Do you sometimes have a feeling you don’t understand the INCI lists of cosmetics? You want to choose products with understandable INCI lists. Often, the INCI list of natural cosmetics has been clearer and shorter than that of conventional cosmetics. However, this is no longer necessarily the case. Natural cosmetics products also contain a lot of ingredients whose origin and meaning we don’t have a clear idea about. Since many of my readers are struggling with the INCI lists of cosmetics, I decided to open a little about the world of natural cosmetics ingredients.
What are natural cosmetics and how do they differ from conventional cosmetics?
Natural cosmetics is a rather vague term. You can call almost any cosmetic product natural cosmetics if you want. Since there is no general definition for natural cosmetics, manufacturers have acquired various certificates for their products. Certificates guarantee the quality of a cosmetic product.
There are many different natural cosmetics certificates. Natural cosmetics certificates define which ingredients are allowed in the product and/or which are not allowed in it. Each certificate is unique. Different certificates approve different ingredients for natural cosmetics. Some of them are very broad while others are particularly precise in terms of ingredients, their quality and processing.
Some of the most well-known natural cosmetics certificates are COSMOS, ECOCERT and NaTrue.
Interpreting the INCI list is not easy
The INCI list is bound by cosmetics legislation. The ingredients of a cosmetic product must be listed in a certain form and in a certain order. If the product contains, for example, ordinary rose hydrolate, it cannot be mentioned in this form in the list of ingredients. All products have an international INCI name, which rose water, for example, has “Rosa Damascena Flower Water”. Because of this rule, the INCI list is very difficult to interpret. It is a mixture of chemistry, Latin and English. You must learn to remember the INCI names of the most important ingredients.
Are uncertified natural cosmetics safe?
Kosmetiikkatuote voi olla täysin luonnollinen, vaikka sillä ei olisikaan sertifikaattia. Monet pienet itsenäiset kosmetiikkavalmistajat eivät sertifioi tuotteitaan taloudellisista syistä. Sertifiointi maksaa paljon, eikä kustannusten kattaminen myynnillä ole aina mahdollista. Pienet valmistajat eivät myöskään halua sitoutua monimutkaiseen sertifiointiprosessiin. Heillä ei välttämättä ole siihen aikaa tai resursseja. Paras tapa selvittää tuotteen koostumus on ymmärtää inci-listan sisältö.
Beware of greenwashing
Jotkut valmistajat kutsuvat omia tuotteitaan luonnonkosmetiikaksi, vaikka tuote sisältää paljon synteettisiä ainesosia. Toisaalta perinteinen kosmetiikka on nyt tullut hyvin lähelle luonnonkosmetiikkaa. Tämä johtuu luonnonkosmetiikan suosiosta ja kuluttajien kasvavasta tietoisuudesta. Monissa perinteisissä kosmetiikkatuotteissa säilöntäaine saattaa olla ainoa ainesosa, jota ei hyväksytä luonnonkosmetiikassa.
Nykyään on melko vaikea vetää selkeää rajaa luonnonkosmetiikan ja perinteisen kosmetiikan välille. Joskus tuote, jonka sanotaan olevan luonnonkosmetiikkaa, voi olla kauempana luonnonkosmetiikasta kuin perinteinen kosmetiikka. Näin tapahtuu vain silloin, kun tuotetta ei ole sertifioitu.
Strange ingredients in natural cosmetics
Natural cosmetics contain many ingredients with strange-sounding names. “If you can’t pronounce the name of the ingredient, it’s not safe.” This is often given to us as a guideline when we are wondering about long ingredient lists. Fortunately, this statement is not true. Many hard-to-pronounce ingredients in cosmetics are approved as raw materials for natural cosmetics and are therefore very safe.
Ingredients in natural cosmetics must also usually have a natural origin. This of course depends on the certificate. At least COSMOS, NaTrue and ECOCERT certificates require that all ingredients must have a natural origin. For example, all PEG ingredients are made with a chemical process called ethoxylation. Natural cosmetics certificates usually do not accept PEG ingredients precisely because of the ethoxylation process.
I have written a separate article about PEG ingredients on the Helenatur blog. It is worth reading my article if you are interested in the bad guys in cosmetics.
Some strangely named ingredients in natural cosmetics
Natural cosmetics contain a huge number of different chemicals. It is impossible to list them all here. I have listed only a few ingredients here that I have used when making cosmetics myself. You may have used these same ingredients if you have made home cosmetics by yourself.
The following substances are natural emulsifiers
- Coco Glucoside – made from coconut oil and fruit sugars
- Glyceryl Oleate – made from glycerol and olive oil
- Polyglyceryl-4-oleate – a PEG-free emulsifier, made from glycerine and sunflower oil
- Cetearyl Alcohol – made from natural oils, e.g. coconut, palm oil and other oils. Can also be synthetic, in which case it is not approved for natural cosmetics
- Polyglyceryl-3 Polyricinoleate – made from glycerine and castor oil
- Glyceryl Stearate Citrate – a palm oil-free emulsifier made from various vegetable oils
- Cetearyl Olivate – a PEG-free emulsifier made from olive oil olive oil and cetearyl alcohol. Olivem 1000 contains this.
- Sorbitan olivate – made from sorbitol and olive oil. Olivem 1000 contains this.
The following ingredients are humectants
- Glycerol – a sugar alcohol that is made from natural fats and oils. Glycerol can sometimes also be of animal origin.
- Pentylene Glycol – a solvent with humectant properties. This can be either synthetic or of natural origin (sugar cane and corn)
- Sodium lactate – the sodium salt of lactic acid
- Sorbitol – a sugar alcohol like glycerol
The following ingredients are preservatives
- Dehydroetikkahappo – tuotettu kemiallisella prosessilla
- Benzyl alcohol – occurs naturally in many fruits and berries, is also produced synthetically. Causes skin irritation in some people
- Benzoic acid – synthetically produced from toluene
- Potassium sorbate – potassium salt of sorbic acid, occurs naturally in, for example, rowan berries, but all sorbic acid in the world is produced synthetically.
- Trietyylisitraatti – sitruunahappoesteri, valmistettu synteettisesti
Natural cosmetics do not come from nature
As you can see, many ingredients in natural cosmetics are manufactured in chemical factories. Natural cosmetics is always a product made by somebody. Natural cosmetics are never completely natural products. Natural cosmetics are a compromise between conventional and completely natural ingredients.
If you want to use the most natural products possible on your skin, then choose water-free cosmetics. Water-free products do not contain emulsifiers, thickeners or preservatives. Water-free products represent natural cosmetics at their purest.
As soon as water or other aqueous liquid is added to the product, the product needs at least a preservative. Preservatives are the most industrially made ingredients in cosmetics. However, they are essential in products containing water if you want the product to last a few days longer. If you leave out the preservative, the shelf life of the product is comparable to homemade mayonnaise. It needs a refrigerator to be preserved, and even then, the product may only last a few days.
The chemicals in natural cosmetics are safe
If you use certified natural cosmetics, you can be sure that the ingredients in the product are safe. Even if they are not directly from nature, they are still as natural and minimally processed as possible. There are thousands of cosmetic ingredients that are never and will never be approved for natural cosmetics. This makes natural cosmetics so much safer. Even if you don’t know how to interpret INCI lists, natural cosmetics certificates guarantee that the product you buy contains the safest possible ingredients.