Hi Everyone!
This post arguably was an exercise in clarification- as the trend to be green in all things emerges, I thought it was important as a purveyor of cosmeceuticals to fully understand all the terms that were being bandied about. I’ve got it now! It took a refresher course of grade 9 chemistry but I feel confident in outlining some of the basic concepts in regards to the SYNTHETICS versus NATURAL versus ORGANIC products debate and then maybe engaging in a little bit of philosophizing.
Proposition #1:
First, let’s take a calming/cleansing breath. The green debate can be one fueled by anxiety and a need to reestablish control over what we put on or in our body. Fortunately in this case, we are just talking about cosmetics (drugs are a separate issue). I’m a big believer than most of us are blessed with powerful barriers, i.e. skin, that is capable of keeping out most of what we try to put on it. Skin irritations and allergies are unfortunate but as for our bodies ingesting the apocalypse through our pores- we are resistant beings.
Preliminary Definitions:
Second, let’s define our terms.
Organic: Within the past decade, criteria for what constitutes an organic product have solidified with more and more national governments passing legislation to actually mandate how the term can be used. In Canada, guidelines exist for what is necessary but compliance is voluntary. That will change with new legislation that should have come into force June 30th. The US passed legislation in 2002 that more closely regulates the criteria. Generally, organic means the avoidance of most synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc), genetically modified organisms, irradiation, and the use of sewage sludge. Farms that are certified organic have been free from chemicals for typically three years and organics and non-organics abstain from cohabitation. Also the certification process goes all the way up through to the supply line between delivery, handling, processsing and distribution. Unfortunately, now the waters get murkier between synthetics and naturals.
Naturals and Synthetics: The chasm between an ingredient designated as organic versus natural looms large as natural can be more of a marketing ploy than concrete fact. Since the definitions for both natural and synthetic are pretty fast and loose, it makes sense to talk about a spectrum. On one hand, you have nature that we find in God’s green earth. Dry it, mill it, evaporate it, freeze it and it is still very natural as these processes are only altering it physically as opposed to chemically (i.e. its chemical formula remains the same and nothing new has been created). However, some chemical reactions are pretty ‘natural’ too- for instance the enzymatic browing of an apple. So how much human interplay took place in the process? How different does the end product look from the original? Like I said, it is hard to make a declarative statement either way so take branding claims of "obsessively natural" with a grain of salt.
Conclusions:
Having asked these questions, I think it is fair to say that I do not come down on the side of any one type of designation. I am an egalitarian. From a formulations perspective, you still have to analyze each ingredient from the dual criteria of safety and efficacy. Take the curcumin in our PM Anti-Age. One of our ads says that Indian brides used to rub a paste of turmeric on their faces before their wedding to make their skin glow and so do we. In actual fact, our Dutch supplier of the curcumin chemically extracted the potent part or active ingredient from the other inert elements of the turmeric. Not only can chemical extraction ensure purity, it also means that the ingedient is in a form that the skin can actually absorb. The process of encapsulating also ensures that you can target the effects of your ingredients where they need to be. So where does your product need to take effect? What is it aiming to do? If it is as simple as moisturizing or cleansing, I think organic or actual natural products could be a good solution…as long as they do not have known sensitizers and do not have a thousand ingredients in them. I still bathe in olive oil daily and I have never found anything better.
In the end, it really comes down to trust. Do you trust the companies that make your products? How conscientious are they in their selection of ingredients? How much thought have they put into their products? How much do they trust the quality of ingredients from their suppliers? Some green food for thought.Labels: green beauty, Natural products, organic