A New Normal

I just read an article in FASHION’s April issue called “An Education… on green.” Beauty editor Lesa Hannah writes on the ‘eco’ beauty product trend and how through her research she’s discovering which ones are the real deal.  Her most interesting point is that we’re used to beauty products performing a certain way – shampoo should lather endlessly and mascara should last infinitely.  But as Hannah says, “We just never really stop to think a) how they do it, and b) if they should.  She calls the way green beauty products work as ‘a new normal.’  Maybe our expectations of products are too great and that if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.  Bleach-based cleaning products are effective and affordable, but they are toxic and pollute the water supply. Pesticide-pumped steak is juicy, flavourful and readily available, but contains hormones and chemicals that harm our health.  So, an organic apple might be slightly smaller, more expensive and possibly worm-holed but that is how apples should be, not endless rows of massive, shiny orbs stacked high on store shelves.

The article, focused on beauty products, goes on to describe the attributes of the personal care products we’re used to and the inevitable trade-offs consumers will find in their kinder, chemical-free counterparts.  But some of them don’t seem like trade-offs at all. For example, the shelf-life of green moisturizers is short, but this gives women an excuse to shop more often.  ’Green’ brands aren’t able to make fluorescent nail polish colours like zinc pink and pylon orange, which is fine by me because 1985 called and it wants its nail polish back. And for shampoo, the green stuff may not froth like the others but that means less time spent rinsing it out, using up water, wasting time and watching those long beautiful strands slide down the drain rather than hang out on your head where they belong.   Don’t sound like a trade-offs to me.

So what I (and Lesa Hannah) are saying is that while we may not be used to green products (and lifestyle choices) they are still good in their own way.  Once we begin to appreciate the good things about them and incorporate them into our lives, they will even become normal – a new normal.

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