What is Greenwashing?

Let’s talk about 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗡𝗪𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚. Have you heard of this term before?

Here’s a quick breakdown, in case this is a new term for you.

𝐒𝐨, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠? In simple terms, it's when a company markets or present itself as an environmentally conscious company or its products as safe and healthy to use, but in reality they are achieving neither of these things. Their marketing is suggesting conscious, safe practices, but if you dig past their fluffy buzz words, you find it is not actually true.

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀? Money! It's a lot cheaper to spend "a little" money on advertising and marketing that touts being "green" and "eco-friendly,” than actually investing a huge amount of money, time, and energy into transforming their practices and standards to greener, safer methods.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝘁: The following terms are often red flags of a greenwashed product. If you see some of these words on the label of a product, train those words to be a trigger for you to be skeptical and look beyond the front label. Most of these terms are completely unregulated and can be used purely for marketing and hold no real meaning.

• Botanical

• Bio

• Chemical Free

• Dermatologist Recommended

• Earth Friendly

• Eco

• Gentle

• Green

• Natural

• Paraben Free

• Sulfate Free

• Sensitive

• Hypoallergenic

• Noncomedogenic

𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗴𝘀: Just because the front label looks promising, don't assume it's ethically produced and safe - look a little deeper! Be skeptical and ask questions! Who owns this company? Are they owned by a larger corporation? Where do they source their ingredients? Are they able to be fully transparent, or are they hiding something? Train yourself to head straight to the full ingredient list, and be sure all of the ingredients meet your personal standards.

Find a list of truly toxin free products here.