These buzz words have been around for years now, but market research after market research shows many of us are not all that clear about their meaning. So here are some clues for the curious.

“Natural” seems to be the easiest to define, as most people would agree that it applies to a substance taken from nature i.e. not-man-made. We trust natural because the human species had plenty of time to figure out what is safe and what is not in the natural world, what is edible and what is poisonous, what is good for us and what harms us. Not the sort of thing somebody creates in a lab, puts on the market with great advertising fuss and then years later we may find out it has undesirable side effects. Plant extracts and naturally occurring minerals are substances most of use would consider natural.
But what do cosmetic manufacturers mean by “natural”? Well, the answer to that question is a lot less straightforward. “Natural“ being so popular a concept with consumers, cosmetic companies often take liberties with the word. In marketing jargon, natural can mean “natural-derived-processed”, “partly natural” or “almost natural”.

“Free from unnecessary chemicals” is what naturally minded skin care companies say in support of  their “natural” claims. Leaving aside the fact that this statement is not all that informative  – “How many synthetic chemicals are there in the product?“ we may rightly ask – I have to say I like its honesty. These companies are basically telling us “we have tried hard to bring down the amounts of synthetic additives in our products and this is as far as we could go. The artificial additives that are still there are necessary.”

Which brings us to this question: Necessary for what? For the health of our skin? Well, no. Not at all. These additives are used to produce the oil and water emulsions we got used to buying as moisturisers. But they are not all motherhood and apple pie. Far from it.

Ranking skin care ingredients would be a close to impossible task, but if I tried really hard to do it, I reckon sea-buckhorn extract would be within my top five favourites. Not only do I add it liberally to moisturisers, I also keep some pure extract at hand in my kitchen to dab on rough skin patches after those little cooking accidents. And its healing power has not gone unnoticed: “My burn has gone! What was that you put on it earlier on?”

Many of us like our skin care and personal care product to contain natural ingredients. For some people, using natural products is not a matter of choice, but a necessity. There are an umber of skin conditions that impair the skin’s barrier function and this is when the additives and harmful chemicals in personal care products become an immediate problem.

A 100% natural personal care routine is achievable and, what’s more, it isn’t difficult. Here are some replacement products for shampoo, shower gel and soap.

The type of fatty acids we eat and put on our skin seem to make a huge difference to the way our skin looks and feels. A few years ago, after a lot of research on the subject, I drastically reduced the proportion of unsaturated fats in my diet. (A decision my GP might have well frowned on!) The results were spectacular. Only five days into the new diet my skin returned to being normal after years of being dry. It was like getting back the skin I used to have in my twenties – a little miracle! A couple of months later I noticed my sun spots were fading – I used to have a serious skin pigmentation problem that make-up could no longer hide and no cream (however expensive) seemed to alleviate. A year later the sunspots faded to the point they became unnoticeable. These days I am comfortable going out without wearing foundation at all. And it gets even better: my skin has regain suppleness and my wrinkles have diminished – I really did turn back the clock and it all comes down to the fats I eat.

The latest issue of Women’s Health features an article with the title “Don’t be Scared of Oil Based Products”. Fifteen years ago this was unthinkable. But I’m not going to claim I’ve spotted a new  trend here – far too late for that since the story is already out for all to hear.

Instead I’m going to ask: How big is the oil based cosmetics market going to get? I for one will venture to place a bet on this answer: “really big” and this is why: The oil and water emulsion, which has been our typical moisturiser for many decades now, relies on emulsifiers (how else can you get the oils and water to mix?) and on preservatives to stop the emulsion becoming a paradise for all kinds of bacteria, moulds and fungi. To date, the cosmetic industry has not managed to find a functional natural emulsifiers or preservative – unless you count the “vegetal derived, processed”. More than that, there are some basic issues with these two groups of substances: