R SUSTAINABILITY 33
The green evolution of the beauty industry
Barbara Olioso – The Green Chemist
I started my career in the cosmetic industry about 25 years ago, and what a journey it has been. In this article, I would like to share my personal history alongside the remarkable evolution of the beauty industry and offer insights into where we might be heading next. Having witnessed firsthand the
transformation from simple ‘natural’ claims to today’s complex sustainability matrix, I have seen an industry reinvent itself multiple times over, each iteration bringing us closer to truly responsible beauty.
The natural and paraben-free era Fresh out of university, I started working for a company that was pioneering the natural and paraben-free movement. I genuinely shared the values of using natural ingredients, but the landscape was vastly different from what we see today. The incredible ingredient selection that
formulators now take for granted simply did not exist. Our toolkit consisted mainly of vegetable oils, a handful of natural emulsifiers, and APGs (Alkyl Polyglucosides) as the go-to natural surfactants. The technology was limited, but the passion was genuine.
www.personalcaremagazine.com
At the time, ‘paraben-free’ was the ultimate
buzzword, and many brands leveraged this claim as their gateway to positioning themselves as natural brands. The consumer perception was surprisingly binary: if a product was paraben-free, the brand was automatically perceived as all-natural, even when they were using synthetic preservatives that were potentially more problematic than parabens themselves. This created a fascinating disconnect between marketing claims and formulation reality. The preservation challenge was particularly
acute during this period. While there were a few natural alternatives to parabens available, many required very specific pH ranges and showed incompatibility issues with certain emulsifiers. This limitation forced me into countless hours of testing and experimentation, searching for that holy grail of an all-natural yet microbiologically safe cosmetic product. The process was both frustrating and exhilarating, requiring patience and creativity in equal measure. Even back then, several myths circulated within the industry and among consumers. The most persistent was the belief that Vitamin E alone could serve as a natural preservative,
or that essential oils provided adequate antimicrobial protection. These misconceptions led to numerous formulation failures and, in some cases, contaminated products reaching consumers. Fortunately, more sophisticated natural
preservation solutions gradually entered the market, though they still required extensive trial and error to optimize formulations effectively. The paraben controversy inadvertently
triggered what I now recognize as the beginning of the cosmetic preservation revolution. As the industry scrambled to find alternatives, we saw the rise of other preservatives such as MI (Methylisothiazolinone) and MCI (Methylchloroisothiazolinone), followed by increased reliance on Phenoxyethanol. However, each alternative brought its
own set of challenges, with some proving to be sensitizers or incompatible with the formulations. Today, we understand that this disruption
led to a fundamental shift in preservation philosophy. The one-size-fits-all approach has been abandoned in favour of a more nuanced strategy where each application and formulation base requires careful consideration
August 2025 PERSONAL CARE
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