Natural skincare is widely promoted as safe, healthy, even preservative free and therefore "better" for your skin. I am sure most of us by now are aware that natural doesn't necessarily mean what the word implies. But is natural therefore bad?
What about vegan skincare? Is it natural? Is vegan a "safe" alternative?
Firstly let me clarify one thing: there is no such thing as preservative free skincare available commercially. Firstly it would be against the law and secondly it would be a health hazard if not a death trap. Anybody selling skincare commercially needs to obtain a safety certificate from a qualified chemist and he or she will not issue that certificate if a skincare product isn't adequately preserved. Unfortunately most preservatives carry the unjustified label of being "toxic" - I am not sure who put this rumour out into the public domain and why it has caught on so readily.
Now, take food. Most of our commercially produced food items are preserved in one way or another and the fact that something is organic doesn't mean it isn't preserved. Would you for example feed you child anything that might be affected by mould or bacteria? No. Yet, would you be happy if upon opening a mashed organic apple mousse you'd find mould lingering on it? No. Hence you accept that even baby food is preserved, albeit with food preservatives that have been proven to be safe and effective. Or you go and prepare your baby's and your own food yourself. If you have the time that is.
Where am I heading with this? Good question - I am heading right on into the subject of vegan skincare. Personally I prefer my skincare to be free from animal by products such as fetus cells, blood cells, brain cells, musk, liver enzymes, gall bladder extracts and so forth. I don't want any snake venom in my skincare (often used as a botox substitute) nor do I fancy crushed and milled animal bones.
All of the above are absolutely not necessary and from what I know they are not proven to have any positive effects on the human skin.
What has been proven to have an effect are plants. Herbs for example have been used since time and memorial to cure illnesses and improve brain function for example. We have very sophisticated technology nowadays that can extract active ingredients from plants and these have been tested for their effectiveness and many have been found to be very potent. Does that mean they are "natural"? It depends on your point of view. Basically - and I am sure you have heard this many times before as well - no substance is "natural" if not used in moderation. Everything taken in excess can kill you. Coffee, alcohol, salt, sugar, tobacco, drinking too much water, using essential oils neat on your skin, herbal extracts taken in excess, red meat...really, anything can kill you.
Most vegan skincare products put the emphasis on vegan rather than on natural. With good reason - most vegan manufacturers know and admit that there is no such thing as 100% natural vegan or organic skincare because many base ingredients in skincare may be of plant origin or mineral matter, yet they could not be classified as "natural" in the original sense. And many vegan manufacturers still use parabens as preservatives in their skincare or silicone or synthetically created aromas because they are seen as safe and - in the case of the latter - classified as anti allergens (for people who react to essential oils for example). Cost is also always a factor when making skincare and in the current climate we all want to save money and go for the cheapest yet best option when it comes to looking after our skin.
However - I believe that if we want great quality, non toxic, animal by product free skincare then we should opt for the most honest yet safe labels. We should inform ourselves about what each ingredient stands for and what it's purpose is but we should also accept that certain ingredients are a necessity for the sake of a product's safety. We should be able to talk to the manufacturer and ask perfectly legitimate questions about ingredients which he or she must be able to answer in a timely fashion and without using jargon (unfortunately the law requires that ingredients are listed on labels with their Latin names, the so called INCI). And we should forget about wanting it all in one product - natural, organic, vegan, preservative free, bio dynamic, pure, effective..... What we should ask for is a product that is indeed what it says it is, does what it says it does without making hyped up claims and doesn't cost the earth - literally!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
What about vegan skincare? Is it natural? Is vegan a "safe" alternative?
Firstly let me clarify one thing: there is no such thing as preservative free skincare available commercially. Firstly it would be against the law and secondly it would be a health hazard if not a death trap. Anybody selling skincare commercially needs to obtain a safety certificate from a qualified chemist and he or she will not issue that certificate if a skincare product isn't adequately preserved. Unfortunately most preservatives carry the unjustified label of being "toxic" - I am not sure who put this rumour out into the public domain and why it has caught on so readily.
Now, take food. Most of our commercially produced food items are preserved in one way or another and the fact that something is organic doesn't mean it isn't preserved. Would you for example feed you child anything that might be affected by mould or bacteria? No. Yet, would you be happy if upon opening a mashed organic apple mousse you'd find mould lingering on it? No. Hence you accept that even baby food is preserved, albeit with food preservatives that have been proven to be safe and effective. Or you go and prepare your baby's and your own food yourself. If you have the time that is.
Where am I heading with this? Good question - I am heading right on into the subject of vegan skincare. Personally I prefer my skincare to be free from animal by products such as fetus cells, blood cells, brain cells, musk, liver enzymes, gall bladder extracts and so forth. I don't want any snake venom in my skincare (often used as a botox substitute) nor do I fancy crushed and milled animal bones.
All of the above are absolutely not necessary and from what I know they are not proven to have any positive effects on the human skin.
What has been proven to have an effect are plants. Herbs for example have been used since time and memorial to cure illnesses and improve brain function for example. We have very sophisticated technology nowadays that can extract active ingredients from plants and these have been tested for their effectiveness and many have been found to be very potent. Does that mean they are "natural"? It depends on your point of view. Basically - and I am sure you have heard this many times before as well - no substance is "natural" if not used in moderation. Everything taken in excess can kill you. Coffee, alcohol, salt, sugar, tobacco, drinking too much water, using essential oils neat on your skin, herbal extracts taken in excess, red meat...really, anything can kill you.
Most vegan skincare products put the emphasis on vegan rather than on natural. With good reason - most vegan manufacturers know and admit that there is no such thing as 100% natural vegan or organic skincare because many base ingredients in skincare may be of plant origin or mineral matter, yet they could not be classified as "natural" in the original sense. And many vegan manufacturers still use parabens as preservatives in their skincare or silicone or synthetically created aromas because they are seen as safe and - in the case of the latter - classified as anti allergens (for people who react to essential oils for example). Cost is also always a factor when making skincare and in the current climate we all want to save money and go for the cheapest yet best option when it comes to looking after our skin.
However - I believe that if we want great quality, non toxic, animal by product free skincare then we should opt for the most honest yet safe labels. We should inform ourselves about what each ingredient stands for and what it's purpose is but we should also accept that certain ingredients are a necessity for the sake of a product's safety. We should be able to talk to the manufacturer and ask perfectly legitimate questions about ingredients which he or she must be able to answer in a timely fashion and without using jargon (unfortunately the law requires that ingredients are listed on labels with their Latin names, the so called INCI). And we should forget about wanting it all in one product - natural, organic, vegan, preservative free, bio dynamic, pure, effective..... What we should ask for is a product that is indeed what it says it is, does what it says it does without making hyped up claims and doesn't cost the earth - literally!
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/