Organic Skin and Hair Care - Fact or Fiction?

There’s a question for ya. With the proliferation of new skin and hair products hitting the scene claiming to be "100% Natural" or "Certified Organic", one has to ask the very real question, "Are they really?" After all, what constitutes "100%" or "Certified" and who determines those designations? There are no current standards in the United States for certifying organic skin care much less a central authority for bestowing this certification. When you see a "Certified Organic" seal on a website or a product that states only those two words and indicates no certifying authority, you must realize that the company itself is "certifying" that the product is organic. In the whole scheme of things, that means what? That's right.....nothing.

No one doubts the desirability or very real need for such products. Our modern lives are so full of synthetic this-and-that and harmful chemicals (pesticides, growth hormones, etc.) contained in the foods we consume to our clothing to the products we use in our homes. There is a very real, compelling need to move away from these substances for the sake of our children’s health and ours and it takes diligent effort, not to mention the expense, in sourcing organic foods and household products.

That’s all well and good for our foods and household products, but is it a practical expectation for those products that we use on our skin and hair today? I don’t really think so. Why not? Well because…..because most of us don’t make our own skin and hair care products because we lack the raw materials, the time and the knowledge. Each year, most of the world becomes more urbanized making it difficult to source the natural and organic materials locally for making our own products. (Here’s a great article on what we are facing in terms of increased urbanization, if you’re interested - http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/may/104.html .)

So, even if we had the means and materials to make our own skin and hair care, doing so requires constant research, compiling detailed formulas (recipes) and conducting trials of one product after another for measuring results. Few have the time for all that this entails and, so, we rely on the makers of these products to do what we can’t. These manufacturers, too, have constraints. For instance, products are required to have a shelf life of 1-2 years. Preservatives are very necessary in order to preserve the integrity of the product and to protect us from harmful bacteria and mold. In spite of what you’ve read, there…are…no…"natural" plant-based, broad-spectrum anti-microbials out there. Any number of plants have anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties but they just aren’t potent enough in the concentrations used and none of them are all-encompassing enough to fight off the whole spectrum of "baddie" microbes. These antibacterial and anti-fungal properties were developed through evolution to protect those plants from microbial dangers within their own growing environments.

What can we do then? We all can become better label-readers and only hair and skin care products that do not contain Sodium Lauryl or Laureth Sulfate (SLS) known to seep into the skin and cause damage to our bodies, those unproven ingredients without sufficient independent studies to support their safety and efficacy, the latest "designer" ingredients and potentially dangerous preservatives such as parabens (The jury is still out on that one. Still, I’d rather be safe now than sorry later.). You can research, as I do, the ingredients shown on the labels and determine their value to the product; i.e. whether they are necessary to your skin’s continued health and repair, potentially dangerous or just fillers. A very good place to look up particular ingredients is http://www.wikipedia.org/ . You will find fascinating descriptions and other uses for almost all ingredients you come across. Another thing you can do is to search out handcrafted skin and hair care made by smaller companies in fresh batches from natural and organic ingredients and apply your new label-reading skills to those products as well.

Until later,
~Ari
http://www.arishomespa.com/