Natural & Organic Certifications

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With natural sections popping up in virtually every retail store these days, it seems that consumers are more interested than ever in buying natural care products to maximize their well-being. But in the smoke and mirror world of today’s mainstream marketing, how do we know what ‘Natural’ really means.

An independent agency, Yankalovich, polled female consumers in America and discovered these startling results:

65% think that if a product is labeled ‘NATURAL’, it must be at least 95% natural.
78% believe that natural claims are REGULATED, while there is NO regulation in the U.S. today.
97% think that natural claims SHOULD be regulated.
83% believe that there should be one meaning for the word ‘NATURAL’ in marketing.
86% want a SYMBOL that CERTIFIES the natural claim.
86% don’t know about the risks of PARABENS, PABAs, FRAGRANCES and other synthetic toxins that are currently being used in most skin care products today.
73% think that stores do not do a good job educating them.

The most startling discovery of all was when consumers were told that a product labeled ‘natural’ was only 50% NATURAL , the interest in purchasing that product plummeted.

Currently a product can claim ‘natural’ if it is as little as 1% natural or even has just 1 natural ingredient altogether. So what are you to do? How do you find the most natural products available for your personal care? The most important step you can take is to purchase only products that are CERTIFIED natural by an independent certifying body such as Cosmebio’s ECOCERT, the most stringent natural and organic certification in the world. Search out companies that provide FULL DISCLOSURE on ALL ingredients used in their products. Stay away from any company that uses synthetic preservatives or other toxins in their skin care products.

Just remember, small amounts of toxins over a long period of use can add up to BIG health concerns in the future. For a list of the most popular toxins used in skin care products and to find out more about Cosmebio’s ECOCERT certification, go to www.luvalla.com.

posted by Skinfanatic on 9/28/2007 11:22 am | COMMENTS (6)

Comments (6)

I use Olive Oil Shampoo and Conditioner from the Heritage Store at www.caycecures.com. It's great stuff with nothing bad in it.

Mike Adams from NewsTarget.com uses it and that's a good enough recommendation for me.

Suz

posted by skupe on 10/ 9/2007 6:46 pm

Thanks Judy! What a great resource. This will make it a lot easier to shop.

You know, I just fell victim to this last week. I was shopping for a new shampoo and I picked up Natures Gate Tea Tree Shampoo thinking that if it was a Nature's Gate product, then it should be fine (which is very stupid of me since I had just written my first post on this subject!). Just the other day I looked more carefully at the label and there I found the dreaded "PROPYLPARABEN" ingredient. I just checked the website you sited and it got a score of 4...which is not so good. I guess I have to be a little more careful.

I was also surprised to see that a lot of the products that scored an 8 (worst score) where kid products!!

posted by katiek on 10/ 9/2007 12:27 pm

Log on to www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep2 for a cosmetic database that rates the toxicity of cosmetics. Unfortunately, some of the most popular big name brands are not included because they won't do it. Hmmm.

I was happily surprised to find that some Revlon products are safer than many of the so-called natural brands.

The listing also indicated whether a company is a signer of the Compact for Safe Cosmetics (indicates they have pledged not to use phtalates, parabens & other baddies) and if they use animal testing.

The site has a petition to sign if you support regulation of ingredients (US only).

posted by judy on 10/ 9/2007 10:13 am

Hey here is a company that is trying to do something about the lack of definition in the Natural product market. www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&contentPageId=455

posted by Barry Jacobs on 10/ 2/2007 7:03 pm

I recently went onto the Lush cosmetics website for the US, then the UK website, to find out what was in their products. I was startled to find that they use a whole serious of colourants in their products that may have various health consequences. They use various red, blue and yellow colourants which may cause adverse skin reactions, and sometimes more. They are also using ingredients such as Sodium Lauryl and Laureth Sulphate, and EDTA/Tetrasodium Editronate, widely used in soap manufacture with possible links to adverse health reports.

For a company which touts itself as making 'natural' cosmetics, and which has become so big on the back of this claim, this was a little shocking. I think we should all be checking ALL products from now on. I am aware that some companies fortunately make commitments that they keep about product ingredients, so perhaps we need to stick with those? Like Katiek, for me if those 'extra' ingredients can go inside, then the outside's not a problem!

posted by adamgilliland on 9/30/2007 5:47 am

The same thing goes for the term "Organic". Organic labels now come in varying types (referenced by organic.org/home/faq#faq2):

• 100% Organic: Made with 100% organic ingredients

• Organic: Made with at least 95% organic ingredients

• Made With Organic Ingredients: Made with a minimum of 70% organic ingredients with strict restrictions on the remaining 30% including no GMOs (genetically modified organisms)

• Products with less than 70% organic ingredients may list organically produced ingredients on the side panel of the package, but may not make any organic claims on the front of the package.

I too am glad that someone is finally taking a stance against these terms that often get skewed by marketing trends. If labels would stick to the certified rules, it would be a lot easier to shop, that’s for sure. I find myself reading labels of every product in order to find one that looks the most “natural” because I don’t want to put chemicals onto my skin. As a general rule for me when shopping, anything that I can’t pronounce, like Polyacrylamide, Dimethicone, Sucrose Polycottonseedate stays on the shelf.

I recently came across a new product called Talulah Skin Care. I was comforted to see that I every single item in the list of ingredients was something that I was familiar with such as such as aloe vera, raw honey, green tea, macadamia nut oil, etc. See a full list of their ingredients here: www.talulahskincare.com/ingredients.

I figure if the ingredients for my skin care products are healthy enough to eat or grow in my back yard, then its healthy enough to put on my skin!

posted by katiek on 9/28/2007 12:40 pm