Organic skincare expert Tarj Mavi from La Mav debunks myths and common misconceptions about organic products.
With every passing year, more and more awareness is raised about the potentially harmful effects chemicals in our personal care products can cause to our health. This inevitably leads to people seeking alternative ways to preserve their wellbeing without the need to say “bye, bye” to all those creams, serums and cleansers.
Though it is great that organic skincare is becoming very popular and people are willing to learn more about it, this also leads to the emergence of misleading information and speculations that can confuse the consumer.
Let’s go through some of the most common organic-related myths and see the facts.
1. Organic is just a trendy word and an alternative approach to increase sales:
Though it’s a well-known fact that nowadays “organic”, “natural”, “eco” and “bio” are trendy words that sell, when it comes to organic in particular things are a bit different. Here, first of all, it is important to understand which products get labeled organic and what are the requirements they have to fulfill. By default, organic is considered any product that contains at least 70% organic compounds. Organic also means that all plants used for the formulation and preparation of the product were grown in a pesticide, fertilizer, antibiotics and growth hormone free environment. It’s also good to know that there are legitimate regulatory bodies and organizations that are in charge of certifying which products get labeled organic such as: USDA, OFC Australia, Natrue, Ecocert. They have specific strict requirements every product must meet in order to carry the “organic” label.
To sum it all up – organic is not just a word that sounds trendy. Organic is better for you, your health and the environment.
2. Organic and Natural products are actually the same thing:
Not true. As explained above, organic products have to meet strict requirement, in contrast with the so called “natural” products on the market. Due to the lack of regulatory requirements towards “natural” products, everyone can label their products “natural”, which in most cases is meaningless because the product in question can be full of harmful chemicals that are not even listed on the label. In the case of organic, this is simply not possible since the certifying institutions have very strict regulations.
3. Organic skincare is not potent:
Unfortunately effectiveness is often associated with getting instant visible results, even if they do not last at all! We need to understand the main difference between organic and regular skincare – organic products improve the condition of your skin in the long run as they tend to give visible results with time. Organic ingredients penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin and act on the cellular level, thus healing the skin and improving its overall condition. They strengthen it and boost its natural defense and regenerative abilities. Most importantly, they balance it because they contain vitamins, minerals and antioxidant, plus ingredients that are “closer to you” as a human being. After all, you are not made of silicones, petroleum byproducts and synthetic emulsifiers, right? So why do you think your skin or your body needs them?
In contrast to organic, regular skincare primarily works by coating the skin, smoothing out the fine lines and filling the wrinkles, making your skin appear better immediately after application, but not doing anything beneficial for it in the long run. Regular skincare gives you better looking skin, not a healthier skin! From here on it is a matter of personal choice.
4. Organic products go bad after several months of use, so they are not worth the investment:
Even though manufacturers of organic products do not use parabens, phenoxyethanol, formaldehyde and other harmful preservatives, that doesn’t mean they don’t use any. Organic skincare products contain natural preservatives like vitamin E, essential oils, different antioxidants and preserving acids – all derived from plants. It is true that once it’s opened it’s good to use the product within the next 6-9 months, but think about it – how could a product be good 36 months after opening and first contact with air (referring to regular skincare)? These products are filled with preservatives and bad chemicals that even bacteria and fungi don’t want. And you were thinking about putting that on your face? Think again!
Tarj Mavi is the founder of La Mav, for more information visit http://www.lamav.com/