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If It Doesn’t Have The Seal… It Ain’t The Real Deal!
Get Beauty-Schooled About The Cosmetics Industry
If It Doesn’t Have The Seal… It Ain’t The Real Deal!
Needless to say, I’ve become an extremely conscious consumer recently… I guess the Big “C” will do that to you. I’m “that girl” who spends 4 hours reading labels a the grocery store, who knows most of the team members in the Whole Body department at WF’s by name. At first, I remember thinking- wow, these “organic” brands weren’t as bad as I thought- and they actually work too! It seemed too good to be true, but I wasn’t gonna ask questions- I had other things on my plate.
Low and behold… I had been bitch-slapped by organic cheater brands! Umm… so yeah- up until a few months ago, I honestly believed that when a product said “organic” or “natural” on the label- it meant that it truly was. Stupid me. I, along with everyone else I knew who was trying to buy safer cosmetics had been tricked yet again! This is one of the reasons I started this blog.
Get Beauty-Schooled About The Cosmetics Industry
- There are actually no laws, rules or regulations for cosmetic companies to follow- (how is that possible in this day and age?) Find Proof Here…
- Cosmetic companies are not required by any law to test ingredients for product safety, report adverse reactions, register products, list ALL ingredients in a product on the package or release their formulas to the FDA.
- They are allowed to use ANY ingredient on the planet in their products. Yikes!
- When you pull a product off the shelf, you probably assume it’s been tested for product safety- guess what? Most likely it hasn’t been. How sad.
- The FDA spends only about 1% of it’s budget to monitor the entire beauty industry, which is considered self-regulated by the very same companies that sell us “Hope in a Jar”.
- Just because a label says “Natural” or “Organic” doesn’t mean anything actually is natural (or organic for that matter) in the product.
- Just because companies sign the “Compact for Safe Cosmetics” campaign agreement on the Skin Deep website, doesn’t mean their products are automatically safe- it means that they intend to TRY to make them safer in the future.
- You might be paying premium prices thinking you’re getting pure, premium products- when in reality it’s just a conventional product with the word “organic” slapped on it.
USDA Organic Standards
- There are currently standards for organic food and agriculture, where if “organic” is used in the product name- it is truly organic.
- There are no set standards for what constitutes a “natural” or “organic” other than for those that are USDA certified organic.
- Many beauty products so-called “natural’ products are often mis-labeled and are made primarily from synthetic ingredients, petrochemical compounds, laced with herbicides, pesticides and other harmful carcinogenic chemicals.
- The USDA regulates organic personal care products ONLY if they are made up of agricultural ingredients.
- Know your Organic Certification seals and understand what they mean…
Confused by the Symbol on the Package? Organic Certifications, Standards and Symbols Explained…
Fake “Organic” Cheater Brands Exposed
(Sadly, A Few Of My Faves)
- Avalon “Organics”
- Desert Essence “Organics”
- Earth’s Best “Organic”
- Eminence “Organic” (Except Few w/USDA Seal)
- Giovanni “Organic”
- Freeman Goodstuff “Organics”
- Head “Organics”
- Jason “Pure, Natural & Organic”
- Kiss My Face “Obsessively Organic”
- Nature’s Gate “Organics”
- Physicians Formula “Organic” Wear
- Stella McCartney “100% Organic”
6 comments
WOW! Looks like “Coming Clean” has an abundance of info that women need to share! THANKS!!
Sandy… Keep sharing it and spread the word girl! That seems to be the only way we get things like this done… by pissing people off enough to do something about it! LOL.
xoxo
do you thing eminence product are natural enough even it’s not all organic?
Hi Meryana!
That’s a tough one! The short of it is… that there’s really no way for me to tell without seeing a complete list of ingredients. I contacted them recently trying to find their ingredients online – thinking maybe I wasn’t looking in the right place, but they told me that they didn’t want to post them publicly due to proprietary info. They do claim to list them on their packaging though, however not posting publicly is a big red flag for me. Since I believe we have a right to know what’s going on our bodies, it’s against my policy to work with + feature companies on The GG who don’t post complete ingredient lists online. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help girl :(
Hi Danielle! You featured a few of these brands in your Best Budget Beauty posts. Are they bad to use? Do you have an updated budget friendly skin care list of items under $10?
Hey Abi! Yep, this post is from 2010, so it’s a bit outdated. Some of these brands have made major labeling changes since this was posted…+ I applaud them! SO… those Budget Beauty posts are the most updated! <3