By: Alanna Tran, Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist of BiotechBeauty®
We all love a little shimmer to brighten up our look, but it turns out there's a dark side to this desire. Mica, the naturally occurring mineral used to add shimmer to cosmetic products, can come with ethical and environmental costs. Today, we'll uncover the dark downsides of using natural mica and learn about its sustainable, synthetic alternative.
Natural Mica
What is Natural Mica?: Natural mica is the naturally available version of mica. "Mica" is a general term for a group of about 30 silicate minerals that can be split into thin, flexible, or brittle sheets.
Why is Natural Mica Harmful to the Environment?: Natural mica is harvested using methods such as open-pit mining, strip mining, and underground mining.
Did you know Natural Mica Unethical?: In many parts of the world, this intensive process involves child labor, hazardous working conditions, and poor regulation. Some organizations, such as the Responsible Mica Initiative, have set out to eliminate exploitative working conditions and eliminate child labor in specific Indian states.
However, there are numerous additional countries across the globe from which natural mica is mined with little regulatory oversight.
Our Social Responsibility
Is there such thing as ethical mica? One solution is to seek out products that use certified ethically sourced Mica, but the problem is that it's hard for companies to verify that their Mica is 100% derived from a socially-responsible mine. In this global market, traceability of the mineral is challenging without continuous rigorous inspections and supply chain audits.
Not really: The lack of transparency among suppliers, manufacturers, and brands can make it difficult to ensure that the natural mica they are purchasing is ethically sourced.
The Sustainability Issue: Even if natural mica is certified to be sourced from an ethical mining supplier, the extraction process contributes to many problems for the environment. The detriments of mining include deforestation, habitat destruction, soil erosion and degradation, and air and water pollution.
At BiotechBeauty®, we thoughtfully source all of our ingredients and packaging with both social and environmental impacts in mind.
The BiotechBeauty® Difference: At BiotechBeauty®, we found a solution in synthetic, lab-made Mica.
What is Lab-Made Mica?
We're so glad you asked!
What is it?: Formally known as Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, this pigment is made in a controlled laboratory and gives us beautiful shimmer without the labor concerns and negative environmental impacts associated with mined mica.
What are the Benefits to Lab-Made Mica?: Unlike natural mica, which carries small amounts of impurities with it, synthetic mica is more pure and consistent in size.
With these benefits comes a greater cost for brands to formulate with, but that's a choice we at BiotechBeauty® are happy to make.
What are Other Brands Doing?
If you're not sure if your favorite brands use ethical or synthetic mica, ask them!
Why Ingredient Transparency is Important to Us: When other brands are urged by their consumers to practice ingredient transparency, they will take these issues more seriously.
How You Can Make a Change
You've probably heard the phrase, "Vote with your wallet." As long as there is a market for natural mica within cosmetics, these hazardous working conditions and damaging ecological impacts will persist.
But when more of us exercise our buying power showing our preference for the more sustainable and ethical alternative of synthetic mica, we can effect real change.
Don't lose your sparkle!
XO,
Alanna at BiotechBeauty®