Five Natural Skin Care Myths

Natural skin care lines are proliferating both at high-end department stores and at the corner drugstore. There's something intrinsically appealing to consumers about using wholesome, natural beauty products. It's almost a form of sympathetic magic--if what you put on your skin is natural and pure, the skin itself will become naturally pure too, or so cosmetics companies would like you to believe. Unfortunately, this is no more true than the notion that rubbing a chocolate bar on your skin will enhance your tan.

Although there are some excellent organic skin care products available, not every one is right for your skin, and there's certainly no guarantee that it's better for you than conventional skin care lines.

If the Bottle Says "Natural," It Must Be Natural

Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulate the use of the word "natural" on cosmetics. Any product can call itself "natural" regardless of the amount of synthetic ingredients it contains. "Natural" is just a fashionable buzz-word that taps into consumers' desire for natural or organic products without making any meaningful promises.

While the FDA usually regulates cosmetics, the organization doesn't have their own standards for organic ingredients in cosmetics. Instead, the FDA applies the USDA's guidelines for organically produced food to cosmetic ingredients to derive their standards for organic cosmetics. Skin care products labeled "100 percent organic" contain only USDA-certified organic ingredients, while those that are "made with organic ingredients" are at least 70 percent organic.

What of products that "contain natural botanical extracts" or are "all-natural?" They're the ones that couldn't get an official designation of "organic." If natural cosmetics are important to you, look for bottles that bear USDA certification as organic. Without that certification, whatever's in that bottle could be as synthetic as a polyester pantsuit and still tout itself as natural.

If It's Organic, It's Hypoallergenic

But how important is it to use only organic products on your skin? Your skin's organic, so shouldn't organic products reduce the chances of your suffering an allergic reaction to your skin care products? In fact, the reverse is true; organic cosmetics can contain many common allergens such as milk proteins, nuts and nut husks, or lanolin. Inorganic ingredients like talc, mica, or topically-applied silicone products are inert and therefore less likely to trigger reactions.

Companies that manufacture organic skin care products may tout their products as being "hypoallergenic" and therefore safer for skin, but as with the word "natural," there is no legal definition of the term. According to the FDA, "there are no federal standards for using the term hypoallergenic. The term can mean whatever a company wants it to mean."

What does that mean for your skin? If you've had an allergic reaction to strawberries in the past, it's possible that the organic strawberry lip balm you bought will cause you trouble no matter how prominently "hypoallergenic" is written on the tube.

Organic Skin Care Products Won't Irritate Skin

Even if you have no allergies, you may have sensitive, irritation-prone skin. Getting back to nature with organics may seem like a gentler way to care for your skin, but many common ingredients in organic products are chemical irritants.

A lemon straight off the tree is as natural and pure as possible, but can still leave your skin red, itchy, and irritated; why would it be any less likely to do so in a toner? Mint and eucalyptus are prime offenders, too. If you've ever tasted a peppermint candy that was too strong to take, it's because the nerve endings in your mouth were over-stimulated by the menthol in the lozenge. The same nerves in your skin can also get irritated at an overdose of minty freshness.

Poison ivy is organic too, but that doesn't mean it won't make you itch.

Organic Skin Care Products Are More Effective

The effectiveness of an organic skin care product is entirely relative to what you want it to do. An organic moisturizer or toner may do its job just as well as its synthetic counterparts, but not every element of skin care has an organic parallel for conventional products.

Sunscreen is a vital component to any skin care regimen, yet any product that's certified organic must contain at least 70 percent organically produced ingredients. That means any sunscreen labeled organic doesn't contain enough of the necessary active ingredients to protect you from the sun. Organic cosmetics manufacturers know this too; honest ones make a point of noting that their sunscreen products cannot be certified organic, but less scrupulous companies mix up a cocktail of organic oils and imply that the product is useful for sun protection while failing to tell consumers the SPF level the oil contains.

For most skin care products, effectiveness is in the eye of the beholder; if organic products are keeping you fresh-faced and dewy, there's no reason to switch. But don't take chances with your sunscreen; steer clear of certified organic sunscreens. If you're looking for broad-spectrum sun protection and want a skin-safe product, look for sunscreens containing zinc oxide, an inorganic compound listed on the FDA's "Generally Recognized as Safe" list.

Organic Skin Care Products are More Healthful

It's tempting to think of applying avocados or herbal extracts to your face as "nourishing" it (you'll see that word often in descriptions of organic skin care products), but human skin doesn't absorb nutrients. No matter how healthy a diet you "feed" your skin, it can't eat all that good stuff.

Although you can't feed your skin, you can inadvertently feed populations of bacteria and mold if you use organic products without paying close attention to expiration dates and avoiding contamination of the product. Organic cosmetics by definition contain no artificial preservatives. Just as fruit can spoil if it's left on your kitchen counter for too long, it can also spoil in a bottle of lotion. Thicker products generally come in a wide-mouthed jar for easy application, but avoid dipping your fingers directly into a jar of preservative-free cream; it might look like moisturizer to you, but to any bacteria on your fingers, it's a nutrient-rich paradise.

If it makes you happy to buy natural skin care products, by all means do so--but be an informed consumer. Remember that like all cosmetics manufacturers, organic cosmetics manufacturers are ultimately looking for a sale. If they can get that sale by using words that make consumers happy or by failing to mention their products' shortcomings, sometimes they'll do that too.

Your best protection from unsafe or ineffective products, allergic reactions, or skin irritation isn't on the front of the label, it's on the back. Make a habit of reading ingredient labels so you'll know what you're really buying instead of buying into skin care hype.

Sources:Womenshealth, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Food and Drug Administration