When shopping for hand lotion, opt for products that are free of palm oil, petrolatum, and synthetic fragrances. Instead, choose lotions that contain shea butter, beeswax, and essential oils. Our favorite hand lotions are certified by EWG (which ensures the product is free from chemicals of concern), Fair Trade (which benefits the people making the product), and PETA or Leaping Bunny (which ensure no animal testing was performed using the product). 

Ingredients

Palm Oil

Palm oil is an emollient that helps soften, smooth, and repair the skin barrier. About 66 million tons of palm oil are produced annually, making it the most common vegetable oil on Earth. It is a very productive crop, offering greater yield at a lower production cost than any other vegetable oil. However, it’s derived from oil palm trees which only grow in the tropics and need a serious amount of water to flourish. 

The increased use of palm oil has directly led to deforestation, child labor exploitation, the displacement of Indigenous peoples, has increased global warming, and has threatened 321 species with extinction, such as orangutans, Borneo elephants, and tigers. Not a great track record. As the demand for palm oil-based products expands, so too does the demand for palm oil plantations. That means that areas like Borneo and Sumatra are disproportionately affected by the problems caused by the expansion of palm oil production, which is reportedly responsible for 5% of all tropical deforestation. The expansion also leads to increasing land scarcity and higher land prices, which affect the livelihoods of local farmers who can be shut out by bigger corporate growers. 

It’s important to note that not all palm oil is produced in such an irresponsible way – some palm oils are produced without contributing to deforestation or ecosystem disruption, but it is a limited amount. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) claims to certify sustainable palm oil production. However, researchers have found no significant difference between certified and non-certified plantations for any of the sustainability metrics investigated, such as conservation of biodiversity, consideration of social impacts, and economic viability. Plus, less than 7% of total palm oil production is certified as sustainable by RSPO, so it’s not a silver bullet.

Shea Butter

Shea butter is an emollient that helps soften, smooth, and repair the skin barrier. It has been used for millennia in African countries for personal care products, and is known as “women’s gold” because it provides employment to millions of women across Africa. Exports from Ghana alone are valued at $66 million, so opting for shea butter lotions has the potential to support this trade if produced with these women in mind. The reality is that many women in the shea trade are exploited and abused by unfair labor practices. If you’re going to buy shea-based products, look for the UN-recommended Fair Trade certifications that are working to ensure fair labor standards. Shea doesn’t have the same negative environmental impacts from fertilizer use and land use as alternative vegetable oils (particularly palm oil) do. In comparison to palm oil, however, shea is expensive due to its small production scale. If this alternative to palm oil reached a scalable capacity, then it would likely come with the same negative environmental and social impacts. A bummer, we know. With current agricultural systems, shea works as an alternative on smaller, more niche scales. Given all of these factors, we think you’re better off opting for products made with shea butter over those made with palm oil.

Petrolatum

Petrolatum is an occlusive that helps seal moisture into skin. One of the most known petrolatum products is Vaseline, which is made of 100% petroleum jelly. Petrolatum is cheap, abundant, and safe for human use, but it’s derived from crude oil. And while petroleum jelly is such a small byproduct of the crude oil industry, it’s still contributing to the use of fossil fuels. If you’re looking to cut ties with fossil fuels, consider other occlusives, like beeswax.

Beeswax

When beekeepers discard honeycombs every couple of years, as is good practice, the discarded combs get melted into beeswax. Beeswax is renewable, but only as fast as bees can work to create more. And this is where problems can occur… To meet production needs, commercial hives have cropped up, which can directly harm wild honeybees, critical pollinators that keep plants healthy and promote biodiversity, which we all need to survive. We all want to keep bees happy, but commercial bees are introducing parasites and diseases to their wild counterparts, which are significantly decreasing wild bee populations. This is all to say that beeswax isn’t perfect, though it’s preferable to petrolatum.

Synthetic Fragrances

The most elusive ingredient of all might be fragrances. That’s because fragrances are protected from disclosure. While “fragrance” might appear to be one ingredient on the label, that word could potentially comprise hundreds of chemical compounds just for one scent! It’s not the scent that worries us, but phthalates, which enable fragrances to become soluble. They are known endocrine disruptors in both humans and aquatic life and can even lower the production of testosterone. Studies have found that prenatal exposure to phthalates can decrease mental and motor development in children. 

Essential Oils

Essential oils, botanicals, and plant extracts – while naturally occurring – can still cause skin irritation. Enter: contact dermatitis. Fragrances like linalool and limonene, which are extracted from citrus fruit peels, can cause allergic reactions in delicate, sensitive skin. If you want some fragrance in your 3-in-1, go the route of essential oils, botanicals, and plant extracts – but make sure you test the stuff on a patch of skin before slathering everywhere. 

Packaging

Aluminum

Whether it be a tin or a tube, aluminum is commonly used for hand lotion packaging. One of the main reasons is because aluminum is a highly recyclable material and 75% of all aluminum ever produced is still in use today. Before you go celebrate too much, know that not everyone recycles aluminum tubes properly – many recycling facilities won’t take them if the plastic cap is still attached. Luckily, L'Occitane has a recycling program through Terracycle to collect aluminum hand lotion tubes (plastic caps attached or not). But before we get much further, know that aluminum has its drawbacks from an environmental and social perspective. 

Firstly, aluminum is derived from bauxite, which has been linked to human rights issues in Guinea because of mining practices that have taken ancestral farmlands from local communities without providing sufficient compensation. Plus, bauxite mining can reduce access to clean water sources and the dust produced by mining can pollute air conditions in the surrounding area. Aside from these social implications, the smelting process used to produce aluminum is extremely energy-intensive and can actually produce up to twice the amount of greenhouse gasses as the production of plastic. 

Before you go swearing off aluminum, know that recycling can save 95% of the energy used to produce new aluminum packaging because the energy-intensive smelting process is removed from the equation. The best way to reduce aluminum-related emissions from your hand lotion purchase is to prioritize brands that use recycled aluminum in their packaging. 

Plastic

Polypropylene (PP) is a common material for hand lotion packaging due to its semi-rigid nature and resistance to chemical erosion. As we’re all too familiar with, plastic is a controversial material because it’s made from oils obtained through invasive extraction like fracking. Fracking and drilling can reduce air quality and disrupt natural wildlife habitats, which can lead to respiratory illnesses and biodiversity loss if not managed. 

While we know that plastic can reduce fewer emissions than aluminum during some parts of their respective production processes, plastic is not as recyclable as aluminum. PP is one of the more widely accepted forms of plastic for curbside pick-up, but studies show that just 3% of it actually gets recycled. That’s pretty low considering the average recycling rate for plastic is 9%. Again, Terracycle is helping to recover some of those losses through recycling programs with brands such as eos and Weleda. 

Fun Fact

An LCA found that raw material extraction and processing of palm oil accounts for the highest amount of energy-related emissions in moisturizing lotion.

Certifications

Here are some certifications to look for when shopping this category.

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