HOW MUCH NATURE IS ACTUALLY IN NATURAL COSMETICS?
This is part one of the new series we started to raise awareness of what’s actually natural cosmetic and what’s not. We will first focus on the legal rules in this article.
This actually wouldn’t be necessary if there would be rules set in place that would exactly determine what does it mean “natural”, “organic”, “organic origin”. A good example of this is the food industry. Although we need to mention that there is a big difference between the US regulation and EU regulation. For example, agricultural products and livestock, “bio” means that the item was grown/raised following the rules of the EU Regulation on Organic Farming. For processed foods, such as crackers, “bio” on the label guarantees that at least 95% of the ingredients of agricultural origin come from organic farming.
This is not the case in the cosmetic industry. There are no rules for “organic” or “natural” cosmetic, which means that any manufacturer can benefit and advertise these names on their products. There are only few exceptions where the manufacturer was been brought to court due to deception.
NATURAL COSMETIC LABELS
In Europe there are few natural cosmetic labels that should guarantee safety of the cosmetic products. But you need to know that they’re all privet labels and not a single government-funded seal of approval, which means there is no transparency or unified logo. The point of the private labels is to restrict the use of some substances, which are allowed in conventional cosmetics. The good thing is that as soon there are new indications of possible risk for the health (and also environment), they cannot be used anymore in natural cosmetics. However, there are often different standards and a normal consumer has different times recognizing what they mean.
HOW CAN THE LABELS HELP?
In general, the labels help with more information for the user. This means an overview of the critical substances that can be harmful and should not be used. Labels dictate also that the ingredients are listed according to the international nomenclature of cosmetics ingredients, which is the INCI. Also, most of the labels inform the user about micro plastic, shopping guides, hormonally active substances and more.
But keep in mind that there are many private labels or seals out there but they’re not government – funded seals of approval, which would make the whole industry more trust worthy.
As of now you really need to trust the manufacturer. We at EREZ Organic truly use just natural ingredients at a high level.
Tune in next week when post our article on natural cosmetic and if it’s always better for your health or even better than the conventional cosmetics!?