CHALLENGE 4A
OBJECTIVES
Learning how to read cosmetic labels, and understanding what they mean, is important because it will help you make a better-informed decision whenever you’re purchasing personal care products.
ACTIVITY
Download the Ingred or Think Dirty App. Pick one personal care product that you can’t live without. Scan the list of ingredients into the Ingred app or the barcode into the Think Dirty app. If you can’t find that specific one, pick another or use the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ Red List to check ingredients from the product label.
- According to your research, what is the overall hazard rating of your product?
- How many ingredients did you find to be potentially hazardous? Share the most hazardous ingredient in your product and basis for that rating.
Do some research to find a sustainable alternative for your conventional product. Look for brands like BEN&ANNA, Weleda , WeDo and more.
- Share the name, brand and ingredient list from your clean option and where you found it.
- What is the cost of the conventional product vs. eco-friendly product?
- Will you make the switch? Why or why not?
CHALLENGE 4B
OBJECTIVES
Saving our planet is no easy task. But whether it is finding out how to recycle your beauty products, giving up a lifelong reliance on face wipes or switching to solid shampoo bar, these small steps will eventually add up to make a big impact. And the next step on any environmentalist’s agenda? Tackling the palm oil industry. The palm originates from west and southwest Africa, but it’s been successfully planted in other tropical regions including Indonesia and Malaysia. It’s an extremely versatile ingredient and it is mostly used for its natural preservative effect, as well as its moisturising properties in cosmetics.
ACTIVITY
This assignment is not about producing a video – it is about learning to work in groups! Your group’s task is to develop, script, and produce a single 2-4 minute video on the theme of palm oil in cosmetics. Your group will choose the topics on which you will focus. The video that you research and produce should combine thorough research with a mixture of live video, sound, music, titles, effects, and animations. That is, your video should be both informative as well as entertaining.
Most importantly – your video should provide information about good and bad sides of palm oil. It should answer such questions as: What is palm oil and why is it thought to be bad? How can palm oil be produced sustainably? Why is palm oil in cosmetics controversial?
Check the following resources.
CHALLENGE 4C
Create an infographic comparing the conventional and eco-friendly product. Include at least five facts on each side and publish your work in your Sway.
Infographics appeal to people of all walks of life, they make the information easy to digest and interesting to read! They’re also highly versatile; you can use them on a website, or they can be printed for distribution or display.
An infographic should be:
- focused – one single message; emphasize its significance to you;
- graphic – graphics and images tell the story (fewer than 800 words total);
- ordered – the sequence should be obvious; simple flow paths and cues should guide the reader.
CHALLENGE 4D
OBJECTIVES
Bring together science and style with this sweet homemade lip balm challenge.
ACTIVITY
With just a little bit of cooking and chemistry, you can create a beauty product that smells and tastes exactly the way you want. Go online and find a recipe you would like to use. You will need some of the following ingredients: coco butter, jojoba oil, small container with lid, microwave-safe bowl, wax paper, spoons, petroleum jelly, powdered drink mix, and measuring spoon so make sure you have them at your disposal before you start this challenge. Take photos showing your entire process and reflect over it. What makes your final product sustainable?
CHALLENGE 4E
OBJECTIVES
You have probably heard of the ‘no makeup challenge.’ It is all about going for a period of time without any makeup at all. It’s a great way to give your skin a little break from all of the gunk and to help yourself feel more confident in your bare skin.
ACTIVITY
In this task, you will take on a no makeup challenge and go bare-faced for a day/ a week or a full month. After completing this challenge, please write a diary or a blog entry and reflect on your challenge.
These are some of the questions you may consider discussing in your writing.
How did this challenge turn out? Did it affect your confidence? Did you feel liberated? What were the most important benefits of not wearing any makeup? Would you decide to never adopt a fully made-up face again? How easily could you do a year-long no makeup challenge?
CHALLENGE 4F
OBJECTIVES
It is time to make your own product! DIY bath and body products ensure total transparency, plus you will create less waste by reducing packaging and likely save money.
ACTIVITY
Look up a natural DIY recipe that you can make with ingredients that you already have at home. Think about which products you use most often that would be easy to replicate. Make a DIY product to share with your family or household. Document the process (include photos!) and include responses to the following questions:
- What recipe did you choose?
- How did you present and store your product? (did you use something you can repurpose)?
- Share your DIY product with your family or household.
- How did they like it?
- Did they seem open to switching personal care products?
- Take a photo and share it on social media with your recipe.
CHALLENGE 4G
OBJECTIVES
It is time for you to get inside the minds of film directors.
ACTIVITY
After watching the Toxic Beauty or Broken documentary (Netflix), you will construct your own anatomy of a scene using the New York Times format as a model. You can mimic The New York Times faithfully using video-making tools like Screencastify, Adobe Spark, or Screencast-O-Matic, or create paper-and-pencil storyboards of a movie sequence, annotating your thinking as you go.
CHALLENGE 4H
ACTIVITY
Create a 200-word piece of writing in which you correctly and creatively use as many of the cosmetics vocabulary as possible. Submit your text (a story, poem, or song) and try to use as many vocabulary words as possible. Identify your vocabulary words by writing them in ALL CAPS.
CHALLENGE 4I
OBJECTIVES
For over 50 years, animals have been used in tests to measure the safety of some chemicals found in cosmetic and household products. Many animals are still subjected to cruel and painful tests across the world to bring a new eyeshadow or cologne to the market.
ACTIVITY
Choose a company that uses animals for cosmetic testing and write an email to them. Research alternative methods the company could use to prove the safety of their product(s) without using animals for testing.
Email Writing Template
When writing an email, it’s important to format it in a way that is easy for the recipient to read. With that in mind, be sure to include the following:
Salutation
Do not refer to the recipient by their first name. For example, you can use “Dear Mrs. Smith.” NOTE! If you do not have a contact, you can address your email to the company.
Body Text
Introduce yourself and state why you are sending this email. Explain your cosmetic animal welfare issue and why you are passionate about it. Keep your email short, use facts and be concise. State what the situation is, why you think it is wrong and what you would like the recipient to do for you. Feel free to personalize your letter and encourage the recipient to learn more about the issue themselves. Remember to always be polite and respectful.
Signature
Be sure to sign your name and encourage their reply.
For example: I look forward to your reply.
Kindly, Riannon Lahey
CHALLENGE 4J
OBJECTIVES
Mica is a naturally occurring mineral commonly used in cosmetics to add shimmer to makeup. It can be found in lipsticks, eyeshadow, nail polish, sunscreens, deodorants, shampoo, and other beauty products. But the harmless sparkly ingredient has been linked to child labour in India, specifically in impoverished states of Jharkhand and Bihar where children as young as five years old have been reported working in these illegal mica mines.
ACTIVITY
What can we do to eradicate child labour in mica mines in India? Make an eye-catching online poster or write a blog entry where you summarize your ideas.
SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE CHALLENGE 