Whole Foods touts clean label beauty

Whole Foods Market is “getting real” with consumers on meeting their expectations of body and beauty care product standards.

This spring, the grocer will host its first ever Whole Foods Market Better Beauty Swap to help consumers “clean up” their routines.

A recent survey conducted by Whole Foods Market found that one third (33 percent) of consumers do not understand ingredients commonly found in conventional beauty and body care products—such as parabens, microbeads and formaldehydes—well enough to know what they are. In addition, more than half (59 percent) of consumers do not regularly read beauty and body care labels in-store before purchasing.

To help ease the burden on consumers when considering controversial ingredients and reading labels, the company says that it has developed strict “Body Care Standards” that apply to all the beauty and body care products it carries. The national grocer then stated that it has banned more than 100 ingredients commonly found in body care products, including phthalates, parabens, microbeads, formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, triclosan, BHT, BHA and aluminum chlorohydrate.

The announcement comes shortly after the company announced its fifth-annual Beauty Week, where Whole Foods Market’s global beauty buyers and experts unveiled their inaugural list of top beauty and wellness trends for the year: Superfoods for beauty, beauty-oriented supplements, vegan cosmetics, sleep supporters and microbiome-friendly beauty products are stealing the spotlight in 2019, according to the Austin, Texas-based retailer.