What is “natural" skincare, anyways?
The answer to this question may seem intuitive at first: natural skin care is skincare that uses natural ingredients.
Sounds simple, right? But how do we define “natural” in this case?
Again, the answer seems intuitive: something is natural when it comes from nature.
However, when dealing with raw cosmetic ingredients, does that ingredient remain ‘natural’ if it is processed in some way? For example, would you still consider coconut oil ‘natural’ if it is fractionated (heat processed to remove long-chain triglycerides so the oil remains liquid at cold temperatures)? It’s still coconut oil, derived from plants that exist in nature, but it has been processed mechanically to change certain qualities.
Now what if the ingredient is ‘derived’ from a natural source through chemical processing?
See where I’m going with this?
How To Define ‘Natural’
The biggest problem with trying to define ‘natural skincare’ is that there currently aren’t clear definitions for what natural skincare or natural cosmetics are in North America. Although legislation to introduce clear definitions was introduced to the US Congress in late 2021, it has yet to be made law.
In Canada, meanwhile, Natural Health Products (which are limited to non-prescription health products that include herbal remedies, probiotics, vitamins and minerals, traditional medicines and other products such as amino acids and essential fatty acids) and Cosmetic Products (which includes soap and skincare products) are regulated separately and there are currently no Health Canada regulations related to the use of the word ‘natural’ in cosmetic packaging or advertising.
In Europe the definitions are very clear: a natural cosmetic must contain at least 95% natural ingredients with certification standards like COSMOS or NaTrue that take into account how an ingredient is processed in order to be considered ‘natural’.
Creating Your Own Definition
However, for most of us, ‘natural’ comes down to how we choose to define it, which can unfortunately lead to incorrect assumptions. For example, some believe that ‘natural’ is shorthand for “safe and free of chemicals,” but there are two very big problems with this interpretation:
All things are made up of chemicals, natural or synthetic. Even water.
Natural is not the same as ‘clean’ or ‘non-toxic’. Many poisons and toxins are “natural”, like cyanide.
Because of the lack of a clear definition, the word ‘natural’ is also used a lot in greenwashing, i.e. marketing something in order to make it appear environmentally friendly. Essentially, labeling something as ‘natural’ is an easy way of distracting consumers from other concerns like safety, ethics, and sustainability.
For those of us in North America, it is necessary to educate ourselves in order to determine what qualities we value most in our skincare products and buy accordingly. To some, ‘natural’ will be synonymous with ‘eco-friendly’, but the truth is something ‘natural’ could still be harvested in a way that harms the environment.
Our Definition
At Grey Cat Apothecary, the biggest issue we see in the ‘natural’ skincare debate is one of transparency. Customers should be empowered to make their own choices in regard to their own skincare needs, with clear and accurate information. This is why we also make a point of listing all of our ingredients, in plain English, on the webpage for each of our products. Not to mention the reason we chose to launch this blog.
And while we use the term ‘natural skincare’ to describe our products, we hold ourselves to the European definition of ‘Natural Cosmetics,” which is why we don’t use fragrance oils or perfumes with synthetic compounds in any of our products. Furthermore, we have also chosen to avoid using products that, while natural, have serious ethical concerns, such as Palm Oil, Mica and Candelilla Wax. Our definition of ‘natural’ also extends to our packaging philosophy, which aims to eliminate plastic from our packaging by the end of 2022.
In Conclusion
In an industry inundated with hype and buzz words, it is increasingly necessary for consumers to be able to interrogate marketing claims for themselves and buy based on their own values and priorities. While terms like ‘natural’ can be useful for grabbing the attention of potential customers with certain values, it is up to the consumer to look beyond that label to determine whether their definition matches that of the company.
