STYLE: Keeping up appearances
Fashion and beauty trends work in tandem. If consumers carewhether jeans are made from organic cotton, they'll have similar concerns about their beauty purchases. The news this month that Procter & Gamble's sales of organic beauty products increased by 7 per cent on last year suggests that environmental factors are increasingly important on Planet Beauty.
In line with this, a growing area of concern is the cost to the environment caused by the manufacturing process. Next month comes the launch of Absolue BX, an anti-ageing skin cream from Lanc?me, which is the first "green" beauty product to be produced by a mass-market manufacturer.
The key molecule, Pro-Xylane (pronounced "proxy lane"), could be as big an anti-ageing breakthrough as retinol, according to parent company L'Oreal, which claims it produces a "15 to 20 per cent increase in elasticity, tonality and firmness". It's worth defining exactly what makes something "green" in an ethically minded market. The first ingredient is the use of sustainable raw materials, in this case Xylos, "a natural sugar from beachwood sourced from western Europe", according to Alexandre Cavezza, PhD, a chemist at L'Oreal's material sciences department.
Second is the number and complexity of the processes involved. "We use a very efficient synthesis of only two steps and optimise each step to minimise water and energy." The use of water as a solvent and of catalysts also reduces waste.
The total number of processes used to create the finished product of Absolue BX is just 13, which is tiny in an industry where complex procedures create the illusion of greater value.
In addition, Pro-Xylane is "easily biodegradable, non-bioaccumulatable and non-ecotoxic", says Cavezza. Which brings us to the third ingredient of "green" - what happens after its use, when the beauty product goes down the plughole.
In 2007, a new European Union environmental regulatory framework - Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (Reach) - will be put in place. Reach aims to improve "the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the properties of chemical substances".
All detergents used in shampoos and shower gels must comply with European biodegradability requirements to prevent environmental damage.
"Cosmetic manufacturers are users of chemicals, whether they are natural or synthetic," says Paul Crawford of the UK Cosmetics, Toiletries and Perfumeries Association. The UK beauty business could have remained outside the framework, he says, but chose to work within it. "We campaigned for cosmetic ingredients to be included."
In June this year, after three years of negotiations, the EU council reached a "common position" stating that the cosmetics industry should achieve "a high level of human health and environmental protection ?￠?�?| with the goal of achieving sustainable development".
Manufacturers will have to pay as much attention to where a product comes from as to what it does once it goes down the plughole.
To this end, Floris has launched Natural Benefits, which it hopes will "appeal to ethically minded beauty consumers" and meet any future guidelines. The company uses "only natural raw materials wherever possible", says a spokesperson, with ingredients coming from "controlled and sustainable environments" - "even the foaming agents are plant derived".
In late September, Chanel launches Sublimage, a "regenerating cream" with an active ingredient sourced from vanilla planifolia vines in Madagascar. Potential environmental costs have been well considered. "Local populations, who have used vanilla planifolia for ages, have been recruited to harvest and crop green fruits by respecting sustainability values," says Marie-Hélène Lair, scientific communication manager at Chanel.
Attention to eco-friendly packaging is increasing too. American skincare brand Suki Pure uses recycled glass jars with labels printed locally in vegetable dyes - to prevent ink from entering rivers and drinking water. Founder Suki Kramer says she "rewards" local businesses that act responsibly towards the environment by doing business with them. "That's what consumers can do too. We grill our suppliers to death."
Seattle-based Sustainable Style Foundation, which gives awards to sustainable beauty ranges, has its own definitions of the term.
"We define it as a bit broader than just green or environmental," says co-founder Rebecca Luke. "That includes how the products are created and the 'footprint', meaning how much electricity and light-bulbs you are using and how is it being transported."
But the key word here is "style". "People don't want to be hugging a tree or wearing tie dye to use ethical and sustainable products any more."
美容品打出“生态”牌
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装与美容趋势并驾齐驱。如果消费者在意牛仔裤是不是有机棉做的，他们也会对购买的美容品有类似的关注。本月的一条新闻称，宝洁(Procter & Gamble)的有机美容产品销售额同比增长7%，说明环境因素对“地球美容”正变得越来越重要。
美容品是怎么变“绿”的？
与之相一致的是，制造过程所产生的环境成本日益成为备受关注的一个领域。下月，兰蔻(Lanc?me)将推出抗老化护肤霜Absolue BX，这是大众市场制造商生产的首款“绿色”美容产品。
兰蔻的母公司欧莱雅(L'Oreal)表示，该产品的关键分子Pro-Xylane是一项重大的抗老化突破成果，不亚于维生素A的发现。它还宣称，该成分能令肌肤的“弹性、光泽和紧致度有15%至20%的改善”。在一个具有道德意识的市场，值得去精确定义什么造就“绿色”产品。首要因素是使用可持续性原材料，在这里是木糖(Xylos)。欧莱雅材料科学部门化学家亚历山大?卡韦扎(Alexandre Cavezza)博士称，它是“从西欧的山毛榉木中提取的一种天然糖分”。
第二个因素是相关加工过程的数量与复杂性。“我们运用仅有两个步骤的合成法，十分高效，优化每个步骤，让水与能源的消耗最小化。”用水作为溶剂以及利用催化剂也减少了浪费。
制造Absolue BX成品总共只有13道工序，这在化妆品行业是个微不足道的数字。在这个行业，复杂的工序通常造成价值较高的假象。
此外，Pro-Xylane“易于生物降解，不会在生物体内聚积，也没有生态毒性”，卡韦扎说。这也就是第三个“绿色”因素，指使用之后的情况，也就是美容品流入下水道后的情况。
把美容品纳入环境监管框架
2007年，一部新的欧盟环境监管框架法规――《关于化学品注册、评估、许可和限制制度》(Reach)将生效。Reach法规旨在改善“对人类健康和环境的保护，方式是更好、更早地鉴别化学物质的性质”。
洗发水与沐浴露中使用的所有清洁剂必须符合欧盟的生物降解能力要求，以防止对环境的破坏。
“化妆品制造商是化学品的使用者，不论是天然的，还是合成的，”英国化妆品、盥洗用品和香料协会(UK Cosmetics, Toiletries and Perfumeries Association)的保罗?克劳福德(Paul Crawford)称。他表示，英国美容业本可以不加入该框架，但却自愿选择加入。“我们进行了宣传活动，呼吁将化妆品成分也包括进来。”
经过3年磋商，欧盟委员会于今年6月达成了一项“共识”，声明化妆品行业应当“高度保护人类健康和环境，并把实现可持续发展作为目标”。
从产品原料开始
制造商不仅需要关注产品流入下水道后对环境产生的影响，同时还同样需要关注产品来源。
为此，馥丽仕(Floris)推出了Natural Benefits系列化妆品，希望能“吸引有道德意识的美容品消费者”，并达到任何未来指导政策的标准。公司的一位发言人称，公司“在任何可能的情况下，仅使用天然原材料”，而且成分来自“经控制的可持续环境中”――“甚至连起泡剂都是从植物中提取的”。
9月底，香奈儿(Chanel)将推出一款名为Sublimage的“再生霜”，其中一种活性配方取自马达加斯加岛的香草兰藤。公司充分考虑了潜在的环境影响。“当地居民使用香草兰已有很长的历史了，我们雇用他们采摘和收割未成熟的果实。我们尊重可持续性价值观，”香奈儿的科学信息经理玛莉-依莲?莱尔(Marie-Hélène Lair)表示。
对友好的“生态包装”的关注也日益提高。美国护肤品牌Suki Pure使用再生玻璃瓶，并且标签全部在当地用蔬菜染料印刷，以避免墨水进入江河和饮用水源。公司创始人苏奇?克莱默(Suki Kramer)表示，她会同那些对环境负责任的公司做生意，以此“回报”它们。“消费者也可以这样做。这样我们就能把供应商逼上绝路。”
位于西雅图的可持续时尚基金会(Sustainable Style Foundation)为可持续性美容产品系列提供奖励，它对可持续性的含义有着自己的理解。
“我们对可持续的定义要比单纯的绿色或环保范围广一些，”基金会的联合创始人丽贝卡?卢克(Rebecca Luke)表示。“它还包括产品的制造方式和‘生态足迹’――意思就是用了多少电和电灯泡，以及使用何种运输方式。”
但这里的关键词还是“时尚”。“人们当然不愿意抱着大树或穿着扎染服装来使用道德的、环保的产品。”
