Organic Beauty Week: What does "organic" really mean?
What does "organic" mean when it comes to the beauty industry? It's murky and confusing until today because there is no industry-standard meaning to the word. There is also no agency that regulates organic beauty products. A company can come and say, "We're organic" or "Our product is 90% organic" and no one can stop them from lying outright or tiptoeing around the truth.
For example, a brand can claim that their moisturizer is 90% organic. That's true if the base of the moisturizer is something like shea butter. But the remaining 10% could consist of all sorts of chemicals and preservatives traditionally found in cosmetics/body care. They aren't necessarily "bad", but it's certainly not what people have in mind when they bought into the organic catchphrase.
"Organic" is usually attached to terms like green, healthy, safe, chemical-free and natural. Most of the time, organic beauty products (broadly defined using the aforementioned terms) are less effective than their normal counterparts, but that doesn't stop people from believing that they are safer and healthier to use. Many of the ingredients are from nature (although most things are, y'know that right?). Nature = good.
This is why I don't have a particular preference for organic products. I prefer to use a product on its merits, not on its claims to being natural and safer to use. Don't got me wrong though, I do like a lot of stuff marketed to be organic and natural! Those for body care are quite good, and in the Philippines they are fairly inexpensive. That's why I decided to do Organic Beauty Week. I'd like to feature new products and brands to watch out for if you're into organic beauty or just beauty, really.
Note that while the exact definition of "organic" is still up in the air, I will feature products that are marketed to be organic and natural.
What do you think or organic or natural beauty products? Do you prefer them over those that are not marketed that way?
Reading material:
http://thebeautybrains.com/2007/06/06/are-you-confused-by-organic-products-too/
http://www.skininc.com/skinscience/ingredients/83030847.html
http://www.skininc.com/skinscience/ingredients/85206532.html
