While the clean and natural beauty movement has yielded a greater understanding of what we’re putting on ourselves, forcing brands to step up their practices and transparency and creating a market for healthy beauty, it’s pretty safe to say that there needs to be more clarification on what terms actually mean to avoid fear and confusion.

There’s a lot of heated discussion on Instagram right now on how scientific words are used to market products to consumers. While we all have the right to adhere to our own beauty ethos – you do you – it’s vital that we’re all on the same page with these definitions to avoid needless scaremongering, leading to drastic decisions and ‘cancelling’ brands. To put it into perspective: the EU has very strict laws around cosmetic ingredients, with 1,300 substances banned, while the US has outlawed only 13.

One brand at the forefront of clearing up confusion is Sam Farmer. Specialising in personal care for teenagers, the brand strives to educate consumers on matters of ingredients, cosmetic science and sustainability. “I completely understand some consumers’ concern surrounding ingredients,” founder Sam Farmer tells Stylist. “Cosmetic chemistry is complicated and challenging but also endlessly fascinating and creative. However, exploiting consumers knowledge gap in this area using fear, misinformation and exploitative language is duplicitous to say the least. The industry has not helped itself, allowing brands to join in the conversation using this terminology as a sales tactic.”

Toxic, organic, or clean: the truth behind labels on beauty products