This is the first question to ask yourself.

In other words, what’s in it, and where does it come from? Is it a natural source, like plants, animals, minerals, and marine sources? Or is it derived from petrochemicals?

Naturally – occurring, This means that ingredients are used in their natural, unprocessed state. Examples of naturally occurring ingredients include raw honey and crushed flowers.

Nature-identical. This means that ingredients are produced in a lab and are chemically identical to those that occur in nature. An example is ascorbic acid. Originally derived from citrus / orange fruit, ascorbic acid is now commonly included as a nature-identical ingredient.

Synthetic. This term sits on the far end of the spectrum and includes ingredients that were created and processed in a lab. An example of this, are Peptides, which is a common beauty anti-age active ingredient, Silicones witch is used as a smoothing agent in cosmetic.

Remember, not everything what is synthetic is bad!

Otherwise, read the text above again “When science meets nature” It will help you to remember that synthetic ingredients are no longer as scary as many claiming.

Just because ingredients are derived naturally, it doesn’t mean they’re processed naturally.

Ingredients can be processed physically or chemically. Processed physically means the molecular composition or structure stays the same.

Processed chemically means the molecular composition or structure changes.

Examples of naturally derived but physically processed ingredients include raw, unrefined oils and butters. These are processed through means like cold-pressing or filtration.

An example of a naturally derived but chemically processed ingredient would be castor wax. It’s a vegetable wax derived from the castor bean produced by adding hydrogen to pure castor oil, a process called hydrogenation.

For example, the molecular composition of our body are chemically processed approximately about 99% comprised of just six elements: Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, calcium, and phosphorus. Another five elements constitute about 0.85% of the remaining mass: sulfur, potassium, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All of these 11 elements are essential elements.

There are various certifications and marketing words under the umbrella of “natural” products. Some are regulated and some aren’t.

Organic

Companies can have their products certified organic.

They can also label their products as organic to indicate that all the ingredients are derived from organic sources. This means the product itself may not be certified, but all the ingredients are certified organic. 

Green

This unregulated term refers to environmental impact and sustainability.

Green products are usually produced intending to limit the impact on the environment.

For example, a green product may contain raw materials that are harvested in a way to support the environment rather than harming it.

Clean

This unregulated term describes products that typically focus on being non-toxic. 

” Frankly, no product that is harmful may be traded/produced on the world market. So Clean beauty has no meaning whatsoever, so it’s a meaningless statement “.

Vegan

These products are created without animal by-products.

Cruelty-free

It’s important to note that, while vegan products are almost always cruelty-free, cruelty-free products are not always vegan. An example would be an organic lip balm that contains beeswax.

Brands can claim these terms without being certified. But, if you want to ensure it, there are several organizations that certify vegan and cruelty-free products.

Fair-trade

this regulated descriptor focuses on sourcing, ensuring that ingredients are sourced ethically in terms of the planet, people, or environment.

Preservatives are important ingredients that are added to cosmetic products to keep them safe and effective.  Making sure products are protected means that people can be confident that their cosmetics are protected against contamination by microorganisms during storage and continued uses.

Consumer safety is paramount, and cosmetic products are formulated to prevent contamination by microorganisms. Bacteria, yeasts and moulds are always present on our skin and in the surrounding air. These can get into products during normal use. Without preservatives, many products could spoil, reducing their effectiveness and leading potentially to problems such as skin or eye infections. Just as food can spoil, cosmetic and personal care products can deteriorate in the same way – especially as they are often stored in warm, humid environments, like bathrooms.  Preservatives can prevent these problems by stopping microorganisms from multiplying in the product.

This is the original text and explanation from The EU Cosmetics Regulation site! 

Consumer safety is the overriding objective for the manufacture and sale of cosmetic and personal care products in Europe – and the foremost responsibility for product safety lies with the industry.

The EU Cosmetics Regulation governs how cosmetics and personal care products are made and placed on the market. It is the most comprehensive set of laws for our industry in the world, requiring cosmetics to be safe for human health when applied under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use.

To meet its obligations under the Regulation, our industry must fulfil the following duties before placing a product on the market:

Run a highly comprehensive safety assessment

Provide detailed product information

Comply with ingredient and labelling rules

Ensuring safety: hazard vs. risk

The words hazard and risk are often used interchangeably, but they are actually very different, and it is important that the terms be used correctly.  A hazard is the intrinsic property of a substance, ‘thing’ or situation to cause harm.  Risk is the likelihood that harm will actually occur.

This is important because it explains how one can use substances with hazardous properties safely. The substance itself may possess a toxic property, but that does not make it poisonous. Salt, for example, is known to be toxic at high levels, but consumption of a certain amount is essential for health and safe in those quantities. Knowing that a hazard does not present an unacceptable risk is determined by a risk assessment. Each one of us make risk assessments every day without realizing it, for example, every time we cross a road.

Importantly, nearly every substance has a hazardous property. Scientists formulating cosmetic products make sure that the exposure to ingredients and the way they are used within the product are safe by managing the risk. This is further checked by a qualified safety assessor, who performs a ‘risk assessment’ on each and every product before it is placed on the market. This is non as a safety assessment.

For example, alcohol (ethanol) is hazardous, it can be toxic. We know that consuming large quantities is bad for health and can even prove fatal. Thus, the hazard is toxicity. However, this is unlikely to be seen when alcohol is used in a fine fragrance, an after-shave product or a deodorant because the exposure is so low. Even water, drunk to excess, can be toxic yet no one would seriously consider prohibiting its use as a cosmetic ingredient just because it possesses the hazardous property of toxicity.

This is how safety assessors ensure cosmetics are safe for use, even if some of the individual ingredients might possess hazardous properties when applied under very different and excessive circumstances.

How safety assessments are conducted

The Cosmetic Products Regulation (CPR) states clearly that the safety of a cosmetic product may be assessed based on a noledge of its ingredients and their properties. To that end, there is a requirement to carry out and compile a safety report and conduct a safety assessment for each cosmetic product before it is placed on the market. The contents of that safety report are laid out in an annex to the CPR and the actual assessment must be carried out by a duly qualified professional in a personal capacity. In addition, products intended for children under 3 years of age must have a special, more detailed, assessment made.

Of course, once the product has been assessed and placed on the market, it is necessary to monitor its performance to further confirm its safety in the wider marketplace. Any adverse reactions or ‘undesirable effects’ as they are called in the CPR must be recorded and assessed. If the undesirable effect is judged to be serious, the competent authorities must be informed and further action may tan be taken, including product withdrawal if necessary. This situation is extremely rare and demonstrates the effectiveness of the system by which cosmetic safety is assured.

This is achieved without the need to test the finished product on animals, and neither can ingredients be tested on animals to confirm their suitability. Instead, the cosmetics industry relies upon alternative methods of assessing the suitability of ingredients and through the use of historical data. Both animal testing and the marketing of products containing ingredients tested on animals are subject to strict bans as laid out in the CPR. Those bans apply, no matter where in the world, the animal testing took place.

See promoting science and research for further details on our work on alternatives to animal testing.

The safety assessor must be a professional who possesses the necessary qualifications, including competence in analysis, evaluation and interpretation of toxicological data. Furthermore, they must prove that they have access to the toxicological and analytical information relevant to the assessment, consider the product being assessed impartially, and are obliged to carry out the safety assessment based on a thorough analysis of all available data, conditions of exposure and appropriate consideration of weight of evidence.

Based on all the available data, the conclusion may be one of the following:

1. The product is safe for the proposed use without restrictions
2. The product is safe with restrictions and may need specific warnings or precautions (risk reduction measures)
3. The product is not safe and must not be placed on the market