Beyond Organic

By: A. Covington
Submitted: 2008-07-01 12:28:50
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Get ready for a new term. The new label, "wildcrafted", is popping up on beauty bottles and other natural products, indicating the ingredeints were harvested from their natural habitat. In some cases, only a leaf or a bloom is taken, leaving the plant in-tact. Another term cropping up on “all natural” beauty products is “biodynamic”, which is said to be the new term for organic. As the organic lifestyle gained in popularity, the term has lost some meaning—or at least created confusion among consumers.

The biggest challenge for the organic industry was standardized regulations for what exactly is organic. Rules varied state-to-state and you never knew how long a particular farmers’ soil was free from pesticides or how close that farmers’ crops were located to other farms, which may use pesticides and biologically alter their products. With the biodynamic tag, farmers claim to feed their soil nourishing herbs and produce flowers and crops that are healthier and more potent. They also plant according to the lunar cycle. Why is this important? According to Josephine Fairley in her book The Ultimate Natural Beauty Book, when the moon moves tides, it can affect water and nutrient levels in plants. One product line produced using this philosophy is Dr. Hauschka Skin Care.

If the new labels add even more complexity to an already gray area, just look for the USDA Organic seal, which certifies that the product contains at least 95 percent organic ingredients and passed a certification process to ensure the ingredients used never came into contact with a prohibited synthetic during production. There are only a select few brands that have passed the requirements, including Nourish, Nature’s Gate Rainwater and Vermont Soapworks.

Other ways you can do your part to spare the environment is to buy products with recycled packaging, and of course recycle your container when you’ve used all of the product. MAC Cosmetics has a recycling program—you get a free lipstick or lipgloss when you return six empty MAC containers to a MAC store. Pangea Organics and Cargo PlantLove lipsticks use boxes infused with seeds. When you wet the package, herbs actually grow. Now that’s coming full circle. Cargo lipsticks are made with corn-derived plastic that takes less fossil fuel to produce and is compostable. Burt’s Bees is a long-time earth-friendly company and has committed to wrapping its soaps in TerraSkin paper, which is made from minerals and not trees—and is fully biodegradable in landfills.

If you want to go all out, you can buy everything from toilet paper to deodorant to laundry soap in the “organic” variety. Some may think it’s going too far and it takes too much time to investigate whether or not a company meets all of the organic requirements or engages in free trade and package recycling. But in the end, we’re talking about products we ingest, put on our hair and use in other intimate places, I’d like as many of my products as I can stand to be as pure as possible.

Amy Covington is a beauty writer with a penchant for designer handbags and loves anything that smells great and makes her skin, nails, and hair look and feel amazing. She lends her beauty IQ to her beauty blog. Amy maintains three blogs for Belisi Fashions, a luxury accessories brand, specializing in silk neckties, pocket squares, and cuff links.

Article source: Expert Articles

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