Green Cosmetic Maven, Carron Coleman Shares Tips About Nontoxic Beauty

By: Carron Coleman

For me sustainability means taking responsibility for ourselves and our communities. Sustainable beauty encourages people to take care of themselves and the environment.

For over a decade the wellness industry has linked a connection between our food, our health, and our planet. As health concerns rise about the risks associated with various ingredients, the natural personal care product market has become the fastest growing segment in the cosmetics industry. More and more people are making conscious decisions when it comes to buying beauty products.

Eco-friendly green beauty brands are carving out a space for themselves within the beauty industry. This is awesome news for natural beauty entrepreneurs who are trying to grow and build their small businesses. Although the increased demand for natural products has garnered attention from large corporations, it’s still a great market for small indie brands because there are few barriers to entry. Especially for black female brand owners since we are the largest growing group of entrepreneurs. Now with social media and even websites like Etsy make it so easy for small sustainable green beauty brands to connect and reach customers. On the flip it’s also amazing for eco-friendly beauty junkies like me to discover the newest organic and natural beauty finds. 

Indie green beauty brands and green beauty bloggers have to stick together because we benefit from collaboration and spreading the message to the masses. While I think it’s great that people are becoming more aware of the products they are using there is still a lot that needs to be done in terms of education. Unfortunately in the black community we don’t talk about green, eco-friendly, or sustainability enough. Right now it’s not a part of our normal conversation. I created my blog in the hopes of changing that. Making the statement that women of color do care about what goes into and outside of our bodies.

With that being said there are still challenges in terms of locating nontoxic beauty brands specifically ones that are black owned or at least provide options for black women. This is one of the reasons I created my holiday gift guide featuring black owned beauty brands. While I think it’s important to support black businesses, as a green beauty blogger I had to create something unique for organic natural beauty. The more they receive our support the more we all benefit.

Here are just a few eco-friendly organic beauty products that I’m currently enjoying.

P.S. they’re also black owned.

CALYPSO GLOW Enriching Body Bar- Mango & Papaya : this soap is made from a coconut oil and olive oil base with extracts of mango and papaya. It gently exfoliates my skin and imparts moisture at the same time. Natural bar soaps are so creamy and moisturizing for my dry skin.

LABELLE FEMM Organic Honey & Oatmeal Bar: this soap smells absolutely amazing. The combination of honey and oatmeal exfoliates and moisturizes. I wrote an article on my blog about how I adore bar soap. I’ve abandoned liquid soaps in preference for bar soaps for nearly a year now.

KAREN'S BODY Beautiful Sweet Ambrosia: this is still hands down my absolute favorite leave in conditioner. I dibble and dabble trying different brands from time to time but I always come back to this. Nothing makes my hair as soft and shiny without weighing it down.

TRE LUXE HI! DEFINITION: this creamy hair butter smells like candy. Can you tell I’m into nice smells? I like to use them on twist outs and braid outs because it gives me great shine and hold but still leaves my hair light and airy.

NUS BEAUTY Liquid Lipstick: I’m in love with her lipsticks and glosses. They have the best color pigments I’ve seen when it comes to natural and organic cosmetics. The bold color options can compete with toxic brands like Colorpop.

PLAIN JANE BEAUTY FOUNDATION: I talked about this foundation on my blog. I finally found a foundation that actually matches me. I know this is a real challenge in the black community. Plain Jane offers such a huge variety of shades. 

GINGER + LIZ Nail Polish: I’ve been a fan of this nontoxic nail lacquer line even before I went fully natural with my cosmetics. Their colors are gorgeous and every shade has such a unique catchy name.