Natural and Organic Beauty Products

With the rise of GMOs and synthetic ingredients, many consumers are taking note of the ingredients in the things that they eat, but more recently, they’ve been looking at their beauty products as well. However, just because a beauty product label has the words “natural” and “organic” on them, doesn’t fully mean that they are. So what does it mean when your beauty products have these claims on them? Let’s find out.

Concerning “natural”, this is a very general term that can be slapped on anything. This is because is has no legal definition, and therefore there is no standard or regulation put in place in order for a company to have that in their marketing. Therefore, your version of the word natural, may not be what the company or the manufacturer deem to be natural.

On the same hand, many brands that deem their products to be natural may also brand themselves as non-toxic or “safe.” While no doubt in some cases that using natural ingredients instead of synthetic ones may be safer, natural does not always mean safer. After all, heavy metals are naturally occurring in the earth, so if one were to show up in a natural beauty product, no one would be able to sue the company for false claims. The falsity of “non-toxic” is another eyebrow raiser as nothing on this earth is “non-toxic”. Even water, which is needed to keep basically everything alive, in large quantities can be toxic. But “non-toxic” makes everyone feel safer, so therefore it is used on many products.

Concerning “organic” products, the same rules do not apply to beauty products as they do for food. For example, for beauty products, organic only refers to agricultural ingredients that are in the product, not anything else. A product only needs to be 95% organic as well in order to bear the organic seal. However, the use of GMOs or non-approved ingredients for the other 5% is prohibited. If organic products are important to you, look for the USDA seal, as that is the only recognized seal that guarantees the use of organic ingredients. Anything else claiming to be organic but lacking the seal may not meet the requirements, and therefore should not be trusted to be organic.

Conduct research, look deep into beauty brands, and trust your own judgement when choosing products.