How to use cosmetics, causing less harm to nature
RESPONSIBLE, IT IS ETHICAL, CONSUMPTION - a relatively new, but already wildly popular phenomenon. For the first time this term was used by the British magazine Responsible Consumer in 1989, and last April the Australian Vogue included vegan cosmetics - one of the branches of a conscious attitude to fashion - among the main trends of modern times. Proponents of this movement do everything to reduce the destructive influence of man on nature, animals and other people: carefully study the composition and origin of the ingredients before buying, try to use cosmetics to the end, hand over empty packaging for processing or are looking for new ways to use.
How to become a responsible consumer
It is not necessary to start a new life on Monday. Most likely, you already have a streamlined lifestyle, which cannot be changed in two days. Author of the Flour of Conscious Choice channel, Maria Gelman, advises to start with setting priorities: “First of all, you need to understand what you are ready to bear responsibility. You can fight for animal rights and buy only those products that have not been tested on them. You can control consumption and buy You can look at the package and choose only the one that will be recycled. You can buy goods without any packaging and stop producing garbage. One hundred percent of the correct choice there: somewhere we still nanesom harm, because the system as a whole is not yet ready for new consumption guidelines, but the basics the way to great changes have already been laid - the main form the demand for new forms of consumption. ".
Without delay, take time at the weekend or on vacation and sort out your makeup supplies. Unfinished creams and lipsticks, which will soon expire, place in sight so as not to throw away the wasted residue. See which categories of cosmetics prevail in your collection: it will be easier for them to opt-out. And come up with a rotation system to use everything you have. Shopping for shopping is a form of irresponsible consumerism.
Where to carry empty packaging
In the world of beauty, packaging is both a necessity and a way to sell more cosmetics. Who among us at least once in his life did not hang on a cute jar in the form of a panda or luxurious golden lipstick with monograms? The problem is that the lion’s share of this beauty is not recyclable, and at best, processing can be difficult. In order to deliver plastic packaging to a waste collection point (for example, this one), you will have to calculate the type of plastic it is made of, get rid of all the metal parts and residues and find the time for a round trip. With wood, cardboard and aluminum, things are a little simpler, but again, you will have to transport the cans to the right place yourself - it is unlikely that the garbage truck will do it for you.
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Eco-brands of beauty brands help to solve this problem - although they are not without flaws. So, in Kiehl's, you can hand over any empty jar, provided that it is a package from under the full-size funds. For three empty bottles or tube give a thumbnail, for five - lip balm. They, too, can then be recycled, but the initiative will have to show itself: after all, the program is more focused on building loyalty than saving the planet. The Back to MAC program works in the same way: "When returning six empty packages to the MAC store, the customer receives one lipstick of his choice (except for some lines, as well as collectible lipsticks). Thus, we thank the customers for helping protect the environment. " "Back to MAC" is not yet valid in Russia, the launch is planned for 2018. Engaged in recycling and Origins. This brand encourages customers to donate not only their banks, but also the packaging of competitors - let the main reward be a clean planet, and not excess garbage.
Harder to the topic of environmental concern came in Lush. The company works in two directions: accepts for processing the old format of cans and develops new forms of products that they will not need. “One black jar weighs about 14 grams. Although many people return to our stores for stocks that receive empty containers, others are thrown away with the rest of the garbage. Switching to solid body oils, only from May 2014 to June 2015 we helped 1,572 kg the packaging material does not go to the dump. At the same time, 15 million bottles for shampoo were not created - they were replaced by solid shampoo, "- proudly states in Lush. Solid products in the company are called "naked." Now their share is 35% of all brand products. They come to the buyers in the hill of filler from potato starch - it equally well decomposes in water and in the ground and, according to Lush, protects from damage no worse than synthetic analogues.
How to turn responsible consumption into a game
For those who have difficulty using extensive stocks of cosmetics, members of the r / MakeupRehab community arrange weekly challenges. The most popular are Palette A Week (PAW) and Project Pan. The first one is focused on lovers of shadows, who have to live a week with one palette and understand, paint it further or give it to the one who needs it. The second aims to use products to the end. Its participants are happy to share with each other photographs of powder, highlighters and shadows, which they managed to wipe down to the bottom or even finish. Many inspirational posts can be found in instagrame on #projectpan and #projectcommunity tags. Discipline yourself will help create a separate account where you can upload photos of products that have chosen to challenge. Russian participants of the Project Pan communicate in closed telegram chat rooms, thematic public posts on the VKontakte network and in the comments on the Cosmetologist's website.
For strong-willed people, there is No Buy Month: the participants of this challenge for the whole month refuse from cosmetic purchases or limit them only to the most necessary (if, for example, a shower gel or sanskrin has ended). At the same time, you will have to unsubscribe from all newsletters of beauty-stamps, reading listings of fresh cosmetics and watching blogger videos with reviews of issues. By the month without new products, you can add friends - they will help dissuade you from buying a new palette, admire the pots of cream on the photo and take in good hands what you just lie and spoil.
How to learn to read formulations
Aerobatics responsible consumption - the ability to understand the compositions and avoid anything that is harmful to the environment or tested on animals. Cosmetics produced without such victims abound today, but it is also a young phenomenon. If the brand is sold in China, its products are likely to have passed laboratory tests on animals. This is due to Chinese law, which, by the way, does not apply to Hong Kong, but the large Chinese market is already trying to find a solution to the problems with such tests. Cruelty-free-marks put appropriate marks on the packaging - they can be found on the cans of Lush, The Body Shop, Too Faced, Urban Decay, Lime Crime. "I always pay attention to the content of what I buy, whether it be food, cosmetics or furniture," states Sarah Kugelman, founder of Skyn Iceland. "There are so many toxic substances around us that it is necessary to limit the interaction with them in all possible ways. I hold this opinion about twenty-five years old, and this is one of the core values of my own brand. "
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For a meaningful reading of the compositions there are special sites (here and here) and convenient applications. Some of the ingredients and many do not like: for example, sulfates and petroleum products, which, although not the main sources of oil pollution, but still poorly decomposed and remain products of toxic production. But if you want to immerse yourself in an eco-friendly lifestyle completely, start with the tools based on five to seven ingredients - it is easier to study this amount thoroughly than to try to overcome the list of thirty complex compounds.
With the filing of Deciem and their brand The Ordinary, interest in the content of beautiful caring cans has grown, and with it the popularity of skincare bloggers. In addition to Adel Miftakhova, subscribe to René @gothamista and Marcia @skinminimalist - they have excellent English-language blogs about care and active components. Special mention are the blogs of doctors: dermatologist Cynthia Bailey from Sevastopol, California and Joyce Park from New York. True, the subject of ecology interests them more as part of the science of skin.
The future of responsible consumption
Interest in the subject of ecology is growing, which means that market leaders will have to adapt. The American Colgate-Palmolive already accepts for recycling empty packaging from under toothpaste and brushes. By 2020, the company promises that out of every four categories of its products, three will be fully produced in packages to be recycled. Clarins works with fair-trade ingredients. At the end of 2017, The Body Shop returned to its cruelty-free roots. All these are markers of a new attitude to the production and consumption of cosmetics, for which every little thing matters.
In the meantime, we are at a stage when the main achievement of the consumer is to create a demand for environmentally friendly, fully recyclable products and use them to the end. Every time we make a choice in favor of local production or unpacked cosmetics, we vote for the responsibility of the brands to the buyer and the environment. Therefore, whatever form of responsible consumption you choose, in any case, it will be better than total inaction.
Photo: unclepodger - stock.adobe.com, Asawin - stock.adobe.com, pixs4u - stock.adobe.com
