Increasingly, customers invest more time and resources in using “healthy” products. This evolution has also reached the cosmetics sector, where the final consumer is concerned about the effect of chemicals contained in the products they use regularly.
We have all heard about “parabens”, “chemical sunscreens”, “EDTA” … These are widely used components in the cosmetic sector to preserve the final products and guarantee their expiration and effectiveness.
We are not going to discuss the conservative efficacy of the parabens used in emulsions, because an emulsion that takes parabens (phenoxyethanol, methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben …) has an “almost infinite” expiration.
The final client is concerned about the scientific articles related to the effect of “parabens” on the skin, which relates them to cancer, and other publications that they read on the web.
Given this client concern, organic cosmetics have experienced an exponential growth in recent years, but, what is certified organic cosmetics?
Certified organic cosmetics are a type of cosmetics that meet the same regulatory criteria as traditional cosmetics, but in the absence of a public body, different private companies are being used to perform quality controls and verify that the ingredients used in the formulations come from certified organic farming.
Then, organic cosmetics carry out an extra quality control, which consists of a previously described system by an external company. This company verifies and guarantees that the ingredients and processes used comply with the standards described by the company to certify the product.
What is the problem?
There are many companies dedicated to the certification of organic commitment, and each one follows different criteria, although, normally, they are usually similar.
Let’s name some of them:
– Ecocert (France)
– Bdih (Germany)
– Bio.Inspecta (Switzerland)
– Soil (UK)
– Icea (Italy)
– Natrue (Belgium)
– Cosmos (Ecocert, Bdih, Icea, Soil, Cosmebio) (association of certifiers)
The certifiers have similar common criteria, but the way of calculating the final percentage of certified organic ingredients differs; so, does a product certified by Bio.Inspecta under the Bio Vida Sana standard have a percentage of organic product other than one certified by Ecocert?
The answer is yes.
Each certification body has a previously described standard that indicates how the percentage of organic ingredients is calculated; normally they do not coincide as long as the product is not pure and of organic origin.
At a technical level I do not believe this is of upmost importance, but it is from the marketing point of view, as it is not the same to advertise a product with a high percentage of organic than one that is a little lower…
For the final consumer, it must be extra clear, when buying a product, that it is certified as natural or organic by a recognised certifier. The certifier allows you to capture its identification logos which become a warranty of the product. This ensures that the product is a truly eco- certified product.
I said previously “truly organic” because there are products in the market that use the claim of “natural product” or “with organic ingredients”, also using super attractive designs with palm trees, leaves of plants, images of beaches and illustrations that remind nature, and are nothing more than traditional products with parabens, bht, edta … that have undergone a facelift to turn them into pseudo-natural products.
Obviously, these products do not have any seal that guarantees that the product is certified.