Beauty comes at a price – a phrase that I’ve often heard from my father growing up whenever I chose to prioritise beauty over comfort in terms of my clothing. The idea of ‘price’ has shifted over time with growing awareness of the negative impacts of the industry, hidden behind the façade of beauty. In this case, the cost is our environment. In 2018, United States was ranked the leading consumer of beauty products worldwide in terms of value, amounting to approximately 89.5 billion U.S. dollars in that year (Sabanoglu, 2022). And at what cost did that come at? 

We only have to look as far as our personal vanity corner to realise the extent of pollution – more than 120 billion units of packaging are produced globally on an annual basis (Prabhakar, 2020). All of these which we are willing to put up with as the beauty products that we utilise are perceived as a part of our identity. Cosmetics alleviate our looks, allowing us to not only look good but feel good. As superficial as it may be, beauty puts one ahead in life. Psychologists call it the “beauty premium.” It is referred to the notion that the more physically attractive workers have better-earning advantages (Mobius & Rosenblat, 2006). With beauty having a role to play in many aspects of our lives, beauty privileges outweigh the costs. Consequently, we choose to ignore the evidence of environmental pollution by the beauty industry and thus normalise pollution.

While pollution by the beauty industry is no recent phenomenon of modern life, the buzz around sustainability is, leaving one to wonder if this signifies hope for our environment in face of the beauty industry. While there has been a push towards sustainable beauty, the majority of these beauty brands focus on how these environment-friendly products are better for the consumers as opposed to the chemical-laden ones that we are familiar with. Instead, shouldn’t the message take on a pro-environment stance, thus educating consumers on how we can exercise consumer responsibility in minimising environmental pollution?

References

Mobius, M., & Rosenblat, T. (2006). Why beauty matters. American Economic Review. https://doi.org/10.1257/000282806776157515

Prabhakar, M. (2020, June 17). Plastic-free beauty: The new normal! Beat the Microbead. https://www.beatthemicrobead.org/plastic-free-beauty-the-new-normal/

Sabanoglu, T. (2022). Topic: Cosmetics industry in the u. S. Statista. https://www.statista.com/topics/1008/cosmetics-industry/