Podcast 156: Formulating for the climate crisis

There are few corners of formulating beauty that are left untouched. We’ve seen just about every possible formulation category covered on this podcast alone. We’ve heard about carbon neutral, waterless beauty (numerous times), clean, green and blue beauty, along with net zero and zero waste, and more.

But, until our previous episode with haircare brand entrepreneur founders of Climaplex, we had not come across a cosmetics business actively formulating to protect us from the myriad effects of climate change. Not only is Climaplex doing right by the planet by formulating according to ethical, sustainable principles, but their haircare products are also designed to tackle multiple effects of the fluctuating and ever more extreme environmental conditions on our hair and scalp.

In this Green Beauty opinion short, Formula Botanica CEO and podcast host Lorraine Dallmeier asks if formulating to protect our skin, body and hair from the ravages of climate change could become the norm – in fact, a new gold standard in cosmetic formulation.

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Lorraine explains that it is quite conceivable that we will start to identify linkages between skin and hair conditions and climate change. Climaplex tackled haircare, but hinted that they may also investigate how our skin may be affected by lurches in temperatures, excess humidity, precipitation, greater UV exposure and more violent wind patterns.

It will take forward-thinking entities, from research firms and universities to the cosmetics industry itself, to start to explore the big picture of how climate change may affect our skin. Formulating for single issues is already commonplace; anti-pollution cosmetics are now quite familiar on our shelves. But extending research to cover multiple aspects of climate change on skin or hair and scalp health is a big step, requiring significant research budgets, time and justification.

Climaplex went to great lengths to have their products clinically proven as efficacious in resolving haircare issues induced by aspects of climate change. Big cosmetics firms may well be following suit, although very little is in the public domain about this kind of research work. There are opportunities for eco-pioneering cosmetics’ brands in this field. However, to overcome scepticism that they are just jumping on the bandwagon, they will need to run clinical tests on their potential products like Climaplex did.

Lorraine believes that it is only a matter of time before this new era of formulating becomes commonplace. So, her challenge to us now is to seek out and support eco-beauty pioneers who are taking steps to think in the right direction. These are brands that are already building sustainability into their practises; in time, they are likely to be formulating to help our skin, body and hair sustain the effects of climate change too.

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Formula Botanica Green Beauty Conversations podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please share, subscribe and review this episode on iTunes, Spotify or Youtube so that more people can enjoy the show. Don’t forget to follow and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

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