You are probably already aware that the products you use every day are not innocent. Behind the lipstick you put on in the morning hides an industry that leaves a huge mark on your body and the environment. That is why more and more people are turning to natural and organic cosmetics, which is not only better for your health, but also for the planet on which you live.
However, in this budding industry, there are also standards and things you can look at based on your values. Because it is not enough to say ‘natural’ or ‘bio’, it must be transparent with its processes so that you can make an informed choice.
1. Compatibility With Your Skin
Think about how many times you use shower gel, moisturizer, foundation, or blush on your skin. The components of these products are absorbed by our pores day after day, not to mention the lipstick that we directly eat. That is why it is important to look at what components our products have every day and aspire to be as natural as possible, that’s why it is necessary to use pure organic products which contain natural cosmetic ingredients.
There are many trusted companies such as Sophim, expert in the cosmetic ingredients manufacturing, which produce their products with a completely organic and natural manufacturing process.
Because our skin has evolved in parallel with nature and is ready to absorb the molecules it has. While synthetic products are recognized as foreign agents and can cause adverse reactions such as irritation and allergies.
2. Sustainability
All the raw materials derived from petroleum and other non-renewable sources make the cosmetic industry very unsustainable. These resources are highly polluting because the products must undergo different reactions before becoming cosmetic ingredients, which makes them very difficult to recycle.
Unlike natural products from crops, the place of origin of these materials cannot be controlled either, since oil must be found wherever there is a well.
This means that they must be transported in up to three or four routes if, for example, the oil is in the United States, the synthesis of the cosmetic ingredient is made in China, it is taken to a distributor in Germany and, finally, it is transported to Spain.
3. Environmentalism
The fact that your product comes from natural and ecological raw materials gives you the security that this product is positively related to the environment. Organic products ensure responsible management of crops with the environment, leaving behind extensive crops that make native biodiversity disappear.
4. Pesticides
In fact, this topic deserves a section for it just because it is one of the most important problems in our current society. Extensive crops are fertilized with highly polluting pesticides for our soils that often end up in freshwater wells for human consumption perhaps you have heard of nitrate contamination.
In addition, the insecticides and pesticides used are very aggressive, having consequences that we all know: People consume them by ingestion or through the skin through cosmetics of non-ecological origin, but it is also responsible for the disappearance of bees and general biodiversity or the Pollution of soils.
5. Proximity
Using local ingredients has positive effects in both social and environmental aspects. On the one hand, you contribute to an economy of proximity and high quality. On the other hand, we save journeys from one end of the world to another of raw materials in which there has been no control over their plantation or treatment.
6. Animal testing
Natural cosmetics are widely aware of the problems that this industry has had with animal abuse and wants to disassociate itself from it. This sector ensures that neither its ingredients nor its final product have been tested on animals.
7. Vegetarians and/or vegans
So, if you have a vegan lifestyle, you do not have to give up cosmetics because it can be guaranteed that the products do not have derivatives of animal origin or, at least, no animal has had to die for it.
8. Real ingredients and no polluting exotics
In recent years we have come across the fashion of superfoods: Fruits, vegetables, and exotic vegetables that promise brutal effectiveness. However, as they are natural ingredients that come from very distant places and, furthermore, are not easily found in nature, their price is very high – in addition to the fact that their transport is highly polluting. This makes companies use it in ridiculous amounts just to be able to put it on the label that contains it and, therefore, its use has no real effect on the cosmetic product, it is simple marketing.
Therefore, we must defend the real ingredients, of a lifetime, cheap and that can be used in amounts that have effects on the skin.
9. Crafts
Natural cosmetic also seeks the use of traditional methods, with low industrialization to obtain the best possible quality for the product but also the conditions of the workers who produce it.
10. Ethics
By now we have all become aware that the consumption we do is not insignificant. That only the change of our habits can leave this planet in conditions for the following generations.
If we want to live a life in tune with nature, we must pay attention to the cleaning, hygiene, and beauty products that we use in our day-to-day life and demand from their producers the transparency that we need to choose properly.
In this way, we will not have to feel guilty for putting on lipstick because cosmetics will not be at odds with ethics and the makeup we wear can be aligned with our values.
