Many people find organic skin care mysterious. Generally, we have an idea that organic things are good for us. However most of us do not have a firm definition for the word organic. We tend to assume that organic skin care is good simply because it is natural. This notion is partially true, but it takes more than just a few natural ingredients to make a truly organic skin care product. It is important to understand what the terms in the ingredients mean in order to get the best results from any organic skin care investment.

By law, the word organic means that a product contains 95 percent organic ingredients. Organic things are carbon-based. It follows that a product that contains 95 percent carbon-based ingredients can be considered organic. In the case of cosmetics and skin care products, this means that if a product contains petroleum or petroleum-based ingredients, it can still be labeled organic. This is important to know about compounds like methylparaben, which is a suspected carcinogen that is petroleum based and present in many skin care products. Clearly, when you think “organic skin care” you do not think of crude oil and potentially getting breast cancer. As a result, you need to be very careful to reconcile your interpretation of organic skin care with the legal definition before you buy.

Knowing ahead of time what you are looking for in organic skin care will help you get the products you want. Most people want natural, unaltered ingredients whenever possible. (You will have to allow for a minor amount of preservatives and processing compounds present for health reason.) Traditionally, most people think organic products are related to “green” products. They want to know that they have invested in a product that did not harm the environment.

In the end, the best thing to do is just read the label. Look for “derived” ingredients. Take “Cocamide-DEA derived from coconut oil.” You could say this is organic because it comes from a natural substance. However, the only way to get it is to process it using a known carcinogen. Sadly, derived ingredients are unlikely to be organic in the way that most of us think of organic.

You should also factor in water content when you are determining how organic a product is. Often, a product labeled 75 percent organic will also be nearly 75 percent water. In general, you should only consider entirely organic skin care products to be truly organic.

You can reap incredible rewards from using truly organic skin care products. Your skin is a natural organ, and as such can derive great benefit from natural elements. In order to get true benefits from organic skin care, however, you have to be able to spot the “good stuff.”

This information provided as a courtesy of http://www.BeautyCtr.com, America’s leading source of free, unbiased information and reviews about health and beauty products.

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