breakages and is very heavy for shipping, which adds significantly to fuel and the carbon footprint.

Use the above tips to boost the environmentally friendly message of your cosmetic product to your marketing benefits but also to resonate with the conscious consumer of today.

There are so many ingredient and packaging choices now available, make sure you speak with your suppliers and look for environmentally conscious innovations at your next in-cosmetics exhibition to take big steps toward truly sustainable and earth friendly cosmetic products with your next developments.

Happy formulating!

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