With all the hype and surge in demand surrounding the natural beauty industry, natural and organic beauty products are popping up everywhere. Companies are starting to move towards the use of more natural or organic ingredients, and have set standards that address consumers current concerns. But the natural beauty industry isn’t regulated and the using the word natural can be quite deceiving to consumers, which is what is making it hard for consumers to make informed decisions about their bath and beauty products, as well as cosmetics.
The term natural refers to ingredients which are derived from plants, but synthetic versions of these ingredients and the compounds that make them up are readily available, and can sometimes contain other compounds that could be harmful or dangerous to our bodies. This industry is also ridden with products that contain misleading labels that try to boost up the use of organic and natural ingredients, but in reality fall short of this feat due to the extremely low content of these types of ingredients included in the product. Many products that contain only about 1 – 2% natural ingredients typically boost up this fact, claiming that the product is “natural”, or “more natural”. This ploy has been used for a long time, and is now becoming more popular due to the demand in natural beauty products.
For the above reasons, it is a good idea to have a few tips when reading labels and using natural beauty products for your beauty and cosmetic needs. First, you are going to want to educate yourself on some of the harmful ingredients that can be quite common in natural products. To do this you can easily find lists and reports online for the most commonly used ingredients. Companies like USDA Organics and NaTrue usually have most of this information on their websites, and even doing a Google search can return many results discussing these topics and ingredients, and why they are harmful when used.
Second, when reading labels it is a good idea to keep note of common groups of ingredients, like Parabens, Laurel Sulfates, Botanical Names, etc. so that you can easily identify each group of ingredients readily without having to reference a good book or website. When listed in the ingredients listings Parabens will typically have “paraben”, or “parahydroxybenzoic acid” in its name, so these should be easily identifiable. Botanical names are pretty identifiable as well, and just reading a list of Botanical Names will give you a feel for what I mean by being identifiable. There are many Natural Beauty Sites that list Botanical Names and the properties of each and their benefits, cautions, and other various properties.
In addition to reading labels, another good source for tips on moving towards a more natural beauty regimen is Cosmetic and Soapmaking Sites, and vendors websites. Companies that sell botanicals usually list their products, which include some very common botanicals and beauty ingredients, along with information regarding each product and its uses. These sites can be very useful when learning about natural beauty products and ingredients, and they can also give you more ideas and tips on things you can do at home to treat and pamper yourself.
For more tips and resources you can visit this great site on Soapmaking and Natural Beauty. You can find tips for hair and skin care, botanicals profiles, recipes, and much more for all your natural beauty and soapmaking needs.
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