The beautiful truth about "natural" beauty

As of today, I'm going to be contributing weekly items on beauty to Miss Mary Rambin's new site, More Than Mary. I'm a big fan of Mary's straight-talking, dry humor, and overall spirit, and very pleased to be contributing to her new project.

Mary did a great job of editing a somewhat lengthy piece I wrote; she pulled out the meat and made a much more concise post out of what I submitted. But I thought I'd post the full item here for you guys; consider this the director's cut or something.

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After almost half a decade of beauty blogging, I've become pretty jaded about the cosmetics industry. More to the point, being on the receiving end of so many products over the years - we're talking hundreds - has made me realize that there really are not that many stand-out performers in the crowd of overpriced, artfully packaged merchandise.

One of the recent trends that many brands have recently glommed onto in an attempt to sell in a way over-populated market is that of being "ethical". Let's just start with the "organic," and "all natural" labels usually lumped under this umbrella (which is probably made of organic, un-dyed hemp).

If the uncritical way that many women spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on anti-aging products taught beauty marketers anything, it's that there are a lot of suckers out there.

Just as many women want to believe that a cream from Bloomie's can turn back the clock, there are plenty who ask no questions when told that the product they're buying is going to help save the planet and stick it to The Man and his evil chemicals.

Of course, much of this - as with most marketing - is pure bunk.

Let's start with the all-natural and organic claims. As a Times (London) piece pointed out four years ago, "herbal products can become toxic when they degrade," and "organic cosmetics are under-researched on efficacy as well as safety". Not to mention that many formulas marketed as "organic" may only include a single organic element. The drawbacks to organic products were summed up thusly: "Less evidence that they work; less rigorously tested; expensive; don’t last long."

Not that those natural elements are necessarily good for you to begin with, organic or not. Plenty of plant extracts and oils - such as peppermint oil, lemon oil, orange peel, eucalyptus oil, orange oil, cinnamon oil, clove oil, pine tar, alcohol, lime oil, papaya, thyme, witch hazel, and balsam peru - can cause an extremely negative reaction even in those who don't have sensitive skin. (Paula Begoun provides a very long list here.)

Compare that to an often-maligned "chemical" ingredient like propylene glycol, which is known in its undiluted form as anti-freeze. But used in the scant quantities present in skin care products, almost no one in the human population will suffer any negative to reaction to it.

As a friend of mine likes to point out, poisonous mushrooms are all-natural, and widely available in the organic variety. But you wouldn't necessarily rush to consume those.

More to the point, just because a product is genuinely all-natural (there are no existing guidelines for what constitutes an all-natural formula) or organic does not mean it will work for you.

One "all natural" line that has become hugely popular is Burt's Bees. It used to be a more obscure brand, but now you can pick it up in your local drugstore. (In fact, Burt's Bees was recently purchased by the Clorox Company, which makes sure you can buy it from Wal-Mart and any other big box store you frequent. Not that shopping in big box stores makes you a heathen, but that's another post.) Burt's Bees regularly uses ingredients such as those listed above in its products, which often cause severe adverse reactions. Another company making questionable claims about its products is Kiss My Face, which claims that its Citrus Cleanser - which contains ingredients like methylparaben, propylparaben, sodium borate, stearic acid, and the aforementioned propylene glycol - is "100% natural". (It also contains lemon oil and lime oil, which are frequently the cause of skin irritation.)

That's not to say that many all natural elements do not provide benefits for skin. But for every aloe and beeswax, there's an allspice and bergamot.

For example, I'm really loving some products recently given to me by Kiehl's which contain organic argan oil. Now, Kiehl's marketing for their "superbly restorative preparations" employs a lot of the folklore about argan oil's origins in Morocco and how it has been used for centuries to restore hair, skin, and nails. The truth is that it's no miracle product, and is as effective as plenty of other ingredients, natural and otherwise. I can ignore the marketing, because the products - my favorites are the Argan Body Cleansing Oil, Argan Skin Salve, and Argan Dry Oil - work well. They're very emollient without being greasy, don't have an overpowering, incense-esque smell, and leave my skin extremely soft. (A big bonus point from my perspective: The products are minimally packaged with all directions and ingredients printed on the labels - you just get the bottle, not a big box that will need to be recycled or thrown away.)

The bottom line: Learn about which all natural ingredients are likely to harm your skin, and read labels to find out if they're in your favorite cleverly marketed brand of products. Just as you would with other products making extravagant claims, question the marketing hype presented to you. And if you're more interested in buying all natural products that probably won't work as well as the more scientifically engineered ones, just be aware that that's what you're doing.

Comments

[Robin]

I agree that not all natural ingredients are good for you skin. You have to know your body and what products you can tolerate...or find out the hard way when you get a skin irritation! I have done this before. Now that Burt's Bees has gone mainstream we do have to be more careful with their products. I do have my favorite Burt's Bees products and I will continue to use them as long as Burt's Bees stays committed to its natural ingredients. By the way, love your blog!

[lewis]

hi, the kiss my face product you refer to above has been discontinued and i would encourage you to check out our 100% natural and 72% organic potent and pure line of facial products. kissmyface.com

thanks a lot, lewis goldstein, VP marketing