A GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL BEAUTY

Sustainability or ethical goodness are no longer concepts that are far from us. We have heard these terms quite often in recent years. While the sustainable and eco-friendly influence in fashion is reflected in the pleasant segment, many brands have become more transparent about their production processes and more sensitive about the materials they choose. However, labels like ‘vegan,’ ‘sustainable’ or ‘green’ in goodies can sometimes be deceptive. As a matter of fact, it takes hours of research to understand whether a work is ‘environmentally-friendly’ as it is written on it. While some brands are affixing these ‘green’ labels to truly sustainable or unethical works with the so-called ‘greenwashin’ trend, fortunately there are also really environmentally-friendly and ethically pleasant brands!

If you want to be a more sensitive consumer and contribute to the environment, you can turn to eco-friendly and zero-waste goodness brands. You may be wondering what ‘Sustainable’ and ‘Ethical’ brands stand for and how they produce. In order to become a more conscious consumer, you can examine the characteristics of sustainable and ethical goodness brands and their differences from other brands below.

WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL PLEASURE?

There are many explanations on this subject and therefore there may be confusion. The use of these concepts is not included in legal regulations more than once, so brands can use the concepts of ‘sustainable’ or ‘ethical’ as they wish. A brand may claim that it is ethical or sustainable, but it can also be just a marketing or ‘greenwashing’ system! The important thing is to identify what you are looking for. There are many factors that make a brand ethical and sustainable, so what is most valuable to you?

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT A WORK IS SUSTAINABLE?

This may be the biggest and most valuable question! The list of things that will make a work or brand ethical and sustainable can take pages. First of all, we should know that no art and beauty brand is ‘perfect’. It should be noted that there is a fairly broad spectrum in this regard. The real thing you can do is find goodies brands that are striving to make the world a more affordable place. And believe us, there are many brands that are like this! First, for a work to be sustainable and ethical, its ingredients must be cruelty-free, non-toxic, vegan, and palm oil-free. In addition, the brand itself needs to drive ethical sourcing, thoughtful packaging, sourcing and waste management, and donation systems.

ARE THERE RELIABLE, SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL LABELS?

We used to not read the labels of the works, but now we are all much more conscious! We pay much more attention to labels in terms of both content and techniques. It is possible to see labels such as ‘cruel free’, ‘organic’ or ‘vegan’ in the works of pleasantness brands that claim to be sustainable and ethical. Finding works that mark all of these categories is in the middle of positive steps you can take in terms of sustainability. But what makes a brand ethical? While filling two boxes, another two boxes may remain empty. Therefore, you can see the description of all of these categories below:

• Cruelty-free: Artifacts that have not been tested on animals in a random production step get this label. Even though an artwork may be labeled ‘cruel free’, it may contain animalistic elements.
• Vegan: Works of delicacy that do not contain any animal matter have this label. Vegan products contain palm tree oil. However, content that is harmful to the environment can sometimes have a vegan label. Vegan labels do not prove that a product is completely organic or natural. This information will surprise you, but it is possible that some treats that only have the ‘vegan’ label have been tested on animals!
• Non-Toxic: Works with this label do not contain GMOs, manufactured herbicides, artificial fertilizers, preservatives, parabens or other toxic ingredients. While works with these labels are organic most of the time, if a work only has this label, in some cases it contains animal elements and may have been tested on animals. A lot of ‘greenwashing’ systems are applied for ‘organic’ and ‘natural’. For this reason, you can note that the works with this label are also in other categories.
• Without Palm Tree Oil: We can say that this label is the least label in the middle of sustainable and ethical pleasant works. Goodies with this label do not contain harmful palm oil and derivatives. However, if a work has only this label, then it may be tested on animals and contain animal elements.

SEARCH FOR FULLY SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL WORKS

After reading the above information, you may be confused and feel that you will never reach a completely sustainable and ethical work. But don’t let perfectionism hold you back. We may not always be able to tick all the boxes, but it’s better than nothing! A piece together, however: you can have peace of mind if it includes all of its labels: cruelty-free, vegan, non-toxic, and palm oil-free. If you can’t see some tags, but only see two or one of them, you can still think that this work is less damaging to the environment.

WHAT DOES SUSTAINABLE AND ETHICAL BRANDING PRACTICES MEAN?

Slightly different from content, brands’ systems and processes are of great value in terms of ethics and sustainability. Although many brands are not transparent in this regard, the completely sustainable beauty brands emphasize these bets. Below you can see the descriptions of these categories:

• Considerate Packaging: Intelligent packaging or packaging is very important in terms of waste! Pleasant brands that recycle their packaging or prefer sustainable materials reduce waste for the environment. You can pay attention to the fact that brands using plastic prefer recycled materials, or you can turn to beauty brands that use aluminum and glass packaging.
• Ethical Resources: Ethical resources are one of the most valuable factors that determine whether a company is sustainable or not. This is slightly different from the contents. The basis of this factor is the brands’ systems of accessing resources, their sensitivity to the production chain, their equal treatment of local employees, and a faithful working environment in the production process.
• Source and Waste Management: Pleasant brands that pay attention to their environmental impact operate quite extensive resource and waste management policies. In the middle of this are factors such as water and power management, use of renewable power, zero waste policy, carbon footprint and recycling programs.
• Social responsibility: The donation policies of the companies are in the middle of the issues that make the niceness brands ethical. Brands that donate income to surrounding foundations and institutions are not only sustainable but also intentional and ethical. You can follow the social responsibility projects of brands on social media accounts and websites.

Being an informed consumer may seem like a very demanding job. However, as it is always said, the smallest changes made by a single person in consumption can have a big impact on the environment. For this reason, you can support the restructuring of nature with the changes you make in your life and in your pleasant shopping. At the end of the day, the goodness brand you buy may not fill all the ‘boxes’, but even the smallest step you take in terms of sustainability and ethical goodness can make a huge positive difference! We hope that you will decide to go wrong with the change in your cuteness collection.

You can see works of ethical and sustainable kindness in the photo gallery…