Natural Cosmetics

Reasoned definition of natural cosmetic

It is known that the use of plants or natural derivatives, in the preparation of products intended for topical application, has accompanied human civilization for centuries. After all, the plant world represents an inexhaustible source of raw materials which, transformed with appropriate processes, find various applications in the dermo-cosmetic field, both as functional substances and as excipients or carriers.

In the last decades, in particular, in the face of problems such as global warming, the depletion of renewable resources, the increase in the incidence of allergies and skin sensitization, we have witnessed a growing interest in the environment and eco-consumption sustainable, natural products, quality and safety of the raw materials used and, at the same time, a demonization, often unjustified, of synthetic substances, considered harmful for themselves and the environment. In a general context, the demand for more and more natural products has increased, with the phenomenon of organic agriculture, which has found, as undisputed leader, the food sector. The philosophy of natural / organic has become an object of great interest, both on the part of the consumer, both on the part of the operators in the sector and, from food, has extended to other areas, such as cosmetics, with the aim of proposing a product able to guarantee high attention to the origin of the components used, a high degree of sustainability and respect for the environment. However, it is important to define what a natural cosmetic is because the meaning is not univocal or even regulated: there is no law that indicates which substances and what concentration should be contained in a natural cosmetic and which are not . For this reason we will first of all make it clear that, in this article, with the wording "natural cosmetic" we do not refer to those products that bear this label only by virtue of the minimum content of an extract, for example of aloe or other vegetable, only for marketing claims, relying on ambiguous comparability with the food sector, taking advantage of consumer confidence and diminishing the credibility of companies that invest in the development of products designed and created with a truly natural cosmetic approach, starting from the selection of raw materials and their dosage, up to the production processes and the choice of packaging.

A natural cosmetic is, in our opinion, a product consisting mainly of natural ingredients (obtained and used as such or which have undergone only physical transformation processes) and ingredients of natural origin, but without, or containing very limited concentrations of substances considered - by scientific studies and by professionals of the sector - little eudermic or not easily biodegradable, such as silicone derivatives, acrylates, ethoxylated or petrochemical molecules.

Advantages and disadvantages of Natural Cosmetics

Let's start from the assumption that

opinions on cosmetics that do not meet the requirements of naturalness are often misleading and filled with prejudices, gross errors and obviousness spread by subjects who boast of skills and qualifications never reached, but which are often dangerous, triggering tam-tam telematics that rely on an audience that has no chemical or dermatological skills and is led to think that everything that is "synthetic" is harmful to one's skin and "poisons" the planet.

It is also true that communication in the opposite direction is often studded with unclear and impractical information and terminology, thus forcing the consumer to lay down his arms, renouncing the will to understand a more technical language and deciding, with a closed box, to go the road less tortuous and dangerous for itself and the environment. It is no coincidence, therefore, that sales of natural cosmetics continue to record a positive trend despite the crisis in consumption which has negatively influenced the general trend of the market. Faced with the growing demand for this type of cosmetics, it would be advisable to be able to offer consumers who are attentive to their health and sensitive to environmental problems, products that are more closely monitored and regulated by control bodies, to avoid the spread of deceptive advertising messages that claim a "Naturalness" of the almost non-existent product, the so-called "green washing". It would also be important for the institutions to contribute to the knowledge of the sector by making it clear that the term "synthetic chemical" is not synonymous with "harmful" or "irritant", and that the cosmetic is a complex matrix and, as such, should be judged in all of its components, in the concentration ratios and in the dosage of the ingredients considered "critical" in terms of biodegradability, in verifying the tolerability and the efficacy of the finished product. This would help to prevent the conventional cosmetic from being confused with a mixture of artificial and potentially toxic substances mixed together for the sole purpose of obtaining a pleasant texture, at low costs and with contained formulation efforts.

Given this premise, the critical issues in the creation of a cosmetic that meets naturalness requirements are very numerous and represent a demanding challenge for the formulator who would like to be able to offer the consumer similar performance and the same pleasantness as conventional cosmetics. After all, the sensoriality of the cosmetic also consisting of synthetic molecules, which exploits the silkiness of a silicone touch or the powdery effect of a texturizing acrylic polymer, are not comparable to those of natural cosmetics, although it is desirable that recent developments of the market, with the entry of leading brands in large distribution of natural cosmetic lines, can encourage the producers of raw materials to invest in the search for natural raw materials, to overcome formulation limits that can be found in the realization of certain types of products, providing new opportunities for the formulator.

Beyond the texture, in the field of detergency, foam lovers who approach "natural" formulations, could hardly adapt to the use of detergents formulated with delicate and low-pollutant tensides but that develop little foam in contact with water. For those who then have curly and voluminous hair, the untangling of hair with balsams lacking conditioning surfactants such as Cetrimonium Chloride or poliquaternium, non-biodegradable and ichthyotoxic, but certainly effective, could be a strenuous operation.

One of the major problems of natural cosmetic is its conservation : synthetic preservatives are generally more powerful, effective and economical than natural molecules. In recent years the search for new natural substances has undergone a considerable increase and there are attempts to replace synthetic preservatives with essential oils or other plant molecules with bacteriostatic activity. Recently the practice of mixing different natural substances to spread the spectrum has been widespread, appropriately dosed and formulated at the appropriate pH. The results obtained are discrete, even if the problem of microbial preservation of natural cosmetic formulations is not completely resolved. Often high amounts of ethyl alcohol are used which, despite its "naturalness", can be irritating, especially if applied to sensitive skin, or a packaging is used that guarantees greater protection from microbial contamination. compared to traditional vases or bottles, as airless or single-dose containers, with the possibility of using smaller dosages of preservatives in natural cosmetics.

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