As the world continues to change, so do consumer priorities and brands’ responses. New labels are popping up on products that are hard to decipher and easy to confuse. Your product may say, “cruelty-free, BPA-free, and vegan” but what does that truly mean?
With a shift towards sustainability, consumers are flocking towards “clean beauty” in hopes of taking better care of their skin. Clean beauty is a movement in the beauty industry that focuses on incorporating non-toxic, environmentally-friendly ingredients into beauty products. To discern which products are “clean” look for the green leaf symbol. To be classified as clean, brands need to meet the Biorius Clean Standard where they are judged based on multiple criteria such as environmentally friendly, vegan, human friendly, recyclable, and many more. To take it a step further, there are now clean beauty exclusive retailers, such as Credo Beauty. To be eligible to be sold at Credo Beauty, brands must adhere to the Clean Standard and also be evaluated by Credo.
Another important term that has often been used is cruelty-free. Within a beauty items product process, brands usually test their products on animals in lab settings. The reason it is labeled “cruelty” is because animals would be subjected to cruel acts when testing the products such as dropping cosmetics into their eyes, shaving their fur and rubbing the products in, and ultimately, killing the animals and dissecting them for further research. Beacuse of how controversial and ethically-immoral animal testing is, cruelty-free labels have been on the rise, due to consumer awareness. Look for the leaping bunny label or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) labels.
Looking at the incorporation of animals in cosmetic production, another label to note is vegan beauty. Vegan entails not employing ingredients deriving from animals in products. Examples include beeswax, gelatin, lanolin, and some highly popular ingredients, keratin and collagen. Arguments have been made in concern for animal welfare, concerned about the treatment of animals during the sourcing process. Animal derived products are different from cruelty,as they are not being tested on. Nevertheless, veganism continues to be an important topic for multiple individuals around the world who claim it as their livelihood. Beauty brands understand the importance of making sure to appeal to what consumers value and make conscious decisions based on it. Look for the v or sunflower label to see if it is vegan.
These are just a small minority of labels that the cosmetics industry contains. Hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic, fair trade, organic, the list goes on. Staying educated on what truly goes on one’s skin is important and it all starts with understanding what exactly those many labels on a beauty bottle truly mean. The next time you are shopping for a product, take a look at the symbols and see if understanding their meaning influences the purchases you make now, and into the future.
Works Cited
“Animal-Derived Ingredients Resource | Living | PETA.” PETA, 29 Jan. 2025, www.peta.org/living/food/animal-ingredients-list.
Biorius. “Clean Certification – Biorius.” Biorius, 23 Sept. 2024, biorius.com/cosmetics-certifications/clean-certification.
Clean Beauty: What Does it Mean and Why Does it Matter? Integris Health, 24 Oct. 2023, integrishealth.org/resources/on-your-health/2023/october/clean-beauty. Accessed 24 Feb. 2025.
Cosmetics | Cruelty Free International. crueltyfreeinternational.org/make-change/cosmetics.
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