This is Not a Burn Book
If you came here just to look at a list of brands I’ve deemed bad and that I’m publicly shaming you’ll be disappointed. Sorry, not sorry. I can’t magically change people minds by publicly shaming brands in a list of “Brands That Are Destroying the Earth”. It doesn’t work like that, you have to want to change your ways. Hell, some of my favorite products suck for the earth, and I can still like them. All I can do is give you in the information, plant the little seeds of education and maybe a change will grow, maybe it won’t.
Avoid Brands With Non-Sustainable Practices
Have you seen those pictures of Orangutans hanging off bulldozers? Those sad videos? Those are what happens when we don’t fight for sustainable practices. The beauty industry is a billion dollar industry, imagine if all of those brands didn’t practice sustainability, all the ingredients would be gone quickly, farmers would lose jobs and incomes. If all the brands practice sustainability we’d have a world full of flourishing crops and happy farmers. If you choose to buy from only eco-conscious brands that have ethical and sustainable practices, those businesses without sustainability will see an impact in their profit and want to make changes.
Avoid Brands Using Human and Ecotoxins and other Questionable Ingredients
It’s already scary enough that brands don’t have to meet strict regulations, don’t make it scarier for yourself by using questionable ingredients. Without regulations brands are free to use whatever they want with very few ingredients that are “off-limits”. Companies may wish to save costs by using cheaper ingredients or ingredients that are not thoroughly researched. If the brand you’re lokoing at or using seems like they have a lot more questionable or risky ingredients it may be time to look into some other options, maybe a company that considers their user base more than their profit margins.
Avoid Brands Making Big Claims They Can’t Back Up
“Skin looks 99% younger. Lashes look 87% Fuller!” We as a society have a vivid history with medicines and products that make big claims with little actual effect (think patent medicines and snake oil). One of my favorite podcasts Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine loves to use the phrase “Cure-alls cure nothing!” the same can be said for your beauty products, don’t’ buy products based solely on the claims they make in their marketing or packaging. Do your research (I know, you hate hearing that) see if those claims can actually be proven by science, or by the brand. Check their website, see what their research (I hope they did research) says, does it show they’re telling the truth? Skewing the data? Before you spend your money on snake oil, make sure the product is worth it.
Avoid Brands that Use Photoshop Trickery
Don’t fall for photoshop trickery! I just saw and ad for a product claiming to be a able to reshape noses and when you looked closely you could see the background (which was carefully chosen for it’s blurriness) was warped around the now obviously manipulated hump in the woman’s nose. While it can be hard to tell sometimes, investigate photos posted by the brand? Does the background strangely wrap or warp around the object or the before/after images? Don’t waste your money.
Education is Key!
You get it by now, being educated is your best weapon. Being an educated consumer is the biggest threats to the companies using less than scrupulous practices. Educated consumers don’t buy dangerous products, they don’t buy products making false claims and they don’t fall for Photoshop Trickery. Brands that use these methods can’t survive if consumers won’t buy their products. They’re forced to adapt or fail.