Skin Care

Why are natural skin care products important?

There is an ever increasing number of skin and body care products available and those who are concerned about their health should be aware of what the difference is between these products.

The skin is the largest organ of the body and it absorbs many of the things that come into contact with it. Obviously this is good in that we nourish the body by applying products to the skin, but bad in that if we apply the wrong sort of products it can have a negative reaction with the skin and the whole body.

Skin care products come in a wide range, from those that are full of chemicals to those that are completely natural. However, in between these two extremes is a wide range which is very much confused by the manufacturers’ labelling. These manufacturers know that most people want products that are natural so they modify the labels as much as they can within the laws to reflect this.

For instance ingredients such as Cocamide DEA or Sodium Hydroxysultaine may be followed by the words ‘derived from coconut oil’. Whilst this may be true, the fact is there has been an enormous amount of chemical intervention between the coconut oil and the final ingredient and it is not nearly as natural as the manufacturer would like you to believe.

Similarly, companies may use the word organic in its traditional manner, which is ‘a compound that contains a carbon atom’ to make customers believe that it is more natural. Truly organic products will have the British Soil Association logo, the Biological farmers of Australia logo, or the logo of a similar association in another country. This means that the contents are farmed without synthetic chemicals and other unnatural treatments such as pesticides, herbicides, hormones and growth promoters. The use of GMO’s is also not permitted in organic farming and products.

Due to the substantial increase in allergies and intolerances, many people want products that are free from specific items that disagree with them, in these cases it is essential that they know exactly what is included in each product.

As well as the health aspect there are a number of moral issues that people consider important. Some people only want vegetarian or vegan (no animal products included at all) items; others want products that have not been tested on animals, others want fairtrade products (which ensure that people from poorer countries have not been taken advantage of during the production of the items).

As a result of this demand there are an increasing number of healthy skin care products and toiletries available and it is important that you read the literature to determine the quality and decide which would suit your needs the best. Try selecting a product off the shelf and looking at the ingredients, do you know what they are! Some will be obvious, Aloe Vera is a good example, it is in many products these days, but how much is actually in there, and how many items that are not so healthy are also present. Have a look at http://www.onegrp.com/front.aspx?ID=education and it will give you a list of all the synthetic chemicals and the potential risks.

Article courtesy of Caroline Collard.