At Absolutely Pure we haven't jumped on the organic band wagon like the plethora of websites that have sprung up recently. Organically-grown ingredients are a bonus and you'll see some of our products contain them, but 'natural' and 'chemical-free' is far more important to us and here's why...

To be called 'organic' a product has to be certified as having met the criteria set by the organic-certifying body of the country it is produced in. Unfortunately, there is currently no international standard and so each country independently decides its own criteria for defining 'organic'. However, one European certification organisation, ECOCERT, is now recognised in 70 countries. Here in the UK organic certification is given by the Soil Association, which has the most comprehensive organic standards worldwide for health and beauty products.

Cosmetics that are certified organic have to contain a high percentage of ingredients that are produced organically. They are farmed in such a way as to involve the minimal use of chemicals (pesticides and artificial fertilisers) and cannot be from a genetically modified crop.

The aim of organic farming is to produce the highest quality product, in its most natural state using methods that value the quality of the soil and consider the impact of farming on the environment. All of which minimises any pollution from the air, water and soil getting into the crop and the land it's growing on.

The integrity of the crop must also be maintained after harvesting. However as the standards for organic cosmetics are not yet as comprehensive or strict as the standards for organic food produce there are quite wide variations on the criteria set for cosmetic products and they will rarely be chemical-free.

Only products that are 100% organic and have used organic, natural source preservatives such as vitamins (i.e.: tocopherol which is Vitamin E) will be free of chemicals and contain ingredients that are all from a natural source.

To complicate matters, many of the organic organisations, such as the Soil Association, Ecocert and the USDA have more than one level of labelling, allowing products to be certified 'organic' whilst containing synthetic chemical preservatives, such as phenoxyethanol.

With Ecocert there are two levels:

• Ecocert ECO certified products are made with 95% of ingredients from natural origin and at least 5% of total ingredients are organic and minimum 50% of the vegetal ingredients are certified organic.
• Ecocert BIO certified products are made with 95% of ingredients from natural origin and at least 10% of total ingredients are organic and minimum 95% of the vegetal ingredients are certified organic.

For the Soil Association there are three levels of labelling:

• Products that contain 100% organic ingredients.
• Products that are made with 95% organic ingredients - allowing up to 5% of synthetic ingredients from a restricted list.
• Products that contain between 95% -70% organic ingredients and the actual percentage is declared on the label.

In the USA organic food now enjoys an official government seal but the body care sector is as lawless as the wild west in regard to content and labelling, so consumers have no idea whether 'organic' cosmetics and body-care really are organic.

Not only are there no official standards, but there also is no agency policing the label claims on non-food items such as personal care products and nutritional supplements.
The United States Department of Agriculture says manufacturers of non-food items cannot display the coveted USDA Organic Seal but they can, however, call themselves "organic" or say the products are "made with organic ingredients," even if they're not.

Most body care products are not organic and are making the claim based on water - that's because of hydrosols, or floral waters - some manufacturers believe hydrosols, which are the waters collected when certain plants are distilled to create essential oils, should be considered organic if the steamed plants are grown organically.

This allows manufacturers of personal care products to claim a higher percentage of organic ingredients. California, the only state to issue organic standards for toiletries and cosmetics, allows products containing at least 70 percent organic ingredients - including hydrosol - to carry a state-approved organic seal.

So products that are certified 'organic', unless they are 100% organic, still have ingredients that are not from a natural origin and therefore are not chemical-free.
Reading ingredients labels and learning about ingredients is currently the only way to know the truth about a product.

Natural

Unfortunately there are no regulations about using the word 'natural' on a cosmetic product so the word has lost some value and meaning in the health and beauty industry.
Any product can call itself ‘natural’ no matter what the ingredients are, which has led to the formation of organisations that campaign for honesty and consistency in cosmetic labelling, such as the Natural Ingredient Resource Centre.

They define natural ingredients as mineral, plant, animal or microbial matter either in the form found present in nature or extracted using physical or simple chemical methods.

For example beeswax would be an ingredient used as it is found in nature, and essential oils are ingredients created by distilling plant material.

Therefore natural ingredients are not synthetic reproductions made in a laboratory, are not extracted or processed using petrochemicals, are not genetically modified or irradiated. There would not be any synthetic or chemical preservatives, fragrances or colours in a cosmetic product that adheres to this definition of natural.