All of us want to be healthier, happier, and have less impact on the environment.  Most of the skin care products (including cosmetics) on the market are not even close to organic.  Many include some pretty ugly chemicals.  Most notable of those are the parabens.

These are estrogen boosters, usually called para-hydroxybenzoic acids.  They go under various chemical names like methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, etc.  They’re valued as anti-microbials, so they lower skin infections and “zits” which makes skin look healthier.  They also keep the skin care product in question fresher, longer.

These parabens are in lipstick, base makeup, skin conditioners, lotions and more.  They are associated with estrogenic activity, either boosting or blocking depending on use.  They mimic female hormones and can cause health concerns.  The EPA is studying whether they are also affecting ground water and other things.

Avoiding them is a good idea.  If you read the article on sunburn published here, you’ll understand that.

Just because something is put on your skin does not mean it’s not going into your body.  Studies have found that things applied to or spilled onto the skin are absorbed, at least partially, into the body (subcutaneously) within ten minutes.

The problem is, when you look for skin care products at the store, they’ll have labels like “All Natural” and “Organic,” but that may or may not mean what you think it means. Here is the list of top rated Organic Skincare and Cosmetic Brands.

Reading the label is a good start.  The ingredients list shouldn’t contain a lot of chemical names that don’t have sources in parenthesis.  For instance, “theobroma cacao” is coconut oil, so it will probably be listed on the label as theobroma cacao (coconut oil).

Luckily, there are some certifiers you can look for whose name on the label will do a lot of the work for you.  These labels all guarantee a 95% or better organic content in the product:

USDA Organic
Australian Certified Organic
EU Agriculture Biologique
BIO/Germany

Others with nice-sounding names like “Eco Cert” don’t mean organic or even natural.  The Eco Cert label only requires a 10% organic content, which many beauty products have anyway.  “Squirt some aloe in there and it’s organic,” would be the thinking on those labels.

Natural products (which are not organic, meaning their ingredients may include plants sprayed with chemicals during growth) will have the same ingredient types on the label to watch for.  Look also for guarantees from the company saying that there are no glycols, SLS, parabens, etc. in the product.  That’s at least a good start.

The good news in all this is that there are more and more products that are doing more than just greenwashing and claiming to be “organic.”  It’s worth the little bit of effort to get the good stuff, though.

How are you going organic with your skin care?  Let us know in the comments!

Please visit Organic Lifetsyle Blog regularly to find out more about organic and healthy lifestyle.

Buy Organic Skin Care Products

[phpzon]Organic skin care, 10,Beauty[/phpzon]