How to choose a sustainable personal care brand based on Zoobop ratings

You know what almost made me quit sustainable living? Greenwashing. Either I was being duped by companies with false recycling claims or eco-friendly products hid human right violations behind a green label. Sometimes, even the vendors were greenwashed by their suppliers.

Try fining a sustainable deodorant in that atmosphere!

Truly, in this world of greenwashing trying to live a perfectly sustainable life is a Sisyphean challenge. After all, our systems aren’t made for green and ethical living.

But there is a light in this darkness.

Companies like Zoobop and Good on You do the research for us. They look at brands from cosmetics and home-care to fashion, respectively, and rate them. These ratings aren’t perfect but they’re still useful as a source of information. After all, even realistic sustainability is imperfect.

But what is Zoobop?

And how do we use it?

You asked and we provided.

Understanding Zoobop and Its Ratings

Zoobop is your first stop when shopping sustainable, bestie. The website has checked over 3500 brands globally. It checks, using strict third-party measures where required, whether a brand is sustainable. This means that they look up what’s given on the brand’s website and other social channels. This is followed by looking for certifications such as PETA and so on to ensure that the claims are true as far as possible. And if there is something that isn’t available, they contact the brand with questions about how their sustainability practises.

For the folks at Zoobop, this includes whether the products are safe for humans, vegan and cruelty-free, safe for the planet, ethical, and honest. From ingredients and supply-chain to packaging, the folks at Zoobop look into everything.

Then, they rate brands out of 5 based on the information collected. Brands with a Zoobop score of 4-5 are the most sustainable while the ones ranking below 2 have major problems.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? From home care to personal care, they cover a lot of it. And even if they can’t show you which brands are the most sustainable, at least Zoobop can help you know which ones to avoid. Within reason, of course.

And since they show separate scores and information for all the criteria, you can choose brands that align with your values.

But what good is a resource you don’t know how to use?

Well, girlie, you are in luck. Because bopping a brand, it’s easy as ABC.

How to Use Zoobop’s Website

It all starts with you opening Zoobop’s website and selecting the country of your choice. This shows you the brands available in that region and their scores. Remember sustainable is local and seasonal.

Once you have selected your country, you can type the name of the brand you want to look up in the search bar.

Finally, click on the bop icon.

To know whether your eco-friendly skincare is actually green, you can look at the overall score given to the brand. This is found on the right side of your screen.

But what if you want to know exactly how a brand got the score it did? Or perhaps, you wish to look up more details about a particular criterion? I mean, clean formula could mean so much, after all. In such cases, you can scroll down and look at individual criteria. Clicking on the load more area will give you even further details about the brand’s policies and practises.

To make it easier for those of us looking for sustainable body-care to choose products that are safe for us, Zoobop highlights unsafe ingredients, marking the most dangerous ones in red. The website also provides some information as to why the ingredient is harmful.

For animals, Zoobop does something similar. In case of brands having non-vegan ingredients, Zoobop mentions them. If they are made out of plant-based sources, that is also highlighted. If the company, despite being “cruelty-free” sells in countries where animal testing is mandatory, Zoobop mentions that.

The cosmetics industry is filled with ingredients like microplastic beads which harm marine life when washed off. Ethically, it fares no better. Mining for mica, for instance, uses child labour more often than not. Zoobop, thus, takes the time to highlight whether such problematic ingredients are present in the personal care brand you are looking for.

And to round it all off, Zoobop puts forward the true test for a sustainable personal care brand. Eco-friendly and ethical skin and body care is honest. Thus, the folks at Zoobop check whether the brand mentions all ingredients in an accessible manner and is receptive to questions.

From products for mothers and babies, to green skincare and ethical makeup the folks at Zoobop try to provide you with information about your personal care and home care brands.

But what if you’re in a rush and just want to find a good brand?

Zoobop is still the answer for your eco-friendly home and personal care shopping needs.

Finding Sustainable Beauty and Skin Care Brands on Zoobop

If you don’t know which brands to look for or are just trying to find new ones to support, Zoobop is a gold-mine. From listing brands by categories to listing them by score, they make it easy for us eco-folks to brands that match us values.

And they say sustainable living requires too much research!

What’s more, if you are stuck between two personal care brands, well, Zoobop will compare how sustainable they are for you.

The best part about Zoobop, for me though, isn’t how useful it is. No, it’s how honest the website is.

From their partners to their ambassadors and testing process, everything is available on their website for consumers to look up. They also have a great blog to help us learn more about sustainable personal care.

Look, I still say, that the best brands are the one that your dermatologist recommends for you skin. But we have the power to advocate for changes in those brands- and Zoobop puts all their failing in one place. Armed with this information, we can write emails for a cause, and hold brands accountable. We can demand change.

And if we have the privilege to choose sustainable skincare and body care brands, Zoobop puts planet and people-friendly personal care, just a bop away.

Thinking of using Zoobop? Let us in the comments how your favoruite brands fared!

And don’t forget- live green, live healthy! Just bop it.

Disclaimer- This blog contains affiliate links for the sustainable deodorant. You support the author with ever purchase. Remember to buy just what you need and have a good day! Thanks.

This blog was edited by Shubhr Aakriti.

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