What 6 Experts Have to Say About the "Clean" Beauty Trend

Renee Rouleau has been in the beauty business for 30 years and thinks clean beauty is here to stay. "I have seen many trends come and stay or come and go throughout these years. Vitamin C and exfoliating acids were trends when they began and are both now a mainstay," she said. "I can confidently say that soon, we won't be attaching the word 'trend' when referring to clean beauty, which is a great thing. All skincare products should be focused on safety — both for the body and for the skin."

Rouleau defines "clean beauty" as the avoidance of ingredients that studies have declared harmful. "Clean beauty could also mean avoiding synthetic ingredients that are added for the sake of vanity, like an artificial dye or perfume to make it look or smell a certain way," she said.

If anyone knows about product formulation, it's Rouleau. She's been concocting different formulas for her namesake beauty brand for 20 years. "I would consider myself a clean brand, based on my personal definition of offering a line of solution-focused products based on nine skin types that tap into the best of what nature offers, yet the best of science," she said. Rouleau explained that she doesn't use mineral oil, petrolatum, synthetic fragrances, synthetic perfumes, or sulfates based on her own research.

She also relies on her team of chemists to help her determine whether an ingredient is safe. "They are experts on ingredients and their related studies, and if new studies become available on either cosmetic ingredients' safety or performance that we're considering using and/or currently use, they promptly inform us," Rouleau said. "Furthermore, I study ingredients closely and make this part of my continuing education and take cosmetic chemistry courses at UCLA to stay up-to-date on the latest advancements and findings."

Cosmetic chemist Stephen Alain Ko has his concerns about the term. "Unfortunately, many lists that determine whether an ingredient is considered 'clean' or not are based on incomplete data," Ko said. "There is also little consistency among labels, so some ingredients considered 'clean' by one retailer are not considered 'clean' by another, which can lead to confusion for consumers."

He also dislikes what the trend has done for preservatives, which are essential to keeping your products from going bad. Because so many preservatives have been deemed "unsafe" by the clean movement (for example, parabens, formaldehyde releasers, and triclosan), there are fewer options for formulators to work with. "New alternatives aren't being developed as quickly," Ko said. "Many times, the newer, 'cleaner' preservatives have less safety data than the ones they are meant to replace."

The other downside to using fewer preservatives: "This has led to an increase in bacterial and fungal contamination in some commercial 'clean beauty' products," Ko said.

Tiffany Masterson, the creator of popular skincare brand Drunk Elephant, has another definition of the term for her brand: the ingredients need to be both safe and well-suited for your skin. "Clean and skin-compatible are not always the same thing, and if you want healthy skin, you need both," Masterson said. "We carefully evaluate the ingredient's potential benefit and biocompatibility with the skin, as well as its potential to harm, disrupt, sensitize, irritate, and congest it."

The brand makes sure to research every ingredient to find the correct concentrations, its long-term effects, and how it interacts with other active ingredients. For example, while the brand was originally skeptical of the use of retinol, after researching and looking at safety data, it determined that the ingredient was extremely beneficial to the skin. Through the brand's research, it also determined that combining the ingredient with vitamins C and E can boost the effect of retinol. Drunk Elephant's retinol product, A-Passioni ($74), contains kale leaf extract, which is rich in both vitamins A and E.

It found that retinol and vitamin C was an especially powerful combination. "Retinol and vitamin C is a really special relationship, as the two work synergistically — boosting each other's effectiveness when used together in fighting UV-generated free radicals and worn under a broad-spectrum sunscreen," Masterson said.

Through similar research, the brand has also determined ingredients it deems harmful for the skin. "Avoiding ingredients that promote inflammation in skin is incredibly important, because inflammation is the root cause of most of the skin concerns that many of us struggle with," she said. The ingredients that Drunk Elephant has determined as potentially harmful, which she calls the "suspicious six," are silicones, essential oils, fragrances or dyes, drying alcohols, sodium lauryl sulfate, and chemical or synthetic sunscreens, which Masterson believes inflame the skin and are the root causes of many common skin issues such as dehydration and oiliness.

Sometimes, a brand will ban an ingredient simply because consumers demand it. That was the case for Drunk Elephant and parabens. While the preservative was once thought to cause breast cancer, many scientists and cosmetic chemists now insist that the ingredient is misunderstood and being prematurely banned. "They are perfectly safe and are among the mildest-to-skin preservatives, but are still incredibly effective against microbial and bacterial growth," Masterson said. "Unfortunately, despite the fact that their health-risk claims were debunked, the damage has been done to their reputation, and consumers simply want to avoid them, and that's why we don't use them."

Paula's Choice founder Paula Begoun is a skeptic of the trend. "Clean beauty conveys a sense of safety, but in reality, it has very little meaning because everyone, from individual brands to different stores, define it any way they want with differing rationale," she said.

Instead, Begoun thinks people should worry about what works with their skin type. "I think we should all be concerned about what works and doesn't work for skin and what potential problems to avoid, but fearmongering and the notion that certain ingredients are killing us or are killing our environment is out of proportion to the reality," she said.

Begoun also feels that parabens have been given a bad rap as well as some sunscreen ingredients. "Parabens and mineral oil have been on the bad lists forever despite both being safe for skin," Begoun said. "The research you've seen about parabens showing up in the body excludes the fact that they are also found naturally in food." In fact, Begoun feels that parabens are a great ingredient. "What happened to parabens is sad because they are the most effective, least irritating preservatives in the industry," she said.

The same thing, she believes, is happening with sunscreen. "People are being told to be afraid of sunscreens as opposed to being afraid of the sun, and certain approved sunscreen actives are being demonized depending on where you live," she said. "This hyperfocusing is odd because there is negative research on almost every sunscreen ingredient, including the mineral ones (zinc oxide and titanium dioxide). The most important fact that gets overlooked is that one of the strongest carcinogens on the planet is the sun, and it is killing our skin and endangering our health."

Credo is a retailer that specializes in carrying clean products and has its own specific criteria for what brands it chooses to sell. For instance, brands have to show proof of claims that their ingredients are in fact "organic" or "natural." Credo even has a "dirty list" that includes all the ingredients it won't sell, as well as explanations on why it's chosen to do so.

The brand's director of mission, Mia Davis, explained what "clean" means to the retailer: "For Credo, clean beauty is about ingredient safety, sourcing, sustainability, and transparency. The ingredients on our Dirty List are there because there is an issue in one or more of these areas," she said.

Transparency is integral to the retailer, which has started to require brands to reveal more in their ingredients list. While many components have previously been able to hide behind the label "fragrance," Credo is no longer allowing this loophole. "Consumers are usually kept in the dark," Davis said. "We're working with our brand partners to categorize all fragrances — essential oils, natural or synthetic blends — and we're incentivizing brands to fully disclose fragrance ingredients, which is rare in beauty."

Dermatologist Deborah Jaliman, MD, interprets the trend to mean natural and organic. "Anything that helps keep us healthy, whether it be via consuming foods or applying products, is a winner in my book," Dr. Jaliman said. "Natural doesn't always mean it's 100 percent clean, though, and not all products labeled natural are safe."

While Jaliman understands that natural products are great, it's not always practical to exclusively use them. "It's not always cost efficient," she said. "I say do your best and always read labels and try to know what ingredients are in your products."

She's also another expert who feels preservatives have been given an unfair reputation. "The truth is that if products don't have some sort of preservative, they will not last too long without losing their efficacy," Jaliman said. "That doesn't mean all products must have a preservative, but if you want it to have a longer shelf life, then a preservative is likely necessary."

However, there are ingredients she advises you stay away from. "Sodium lauryl sulfate can be found in some foundations and has shown to cause or contribute to skin irritation and disruptions of skin's natural oil balance," she said.

She's also not a fan of fragrance, like many of our other experts. "[You should avoid] certain fragrances in cosmetics if your skin is sensitive and gets easily irritated," she said. "I'd rather have a product with no scent or a bland-smelling product on my face than one that smells like candy and has synthetic fragrances added."

As for the highly contested essential oils, Jaliman had a few things to say. "Some essential oils are added to products for fragrance, but this is completely safe," she said. "[However,] some people can have reactions to these natural oils."