BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Beauty Basics Redefining Natural

Be wary of wording like "nature-inspired" or "made with" natural or organic ingredients. This is often just a clever way to position a product as healthy even when it is not.
A single natural ingredient in a product doesn't make it all natural. Just as you read food labels,read personal care labels and ingredient statements. Look for ingredient order-if cucumber extract is the last listed ingredient, chances are your cucumber lotion isn't very natural.
There are certain ingredients that should never be used in a product labeled "natural" as listed below
Bee Aware of
PARABENS; Synthetic preservatives that may be potential endocrine disrupter's
SULFATES;(Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate)- A cleaning agent that potentially removes natural oils from the lipid layer of your skin
PETROCHEMICALS (Petrolatum/Mineral Oil/Paraffin)
Non-renewable by-products of crude oil with potential impurities
CHEMICAL SUNSCREENS (Oxybenzone/Avobenzone)- Synthetic sunscreens that get absorbed and potentially disrupt hormone balance
PHTHALATES; Synthetic fragrance (fixatives) components that are potential toxins.

This is great advice, rosie! I always read labels now. I was using a certain "natural" toothpaste and found out it had some harmful ingredients in it.

It's too bac that products that really are 100% organic get mixed in with products only claiming to have organic ingredients.

Thanks for the info rosie...

This information is good to know Rosie. It's similar to when ads/commercials claim that a beauty product is "dermatologist tested". The consumers have no idea how the product was tested, and for what purposes. The "test" could have been as simple as placing a sample of the product on the skin to see if it causes skin rashes. The "test" results don't tell us anything.

www.ethnic-beauty-central.com

Thanks Rosie.

You hit the nail on the head. I have small boutique that features lavender body care and the same holds true for these products.

The skin absorbs somewhere around 60% of what we put on it, so it is important to educate ourselves on safety in cosmetics and always read the labels.

Great post!

So true! Every time I thought I found a trustworthy product, there was always something else in it that I didn't think to look for when I bought it. I've thrown away so many unused/partially used products for this reason. At first, I thought anything sold at the local Co-op was good. Then I thought as long as it advertised paraben and SLS free on the front, it was good. I recently found out that SLS has been substituted with Sodium Myreth Sulfate which is basically the same thing. How frustrating! Eventually, I found a few products here and there that were all natural and/or organic, but not everything from the same brand could be trusted. A few weeks ago, I found a company that has yet to show me a product with harmful ingredients, yay for Aubrey organics!

This is so true! I was just reading on CNN I think that they now find that botox migrates to the brain. So all those people who got botox injections thinking "it's safe, it only affects my skin" probably have botox lurking around in their brain now ...

it's just not worth it!

Yikes! That is so scary. I wonder what it will do in the brain...paralysis? Personally, I can't quite believe people are so willing to inject chemicals into their body that hasn't been tested for very long.

HELLO,
Thanks so much for letting us know about this. This deception goes on way too much. It always helps to be well informed. Botox is a poison. So, people should think about that. Judy K. Chicago.

Thanks for the information --- now I'm running through my kit, reading fine-print labels!

For a beauty product to be called truly natural, the bulk of its contents, that is close to 100% of its ingredients, must be derived from natural origin, and it must contain only minor amounts of synthetic additives. In replacement of synthetic chemicals, natural beauty products make use of ingredients such as essential oils and vegetable oils, herbal extracts, floral waters, fruit and vegetable extracts, plant and flower waxes, and essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and amino acids. Brands that are allowed to call themselves natural because they contain a small fraction of natural ingredients, but are made from a largely synthehetic base, can not be considered to be natural.

www.naturalbeautystore.com

This is so true. At least with that it is labeled (in some way or another) so if we are careful and read correctly before buying we can avoid this. Genetically modified is not labeled at all so with that we have no choice and have no idea what we buy and use/eat.