I produce a line of natural beauty products called, Fable Natural. It is sold online at www.fablenatural.com.
For a comprehensive guide on ingredients to avoid, please visit the David Suzuki Foundation website.
Guide to Natural Cosmetics & Personal Care Products
In this day and age, the majority of cosmetic and personal care products are made up of synthetic and petrol-based chemicals. Over a period of time, these chemicals can accumulate inside the body, causing harmful consequences. Here at Fable Natural, we aim to provide high quality natural cosmetic products that are effective and a pleasure to use.
In this day and age, the majority of cosmetic and personal care products are made up of synthetic and petrol-based chemicals. Over a period of time, these chemicals can accumulate inside the body, causing harmful consequences. Here at Fable Natural, we aim to provide high quality natural cosmetic products that are effective and a pleasure to use.
We believe beauty should be without the use of; parabens, sulphates, PEGs, TEA, DEA, propylene glycol, phthalates, GMO, mineral oil, silicones, synthetic fragrances, synthetic colorants, and petrochemicals.
Why Natural and Organic?
While many people are becoming more aware of issues involving organic agriculture and why they should eat organic foods, the same reasons apply to why people use natural products to care for their skin. The skin is a remarkable organ on the human body. Not only is it the largest, and the first barrier of defense to harmful bacteria, it also absorbs 95% of what we put on it. You can test this out for yourself by applying an excessive amount of natural vegetable oil on to your skin. After about fifteen minutes or less, you will notice that the oil has been absorbed into the skin.
By taking care of our skin naturally, we are also taking better care of our bodies. Because the skin can absorb what we put on it, it will also penetrate into the body. Harmful chemicals may enter and accumulate over time. With natural ingredients, the body can recognize its use or dispose of it. However, synthetic chemicals are not recognized, and considered toxic, so as a defense mechanism, fat cells may form around it, as the body is not able to dispose of it.
So aside from the health hazards of conventional products, why should you use natural products?
Here are two key reasons:
- Natural products work better. Most conventional cosmetics use mineral oil (derived from petroleum), and paraffin wax, which are known to clog the pores of skin, and tends to sit on the surface of the skin, causing problematic conditions. When a product is marketed as “oil-free”, it means that the product does not contain mineral oil. It is a common myth that oils are bad for the skin, when in fact; it is vital to healthy skin. Natural oils are easily absorbed by skin, and are better adapt to delivering nutrients to the skin.
- Natural products are friendly to the environment. Hazardous chemicals found in conventional cosmetics and personal care products, such as shampoo, eventually get washed down the drains, which leads to the contamination of drinking water, wreaking havoc on surrounding environment, and in the long run, affecting human health.
Green Washing
Don’t Just Take Their Word For It, Read The Ingredients!
While there is a trend moving towards natural products, many companies are jumping on the bandwagon by projecting a more “natural” image, adding a few botanical or organic ingredients here and there, but they still use hazardous synthetic chemicals in their formulations. Just because a product is sold at a health food store, or it says organic on bottle, it doesn’t mean it is a “natural” product. In order to know that you are getting a quality natural product, the best way to determine its “natural-ness”, is to read the ingredients.
How to Read Cosmetic Ingredient Lists
By learning how to read an ingredient list, you will have a better understanding of what is actually in the product. Many companies emphasize the natural ingredients in their marketing, but many hazardous chemicals may be hiding in the ingredients list.
Cosmetic products are required to follow the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) method of listing ingredients. This means that all ingredients have to be listed in the following manner:
- Ingredient listed in ascending order, from highest concentration to lowest.
- Ingredients are listed according to its chemical name (i.e. Citric Acid), Latin name (i.e. Aqua), or botanical species, which is expressed in Latin, and may also list the common name in parentheses (i.e. Lavandula Augustifolia (Lavender) Oil).
- Synthetic and natural fragrances are not differentiated, as it is not required by law to list the components in its fragrance formula. The listing may appear as “Parfum”. The reason for this is that fragrance formulas are considered to be proprietary information. However, many natural cosmetic companies list the essential oils used instead of only listing it as fragrance.
How can you tell if an ingredient is a synthetic chemical?
Well, it’s quite simple, the longer and more difficult it is to pronounce, the more likely it is a synthetic chemical name. Since all natural botanical ingredients are expressed in Latin, you can tell them apart fairly easily. Another thing to look out for is if an ingredient name also has a number, for example, PEG-7, or Polysorbate-20. These are synthetic chemicals. Colorants are identified with a CI (Color Identity) number, such as Iron Oxide (CI77491) (natural colorant), or Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140) (synthetic colorant).
So what about the ingredients used in Fable Natural products?
At Fable Natural, our mantra is: We believe in nature. We use only what we consider to be natural, high quality therapeutic grade ingredients to make our products. This ensures that products perform at its best. We set the bar higher than what most eco-certifiers would expect, which means that there are a lot of ingredients we prohibit, which reduces the number of ingredients that we formulate with.
We are serious about what it means to be natural.
