We are always advising our readers to totally ignore marketing hype surrounding beauty products that claim to use natural ingredients. If using natural or mostly natural ingredients is important to you, the best thing you can do is learn to read labels. We created a web-based phone app that works on iPhones and Androids (you can purchase here for $1.99) with a database of beauty ingredients so you can check product ingredients in the store before buying. Here’s a commercial explaining it further.
So, obviously, this is something we’re passionate about. While perusing Twitter today, I (Todra) saw a tweet for a wonderful article that lays out all of the sneaky ways brands try to trick you, the consumer, into believing their product is natural. I have never tried the products associated with this site, so this isn’t a direct endorsement of Herbaliz, but I love what she’s teaching in this article. Pay heed. It’s good stuff.
I’d love to hear your thoughts after reading it. Pop back by and tell me if you’ve been “had” with marketing hype and tricks like, “Key Ingredients”. And be sure to drop by our green beauty social network to meet great natural cosmetics formulators and other women who are passionate about using non-toxic and natural products.
If you own a beauty brand and would like to participate in the network, shoot me an email. Beauty brands cannot join the network under consumer memberships.
Hi Barb.
Like you, I thought the same thing about the word “organic” when used with cosmetics. There has to be a law that limits the use of the word “organic” to products with some sort of certification, right? But in reality, that’s not entirely true. If a product has the USDA Organic seal, then yes, it has been certified and there is a LOT of paperwork and checks and balances to that system. BUT a brand can call themselves organic (and can honestly contain organic ingredients…or not) without the certification. As long as they don’t claim a third-party verification. Whole Foods now requires any brand claiming to have organic ingredients (or even having the word “organic” in it’s brand name) to have a third party verification. Thus far, no other stores in the US have this requirement.
In some cases, brands don’t get the certification because the expense involved in getting the USDA Organic stamp of approval is too cost prohibitive for them. In other cases, a percentage of their ingredients are organic, while others aren’t. Some ingredients aren’t easily available in organic form because if a farmer’s not growing an organic version of an ingredient and a product needs that particular ingredient, then sometimes it renders the entire product not eligible for the certification.
I buy some brands that are organic but don’t have certification because I know the owners and where they source their ingredients. And understand that not all small brands can afford the certification. But it also creates a loophole for green washing.
I have to disagree with trick #6 when she talks about the word organic having no legal meaning. I am more familiar with organic food labeling but surely the same requirements hold true for labeling cosmetics organic?