SEVENTH
GENERATION
BODY WASH
Bottles made of 70
percent shoreline-
culled plastic are
admirable. But the “100
percent biodegradable
formula” claim
could be misleading:
“Unless they’re using
certain silicones
[that you rarely see in a
body wash], it’s an
unnecessary callout,”
says cosmetic chemist
Ni’Kita Wilson.we—humans inhabiting Earth—have got a real situation on our hands. The ice is
melting; the waters are rising. Vast spirals of plastic waste are whirling through the
seas: dervishes of water bottles, milk cartons, grocery bags, takeout containers.
Oh, and shampoo bottles, lipstick tubes, shadow palettes, powder compacts, lotion
pumps, and my God, so many razors, and jars that once held cushiony creams
infused with high-potency vitamin C and low-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid.
The detritus that we leave in our glowy-skinned, bouncy-haired wake is immense.
It contributes in no small part to the fact that by the middle of this century—that’s
not as far away as you think—the ocean may contain more plastic by weight than
fish. (Maybe you even ate some at lunch. A quarter of the fish sold in California, for
example, has been found to contain plastic.) The amount of end-of-life plastic pack-
aging, which includes bottles, jars, bags, and “other,” surrounding U.S. products
has increased by over 120 times since 1960. In 2018, in the U.S. alone, almost 7.9
billion units of rigid plastic were created just for beauty and personal care products,
according to Euromonitor International. “But we recycle!” you say? Sadly, we do
not. (See opposite page.)
Twenty years ago, as a wee beauty editor, I would thrill at the crinkle of cello-
phane as I opened a new face cream, and the excitement would mount as I pulled
back layers of cardboard. Oh, and look—a tiny spoon! Today, those trappings feel
superfluous. And worse: irresponsible. I can no longer look at a plastic tub without
imagining it bobbing on the high seas. Enough already with all the packaging.
Rumblings have begun. The L’Oréal Group and Unilever have pledged to make
100 percent of their plastic packaging reusable, refillable, or compostable by 2025.
L’Oréal says it will source up to 50 percent of that packaging from recycled mate-
rial. Procter & Gamble has a program that puts Pantene in refillable containers
and says 100 percent of its products’ packaging will be recyclable or reusable by- But significant, magnificent change will also require us to turn away from
the earth-shattering conveniences to which we’ve become accustomed, like handy
plastic pumps and simply being able to purchase anything with the slightest tap of
a finger. It will require us to buy with a new consciousness and embrace a different
idea of what makes a beauty product feel revelatory. That is what you’ll see in these
pages as we dive into the landfill that we’ve created. We’re not at bottom yet, but
we’re on our way. Or we could turn around. —JENNY BAILLY
At Allure, we believe a
“sustainable” product contributes
little to no waste to the
planet, so we put six “eco-friendly”
newcomers to the test.LOVE BEAUTY
AND
PLANET
SHAMPOO
BAR
It arrives in
a paper box and
completely
dissolves after
you use it,
but not before
blessing your
hair with the
plush scent of
rose. Long
live the bar!EVE LOM
CLEANSING
OIL CAPSULES
The famous
cleansing
formula is now
in eco-friendly
single-use
capsules that
fade seamlessly
into the earth.
(As for the
PVC tub
they arrive in:
Well...)It’s a nice startWASTE NOT, WANT MORE
Kind of sustainable
Most sustainable we
foundHEARD,
As I’m
sure you’ve