Clean beauty

SAAHSP

Ethics, accountability and sustainability have become hot topics in the skincare industry, as consumers demand more transparency regarding the sourcing of ingredients and the environmental impact thereof, as well as in the manufacturing, testing and packaging of products. JOANNA STERKOWICZ delves deep into the topic.

Natural Many skincare products in the beauty stratosphere claim to be ‘natural’, but there are currently no South Africa regulations stipulating conditions for a product to officially qualify as ‘natural’.

Although some products from local brand, Kalahari, only contain natural ingredients, most of its products are a combination of superior-grade botanical oils and exceptional plant extracts, compounded together with scientifically-proven ingredients sourced from well-known, international laboratories. Says Kalahari founder, Carina Franck: “This ensures that we have highly effective and innovative formulations. Interestingly enough, according to the EU legislation, if a product contains more than 65% of natural ingredients, it is classified as a ‘Natural Product’, so technically we fall under the ‘natural’ category. We simply

believe that we cannot promote our complete range as 100% natural if we are just partially natural. Kalahari always aims to remain a true and trusted brand.”

Another South African brand, the recently launched Gève, was developed by consultant herbologist, Jerome Jackson, and aromatherapist, Aseyah Rosslind, and positioned as being ‘truly natural or as natural as possible’.

Says Jackson: “Gève has been developed by using only natural ingredients vetted to the highest standards. The products are manufactured in South Africa using local expertise. As much of the ingredients are sourced from South Africa as possible and we look for actives from South Africa first.

“The brand has been developed as skin food. We believe that if it’s not good enough to be eaten, it should not go onto your skin. Rich in vitamins, minerals and botanical actives, Gève addresses many skin issues exacerbated by our modern lifestyle. The line is particularly rich in natural pro vitamin A and carotenoids, which accounts for its superb skin healing properties. Hyaluronic acid helps to keep the skin supple and hydrated. We employ plant actives that have been shown to be of only a few that are active in the hypodermis. Our products are over 95% natural and contain no harmful additives.”

Dr Hauschka is a longestablished, natural cosmetics brand under the umbrella of WALA Heilmittel GmbH, which has been producing 100% authentic, effective natural cosmetics for over 50 years.

The raw ingredients in these products, which are certified according to the international NATRUE standard, are meticulously selected. Where possible, they are grown using biodynamic methods in the brand’s own medicinal plant garden, or on its own Demeter farm. Cultivation comes in part from wild collections in the Swabian Jura Mountains and in part from sustainable organic cultivation projects worldwide.

Vegan Although the term ‘vegan’ is not yet officially regulated, it is understood to mean cosmetics that contain no animal products, by-products or derivatives such as beeswax, honey or lanolin, for example. DermaFix Cosmeceutical Skin Care offers a wide variety of vegan-friendly skincare options and does not test on animals, nor is animal testing involved in any process. Says the brand’s Ursula Volbrecht: “We source the active ingredient, CBD (Cannabidiol), manufactured from organically grown hemp in Switzerland. DermaFix incorporates this exceptional ingredient within the formulation of DermaFix CBD Lotion. With its vast benefits for a variety of skin care concerns, DermaFix CBD Lotion is a must-have for all skin types. It is manufactured to GMP [Good Manufacturing Practice] standards and contains the purest CBD, tested to be THC Free”.

DermaFix also makes use of the multi-functional ingredient, Organic Hemp Seed Oil, within various formulations such as the DermaFix ACC Retinol + and DermaFix DermaPrep Pre-Cleanse.

Danish medical skincare brand, Beauté Pacifiqué, believes green, natural or plant-based cosmetics provide food for the skin. The brand has developed a unique transporting method in the form of its Squalane capsule, which comes from green olives in Spain.

Beauté Pacifique’s Superfruit line for young skins is a proudly vegan skincare range. Superfood nutrition ingredients include green tea, phloretin (apple tree leaves), lingonstem from the lingonberry, cloudberry, birch and sea buckthorn. These are described as ‘Nordic Superfruits’. The brand has many other vegan products to choose from, including best-sellers such as Tyrostase, Submersive Serum Paradoxe, Stay Beautiful SPF 30 and Deep Pore Cleansing Mask. Beauté Pacifique’s vegan products are all free from honey, beeswax, propolis, lanolin, collagen, albumen and carmine, among others.

New African luxury skincare brand, Afrakari, comprises mostly vegan products, as well as two vegetarian creams.

Organic Trevor Steyn, founder of South Africa’s first certified organic skincare brand, Esse, explains the term ‘organic’. He says “In food, organic refers to the manner in which an ingredient is agriculturally produced i.e. without pesticides, fungicides or GMO and without synthetic fertilisers. In skincare, an organic claim refers to the ‘clean’ status of all the ingredients in a formulation, as well as to the organic farming techniques that are used in the production of the bulk of the ingredients. The standards cover packaging materials also.

“Organic certification is a lengthy and costly process, as all formulations are cleared at the point of development. There is a long list of criteria that need to be met, including the safety of packaging components and manufacture processes. Following formulation, to remain certified, an audit is conducted twice a year that cross-checks certified organic raw material purchases with production quantities. >

For Esse, this means that Ecocert sends an auditor to our facilities twice a year. Manufacture processes, right down to the cleaning products used in the production facility, are a part of the check list. “All of the major organic certifiers have aligned their requirements and now audit to a single set of standards that are referred to as COSMOS. All of the Esse products formulated over the last three years are compliant with the COSMOS standards.”

Italian certified organic brand, Team Dr. Joseph, sources ingredients from its own herbary in South Tirol. Says the team: “It is one of our key concerns to capture our brand’s diversity and creativity as gently as possible. The herbary plays an important role in this; it documents and illustrates the plant kingdom and in so doing, illustrates the beauty of nature in a particularly fine, artistic and scientific manner.

“Learning from nature means learning something new every day. The secret to our product development work is not only curiosity, but fascination as well. If you deal with plants every day, you will be quickly humbled by their structure, soul and active substances. Even the most expensive laboratory in the world cannot keep up with the intelligence of a plant. There is always a touch of awe in the air when we work with nature.”

Sustainability Esse exceeds the requirements of the COSMOS standards and, in many cases, imposes its own ethics on packaging and sourcing practices. This includes fair trade practices, vegan

certification and cruelty-free compliance. Esse also offsets all of its carbon emissions, so that it is carbon neutral as a company. In 2015, South African, Denise Bierman, created a cream for herself as she was disillusioned by the various chemicals in mainstream skincare products. A year later she started to give the cream away as gifts.

“People came back to me saying that they loved the product as it really made an impact on their skin and so Fontis Skinfood was born.

“The variety of raw materials used in my products offers the possibility for a wider range of raw material suppliers, i.e. small scale farmers and even larger ones, who, when they meet the Fontis Skinfood standard, can supply their products, thereby changing their lives and the lives of the people in their community. “Sustainability is important and by getting to know the farmers, I can also get a sense of their vision and plans for looking after the environment and their processes and philosophy in the way they treat the raw materials they supply to Fontis Skinfood,” explains Bierman.

online @ probeauty.co.za Afrakari uses premium ingredients that are ethically sourced, sustainably harvested and that support local conservation and community empowerment programmes. For example, wild and handharvested Cape Kelp from near Cape Agulhas is sustainably harvested to maintain the longterm existence of the species and its role in the ecosystem. This empowers the local coastal community with sustainable employment and stimulates their local economy. Furthermore, through efficient utilisation of the raw material, the entire biomass of the kelp is used, resulting in nearly zero percent waste, and requiring very little to no waste management.

Cruelty-free Animal testing of cosmetics and raw materials for cosmetics is banned in many countries around the world. Environ Skin Care fully supports the legislation that bans animal testing and encourages the industry to use alternative testing methods.

Says Environ’s Gayle Pullen: “We have always and will

continue to only test our range of skincare products on our panel of human trialists. In addition, we do not do animal testing on raw materials or any of the products.

“While we have an extensive vegan product listing, there are a few products that contain ingredients that are sourced from an animal source.

“Mild Day moisturiser contains Beta-Carotene, which is absorbed onto gelatin as it is very potent on its own. Gelatin is derived from fish scales and is an incidental ingredient, not intentionally added to the finished products.”

Pullen notes that Environ uses three animal derived products in a few selected products. Colostrum is harvested after a cow has calved and only once the calf has consumed their first fill. The cow is then milked to obtain the remainder of the 1st Milking colostrum, which is processed and freeze dried. High quality grade medical lanolin is used for intense moisturisation in only a few products.

“We try to select RSPO derived raw materials from suppliers as far as possible, which promotes sustainability,” says Pullen.

South African brand, RégimA, has always maintained the highest ethical standards with regards to being cruelty-free, never testing on animals, never using any animal derived ingredients, and never dealing with any companies or countries that have used animals for testing.

Says Jacqui Faucitt: “All our products are EU (and FDA) registered – these are the highest standards in the world. We have always only ever tested on human volunteers.

“RégimA utilises new technology where many active ingredients are synthesised with the aid of biological engineering of plants. Being environmentally conscious, we never use any plants or algae that are under threat.”

Another South African brand, Placecol, is also not tested on animals. All its products are also free of parabens and palm oil. Gève is very opposed to the animal testing of cosmetics to the point that it will never enter the Chinese market, due to its mandatory animal testing stance. All Beautè Pacifique’s products are completed in compliance with EU Regulation EC 1223/2009 and its amendments and therefore are not tested on animals.

Packaging DermaFix Cosmeceutical Skin Care is continually striving to make more environmentally friendly choices, and as such make use of recyclable product packaging, moving away from excessive use of unnecessary packaging and has changed over to reusable bags for consumer purchases. Matis is currently under a massive packaging and formulation revamp to become cleaner and greener. Its new formulation chart will exclude: parabens, cyclic silicones, phenoxyethanol, chlorphenesin, methylisothiazolinone, BHA/BHT, aluminum salts, phthalates, lyral, lilial, PEG/PPG, mineral oils, palm oils, gluten, wheat derivatives, soybean, and SLS.

Packaging has also been chosen to select the best materials for the preservation of its formulas, thus avoiding an excess of preservatives. Materials for packaging are also being sourced as locally as possible in order to limit the carbon footprint. PB