Dear Humans,
We have been through a long journey together these past few months. It has been a pleasure to share about the horrors of beauty products, their solutions and how to move forward from here. From production to consumption to the end-of-life of a product, it has all been discussed to a great extent in this blog. Hence, in this post, I will be summarising the key points from theuglysideofbeauty, in hopes that you, my dear humans are on a better path towards green beauty.
Production:
At the beginning, we discussed how the production of certain beauty products resulted in great environmental degradation. The extraction of palm oil has resulted in the loss of homes of many species of biodiversity and caused huge amounts of carbon dioxide to be released into the air. The burning of peatlands to make way for palm oil plantations has resulted in hazy conditions in many countries. Another issue was the fragrances produced, where many do not know about the toxic chemicals inserted into the fragrances. When used, it then releases vast amounts of chemicals into the air.
To work on the problem, beauty companies can modify their sources of production, where they can strive to be deforestation free and use more sustainable forms of production. Companies can also opt for more natural ingredients to be utilised in their products. These efforts will go a long way in achieving environmental sustainability in the production of beauty products.
Consumption:
In the consumption category, I focused on air fresheners as ‘silent killers’ and microbeads as ‘little devils’. These ‘little devils’ and ‘silent killers’ are hidden in the beauty products that you use everyday and you may not even realise it. Microbeads are in your face creams and moisturizers and as you wash them off your face, these microbeads seep into the oceans. The accumulation of microbeads result in marine pollution. As for air fresheners, the scents used are the likely cause of indoor pollution. It increases the secondary pollutants in the house that are already harmful to you humans in the first place.
As consumers, Rexanne and Crystal have provided some advice on how to avoid these ‘little devils’ and ‘silent killers’. They have listed certain ingredients that contain microbeads and instructed you on how to avoid when shopping for beauty products. Also, solutions and alternatives are listed to avoid indoor pollution such as avoiding scented beauty products.
End-of-Life:
The end-of-life of a beauty product can continue to pollute the environment if not disposed properly. After usage, many beauty products are simply thrown into landfills, leaving them to decompose and resulting in soil pollution. Also, incineration of these products can cause air pollution with the toxic chemicals released into the air.
In order to mitigate this issue, a new vision can be adopted by producers called the Gaia Hypothesis. With that, each beauty product can be recycled and disposed of in a sustainable fashion. Consumers can also do their part by participating in take-back programmes organised by companies.
Final thoughts
I hope that these posts have helped you understand more about the ugly side of beauty. A simple beauty product one consumes every day may be a large contributing factor to pollution all around the world. Let’s take this seriously and do our part for the environment, step by step. Together, we can work towards beauty in a sustainable and eco-friendly fashion.
Merry vibes,
Mother Nature