Bath and Body Products: Reconsidering and Reformulating
Just how far will demand for natural bath and body products push the industry? Several high-end luxury beauty brands are reformulating to get rid of potentially harmful chemicals.
Renata Helfman, owner of green-friendly Los Angeles cosmetics shop Vert, has noticed the trend in everything from hair care to cosmetics. “I love Leonor Greyl, but its most popular shampoos contained sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS),” she says, referring to the lathering agent that can irritate skin. “I was going to pull the line, but they promised me that they were taking the SLS out, and five months later an SLS-free shipment arrived.”
French brands Nuxe and Caudalie have also followed suit by tweaking their recipes, as has Tarte Cosmetics. In addition, Clark’s Botanicals finished reformulating its entire line last year to get rid of parabens and petroleums. “It’s not an easy task,” Helfman pointed out, regarding the changing of established potions. “It takes time, and it takes the right green chemist to do it.”
But this is a trend that is becoming more and more apparent. Whether it’s a shower gel for the mass market or a body scrub found in high-end specialty stores, the purity of the product’s contents can mean the difference between success or failure, no matter how clever a package’s look.
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