Dr Barbara Olioso's Blog

Is natural safe?

Even if a product is natural, safety and quality can still be an issue. In a way a natural ingredient is more “alive” than synthetic materials and more prone to microbial contamination and oxidation.

Micro organisms growing naturally in decomposition processes are natural but can be harmful to humans, some essential oils can cause skin rashes, natural heavy metals are poisonous and there is circumstantial evidence linking Aluminium to Alzheimer’s disease.

Therefore even if dealing with a natural product the microbial content has still to be within safe limits, the state of oxidation of vegetable oils and essential oils have to be checked, and the amount used of essential oils has to be within safety margins. This leads us to the point that despite we associate nature with trust, we need still to be aware that nature can still make harmful substances and that extra care has to be taken when manufacturing and handling natural materials. 

When buy a natural cosmetic check how long its shelf life is and how old it is.

What is natural?

This is a very big question as there is no legal definition for a “natural” cosmetic, so anybody can claim their products to be natural despite they have synthetic ingredients in it. Therefore my answer to this question is based on what I believe a “natural” cosmetic is. The basic definition says natural is something present in nature or produced by nature. This is a very basic definition as at a level everything comes from nature. Petroleum comes from the decomposition of ancient plant material so plastic in theory is a natural derivative! So what is natural? In order to get a clearer picture and definition we need to take into account other factors, such as the care of the environment and the desire to be closer to nature. With this perspective, petroleum derivatives, including synthetic fragrances and colours, do not fit into the natural definition as oil is not from renewable sources and causes environmental pollution. Silicones despite derived from silica, involve long synthetic processes and they are often combined with oil derivatives, therefore also silicones can not be classified as natural. This takes us to a more holistic definition of natural:

Natural is something found in nature or made by nature,

extracted in an environmentally sustainable manner, from renewable sources,

keeping its chemical structure and properties as close as possible to the original form

The implications of this definition lead to ban any kind of natural derived material modified in a way that:

changes its fundamental structure

combines it with synthetic derivatives such as ethylene oxide.

Also hydrogenation, as it is usually performed with Nickel, and may change the molecular structure of the material to be hydrogenated, does not fit in with the above definition.

This is a very basic definition and in the future posts I will go into more detail.

Wanting to know more about naturals? You are in the right place!

What is natural?

How do I know if a cosmetic product is natural?

What is organic and biodynamic?

How do I read an ingredients list?

Is organic the best?

This blog is aimed at answering these questions and at creating a platform for people to share their views on this hot topic.

Knowledge will set you free, so I share my knowledge with you so that you can make aware choices when you buy cosmetics.

 

dr Barbara Olioso, chemist