Understanding Organic Skin Care
organic skin care is a mystery to many people. 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. We assume that organic skin care must be good for our skin due to its being natural. Natural ingredients alone are not sufficient to make organic skin care products truly organic. Understanding what these ingredients can and should be in order to benefit your skin the most is a crucial step to getting the most out of your organic skin care investment.
According to the FDA, organic means that a product has at least 95 percent organic ingredients. Organic things are carbon-based. It follows that a product that contains 95 percent carbon-based ingredients can be considered organic. In the case of cosmetics and skin care products, this means that if a product contains petroleum or petroleum-based ingredients, it can still be labeled organic. Take methylparaben, a suspected carcinogen – it is carbon-based and present 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. As a result, you need to be very careful to reconcile your interpretation of organic skin care with the legal definition before you buy.
In order to get organic skin care that meets your requirements, take some time to think about what you want. Most people just want natural, good-for-you ingredients in the highest concentrations possible. (Of course there may be some basic processing and preservatives in there for health reasons.) Most people also want “green” products when they think organic. They want to know their purchase did not harm the environment.
The best way to be sure that you are getting the type of product you want is to simply read the label. Keep an eye out for ingredients that were derived from other things. Take “Cocamide-DEA derived from coconut oil.” You could say this is organic because it comes from a natural substance. However, the only way to get it is to process it using a known carcinogen. Generally, derived ingredients are not actually organic in the way that most of us like to think of organic.
You can also use water content to evaluate how truly organic a product is. For example, a 75 percent organic product will likely contain nearly 75 percent water. As a rule, organic skin care products should be fully organic or not considered to be organic at all.
You can derive incredible benefits from truly organic skin care products. Your skin can benefit greatly from natural elements. However, in order to get the most out of your organic skin care investment, you need to be able to spot the “good stuff” out of the wolves in organic clothing.
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.
