There’s something in your Facial Cleanser we need to talk about

It’s the one ingredient no one thinks about, but everyone should.

And that ingredient is… Water. I know it sounds weird, but let me explain…

You see, facial cleansers (and most household products) are up to 90% water. Just look at your ingredient lists - water/aqua/eau is almost always first.

So why is water such a problem? I’ll give you 3 reasons

Reason #1: hormone disruption

To hold and dispense all that water, cleansers come in a lightweight, squeezable plastic bottle that is injected with chemicals known as ortho phthalates. And ortho phthalates can leach hormone disrupting chemicals into the cleanser and - likely - your face.

Should ortho phthalates be banned?

Dr. Russ Hauser, Professor of Reproductive Physiology at Harvard University thinks phthalates should be banned because it’s very hard for consumers to know which products contain ortho-phthalates — especially personal care products – and the potential health concerns from continuous exposure is difficult to measure because these chemicals are the ‘everyday, everywhere’ chemicals, meaning our exposure is constant.

If we removed water from cleansers, we wouldn’t need a plastic bottle, reducing our exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals - stay tuned for our viral alternative, (hint… it’s not a bar of soap).

Reason #2 The destruction of homes & habitats

Record breaking fires in California, hurricanes on the gulf coast, floods and melting glaciers. Think of all the damage to homes and habitats. And it’s all connected to our inefficient and over-use of fossil fuels or oil. Ugh, climate change.

According to the WWF, polar bears, green sea turtles, monarch butterflies, tigers, snow leopards & great pandas are the most affected by Climate Change.

To really make a difference - and reduce the impacts of climate change - we need to re-think things in a BIG way. So how do facial cleansers fit in? Well, in 2021 over 5 million imperial gallons of ‘cleanser water’ was shipped across the US alone.

Let’s break down the numbers.

The average cleanser is roughly 5.2oz (150ml) and at least 3.2oz (94ml) - is… water (you’re catching on). And 271 MILLION bottles of facial cleanser were sold in the US in 2021, which adds up to about 867million ounces of water.

Now think of all the emissions released by shipping that water… and then think about all the other products in your home that contain mostly water - hand soap, dish soap, shampoo, body wath… the list goes on.

Increased emissions are destroying habitats the world over…

Image Credit: United Nations, 2023

And what hurts our planet also hurts you, me and everyone else, and I don’t mean in the future, I mean TODAY - right now.

“Last year was “part of a trend of hyperactive disaster years across the US”, said Adam Smith, an applied climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa)... Since 2016, there have been 122 separate billion-dollar weather and climate events that have, in total, killed more than 5,000 people and caused more than $1tn in damages.”

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and we think a simple but highly effective step in the journey to carbon reduction is to stop shipping water and instead… add that water at home. Stay with me….

Reason #3 Plastic waste & increased plastic production

Plastic pollution is ‘old news’, but plastic production is not. Despite growing awareness of the problems with plastic - in our landfills, oceans and even our blood - the plastic industry is increasing production to offset losses in oil and gas (thanks to rising demand for electric vehicles and green energy).

“SINGAPORE, Feb 6, 2023 (Reuters) - Polluting single-use plastic production rose globally by 6 million tonnes per year from 2019 to 2021 despite tougher worldwide regulations, with producers making "little progress" to tackle the problem and boost recycling, new research showed on Monday.”

And the beauty industry is one of the biggest culprits, producing 120 Billion units EVERY YEAR. And the fancier the packaging, the more difficult it is to recycle, which means it ends up in landfill (where it will not decompose) or in our lakes, rivers and Oceans, and even back up the food chain to us.

And what about all those clean beauty brands that recycle their plastic? Well, it turns out, despite best intentions most of that plastic isn’t getting recycled either: “The more complex or costly the packaging, the harder it is to collect, separate and recycle. As a result, it makes it more economically viable to simply trash it than put forth the resources to recover it.” (Stephen Clark, Terracycle)

And if it does get recycled, the consumer often has to SHIP the plastic by letter mail - meaning more emissions. Honestly, how many busy people do you think will take the time ship their plastic packaging to get recycled? According to CNN “For cosmetics, most of these programs consist of mailing your empty beauty bottles, tubs and tubes — with a prepaid shipping label to TerraCycle.”

And how is double shipping a single container good for the planet - you’re just creating more emission shipping the empty bottel?

Okay, okay, I get it, enough with the doom and gloom, there is obviously a problem with water in cleansers (and other household products) including emissions, hormone disruption and plastic waste so…

What’s that solution blowing up the internet?

This