Getting me to stop buying beauty products is like trying to take a fish out of water--it’s unnatural and uncomfortable and I feel like I’m going to die. Maybe a bit dramatic, but how am I supposed to be in the know when it comes to beauty if I’m not constantly trying products? I’ve been stuck in a cycle for about three years where I want to limit my beauty buying and can ultimately never stick to it, but I think I know the reason why--I didn’t have a good enough reason to stop. The first time I realized I wanted to pull the reins on buying beauty was because I was a freshman in college and had no job and no money. The second time was because I was getting bored of trying products and not being impressed and I was overloading my bathroom counter with so many things that I didn’t have enough faces to try things out on. But now is the third time and I think it just may be a charm. Since beginning a new job at a clean beauty store a few months ago, I’ve been getting more and more serious about buying ethically and sustainably, which is basically impossible in Sephora and the like. It’s getting harder to wade through products I don’t believe in whether it be because they test on animals, the key product ingredients are so far down the ingredient list there is no possible way to be effective, the packaging isn’t recyclable, and so on. Also, I was reading a recent Into the Gloss article about Joanna Czech and Joanna Vargas meeting for the first time, and Joanna Vargas mentioned how the integrity of products must be lacking because of the ridiculously fast pace in which new products are being released. This made me step back and wonder how in the world beauty companies are claiming benefits when they don’t even know the long-term effects. These recent revelations of mine smacked me in the face.
Yes, my recycling bin is overflowing while my trashcan is sitting there half-empty, but why am I not composting and limiting food waste? Yes, I research products and ingredients before purchasing things, but am I researching WHY they’re effective and where the ingredients are being sourced from? Is the company employing the use of fair labor? Maybe Earth Month is getting to me, but it should be. It should be getting to all of us. How can we feel good about driving the mall to meet our friend, buying a Nars blush at Sephora, and throwing away the packaging without a second thought? What about carpooling, buying from a brand that doesn’t sell to mainland China, where animal testing on imported cosmetics is required by law, and buying from brands that support minimal and recyclable packaging?
I’m not saying I’ll never let my curiosity get the best of me and buy a product I don’t need, but I’m more conscious of the things I will choose to invest in when the time comes. For example, I’m almost out of both my daytime and nighttime moisturizers, so why don’t I replace those with just one product that I can use for both? I’m leaning toward the Tata Harper Repairative Moisturizer because I’ve tried and loved it before and the glass packaging can be recycled and turned into something new whenever it runs out. The brand also grows most of the ingredients for and makes their products on a farm in Vermont--cute!
I know my change in attitude can’t just end with beauty though. While I rarely buy new clothes, there’s no way I can go into Forever 21 or H&M and feel good about what I walk out with when I have no clue what the conditions of the workers making my clothes have been and the clothes are such poor quality I’ll probably have to throw them out in a few short years. Brands like Everlane and Reformation are making it easier to buy more sustainably online and even though their price points may be higher than the fast fashion we’re used to, that can force us to invest in one or two quality pieces instead of a few new whole outfits that are too trendy to be mixed and matched with other clothing pieces you already have. Fashion is the third biggest contributor to pollution and there are things we can do to confront that.
It really just takes a lot of small steps to make a big difference. When we cut down on waste, we can save money by not over-buying and also put money towards supporting respectable working conditions for the people making the things we put on our faces and bodies daily and to create a brighter tomorrow.