By Hannah Sivak, PhD
Biochemist, Skin Actives Scientific LLC

Scientists learn to use words carefully. Marketing people use words carelessly. This difference does not matter much unless you dislike to pay too much for a product or to be "taken". I don't like to be "taken", fooled, or pay too much for anything.

A client wrote to me asking how to use our sea kelp bioferment (one of our best-selling products) with an organic cleanser she bought elsewhere. She likes using organic products. Here is the ingredient list she sent me:

Water, shea butter, succinic acid derivatives, karite tree fruit extract, laurel berry deriv., coconut methyl glycol, essential oils, beta glucosamine, beta fructan, amino guanidine".

Sounds good, especially the laurel berry and the coconut. Except that there is no such thing as laurel berry derivative in the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients), used by the industry to put some order in the labels. The "laurel berry derivative" is probably sodium lauryl sulfate, a detergent that people don't like to see in the label because it is a known irritant, Unfortunately, it is the best ingredient when it comes to giving you bubbles for very little money, and manufacturers love it. This is an example of the "organic" label being used by people who have no problem lying.

Organic conveys a meaning of wholesomeness. When used for food, it means that the crop has been grown without adding synthetic fertilizers and that no pesticides have been used. The FDA has some rules about how to use the word for food products, but when it comes to cosmetics, there are no rules, so many irresponsible people will take advantage of the consumer (no rules means no punishment). My advise: whenever you see the word "organic" in a skin or hair care product, look at the ingredient list and make sure you know how to read it.

What is "natural"? My own definition: natural is something that has been taken directly from nature and has not been modified chemically.  Why is "natural" a marketing word? It sounds good, but in reality there is nothing that makes natural chemical better than a synthetic one. In other words: a chemical is not defined by how it was obtained but by how the atoms are arranged in the molecule. There is no way to differentiate between a synthetic and a natural chemical. Moreover, whatever the feeling the word natural conveys, natural can be bad. Just think "poison ivy".

Again, if you are faced with a product that is advertising "all natural", read its ingredient list. Most manufacturers use synthetic chemicals that have been optimized for use in cosmetics after many decades of testing. Nothing wrong with that, as long as customers are not lied to.

Some manufacturers don't even know that they are using synthetic chemicals. For example, most botanical extracts used in the industry are made using hydroglycolic solvent: water plus propylene glycol, and include synthetic preservatives. By ignoring this fact, the manufacturer can list a "liquorice extract" and make you think you are using a natural product when in fact the extract has little liquorice in it and contains synthetic chemicals.

Please read my guide about how to read a label. It pays to be well informed.

NOTE: Skin Actives Scientific uses many natural products, many of them organic. But we do not want to reinforce the idea (wrong, in our view) that natural is good and synthetic is wrong, so we don't emphasize the origin of the chemical.