Are natural products worth buying?

I was chatting to a friend last night who said that she only likes to use natural products on her hair. “So, how do you define natural,” I asked her. To which she replied a product that doesn’t contain chemicals.

I then asked her whether she drinks water. “Of course!” she replied. “Water is a combination of hydrogen and oxygen (H2O)”, I retorted.

Organic, botanic and herbal are words that seem to imply that they are better for you than the word chemical which people think is bad for you.

Natural should mean any ingredient derived from nature as opposed to being produced synthetically.

In some cases, when a natural oil or extract is used, what you are left with is anything but natural and is usually different from its initial structure. Philip Kingsley, in his book The Hair Bible, points out natural ingredients “have to be extracted, leached, masticated and mixed with other chemicals to preserve them.” He goes on to say that the word “natural” on a label should not influence you when buying a product.  And he should know as he uses some natural ingredients in his formulations. 

Read the label to find out what you are buying. All manufacturers are required to state all the ingredients in the product on the label. According to EU guidelines they should be “in decreasing order of concentration of the ingredient in the finished cosmetic product”. For a rough idea of what you are buying, split the ingredient list into three parts. The top third makes up most of the product. If the ingredient which is being advertised as being “the wonder element” comes at the bottom of the list, it won’t be that effective.

Organic and natural products are not necessarily safer. Skin can react to natural products as well as man-made products.

By Daralyn Danns