Is the “clean beauty” movement overrated?

If you’ve been doing personal hygiene for the last decade or two, you’ve become part of the clean beauty movement — and no, it doesn’t just apply to women’s grooming. It’s altered the product landscape completely in both beauty and grooming, and some would argue that it’s even changed the way we think about beauty itself.

But clean beauty has also come with its share of issues. Some experts think the movement has gone too far, while others wonder if it’s outlived its usefulness. Both possibilities deserve a deeper dive, especially given the range of expert analysis and opinions.

Putting the spotlight on skincare ingredients

You can go back into the last century if you’re tracing the origins of the clean beauty movement, but for practical purposes, the emphasis in the last couple of decades has been on the ingredients that go into beauty and grooming products. Ingredients like phthalates and mercury have been flagged as dangerous, but some think things have gone too far.

“I think clean beauty has been blown out of proportion,” said Dr. Shereene Idriss, who spoke about the issue during a recent MasterClass series on skin health. “Maybe the  intentions were good in the beginning, and every industry should be disrupted so that we can be better and do better for ourselves.”

Idriss uses parabens as an example of an ingredient that has been unjustly demonized.

“I think the biggest one I can think of is parabens,” she says, citing the decades of data verifying the safe use of this ingredient. “Parabens have been around for decades, preserving products.

“[But] they’ve developed a terrible [reputation]. And so, when you let go of parabens, you then have products that are not as stable. Or you’re using more irritating preservatives that people can’t necessarily tolerate.”

Finding the middle ground

Idriss doesn’t have a solution to issues like this, but she does hope things swing back the other way when it comes to flagging bad ingredients.

“Unfortunately, clean beauty has gone in such the opposite direction,” she says. “[You have] this fear that if you use this, it’s toxic, it is going to attack your endocrine system.

“The reality is, if you live in an urban city, walking behind a public bus at three PM is probably more toxic to you than applying a cream to less than five percent of your body surface area, your face,” she states.

“I hope we can bring the pendulum back to try to find that middle ground. To really figure out the ingredients that are worth cutting out and the ingredients that are worth gerrymandering around.”

Alcohol has analogous issues as a skincare ingredient

Alcohol is yet another ingredient that has been demonized to some extent. It dries out skin, critics say, but according to Dr. Michelle Henry, another dermatologist from the MasterClass series, the effects of alcohol depend on what kind you use.

“The same applies to alcohol in your skin care,” she says during the segment in which she compares it to other problematic skincare ingredients.

What many people don’t realize is that different types of alcohol will have very different effects. Isopropyl alcohol will definitely dry out skin, especially if you use it frequently. But another type of alcohol, cetearyl, is actually a fatty alcohol that works effectively as a moisturizer and skin softener.

The final word on issues like these is often supplied by organizations like the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which was founded to counter the lack of federal oversight in product ingredients. In addition, there are organizations like the National Rosacea Society, the National Psoriasis Foundation, and the National Eczema Association that verify the safety of skincare products for those who suffer from symptoms that often stem from these diseases.

Clean beauty has completely changed men’s grooming

The clean beauty movement has also completely changed men’s grooming and the products in this category. This change is due in part to shifting societal attitudes, as more and more men are paying attention to skincare and adopting regular routines to maintain and augment skin health.

But those changes have come with a downside as well. Back in the day, most men’s grooming products were sold with old-school marketing language based strictly on masculinity. The definition of masculinity has changed considerably, though, especially in the last five years or so, and exaggerated marketing claims and fear-based marketing have entered the picture. Anti-aging is now a buzzword in both grooming and beauty, and ingredients like hyaluronic acid are often presented as cure-alls when it comes to skincare issues.

Why the marketing matters

Not all of this is problematic, though. Dr. Chris Tomassian is a top dermatologist who has debunked many online skincare myths in his YouTube videos, but there is one aspect of the marketing he sees as a net positive.

“Good skincare is about ingredients and efficacy, not just a label,” he says. “That said, if branding helps men get into a consistent routine, I’m all for it.”

The bottom line with this topic is that changes and shifts will continue to happen. Men will modify their skincare routines as new products continue to emerge, and the clean beauty movement will continue to have an impact on what they buy and do. Awareness is everything, though, so it’s important to stay on top of not just the ingredients in men’s grooming products, but the trends that are influencing how they’re made and marketed.