Maybe Kermit was right after all.
Take a walk down the overflowing shelves of Sephora or your local apothecary, and chances are you’ll find several jars and bottles with the words “natural” and “organic” written on them. To the unsuspecting eye, these bottles are nature’s garden: a bounty of blossoming, vegetable goodness.

“Organic” equals “good” and “Natural” equals “pure” …right?
Unfortunately, it’s not so simple. The cosmetics industry is largely unregulated when compared to other industries like the food and drug sector. This means that you can put the word “natural” on a bottle of perfume even if it means only one ingredient in that bottle is natural. The same applies to the word “organic.”

The issue is that the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) does not require the FDA to approve every single ingredient that a cosmetic company uses, except in the case of colors additives. So a company can certainly use whichever ingredient it wants (with the exception of certain ones that are prohibited by regulation), and claim the product is natural.
That doesn’t mean that each cosmetic product you use is misbranded: on the contrary, the cosmetic cops can definitely come after the companies that misuse or mislabel.

Diana Kaye, co-founder of Terressentials, a company that goes the extra mile to make sure its products are all USDA Certified Organic (only a handful of cosmetics have this label…which ensures the highest and safest organic standards).
Our bodies can break down some toxic chemicals, but not others. When non organic substances are applied topically, “they are like an assault to your body” says Kaye. Many are oil soluble and are therefore attracted to fatty tissue.

Recent studies have shown that toxins entering the body through topical application can cause more harm than ingested foods, because topical ingredients are absorbed directly into the bloodstream. “Think about how nicotine and birth control patches work,” says Kaye. “Personal care products should be as pure as the foods we eat.”

And that’s why, in honor of Earth Day, we have transformed ourselves into Beauty Sherlocks and brought you the best of the greenest in our “Earth Day” special Marathon Blogs.

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