Article: Shannon Smith from FAIRLADY
Image: Fairlady

If George Clooney had parked his environmentally friendly hybrid car in my driveway I would have got excited. Up until now, that's about as exciting as the combination of beauty and environment got for me.

Organic products certainly didn't cut it. But all that is changing. Ian Forrester, founder of the Hawkwood organic food label in the UK and a speaker at the Natural and Organic Products Exhibition held in Johannesburg in October last year, stated that the worldwide organic food market will grow to an estimated US$32 billion by 2009.

This bodes well for natural and organic cosmetics because cosmetic trends closely mirror those of the food industry. And there's every indication that South Africa will be in on the deal.

The'green' cosmetic industry has fluctuated between sensationalism and seriousness; we've all seen shocking e-mails about lead in lipstick and parabens in deodorant. But how effective is this finger-wagging, head-shaking communication?

If cosmetic consciousness is to transform hippie to hip, the industry needs to speak to us in a language that’s as exciting and inviting as conventional 'cosmetic speak'.

Most of us are happy to entertain the idea of going green, but we expect the convenience and performance we get from conventional cosmetics. That goes for packaging too: who wants to spend money on a good cosmetic and hide it in the cupboard because it looks so unappealing?

Now it seems we really can have it both ways. International beauty powerhouses are buying into organic, environmentally conscious companies with a view to expanding existing brands and including new ones to satisfy an 'enlightened' consumer (L'Oréal has acquired The Body Shop and a stake in Sanoflore; Clarins has bought into Kibio, the French organic beauty company; Estée Lauder owns Aveda).

I think George Clooney may just have pulled into my driveway...

What they're working on
Although the ill-effects of cosmetics on the environment have been well documented, we also need to be realistic.

For example, it's all very well to go on about 'evil' preservatives in face cream, but we know that without them our lovely new face cream would transform itself into smelly, gooey, allergy-inducing, glow-in-the-dark scum in no time.

So the industry is looking at the type of preservatives used, rather than considering life without them.

Similarly, the flak that aerosols quite rightly took in the mid 1990s for the effect that propellants have on the ozone layer needs tobe put into perspective: the beauty industry has substantially reduced its output of CFCs, and aerosols aren't the major cause of the ozone problem.

But let's not gloss over those issues that still need to be resolved. For instance, it takes the average sudsy shower gel 300 years to disintegrate after you swoosh it down the drain to 'Oh what a beautiful morning'.

Industry experts argue that ultimately everything is biodegradable, which is true, but it would be nice to know that it will disintegrate in our lifetime.

They're working on it! And of course there's the extraordinary amount of packaging involved – we may love it, but it is clearly not sustainable.

The industry is working on that too, increasingly making use of recycled paper and cardboard. So the good news is that things are happening.

The not-so-good news from the Natural and Organic Products Exhibition was that even though a product might pass as 'organic', this doesn't necessarily mean it's healthy or environmentally friendly. As in everything else, it's a case of 'let the buyer beware'.

Small steps
Buy cosmetics in large containers whenever possible (decant into smaller containers if you travel and re-use these).