You can expect to hear more and more about ‘Blue Beauty’ in coming years. It's fast becoming the latest buzz-phrase in sustainability – for good reason. The term ‘Blue Beauty’ is a movement started by Jeannie Jarnot in 2018, founder of beauty-heroes.com, an online beauty store specializing in products that are healthy for you and the planet. Jeannie says, “Moving beyond green beauty means that above and beyond we wholeheartedly embrace organic and plant-based beauty, and minimize our impact on the environment. Blue beauty brands are finding ways to regenerate, improve and repair it in ways big and small.”
While green beauty has been focused on using sustainably sourced ingredients, blue beauty takes this one step further by also focusing on the impact of the beauty industry on marine life. This includes brands using ingredients that won’t affect the planet when washed down the sink, the issue of water wastage in beauty products, as well as the effect that packaging has on marine life. According to the UNESCO Ocean Literacy Portal, whose aim it is to increase our knowledge of the oceans (a fascinating read btw), plastic makes up 80% of all marine pollution, and around 8 to 10 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans every year. Research states that by 2050 plastic will outweigh all fish in the sea. If we don’t act now.
While over 700 million people depend on fishing for their livelihoods (says the World Wildlife Fund), the oceans provide more than food – they provide oxygen to breathe, and through their role in the water cycle, water to drink. They also absorb greenhouse gas emissions. If you think about all the plastics used in the beauty industry and how many products we all have in our bathrooms and in our makeup bags, you'll understand why Blue Beauty is vital for the protection and future of the planet.
At 35 Thousand we're doing all we can to support the Blue Beauty movement. Here’s how:
- All our products are reef safe. We choose to use a mineral SPF over a chemical sunscreen. Research has shown that oxybenzone and octinoxate can be toxic to coral reefs and other sea life. We therefore use mineral non-nano zinc oxide in our formulations which provides broad spectrum coverage.
- All 35 Thousand ingredients are plant-based and therefore have a lesser impact on the environment when flushed away.
- We have gone to great lengths to source a bioplastic for our bottles’ packaging which is made from biodegradable and sustainable sugarcane.
- All our cardboard packaging is FSC-certified. The stamp certifies that our cardboard comes from sustainable forest sources.
- None of our products contain nano particles which could pollute the oceans and damage wildlife
- None of our products contain harsh foaming agents, parabens, synthetic colors or synthetic fragrances, which are potential pollutants to wildlife, rivers and seas.
