How to Tell if Your Products Are Natural

Incorporating environmentally-friendly habits and products into your life is extremely popular, so it seems that you find buzzwords like “natural” and “organic” used in advertising campaigns for every product imaginable.  I like to think that I live a fairly green life, so I have to admit that I am definitely attracted to new products that have packaging and descriptions that appeal to my desire to be closer to nature.  Am I being fooled when I buy these products?

I recently read an article by Adria Vasil, author of Ecoholic: Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information, Products and Services with tips about how to determine whether products you are buying are anywhere close to nature.  The average woman puts 125 chemicals on her scalp, body, face, and lips each day!  Everyone’s interpretation of “natural” is different so you are obviously the ultimate judge of whether or not a product lives up to your requirements, but here are some of Vasil’s quick tips when shopping for a green product:

• Read the ingredients. If you see lots of unpronounceable multi-syllable words, you are probably looking at a product that contains lots of chemicals.  Look for products with lists of real ingredients that you recognize.

• Determine if it is organic. Products that are 95% certified organic will bear the USDA organic seal (the greenest possible!).  Products that are 74%-94% organic will say “made with organic ingredients.”  If it doesn’t have either of these, then most of the ingredients are synthetic.

• Look for Natural Seal of Approval. The Natural Products Association certifies beauty products that are at least 95% natural.

• Look for a ranking scale number online. Go online to Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database to see if your product is listed and what it’s hazard score is.  They didn’t have very many of my products listed, but check to see if they have yours.

If you want to buy organic, these are great tips to help you make the right decisions for your skin care and beauty products while you are shopping!  There are more tips for living green through your product choices in Ecoholic.