What Does ‘CLEAN’ Mean?

So, What does ‘clean’ mean?

The mainstream movement to become more conscious about the ingredients in personal care products began around 15 years ago and made a big impact on the beauty industry as a whole. Brands emerged that labeled themselves as “clean” by not including certain ingredients often because they were synthetic or unnecessary to the function of the product.  Attention to ingredient restrictions in other countries like Europe and Canada was on the rise as these countries have long had stringent regulations on beauty products that the US has yet to adopt. Rightfully so, beauty consumers began to demand products that were safe to use on their bodies and that became defined as ‘clean’ or rather, products lacking a subjective and ever-changing list of ‘dirty’ ingredients.

Why can the term ‘clean’ be confusing?

The clean beauty movement created a large amount of awareness around ingredients and the regulations placed on the products that we use which is, we think, a very positive thing!  What is most important for consumers to understand about the clean beauty movement is that there is no regulation around the term ‘clean’, it’s simply used for marketing and can vary in definition from brand to brand. In our opinion, marketers have really co-opted this idea of more conscious beauty standards and run with it, leaving consumers a bit confused and feeling like unless they specify, they are purchasing ‘dirty’ beauty products. 

What is EDEN’s process for selecting products?

We do not use ‘clean’ in regards to our curation because, as you’ve learned, we don’t think it’s the most helpful term. Natural ingredients are not inherently safer, preservative-free products are not safer, ‘chemical-free’ claims are the least helpful because it’s too broad - everything is made up of chemicals. Of course we want products that are safe and healthy for us to use, but the label ‘clean’ is not giving us helpful information to make informed decisions about safety. If you have questions about the products that you are using, send us a message and we will do our best to speak to your concerns!  If there is an ingredient you want to avoid, we’ve got your back and will help you find a product in the shop that suits your needs!

These are the 3 pillars we stand on when selecting products for EDEN:

1. Innovation - What is new, exciting, and is proving highly effective for certain concerns. This could mean patented technology, trusted by experts in the field, or compelling data testing for the claims made by the product. For fragrance and home care, this could also look like finding brands that have a unique perspective to share or approach to the category. Not all of our products are new launches - some have stood the test of time and are beloved pharmacy favorites that we feel were innovative in their time and continue to perform.
2. Performance - Our team personally tests every product sold at Eden to ensure that performance claims ring true and the product experience is on par with our expectations.  Consistency is the key to any lasting results so we only select products that we know deliver an experience that our customers will keep coming back to, consistently.
3. Conscious- The brands that we represent in our shop have to be mindful of their impact. The ingredients that they source, the way that their products are manufactured, packaged and distributed - is safety and environmental impact at the forefront of these considerations? How do they communicate what is important to them and how does that impact their business practices?