S4 E8 The Ugly Truth About Plastics and The Cosmetics Industry

A while ago, Good Housekeeping referenced a survey of 4,000 women revealing that the average woman owns an average of 40 makeup products. Think about it. All those lipsticks, mascaras, eyeliners, blushes, brushes, and powders are sitting in your makeup case. Perhaps we should be paying more attention to what toxins may be in our makeup rather that what items are in our makeup case. Whether you are an avid recycler or not, plastics show up in your makeup more ways than you think – from tiny packaging pieces to microbeads. In fact, microplastics can introduce some serious health risks – even though we often can’t even see them. And, like from many other things we use, the plastic that’s in our beauty products often ends up in the environment. Thankfully, it is possible to look good without feeling bad. Join Lauren as she talks to Sustainability Scientist Dr. Mark Falinksi about how to ensure we are keeping plastic out of what goes in and on our bodies. In this episode they discuss how and why the beauty industry sneaks plastics into skincare and makeup, how single-use plastic packaging contributes to climate change, the impact of ingesting plastic, what the beauty industry as a whole can do to clean up its act, what modifications we can make to ensure we do our part and be heard, and how to make more sustainable beauty choices. Links: https://instagram.com/choosefinch https://www.facebook.com/choosefinch https://twitter.com/choosefinch https://www.linkedin.com/company/choosefinch/ The Finch extension helps consumers make wiser choices about products they are buying on Amazon. To date, Finch has rated over 250,000 products in 85 categories on 6 environmental footprints (below) and real reviews. Once installed, the extension lives in your chrome browser as a tab in the right side of the screen. When you browse a product on Amazon, click the tab and it will give you the sustainability score for the product (out of 10) and make recommendations for the best rated products in that product category. Here’s how to Add the Extension to help you make better beauty choices.