Organic Skin Care Products: Looking Great the Natural Way

Organic skin care products use only natural ingredients that some believe are more effective that the petroleum-based additives and waxes added to conventional products. Organic products work in harmony with your skin and help the user enhance his or her natural healing abilities.

In addition, research is increasingly unsupportive of the chemicals that go into making many of the products we eat or put on our skin. The ingredients in organic products, if grown on farms or on the land, are grown pesticide-free and without herbicides. Natural or organic products are made by combining only ingredients from untreated natural sources, including botanicals and products from the sea.

Certain organic body washes and shampoos must, by necessity use semi-synthetic ingredients that have been considered healthy and that are necessary for the production of the product. Even so, many of these natural ingredients are derived from natural resources.

The term, organic, actually applies to the method by which the ingredients have been farmed or collected and, unfortunately, it doesn't mean that harmful chemicals have been added to a particular "organic" skin care product during its formulation.

Experts recommend that consumers become savvy about ingredients found in skin care products and avoid those that have added chemical ingredients.

All organic skin care products must be made with some kind of preservative to keep it fresh for the consumer. Organic methods of preserving skin care products include using natural preservatives and airtight packaging that avoids the influx of bacteria into the product. Certain organic herbs and essential oils will help preserve a product by means of natural anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.

Some organic skin care products contain plant alcohol, rather than ethyl alcohol, which is derived from petroleum. Plant alcohol will help preserve certain skin care products. In addition, certain balms and plant-based oils have natural preserving properties and don't need much in the way of additional preservatives.

For those organic skin care products that require some preservative to keep them fresh, organic producers use paraben-free, semi-synthetic preservatives. One of these is phenoxyethanol, preserved for use in organic skin care products by the Soil Association. Many French-based products use benzyl alcohol.

Organic skin care products are certified through certification organizations. One of them, the Soil Association, will reject products that contain parabens or phthalates. In Europe, there is the BDIH standard that also ensures that no animal testing was done on the products it certifies. ECOCERT is another organic certification organization.

Because we absorb practically everything we put on our skin, organic skin care products may be the safest and most effective products around. For those with sensitive skin, this type of product is definitely worth a try.