How to Spot Organic Skin Care
Tue ,11/08/2009
Many people find organic skin care mysterious. We often just have a general idea that things that are organic should be good for us. Most of us do not have a good definition for the word organic, though. Organic skin care, we assume, must be good for our skin because it is natural. You need to realize that this is only partly true, but natural ingredients alone do not make a product organic. It is important to understand what the terms in the ingredients mean in order to get the best results from any organic skin care investment.
According to the FDA, organic means that a product has at least 95 percent organic ingredients. Containing carbon makes something fit the bill of organic. Therefore, a product with 95 percent carbon-based ingredients can be called organic. As far as skin care goes, just being full of petroleum can make a product technically organic. You need to understand this so you can look out for ingredients like methylparaben, a suspected carcinogen that is petroleum-based and plays a role in many skin care products. Certainly the term organic skin care does not usually call to mind crude oil derivatives and a threat of breast cancer. You should always make sure an organic skin care product meets your personal requirements as well as the law’s before you buy.
Organic skin care that meets your requirements is out there, but you need to know what to look for. In general, most people want unaltered, natural components in their skin care products. (You have to understand that there will be some preservatives and processing compounds that need to be in there for health reasons.) Generally, most people also think “green” when they think organic. They want to be sure that their investment did not hurt the environment.
Ultimately, to get the best product for you, read the label. Look for ingredients that have been derived from something else. For example, “Cocamide-DEA derived from coconut oil.” You could say this is organic because it comes from a natural substance. But it turns out you can only get it through processing with a known carcinogen. In reality, derived ingredients are seldom organic in the sense that most of us use the word.
You can also factor in water content when evaluating how organic a product is. For example, a 75 percent organic product will likely contain nearly 75 percent water. This is why generally organic skin care products should be entirely organic, or not considered organic at all.
You can derive incredible benefits from truly organic skin care products. Your skin is a natural organ and will benefit from natural elements. In order to get true benefits from organic skin care, however, you have to be able to spot the “good stuff.”
This information provided as a courtesy of http://www.BeautyCtr.com, America’s leading source of free, unbiased information and reviews about health and beauty products.