Is Drunk Elephant "Clean Beauty"?
One of the most popular brands taking over social media right now is Drunk Elephant, a so called “clean beauty” brand that stresses the importance of a minimalistic, one-brand beauty routine for perfectly flawless skin. After diving in to do some research on whether this brand is actually up to the E&J clean standard, we’ve come to a pretty good conclusion, so here’s what we learned.
They Are A Six-Free Brand
Drunk Elephant stresses the importance of six free skincare: skincare free of essential oils, drying alcohols, silicone, chemical sunscreens, Fragrance/dyes and SLS. DE’s philosophy is that all skincare problems arise from one (if not all) of these suspicious ingredients. “You can have healthy skin, but you have to give it a break from the ingredients that are unknowingly causing the issues to begin with.” says Ann, a customer service spokesperson from Drunk Elephant. “We believe that eliminating these ingredients from your routine is the first step toward clear, healthy, glowing skin.”
They Have Synthetic Ingredients
While initially this sounds like an immediate red flag, synthetic ingredients aren’t always bad, just like “natural” ingredients aren’t always good. Sadly, there is no regulation on “natural" products and ingredients, so making sure that you actually know what’s in your products is extremely important. Drunk Elephant knows this, and so they don’t focus on using all natural ingredients, but using effective and safe ingredients, natural or synthetic, that won’t cause any harm to skin. “Plenty of natural ingredients are harmful to the health of the skin, so we consistently formulate our products with soothing, low-hazard ingredients,” says the DE website, “regardless of their natural or synthetic status.”
They’re Cruelty Free
To us here at E&J, a brand could have completely good-for-you ingredients without anything bad, but if they test on animals, that is not clean beauty. Clean beauty is guilt-free beauty and it should never come at the cost of animals. Drunk Elephant is completely cruelty free and never tests on any animals, nor does it sell in China where animal testing is required by law.
So Are They Clean Beauty?
In our eyes, yes. While they do include synthetic ingredients, those ingredients are rigorously tested to confirm that they aren’t damaging or harmful to skin and only use ingredients that are helpful and kind to skin. They’re also cruelty free and six free, which are the biggest culprits in “standard” skincare. If you’re someone who only uses skincare with “all natural” ingredients, we get that! And Drunk Elephant might not be on your clean beauty list, but like DE, we recommend you take a look at some of the “natural” ingredients that may actually be causing harm to your skin.