Covid-19 conspiracies are dividing the ‘clean’ beauty industry

Janna Mandell, March 5, 2021

Karlie Rust, a stay-at-home mother from Fresno, Calif., started becoming interested in “clean” beauty in 2013. She was caring for her newborn son and for her mother, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Rust, 44, said that she’d spend several hours a day researching clean living. That led her to Instagram, where clean beauty brands seemed to be everywhere on her feed.

Based on the advice of wellness and clean beauty influencers, Rust said she threw away all her plastic, dryer sheets and conventional beauty products; she believed that toxic chemicals could be found throughout her home. “Everything had to be natural,” she said. “I fully overreacted out of fear.”