🌍 Earth Day 2025: The Earth Deserves Better—And So Does Your Skin

Every year on April 22, Earth Day invites us to reflect on our relationship with the planet. It’s a global moment of pause, purpose, and possibility. While much of the conversation centres around carbon emissions, renewable energy, and conservation, there’s one often-overlooked culprit in environmental damage: the cosmetics, beauty, therapeutics industries.

Today, many mainstream and many so called “natural “, skincare products are loaded with petroleum-derived ingredients. These are not only harmful to the planet, but also disruptive to our skin’s natural function and more evidence is showing that they disrupt hormone function as well. Petrochemicals are cheap to produce and easy to manipulate, which is why they’re so widely used. But they come at a cost.

In South Africa, the situation is particularly alarming: regulations are so lax that companies aren’t even required to disclose the source of their ingredients. This means a product can be marketed as “natural” while containing synthetic ingredients derived from crude oil.

Here are just a few of the main culprits you might find in your skincare routine:

• Petrolatum (Petroleum Jelly): A byproduct of crude oil used as a moisturiser that creates a barrier, but doesn’t nourish.
• Mineral Oil: Also known as Paraffinum Liqudum A common filler that coats the skin without offering true hydration. The main ingredient  Baby Oil.
• Synthetic Vitamins:
• Ascorbic Acid (Synthetic Vitamin C): Typically derived from corn glucose processed with petrochemical solvents like acetone.
• Retinyl Palmitate / Retinol (Synthetic Vitamin A): Commonly made using petroleum-based compounds like benzene.
• Tocopheryl Acetate (Synthetic Vitamin E): Mostly lab-made using petrochemical sources instead of natural plant oils.

These ingredients don’t belong on our skin—and they certainly don’t belong in our soil or waterways. Whatever is not absorbed by the body is washed away into our environment and we are talking about thousands of tons of crude oil every year 

The tide is turning. Consumers are becoming more ingredient-savvy, demanding transparency and choosing products that are aligned with both personal health and planetary care. Earth Day is not just a reminder of the problems—it’s a celebration of progress.

Our Earth Day Commitment: Petrochemical-Free, Forever

At Zero BS, we don’t compromise. We are proud to:

We believe your skin should be treated with the same reverence as the Earth itself.

Earlier this year, we shot our Earth Day campaign on the burn-scarred slopes of Table Mountain. Surrounded by charred earth and silent ash, our models stood in flowing white linen — a visual contrast to devastation, and a symbol of hope.

Here in the Cape, we know something beautiful: fynbos is meant to burn. Fire clears the way for regeneration. Within weeks, delicate green shoots emerge from the blackened soil. It’s nature’s way of reminding us that healing is possible — when we strip away what no longer serves us.

Just like the Earth, our skin can recover from damage. But not when it’s coated in petrochemicals. At Zero BS, we believe in creating the conditions for true, deep regeneration — for skin, for self, for planet.

Here’s how to take action:

This Earth Day, choose more than just skincare. Choose to break up with petrochemicals. Choose transparency. Choose nourishment. Choose regeneration.

With gratitude and zero BS,

Team Zero BS