According to popular legend, Juan Ponce de León, one of the famed conquistadors of the late 1400s, traveled to Florida and Puerto Rico in search of the Fountain of Youth. Having been written about in several histories and memoirs, this lore perpetuated to the modern era. The search for a water that would reverse age. Some historians believe Ponce De León merely mistook the natives’ word vine for life and so the search was always fanciful even if founded in any reality.
Today, we are bombarded with marketing and advertising messages purporting to have a similar Fountain of Youth effect on our skin. We are told we’ll look, feel and be younger with organic, natural skincare products.
To get the best for your skin, in this article I cover the basics you should know about buying organic and natural skincare products.
Difference Between Natural and Organic Skincare
From the way the ingredients of skincare products are sourced to the way in which you use and ultimately dispose of it is part of its sustainability. So farming methods, with clean water usage and proper pesticide, insecticide and herbicide practices all the way to packaging, can impact the health of the product and the planet. So, when someone says a product is natural or organic skincare, you need to look a little deeper at the meaning of the words.
In the beauty world, sadly, “natural” and “all-natural” are not words you should pay attention to when it comes to skincare unless you are at a trusted brand or retailer who has done their research. And, if you don’t trust the seller? Environmental Working Group to the rescue! According to their website, EWG’s “mission is to empower people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With breakthrough research and education, [they] drive consumer choice and civic action. [EWG is] a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting human health and the environment.”
Using EWG’s Skin Deep® criteria, you can ask the seller the following questions about their product
- Is the skincare product made from only plants, flowers and mineral origins found wild in nature?
- Are there any genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in the ingredient list, but not identified?
- Are any parabens or sulfates, or other (harmful) stabilizers, used in the ingredients?
- Are any petrochemicals (sourced from petrol or natural gas) used as ingredients?
- How was this skincare product tested (and hopefully not on animals)?
- Does the manufacturing process degrate the natural ingredient integrity in any way?
If they hesitate or don’t know the answer to all of these questions, and aren’t certified-labeled “organic,” you can safely assume the product is not natural or all-natural as marketed.
Standards in Organic Skincare
At least in the United States, our Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is asleep at the wheel in many cases when it comes to natural and organic skincare products. But, they have far more standards when it comes to the use of “organic” labels so it’s more trustworthy than “natural” or “all-natural” on any product you find at a grocer or retailer.
For “organic” skincare products, these are the standards most certifying organizations set for the ingredients of organic skincare:
- No synthesized herbicides or fertilizers used,
- No non-organic dyes to color the product,
- No preservatives or stabilizing chemicals (such as parabens or sulphates),
- No preventative antibiotics,
- No genetically modified organisms, or plant-growth regulation,
- Limited use of pesticides, and
- Sustainable land use and management of crops.
In the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, the requirements above are similar for certifying products as “organic.”
How to Bring More Natural Skincare Into Your Life
You can create your own realistic Fountain of Youth, made of organic and natural skincare if you learn how to eco-fy your beauty routine.
Here are a few tips to eco-fy your organic and natural skincare regimen actually:
- If your ingredients list on your skincare product notes “fragrance” that is not identified by a natural ingredient (by a plant, flower or mineral you can identify or Google to verify its scent) you should look for another one; they’re using a loophole in the law to put whatever they want in the product.
- Glass packaging is better than all other packaging of skincare products because it doesn’t affect the ingredients (prematurely aging them or adding toxins to it), and it’s recyclable.
- Check the sustainability, environmental and safety records of the company producing the skincare product.
- Simplify your number of products. Do you need any eye cream when a moisturizer will do? Think through all the products and what they’re actually doing to your skin and recognize that a cleanser, exfoliant, toner, moisturizer and sunscreen are probably all you need. So, you can research the best products for your skincare that are natural, organic and save yourself time and money!
Many before (such as Alexander the Great) and many more after Ponce de León went in search of something like the Fountain of Youth. The likelihood is that the former Governor of Puerto Rico explored Florida, Puerto Rico, Bimini, and the surrounding tropical islands for gold and other possible natural assets for business opportunities more than a mythical elixir.
In that story is a lesson for us today, that we all need to be cautious about seeking out the right qualities in our skincare products. There are great organic, natural skincare products that can help us restore our skin’s natural radiance and allow us to age with grace, now that you know what to look for.