Synthetic or Organic?

We should know what ingredients go into the products we use. Products such as makeup, deodorant, cleansers, and moisturizers absorb into the skin. Some beauty products provide benefits to our physic but at what cost to our health. Over 5,000 chemicals are used in personal care products alone, according to Pharmacopia.net.

I looked up a product for a client this afternoon that she had purchased outside of our spa to view its list of ingredients. I found that not only did the product contain known carcinogens, but it also carried ingredients banned or are untested for their potential health hazards for consumption.

While I was concerned for her choice of skin care I have to admit that having worked in the chemical industry and with cosmetics specifically I was not at all surprised. Why do we put on our skin what we wouldn’t ingest I will never know…

The skin is the body’s largest organ. It can and does absorb the ingredients in skin care. Up to 60 percent of certain ingredients in body products, such as lotion, cream and bubble bath, will absorb through the skin and into the bloodstream. Then the chemicals will accumulate in target organs, or are metabolized through the system, in some instances over a period of years, according to Mount Sinai.  With that in mind; what chemicals we choose to place on our skin may benefit beauty-wise as promised by the product label, but at what cost?

It is not always a choice of health or beauty….

I would like to remind everyone buying into that idea that you can have your cake and eat it too. As a chemist, I happen to know that many of the active, useful chemical compounds found in skin care were originally found in nature and are still organically created.

So why do we still rely on synthetically created and modified chemicals. Well, it began with the chemical industry wanting to use less expensive base chemicals to mass produce useful chemical compounds for distribution in and turn a larger profit. Now while the chemical extraction of certain useful chemicals has become more feasible and more relied upon by some earth-friendly companies, old habits dye hard for others.

Our formulas are complimented with the finest, most potent, biodynamic, organics and natural ingredients sourced the world over – ingredients which meet Jurlique’s exacting standards.-Jurlique