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J. Cosmet. Sci., 75.5, 330–338 (September/October 2024)
*Address all correspondence to Robert Lochhead, robert.y.lochhead@gmail.com.
EDITORIAL: The Current State of Sustainable Practices in
Cosmetics and Personal Care Products
ROBERT Y. LOCHHEAD
School of Polymers &High Performance Materials, The University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi, USA
Accepted for publication on November 2, 2024.
Sustainability has emerged as one of the most pressing global trends in the Cosmetics and
Personal Care Products industry. Across this sector, the adoption of sustainable practices
reflects a growing recognition of the need to align product development, manufacturing,
and consumption with principles that respect both environmental boundaries and social
responsibility.
In this context, sustainability in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products can be explored
through three interconnected dimensions: (i) sustainability at the personal level, (ii)
sustainability at the community level, and (iii) environmental/global sustainability. Each
of these levels offers unique challenges and opportunities for creating meaningful, long-
lasting impacts.
At the personal level, the focus is on consumers making informed choices about products
that align with their health, wellness, and ethical values. This includes hygiene, clean
beauty, cruelty-free certifications, and transparency in ingredient sourcing. At the
community level, the emphasis shifts to ethical labor practices, fair trade, and initiatives
that promote social equity, ensuring that communities involved in raw material production
and manufacturing benefit from sustainable practices. At the environmental and global
level, attention centers on minimizing the ecological footprint of Cosmetics and Personal
Care Products, encompassing innovations such as responsible sourcing, ingredients that can
be safely discarded into the environment, and the reduction of greenhouse gas and ocean-
acidifying emissions in supply chains and distribution networks.
This first part of this special issue, dealing with personal and community sustainability,
will be published in 2024 and the second part, dealing with environmental global
sustainability, will be published in 2025.
For this special issue, I invited leading experts in these domains to contribute review
articles that highlight the current state of sustainable practices within their respective
areas of expertise. Their insights provide an overview of the progress, challenges, and

331 THE STATE OF SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
future directions for the Cosmetics and Personal Care Products industry as it embraces
sustainability. In this editorial, I have attempted to briefly summarize the contributions
of each of the authors to provide an entry-point introduction to the topics and, hopefully,
demonstrate that this diverse range of topics are juxtaposed into a holistic, interconnected
wide-ranging topic.
EDITORIAL OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION TO SUSTAINABILITY AT THE PERSONAL LEVEL
Sustainability at the personal level has deep historical roots, particularly in the evolution
of personal care products since the 19th century. Intrinsically tied to hygiene, personal
sustainability has been a driver for health maintenance practices that benefit both
individuals and their communities. This shift was not only a technological but also a
cultural revolution, redefining societal norms around cleanliness, hygiene, and decency.
Living in single-roomed homes with no
bathroom, the act of washing one’s body
involved confrong415ng the taboo that arose from
the percepg415on that nakedness was indecent.
Consequently, bodily washing was avoided,
and dirt prevailed over hygiene.
In the 19th century, the lack of modern plumbing in homes discouraged regular bathing
and hygiene. The absence of private bathrooms further exacerbated this issue, creating
a societal clash between the need for hygiene and the prevailing moral attitudes about
modesty.1 Public attitudes equated dirt and body odor with virtue, relegating bathing
to infrequent, superficial practices.2 The redefinition of “clean” and “dirty” began to take
hold only after Louis Pasteur’s discovery of microorganisms as vectors of disease, gradually
leading to the acceptance of modern hygiene practices.
Initially, cleanliness was more about appearances—clean clothes, changeable collars, and
the use of perfumes to mask body odor. However, cosmetic companies began playing a
pivotal role in transforming the public perception of hygiene. By linking cleanliness to
beauty and social acceptability, they sidestepped the cultural contention between hygiene
and morality. Notably, Pears Soap’s use of actress Lillie Langtry in 1882 as an endorser
tied cleanliness to elegance and decency, paving the way for broader acceptance of personal
hygiene.
This trend continued with the introduction of products like Lifebuoy soap in 1895,
marketed not only as a household hygiene product but also as a tool to combat diseases
like cholera.3 Over time, formulations improved to address safety concerns, such as the