Recently, a good friend of mine commented, “I’d like to buy your products but they are too expensive for my budget". This opened up an opportunity for me to educate her about why Clean Beauty products do cost more. We had a great conversation. It occurred to me that this topic would be an excellent subject to address on our Face-to-Face Friday Blog.
Do you have similar feelings as my friend voiced? Who hasn’t shopped the beauty isle and noticed the prices on the Clean Beauty shelf to be substantially higher than other products? Maybe you think Clean Beauty is a rip off and all hype.The fact is, if you plan to buy a cleanser or serum from an ingredient-conscious brand, you’re likely going to pay a premium price. If you’ve ever wondered why Clean Beauty products are more expensive than traditional personal care products, this article is for you.
First of all, let’s define “Clean Beauty” to avoid confusing buzzwords we hear out there like natural, clean and green. These terms, while commonly and frequently used, are not regulated. For example, “natural” doesn’t mean clean beauty or that the product is even organic. These well-meaning buzzwords really do confuse the customer as companies create definitions to fit whatever standard they desire. Not so with My Alchemy Skin Care! We want you to know what our brand represents and stands for.
To clean-up any confusion, Clean Beauty is defined by our brand as choosing only plant-based ingredients that are ethically-sourced, grown wild and organically, formulated withOUT pesticides, phthalates, parabens, synthetic fragrances or a plethora of other potentially harmful chemicals. Your health and safety is our priority and you can trust that we completely avoid using any dangerous or questionable ingredients. We are transparent in our labeling and help educate our clients to make purchase decisions that are best for you.
To our brand, Green Beauty isn’t just about ingredients, it’s also about packaging. We love our planet and respect it’s natural resources. We choose bottles that are eco-beauty friendly, recyclable and reusable and biodegradable. We use repurposed packaging for shipping and minimize waste by selling our products unboxed.
Creating quality clean and green beauty products with these high standards, very much influences the price tag of our’s or any other reputable conscious Clean Beauty brand. I’d like to briefly address 6 reasons why Clean Beauty costs more and as promised on my blog, I'll keep it short.
COST 1: INGREDIENTS
It is very costly to source quality, effective, safe, non-toxic ingredients.To explain, we refer you to product labels. By comparing ingredients you’ll notice ingredients used in clean vrs. traditional products are night and day difference. You may recognize the familiar names of many ingredients in Clean Beauty products like shea butter, jojoba oil or fruit and flower oils. In the products of traditional counterparts, you’ll most likely find ingredients like water, alcohol, mineral oil, along with a bunch of chemicals you can’t pronounce. When you see the first ingredient in traditional care products listed as water, know it’s water you’re paying for along with additives, emulsifiers, preservatives, fragrance, texture chemicals, leaving a very small percentage for anything nutritional for your skin. Quality ingredients demand a higher price tag.
Cost 2: ORGANIC FARMING
Organic farms are typically smaller than convention farms. Families often operate just a small garden space to produce organic ingredients. Also, organic farming takes more time to produce crops because farmers refrain from using the chemicals for pest control and growth hormones used by conventional farmers. More work and more time equals more expensive.
Cost 3: MANUFACTURING
The majority of clean beauty manufacturing happens in the USA where costs and labor are more expensive verses manufacturing overseas. By purchasing Clean Beauty you’re investing in our local economy and providing a lot of jobs for a lot of people. Small businesses aren't able to compete with large manufacturers who receive huge price reductions of buying in bulk quantities or mixing in large batches. Buying fewer supplies and mixing small batches contributes to costs for small companies.
Cost 4: PACKAGING
Beauty packaging comes at a premium if you care about your health and the environment. Spending a few extra dollars can have a profound effect upon both. Choosing glass bottles or investing in materials like BPA-free plastic bottles raises costs. Also, a glass bottle is more expensive to ship because it’s heavier. Many companies like to bottle using clear containers. Clear bottles are a cheaper option than using solid containers that prevent light from deteriorating the product. Quality packaging increases costs.
Cost 5: FORMULATING
To make sure a product works and does what it claims to do, it means research and development, formulators, scientists, chemists, certifications, testing. It’s expensive to make a hand soap that suds without using the typical traditional ingredients to create a lather.Commonly used is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. We would never use SLS to create suds as many traditional products do because of its danger to health. This means we have to find or create an alternative surfactant that will work, be gentle on skin and be safe. Creating the best product for you costs big bucks!
Cost 6: POTENCY
Our Clean Beauty ingredients are pure and potent concentrated botanicals, not diluted with fillers like in traditional cosmetics. Because our products have higher concentrations of active healthy skin ingredients, our formulas are powerhouses of vitamins and antioxidants.This means using a little gives you superior results compared to using cheaply made drugstore brands. It also means a little product goes a long ways. Don’t let a small bottle size deceive you. When we suggest you use a drop or two of our products, we’re not kidding. This is all you need to get the full effect and benefits. Don’t forget to consider because you’re using less, products last longer which means you’re ultimately saving money over time. Do the math! If a product costs $65 but last 3 months, you're really paying $22 per month. By paying a little more upfront, you’ll spend less in the long run, especially if your product is multi-functional for many uses. This means you're not buying multiple products for every little need when one product addresses all your needs. Our Illuminate Serum is a perfect example. While formulated for our face routine, clients report using it on chapped lips, on bald irritated heads from shaving, chaffed elbows, dry patches on skin, for hair sheen and split ends, to manage men's facial hair, to soften cuticles and even lighten bruising. What a deal in this bottle! I'm sure you get my point.
Winding up our discussion...
My friend ended our chat with this familiar phrase that pretty well summarizes this post, “I guess you get what you pay for.” This is really the truth in the beauty world. It’s up to you to decide whether Clean Beauty is worth it. We believe you, your health and safety, the health of our planet and the animals who share our ecosystem are absolutely worth the investment.
Making the right choice shouldn’t be dependent on how much a product costs. We encourage you to weigh the benefits of each particular product you’re considering in our shop or others. We detail benefits for you on each product listing on our website. We do our best to keep our costs respectable when the market says we could price higher. We've even passed on savings to you that we've received from manufacturers by lowering prices rather than putting extra dollars into our pockets. Unheard of! With a mission, to help others, this includes you! Your well-being is factored into our price decisions. This is one reason why we produce smaller products and run incredible offers. Do we have your email to notify you? We don’t box our products because we want you to put your money into amazing ingredients and furthermore, we want your dollars spent on the actual product not on frivolous packaging. We promise that we’lll continue to bring you the best quality product to help you live your best healthy life at the most affordable price we can.
Written by Rebecca, CEO and Co-founder My Alchemy Skin Care