The Body Shop lies?

[taryn]

I read an article about The Body Shop and their many lies and I thought I would share it. I don't shop there because a lot of the chemicals in their products and considered unsafe (parabens, parfume, etc). I am not sure if all of this is true, but I thought that this information is much better in the hands of many. :)

http://www.mcspotlight.org/beyond/companies/bs_ref.html

[hoodedclawjen]

i recall The Body Shop being described as a nice little company- back when it was still halfway a nice little company. i wonder how long it'll take for Lush to end up exactly the same way.

anyone who actually goes into a large chain store like that, looks around with their eyes open, and reads the ingredients labels on whats on offer, has got to have some kind of a clue that its all a big marketing illusion, right?

its like when you see the shampoo ads on tv- people do (or at least should) understand that if they buy that shampoo, they won't become salma hayek, right? its all just a facade.

[Bof]

I am not sure if all of this is true,



Having lived with a Body Shop employee, I know that some of it wasn't true.
Anita Roddick seemed pretty genuine, but maybe things have changed.

[taryn]

I think one issue is that when companies become large they tend to cut corners. Just because a company makes a claim doesn't mean that it is true. We see it a lot with the greenwashing nowadays. It also happens a lot when companies claim that their products are natural, organic or aren't tested on animals (they just have a different company do it for them). People can be so naive. If a company is trying to make money they may (and often) cut corners and find ways to make claims without being legally responsible.

I thought it was an interesting article because I know a lot of people who practically worship The Body Shop and don't question its claims.

I would like to look more into this subject, but I wasn't able to find much else.

On a side note, hoodedclawjen, I find that walking into LUSH is like walking into a old woman's perfume aisle. It gives me a headache. I have looked into the ingredients and they aren't that great. Nothing with that much perfume or sparkles can be good. But I tend to be pretty pessimistic towards all companies. I find it very difficult to trust most claims without real evidence.

[SomebodyElse]

But I tend to be pretty pessimistic towards all companies. I find it very difficult to trust most claims without real evidence.
I think that's pretty wise.

[LucidAnne]

The Body Shop was once a wonderful company. it was a leader in fair trade, natural ingredients and recycling. but a few years ago they sold out to (i believe it was) Loreal. there were calls from the public to make sure that loreal maintained the body shop's original philosophy.
it didnt work.
so yeah, now its just like the other small companies who sold out to the big corporations.

[LucidAnne]

also, didnt lush just recently sell out as well, and the woman who founded the company now has another?

[AutomaticMan]

i wonder how long it'll take for Lush to end up exactly the same way.
.

Nooooooooooo. Never! Don't say it!!!!

[hoodedclawjen]

On a side note, hoodedclawjen, I find that walking into LUSH is like walking into a old woman's perfume aisle. It gives me a headache. I have looked into the ingredients and they aren't that great. Nothing with that much perfume or sparkles can be good. But I tend to be pretty pessimistic towards all companies. I find it very difficult to trust most claims without real evidence.

its very rare that i go into either Lush or The Body Shop... or other places like that. any place that has what they feel is a familar welcoming scent, just makes my allergies flare up. banging headache, itchy eyes and a runny nose = not welcoming.

plus a lot of the stuff sold as 'containing natural botanical extracts' or the like is just as dodgy as anything else, it just has different packaging and a bit of aloe and some menthol or lavendar oil in it.

i have no problems with 'chemicals' per say- everything comes from 'nature' in one way or another, its just a matter of working out what is and is not toxic, made with more than just the shareholders pockets in mind, full of pointless additives, likely to be half way effective, and a waste of resources, or my cash. thats the hard bit. :lol:

[Amison]

The Body Shop was once a wonderful company. it was a leader in fair trade, natural ingredients and recycling. but a few years ago they sold out to (i believe it was) Loreal. there were calls from the public to make sure that loreal maintained the body shop's original philosophy.
it didnt work.
so yeah, now its just like the other small companies who sold out to the big corporations.That's a shame. I remember the days of The Body Shop first opened up - being very unique and forward-thinking kind of company... comparatively. It was pretty slow to take off (in my circles) though I distinctly remember getting a bottle of White Musk from there and thinking I was untouchable! :p

That is discouraging news. L'Oreal is bad news.

Lush just recently opened in a mall close to me and I've been considering checking it out, but I figured it was just another evil empire type of place. Are they on the level?

While I am here, does anyone have any suggestions for a good moisturizer? I have some Burt's Bees Naturally Ageless night cream that I had to pick up out of emergency at a local Walgreens. It's alright... I need advice on shopping for organic products. *Real* organic products, not 'FDA organic'.

[KellyBon]

The only product that I love out of the hundreds of products they have is the Hemp hand lotion. Everything else stinks, way over perfumed for me.

[taryn]

It makes me sad that these companies eventually sell out. It also happened to my favorite coffee shop here in Canada. It is very difficult for a company to retain its morality and initial ideologies when they get sold out. But lucky for the company, most people are like sheep and would rather "feel" like they're being moral by buying some strongly-scented hand lotion than ACTUALLY be moral or support genuinely good companies. Of course, genuinely good companies are extremely hard to come by so it’s understandable that people don’t want to spend all their time looking for something “moral” to buy. I think the best solution is to just buy less.

And Amison, I like J/A/S/O/N products personally. I find they don't have too many funky chemicals and they have the leaping bunny logo. They say they're organic, but they don't have any type of certification or whatnot, so I'm not sure about that.

[IntheFlesh?]

Lush just recently opened in a mall close to me and I've been considering checking it out, but I figured it was just another evil empire type of place. Are they on the level?

While I am here, does anyone have any suggestions for a good moisturizer? I have some Burt's Bees Naturally Ageless night cream that I had to pick up out of emergency at a local Walgreens. It's alright... I need advice on shopping for organic products. *Real* organic products, not 'FDA organic'.

Lush haven't "sold out". They don't test on animals and 75%+ of their products are vegan -- and looooovely. I recommend!

Try Origins for moisturiser?

Oh also, the Body Shop is awful -- I've emailed them in the past about vegan products and I do have the response somewhere but the gist of it was "we don't know where our chemicals come from so they could be from animal sources"... so, whatever they claim, they're not even vegetarian. :/

[IamJen]

Lush does have a lot of "chemical" ingredients though. The Body Shop..sigh. I used to really dig them, but the whole "Against Animal Testing" (vs. "This Product Not Tested on Animals") thing was frustrating to me.

As for the smell of Lush...you can get a whiff a half-block away near the store here (really). I went in there once with the man, and I had to leave because my nose was running buckets.

[Bof]

The Body Shops in Australia are franchised, so I imagine the same applies in other countries. This means that you probably can't generalise about them.
I think it's a bit disingenuous to give one's recollection of the 'gist' of a Body Shop email.
There's far too much defamatory hearsay throughout VB.

[IntheFlesh?]

Lush does have a lot of "chemical" ingredients though. The Body Shop..sigh. I used to really dig them, but the whole "Against Animal Testing" (vs. "This Product Not Tested on Animals") thing was frustrating to me.

As for the smell of Lush...you can get a whiff a half-block away near the store here (really). I went in there once with the man, and I had to leave because my nose was running buckets.

I loooove the Lush smell ;)

I suppose I don't really have much of an objection to "chemicals", but I do think Lush are better than most in that regard, too. There certainly isn't a more natural alternative where I am.

AND OK:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your email.

The Body Shop chooses not to produce a list of these products, as we do not claim to be a Vegan company.

While we have a policy of avoiding the use of raw materials derived from animals where the animal is slaughtered to directly provide the material for use in cosmetic products, manufacturers of synthetic chemicals for use in the cosmetics industry obtain input materials from both animal and plant sources (fatty acids, for example, can be obtained from both palm oil and animal fats) and we have no visibility or control over these raw materials several layers down in the supply chain. That said, we do specify that grades of materials such as surfactants are from plant sources where raw material suppliers offer both plant and animals sources as options.

Hence, we cannot guarantee that a product only contains raw materials that are synthesized from ingredients derived from plants and not animals.

[Bof]

Hence, we cannot guarantee that a product only contains raw materials that are synthesized from ingredients derived from plants and not animals.

That sounds bad.
I've hardly ever bought anything from them and certainly won't in future. (I still have a few things that were given to me by a Body Shop employee (liberated!)) which I'll use up.

I wonder though, if their policy varies from country to country.

[IntheFlesh?]

That sounds bad.
I've hardly ever bought anything from them and certainly won't in future. (I still have a few things that were given to me by a Body Shop employee (liberated!)) which I'll use up.

I wonder though, if their policy varies from country to country.

Yeah, I was just waiting for someone to express an interest before I went hunting for it -- but amiright? I lost all faith in the Body Shop after that.

I think what they call themselves must vary because they have proclaimed themselves to be a vegetarian company on the international website, but not on the UK website or in UK stores as far as I can see.
Their policy on ingredients is probably identical everywhere.

[Bof]

I'm fairly sure that, under Anita Roddick, they said that they didn't use any slaughterhouse products. Now that L'Oreal owns them, it's a whole new game.

[LucidAnne]

That's a shame. I remember the days of The Body Shop first opened up - being very unique and forward-thinking kind of company... comparatively. It was pretty slow to take off (in my circles) though I distinctly remember getting a bottle of White Musk from there and thinking I was untouchable! :p
That is discouraging news. L'Oreal is bad news.

Lush just recently opened in a mall close to me and I've been considering checking it out, but I figured it was just another evil empire type of place. Are they on the level?

While I am here, does anyone have any suggestions for a good moisturizer? I have some Burt's Bees Naturally Ageless night cream that I had to pick up out of emergency at a local Walgreens. It's alright... I need advice on shopping for organic products. *Real* organic products, not 'FDA organic'.

Hahaha... that was my first "grown up" scent. i bought it on my first trip freshman year to montreal at the body shop...ah...memories of debauchery! lol.

for a good company, you might want to check out origins. they have a whole new organic lline, w/ little packaging, etc. while i havent used their stuff so much *except for FREE samples from the store, hit them up!*, my bff has skin that is finicky, and she says their moisturizers are good. they are a bit pricey, but again, check out their samples before you buy. they also dont have strong scents.

[LucidAnne]

I'm fairly sure that, under Anita Roddick, they said that they didn't use any slaughterhouse products. Now that L'Oreal owns them, it's a whole new game.

exactly. anita has had nothing to do w/ them for years. she is now RIP too. :(

loreal is just hoping to catch on to the whole "green" reputation that the body shop made for themselves at the beginning...hoping no one would notice. :devil:

[kali]

exactly. anita has had nothing to do w/ them for years.

It was only sold to l'oreal in 2006.

[Bof]

It was only sold to l'oreal in 2006.

2006, 2007, 2008 = Years :D

[skfamiliar]

i won't use body shop stuff. i went in there and the staff didn't know anything about the products let alone the ingredients. also, when i went home to email the company to ask them if they could let me know what products were vegan, they stated that they're not a vegan company and couldn't supply a list of vegan products, but did suggest i read the labels.

eff that! i'm not reading the labels of everything in the store. what great customer service!

[kali]

2006, 2007, 2008 = Years :D

march 2006. is that "years" meaning a long time? how do we define "years" is it more than 3, less than 10?? and why can i hear a seinfeld type voice going on in my head right now. :D