Organics and skin care

"Organic" has become a cosmetic buzzword on par with "all-natural".

Consumers are inundated with organic claims on all manner of products, and with frequent media stories surrounding the potential health risks and unknowns of anything remotely synthetic, curiosity for organic products is at an all-time high with product sales sky rocketing.

There is also the battle of the organic lines with each saying theirs is the real deal and everyone else if fibbing. Basically you can call your product organic and there is really no one to stop you regardless of what it contains, as there are currently no set rules about what an organic product should or should not contain.

Mostly the term “organic” or “all natural” is perpetuating the myth that synthetic ingredients are automatically bad and natural ingredients are automatically good. Now it seems that only organic ingredients are good and even natural ingredients are now bad unless they are obtained organically.
The truth is more complicated. Consumers are waylaid by the labels, trusting the one they’ve chosen is the right brand. In reality what ends up happening more often then not is just an exchange of one marketing scheme, to the new one of products labeled with organic plants.

As you venture out to shop for a great skin-care routine, thinking that healthy-sounding product labels will take the utmost care of your skin, some rational consideration and being armed with the facts surrounding organic products is the best balance for your budget and skin.

Organic Food’s Relation to Cosmetics

Since October 2002, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), national regulations have been on the books that specify exact standards for determining what precisely is meant when food (not cosmetics) is labeled “organic,” whether it is grown in the United States or imported from other countries. As is stated on the USDA Web site, “Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides, fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled ‘organic,’ a government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.”

The Organic Market

The forecast for continued strong sales of products labeled as organic is nothing less than robust. As a category, organic (and natural) products are worth $7.3 billon. From 2005-2007 there was a 53% increase in organic product launches.

As you might expect the problem is that almost without exception the formulas are not as organic as claim to be and the overuse of irritating, skin-damaging ingredients is the rule rather than the exception. Add to that the routine inclusion of numerous synthetic ingredients in many products erroneously labeled as “organic” and consumers are setting themselves up for false claims and an unhelpful, potentially damaging skin-care routine.

Check the Labels for the Truth

It takes only a quick look at the ingredients list on a cosmetic to notice that there are a lot of words that are completely unrelated to anything resembling a plant, much less a plant that can be labeled “organic.” Plenty of synthetic ingredients are found in products from cosmetics lines that boast about their all “natural” and now “organic” content, even those that have followed the proper channels to be certified organic. Despite this discrepancy, the hope and desire for “healthier-sounding” products will be an emotional pull for lots of consumers, particularly women shopping for themselves and their family. Add the pull off organic products being perceived as more environmentally-friendly and they become even more difficult to resist.
Things become even more confusing when you consider that most “natural” cosmetics lines are sold at supermarkets that showcase organic produce and food products. When specialty grocery stores sell products that have strictly regulated organic labeling, many customers will never notice that the products in the other half of the store, where the cosmetics are sold, are backed by no such regulation, despite the similar labeling.

Shopping for Organic Cosmetics

Discussing and debating whether a product is organic sidesteps the issue of sun protection, the skin’s need for antioxidants, skin-identical ingredients, and cell-communicating ingredients (of which many of the most stable and most “bio-available are synthetically derived from natural sources). You also need to be aware that there is no substantiated, published research anywhere proving that organic ingredients are superior to non-organic or synthetic ingredients.
If organic is the only way you are willing to go, until formal standards are available in the United States and the rest of the world, the best approach is to buy products certified by the USDA or Ecocert or one its related groups.

These aren’t perfect systems, but products bearing one of these organization’s seals are an honestly transparent way to decipher just how natural and organic the product you’re considering is.