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Tribal council: Beauty products that make a green difference
Can your moisturizer make a global difference? That's the premise behind the latest beauty trend: fairly traded ingredients that sustain local communities
By Liza Finlay
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Until Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrived in 2006 for the birth of their daughter, Namibia was a country that was known more for its diamond trade and war-torn past than celebrity birthing. Although Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt is, undoubtedly, its most famous émigré, the African nation exports something equally precious: marula trees. The trees' bark, leaves and nuts are a rich source of vitamins and minerals and have been farmed for centuries by native Bushmen and Bantu. Now, beauty companies like The Body Shop are joining them. In 2000, the firm formed an agreement with a band of Namibian women who collect and process marula nuts to extract an oil that's used in many of its products, including lipsticks, body scrubs and moisturizers. While The Body Shop gets another exotic new ingredient, Namibian women gain a livelihood. "[They're given] a hand up rather than a hand out," says Sherry Lay, vice-president of product development for The Body Shop.
That's the theory anyway, and it's one that is being embraced by a growing number of beauty brands. Though we once revered the high-tech paradigm of beauty -- complete with white-coated scientists who held all the answers to the mysteries of aging-lately, there has been a parallel trend toward a more natural approach. From the Amazon to Australia, manufacturers are turning over every leaf (literally) in search of botanical ingredients. And in exchange, small, often-impoverished indigenous communities are afforded a means of earning a living.
"The environmental movement-the desire to do right by the planet-is definitely driving the trend for more natural ingredients in beauty products," says Lynn Mazzella, vice-president of global product development for Origins. But with this concern for the health of the planet comes a greater concern for the welfare of its people. "We've become fearful of chemicals and toxins," says Mazzella. "We're turning to nature for safer answers."
Supporting a green cause
There's no question that consumers are registering their support for a green consciousness at the cash register. Worldwide, the cosmetics and toiletries industry is a $296-billion business, and analysts at Euromonitor International believe that an increased demand for natural products is behind the growth. Consider that American consumers spent $4.9 billion on natural and organic personal care in 2005, and U.S. sales are expected to rise to $11 billion in 2009. Far from being the stuff of Birkenstock-wearing, granola-crunching bohemians, "natural" is becoming a label we all want to wear, thanks to high-end purveyors like Estée Lauder, Jurlique and Stella McCartney.
"Consumers believe that nature is exotic and holds the key to safer, better beauty," says Jamie Ross, creative director for The Doneger Group, a New York-based trend-forecasting company. "As a result, beauty companies will do just about anything to be the first with a new natural ingredient, and they'll go to great lengths to source it out. You'll see teams of medical personnel [from the research and development departments of beauty companies] hooking up with local doctors to try to source the plants that the culture has used for ages."
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Image courtesy of ImaxTree.com
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