This last year has been the pits, but we have lots to celebrate with safer beauty. Successes include a Clean Deo that kept the stank away and finally passing some health protective laws that are making a difference in the lives of everyone. Let’s focus on some positives, shall we? psst, don’t miss the call to action and awesome deal at the end!
Since 2013, with YOUR support making it possible, Beautycounter has lobbied for and supported NINE health protective laws that have passed! As a whole we have send tens of thousands of messages to legislatures in the United States and Canada to make cleaner and safer beauty a standard and not a privilege.
Beautycounter is EIGHT today!
We may not be marching on Capitol Hill for safer beauty in person this year, but it still doesn’t mean that we’re not showing up to fight each and every day. It’s been five years since I started with Beautycounter and two years since I walked away from corporate America. It has made a direct difference to our lives here at home; becoming a foster family, Matt being an essential worker through a worldwide pandemic, and being more present and available for my own health. It’s also made a difference in the lives of others: getting cleaner and safer products into the lives of everyone.
I want to take some time to show you what we stand for, and what it’s like to be a part of a people-powered movement for change.
8 Years of Better Beauty
- 2013: Sheer Genius Conditioning Lipstick*, and all color cosmetics, are screened for heavy metal contaminants – Beautycounter is the only brand on the market testing every batch for safety!
- 2014: Dew Skin‘s* breakthrough for mineral-based SPF delivers sheer pigment without white-cast or chemical filters.
- 2015: Beyond Gloss* shows the business going beyond performance, and safety – using sustainable, fair trade, and audited vanilla and mica.
- 2016: Charcoal Facial Mask debuted better packaging to ensure safe formulas stay clean.
- 2017: Countermatch* uses an airless pump for preserving plant-based formula that inhibits bacterial growth.
- 2018: Overnight Resurfacing Peel sustainable glass bottles are sourced in the US, reducing carbon footprint.
- 2019: Countertime* is first EWG-verified anti-aging line to use Retinatural, a scientifically tested safer alternative to Retinol.
- 2020: All Bright C Serum takes 2 years and 200 iterations of testing to find safer and stable forms of Vitamin C that are proven effective.
What defines cleaner and safer beauty?
Cleaner and safer beauty is defined as promising you the consumer to never use ingredients that will compromise our health and wellbeing. I love the transparency of every ingredient disclosed as well as a commitment to a whole list of 1800 ingredients Beautycounter vows to NEVER USE. Sure, we could pad the list with ingredients of things no one would ever use in skincare, but ultimately the list is driven off of ingredients that are tested as high performing and safe.
Safety to me means each basted tested multiple times (we test 8 times for skincare and 9 for makeup) to meet performance metrics like 100% improvement in brightness in skin, without potentially harmful ingredients like retinol. Instead we test ingredients against 23 human health endpoints for endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, or other toxic contaminants like heavy metals.
This is a list of the top ingredients I always recommend that you look to avoid and why:
None of this would matter if our products didn’t perform. I love that we actually test not just for safety, but performance, too! From over 500 peer-reviewed papers from the scientists we partner with to the clinical studies of humans who test for performance.
I often hear people make claims of “clean” or “natural” but because the FDA doesn’t regulate the industry that doesn’t mean anything. This is especially true when “fragrance” is in the ingredient list. So what do I look for? Products that have been tested. Poison ivy and snake venom are natural, but I don’t want to put them on or in my body! I look for brands who ensure their source ingredients, packaging and end product are free of heavy metals, endocrine disruptors, carcinogens, and other toxins – while respecting the earth with sustainably and people with fair trade.
My standards are high, and Beautycounter is the only brand I’ve found to meet them all. Their products have proven to perform; the countless accolades and awards speak for themselves!
How many personal care products do you use daily?
Most people don’t even realize that their current products aren’t as safe as they should be. You receive doses of hundreds or thousands of potentially harmful chemicals without even knowing it. Our skin is our largest organ. What we put on our bodies is just as important as what we put in our bodies. Take a few moments and check those products on the EWG’s Skin Deep database (free app or online). What do you see that surprises you? Is it the amount of ingredients you can’t pronounce? Or possibly seeing even what you thought was a safe and natural product with a red rating?
Here are some facts that may surprise you – I know they shocked me!
- The United States has not passed a major federal law to regulate the safety of ingredients used in personal care products since 1938. That’s 83 years! The law that was passed in 1938 is 1.5 pages long and governs a $68 billion industry.
- There are products known to contain asbestos and toxic lead in lipstick, and yet the FDA cannot issue a recall.
We are dangerously far behind, but Beautycounter will do something about it. Here’s a video that speaks to our work:
Beautycounter is a B Corp, too.
Not only are we making our voices heard, we’re changing our ways as a business. As a certified B Corp, we also focus on transparency with putting people and planet first. In 2020 we did this through physically auditing our mica supply chain to ensure that not just the ingredient is clean but it’s sourced ethically, ensuring human rights and no forced or child labor. By doing this brands can use the findings to source safely. This mica finds its way into diverse products from paint for electronics and cars to sparkle in makeup.
Who are the people behind the mission?
What I love about this business is the community behind it. People power this business. People from all over and who truly reflect the faces, shapes and cultures we see in the world. Our greatest accomplishments are when we come together to advocate change for all. This is why texting representatives on the bi-partisan effort to create better regulation on personal care matters – like we have on the paint in our home but not the lipstick we consume, what?!
Take action with us!
We need YOU to participate – whether you are texting letters to legislators to ask for better health-protective laws, are supporting the brand’s mission through purchases, hosting events to spread the word, or considering joining us – this story is one you will get to say you helped shape!
Start Now:
- Text BETTERBEAUTY to 52886 (or 70734 in CAN) to urge Congress to pass better beauty laws.
- Text MICA to 52886 to ask our government leaders to act and uphold laws already in place but not currently enforced.
- Shop brands who are working to eradicate child labor, like Beautycounter – bonus: you also get to support my small woman-owned business and a B Corporation!
Ready to shop?
When you shop Beautycounter.com/StacyToth you support this work and our family through my small, woman-owned business – thank you! There’s a fantastic deal to help you save switching to safer this weekend, celebrating Beautycounter’s Birthday. I love, love, love Countertime and the No. 1 facial oil. You can get a great deal on the former and get the latter FREE from March 4th to 6th!
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