When you think of nature, do you think of the ocean, fresh air, beautiful luscious green trees or preservatives? For most, it would be the obvious first one, but some natural skin care products in Australia have us hoodwinked, telling us of their natural origins when the majority of their ingredients are made in labs.
natural skin care isn't always natural
As the beauty and skin care industry is often self-regulated by the top brands out there, it's common to be mistaken that the word "natural" means what most people think at all. We can fall for words like "sourced from nature" and imagery that presents itself to us that a product is natural. The word itself is marketing and is not legally bound. You could add one natural ingredient into a product and the rest synthetic chemicals and it can still be seen as natural. Other words similar to this include "pure", "hypoallergenic", "organic" and "non-toxic". All these are claims any product could possibly make, with the exception to organic in some countries which is more heavily regulated. You need to do your research to find out whether the claims made by the product are in fact as true as you'd perceive them or want them to be.
the unnatural ingredient: Parabens
We all presume that skin care products are safe to use and that there is high standards when it comes to this. In Australia, the industry is guided by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and ingredients are governed by National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment scheme (NICNAS). However, the safety of ingredients can be argued in more ways than one. Take parabens as an example. NICNAS deemed the preservative propylparaben to be safe but other credible sources don't agree. This ingredient is typically used in other places like paints and cleaning agents and is used for its antimicrobial properties in skincare and fragrances. The ingredient can be found naturally in plants and animals but is manufactured synthetically by the cosmetics industry. Brands typically make it themselves as this saves them time and money. It is considered non-toxic at low concentrations. However, there is a concern that the ingredient can imbalance our body's natural hormones and be toxic. Another issue with chemical tests in cosmetics and skincare is that their recommendations of concentration (percentage of overall ingredients of product) are for individual use. That is, if you end up using a lot of cosmetics that contain parabens, you could be going over the safe level of consumption.
how to spot a natural skin care product?
There are a few ways you can spot if a product is natural.
The first is to look at the ingredients on the back of the product. Often if there are several ingredients with hard to pronounce names and no natural linkage in brackets this is often a good sign that you may need to be wary of the product.
If purchasing a new skin or body item online and you can't find the ingredients listed, stop! Go and ask the seller or brand for the info. This is important to understand what is in the products you are about to put and use on your skin and body.
You can use databases like the EWG to look up ingredients and to get a second source of information on them.
In order to get an idea of how much of one ingredient is used in a product, always look at the label from the start. Those ingredients which appear first are those used the most, and those at the end - the least. The most common ingredient found is aqua, which is water.
Read more: baimeni story to find natural products
what are some other unnatural ingredients used in products?
There are many ingredients used in skin care, makeup and cosmetic products. You need to take the time to do the research to discover what items mean. Other ingredients which people say to stay clear of include other types of parabens, sulphates, SLS and SLES.
which natural skin care product line should I use?
If you're looking for a natural product, you can't go past baimeni. We started with a desire to create true natural and effective products. The way it should be!
At baimeni Australia, we refuse to use ingredients like parabens, artificial colours, sulphates, SLS, SLES and unsustainable resources.
Our aim is to produce skin care that is natural, which truly lives up to your expectation of what natural should be and mean. Many of our products are also 100% Vegan. You can see our ingredients listed on each product on our website in the “what to expect” tab.
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