Organic Beauty Products: For Better or Worse?

Jan. 22, 2016

“Organic” has become a buzzword found on a host of cosmetics and skin care products, but what does this term actually mean and are these products really better for you and your skin?

HEY, FDA

Organic beauty products, in the simplest of terms, are supposed to derive their ingredients from natural sources (living matter), with no synthetic compounds, chemicals or pesticides included, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t actually have a specific definition for the word “organic” where cosmetics are concerned; products termed “organic cosmetics” have to comply with both USDA regulations for the organic half and FDA regulations for cosmetic safety and labeling requirements. Put even more simply: if you’re confused about the long list of ingredients on that face cream you found at the drugstore, you’re not the only one.

Since the terminology isn’t carefully defined or regulated where makeup and skin care are concerned, products with words like “organic” or “natural” on their labels may or may not be legitimate. The best way for you to determine exactly what you’re putting on your skin is to research the ingredients themselves; products labeled “natural” may only contain a certain percentage of synthetic-free ingredients, while “hypoallergenic” often means that just the most common irritants are excluded, while others may still be present.

COSMETIC TRICKERY

Sharron Pinheiro, founder of Eve Organics in Macomb, Mich. (eveorganicsbeauty.com), explained that some companies try to “get away” with circumnavigating ingredient lists by finding loopholes of their own.

“Many companies won’t list an ingredient at all if it’s under 1 percent of the total product,” she explained. “And if they consider an ingredient a trade secret, they’ll just list it as ‘fragrance,’ even if it’s a much larger percent of the product.”

Eve Organics, Pinheiro added, decided to be 100 percent transparent about their specialty mineral makeup, hair products and skin care lines, listing every single ingredient right down to the most minute. An ingredients list for each product and an ingredients dictionary is included on their website.

“We don’t want to hide anything,” she said. “Our products are made up of different levels of organic materials, down to 76 percent.”

NATURAL APPROACH

So what good are beauty products that claim to be organic, and are they actually better than over-the-counter products you’d find at your typical drugstore or department store? Pinheiro said yes.

“I think the No. 1 reason they would be thought of as ‘better’ would be for people who believe in being as natural as they can be in their lifestyle, so prefer to avoid synthetic ingredients,” she said.

Pinheiro also suffers from rosacea (a skin condition that causes redness and bumps on the face) and found, through both her own experiences and her customer studies, that products with organic ingredients seem less likely to cause adverse reactions.

“Most of my customers have had more bad reactions to regular over-the-counter products than they have had when using organic products,” she said. “And we’ve been in business since 2007, so I think that’s a fairly good testimony to the effectiveness of the more natural ingredients.”

STAY INFORMED

With some products containing dozens of ingredients, though, cosmetic and skin/ hair care lines remain a confusing marketplace of goods. Many companies like Eve Organics try to educate customers by listing “The Dirty Dozen” on their websites: ingredients like phthalates (DEP/DEHP), petrochemicals (petrolatum, mineral oil), talc, sulfates (sodium laurel/sodium laureth), dyes, lanolin and propylene glycol, the use of which is believed to have serious health repercussions. Natural-based cosmetic companies aren’t the only ones strongly suggesting that we avoid them.

And they may be right; in the end, it seems it would be safer to err on the side of natural ingredients as opposed to synthetic, since natural ingredients are easier to trace back to their roots, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all synthetic ingredients are bad or that all organic ingredients are problem-free.

So, until stronger regulations are put in place as far as what manufacturers are allowed to put into these products, it’s up to you to read, research, stay informed and look after yourself.