Countless beauty products promise glowing skin, but not everything you put on your skin is as beneficial as you may think. Many synthetic products contain ingredients that are toxic to you.

Wouldn’t it be great if your skin was glowing thanks to the natural skincare you use? Giving you peace of mind that no harm is done to your health as a result. And you wouldn’t be alone. The natural skincare industry is valued at around $6.7 billion worldwide and is growing.

Why You Should Be Using Natural Skincare

Is your skincare routine led by this motto: if you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin? After all, your skin health is directly linked to the skincare products you use. And if it is not safe to eat, is it even safe to put it on your body?

Often, which product you choose is a decision influenced by marketing claims. You may use beauty products for various reasons, such as anti-ageing, moisturising, repairing, or firming. However, even the best marketing cannot guarantee the health of your skin.

Think about your skin as a sponge. Your skin is the largest organ of your body, and it absorbs at least 60% of the substances you put on it. When you consider that many beauty products contain ingredients that are harmful to your health, it makes you wonder what effect this could be having.

This alone could be a good reason to choose natural skincare as a part of your skincare regime. However, here are 5 reasons why you should be using natural skincare products:

1. They Contain No Harmful Substances

You might have noticed that many products are free from parabens, SLS, and silicones. And that’s a good start, but it is only the tip of the iceberg.

Most beauty products contain some natural ingredients, but mainly contain synthetic ingredients, many of which are toxic and harmful to your body. This is called ‘green washing’ – a common practice of mainly artificial skincare products, made to appear more natural or eco-friendly. Some of those chemicals are sulphate, sodium laurel sulphate, triclosan, petroleum, or mineral oils.

Synthetic substances are cheaper to mass produce and keep the cost of the end product lower. They can imitate the scent, colour, or texture of natural ingredients, but they can be very dangerous to your health. For example, phthalates (often listed under the label ‘fragrance’ on your shampoo bottle) can disrupt your endocrine system, causing hormonal imbalances, skin irritation, or accumulation of toxins in your body. Also, surfactants (foaming agents) in shower gels and shampoos are often purely synthetic. They can be the exact same as in your dish washing liquid, designed to dissolve fats and oils. That is definitely not good on your skin. Natural foaming agents derived from sugar cane or coconut are now available and do not damage the lipid balance in your skin.

Natural skincare in the best case contains nothing but natural or naturally derived ingredients.  A truly natural moisturiser for example contains ingredients derived from plants, such as aloe vera, berries or flowers such as lavender known for their soothing benefits. They can help reduce many skin conditions such as irritation, redness, or itching.

Putting natural ingredients on your body can give you peace of mind too. You know that what you put on your body is safe for your skin and your overall health.

2. They Contain Natural Ingredients

The biggest reason why you should use natural skincare products is the natural ingredients they contain.

When you look at your body lotion’s label, what ingredients can you see listed? Most likely you either don’t recognise them or you can’t pronounce them. Often this is because they were made in a laboratory. However, for legal labelling requirements even natural ingredients are sometimes listed in their Latin names, which can sound as if they were a synthetic. Conscious natural brands hence often give you both, common and Latin names of the ingredients used.

Natural body lotions contain ingredients such as cocoa butter, jojoba oil, almond oil, shea nut butter which are structured similarly to your own skin’s lipids and hence easy to absorb. Your beauty products don’t need to be boring either. Many natural products also contain active fruit extracts to benefit your skin as well as indulge your senses. Like this body lotion containing Passionfruit Seed Oil.

To ensure a stable product with a good shelf life, any cosmetic usually need to contain a preservative, especially if water is an ingredient. To prevent microbial growth, mould or for oil containing products not to go rancid, some type of a preservative needs to be added. Unfortunately, although available, these are often not natural and this adds even more harmful substances to your products.

The more unwanted artificial substances are in your bottle, the more likely it is that their harmful impact on you will outweigh the benefits of any natural ingredients.

A superstar ingredient among natural products is Vitamin C. The benefits of having natural Vitamin C in your skincare are enormous. It hydrates, brightens, protects and it helps with a youthful skin texture. It helps your cells to make collagen and also makes your skin glow.

Unfortunately, most of the time you will find synthetic Vitamin C in your skincare products. There are no benefits of chemically produced Vitamin C with low bio-availability – its structure is so different from what your cells can actually work with. In addition, synthetically derived Vitamin C doesn’t contain any of the antioxidant capabilities that natural Vitamin C skincare will have.

Your skin will thank you for ensuring all natural ingredients by looking healthier, youthful, radiant and hydrated. 

3. They Have Stood the Test of Time

Whilst natural skincare is gaining in popularity, it is anything but a new trend. Many natural skincare formulas are based on herbalist knowledge used for centuries. Simply because they work.

In ancient times the primary role of skincare was to heal skin conditions. There were no fancy synthetic ingredients added to products, but herbs straight from the garden. Traditional skin remedies used only raw, natural extracts, tinctures and herb infused oils based on their healing properties.

Whilst natural skincare is not allowed to make any such therapeutic claims, you will still benefit from the properties of the plants used. Natural brands often just can’t mention healing properties to their full extent, unless the products are registered with the TGA as medicines.

4. They Are Kinder to the Environment

Most mainstream skincare products use synthetic materials which eventually leak into the ecosystem and upset the natural balance.

Many natural skincare brands use ingredients sourced sustainably and/or through organic farming. This way the full potency of the ingredient is preserved, whilst less stress is put on the Earth’s resources. Less pollution and a reduction of pesticides, fertilisers or other toxic substances are the result.

However, it is not only farming or manufacturing that can impact the environment. When you wash off the synthetic products from your body, they end up in the water and soil. Eventually, those chemicals pollute the marine ecosystem.

Therefore, each time you chose a reef friendly product that contains natural ingredients, you help the environment sustain its natural resources and minimise water, air, and soil pollution. Your skin will look great, and you will feel better knowing that your favourite natural deodorant for example, doesn’t harm neither you nor the environment.

5. They Are Better for Animals

Natural skincare products are more ethical because they don’t harm animals. This means natural skincare products are often vegan and cruelty-free.

The primary reason for the beauty industry to do animal testing is to make sure that the products are safe for humans. Ethical natural skincare brands use truly natural ingredients and test their products on humans only.

Unfortunately, many big brands still rely on animal testing. Even though some companies may not directly use animals in laboratories, they still use indirect practices that harm animals.

Every time you pick up a natural skincare product you help to end animal cruelty. Doesn’t this make you feel good?

Reasons to Use Natural Skincare

Using natural skincare is easier than you think. It is safe to put it on your skin thanks to the natural, plant-derived ingredients. And you can be sure that you are not harming your health by adding toxins to your body.

How great would it be to have glowing skin, look after your health, and at the same time do something good for the environment and end animal cruelty?

If you are ready to start using natural skincare, check out our range of products today. A great way to start is our Minimalist Skincare Ritual.