NATURAL
BEAUTY
Toxin-free, plant-based and formulas so fresh you could eat them
– what’s the deal with natural and organic skin care?
Enter the conscious consumer, someone who
no longer feels comfortable mindlessly buying
products without thoroughly researching them
first and who is clued up on the biggest envi-
ronmental issues of the moment. In response
to this, the beauty industry has been trying to
clean up its act by cutting down on unnecessary
packaging and removing some of the most
problematic ingredients from their formulas
such as parabens, sulphates and plastics. With
health and wellness now a firm fixture in the
minds of the public, it makes sense that we are
now educating ourselves better when it comes
to what goes in and onto our bodies. But, in
an effort to appear ‘cleaner’, there is still some
confusion around what is classed as a synthetic,
natural or organic formula. Dr. Christian Jurist,
Medical Director of Global Education for
Pevonia, offers some much-needed clarity on
the subject: “Many skin care lines in the beauty
market offer natural ingredients, but these are
usually mixed with synthetic ingredients.
Synthetic could easily be defined as a man-made
ingredient or the formation of complex com-
pounds by uniting more simple ones. Natural
(skin care) refers to products containing ingre-
dients that come from Mother Nature, one
way or another. However, natural does not
always mean organic.” According to the Soil
Association, the UK’s leading authority on
organic brand classification, to be certified as
an organic brand, certain criteria must be met.
For example, at least 95% of the ingredients
need to be organically sourced, the product
needs to be free of all synthetic substances (like
dyes and fragrances), and it must have recycla-
ble packaging. Not only that, they also look at
how and where a product is manufactured
while taking into account the brand’s additional
O
nce the preserve of hippies and new-age
therapists, organic and plant-based
skin care is now a multi-billion pound
industry that is only going to get bigger, so why
are so many people turning their backs on
chemical-based and lab-engineered formulas?
ISSUE #08 | 2018 | SkinHealthMagazine.com 18