What is Natural?
A scientific assessment of "natural" cosmetic ingredients

By Judi Beerling
Independent Cosmetic & Fragrance Consultant
Pertech Associates Ltd

Why is everyone getting so excited about natural cosmetics and ingredients these days? For retailers the answer is simple. A new generation of effective natural ingredients are driving sales growth in otherwise mature markets. Almost daily negative media reports about “chemicals” are fuelling consumer demand. Since the consumers of natural cosmetic products appear to be less price conscious when it comes to what they put on their own or their family’s skin, this allows companies to use these, often much more expensive, natural or organic ingredients in their products. Trendy niche products are often featured in women’s magazines and “endorsed” by celebrities and are now in much wider distribution than ever before.

What are the so called “chemical nasties” that have been targeted by activists and the media? They include:
Parabens (preservatives)
Petrochemicals e.g. mineral oils, petrolatum and synthetic fragrances and colours
Formaldehyde
Propylene Glycol
Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and sodium lauryl ether sulphate (SLES)
Phthalates

Although much of the science behind some of the scare stories (particularly with regard to parabens) has been subsequently shown to be highly questionable (if not downright poor), mud once thrown tends to stick.

But are natural ingredients inherently safer? An excellent report by the Sense About Science (published Jan 2006) highlighted some common misconceptions about the chemical Vs natural debate www.senseaboutscience.org.uk.

You can lead a “chemical-free” life – in fact, everything natural or not is made of a collection of chemicals.
Man-made chemicals are inherently dangerous – the source of a chemical tells you nothing about its safety. Some highly unsafe materials occur in nature e.g. arsenic, deadly nightshade.
Synthetic chemicals cause many cancers and other diseases – the fact a chemical was found to be present is not proof of cause and effect.

But what about natural cosmetic ingredients, surely they must be better for you? In fact, a UNITIS (European Organization of Cosmetic Ingredients, Industries and Services) study identified 27 toxic substances in 350 plants used as cosmetic ingredients. Botanical ingredients were tested for the presence of some 800 CMR (Carcinogenic, Mutagenic or toxic to Reproduction) substances, as a result of the 7th Amendment to the EU Cosmetics Directive. Of the 350 studied, 283 plants were completely devoid of CMR substances, suggesting they are largely safe for cosmetic applications. However, 71 botanical plants did contain one or more of CMR substances, including acrylonitrile, isoprene, furan, glyoxal, pyrogallol, safrole and phenol. One must remember that the fact that a dangerous substance occurs in a living plant does not mean it will necessarily be present in the dried plant or extract. Work is being extended to study further botanicals and provide deeper scientific analysis.

Although this might appear a little worrying, there are many natural cosmetic ingredients that have been tested as safe and effective and that add a great deal of consumer appeal to products. But why are they actually used? Reasons, in fact, can be quite varied. It may be for a real cosmetic benefit, such as anti-ageing, aromatherapy or their medicinal / folklore heritage. However, the emotive connotations of naturals are also a powerful marketing tool – cotton flower extract sounds incredibly light and fluffy for example, although it may not add significantly to the product’s functionality. Increasingly though, they may be used to promote a positive ecological or economic impact in their country of origin (e.g. Fair Trade or community projects).

But what classifies as a natural ingredient? Unfortunately, a uniform or legal definition does not exist. One suggestion from an eminent industry expert is:

“Any material that is harvested, mined or collected and which may have subsequently been washed, decolourised, distilled, fractionated, ground, milled, separated or concentrated in order to leave a chemical or chemicals that would be available and detectable in the original source material.”

Additionally you could also include:
“The modification of natural material by the action of micro-organisms, enzymes or yeasts in order to modify or increase the yield of material by this process.”

A categorisation of cosmetic ingredients is possible based on the degree of physical or chemical intervention:
Minimally refined physical isolates
Solvent extracted isolates
Biotransformation
Chemically modified natural extracts (“naturally derived”)
Petrochemicals
Nature identical synthetics
Synthetic chemicals not found in nature (xenobiotics)

So where should we draw the line in reality? That really depends on your personal philosophy and the type of natural claims that you wish to make. The above definition of natural does not give much scope for the practicing cosmetic formulator to come up with a highly effective, commercial product. So, in most cases, companies chose to include ingredients that have produced by certain chemical modifications of a naturally sourced raw material. Having said this, perversely, there is nothing more natural in some ways, than petroleum based products that ultimately derive from living plants and organisms that were around many millions of years ago. However, most would not include them in natural products and I will not get into that debate here.

What would we generally regard as natural cosmetic ingredients? Some readily available materials include:

Essential Oils & hydrosols or waters - generally odorous
Extracts (liquid, dry, tinctures etc.), (as long as the solvent is natural)
Fats & oils (also butters, waxes)
Gums (hydrocolloids)
Juices / Macerates (aqueous)
Proteins / enzymes
Certain resins (natural polymers)

Some classes of ingredients are, however, much tougher to obtain in an acceptable natural form, primarily emulsifiers, surfactants, preservatives, sunscreens and chelating agents. There are also stability issues with some other natural classes, such as colourants. Legislation may pose other issues, e.g. there are no permitted natural denaturants for alcohol in the UK. In addition, if, for example, every consumer product company in the world decided tomorrow to fragrance their cosmetics with essential oils, there would not be anywhere enough supply to fulfill even a small percentage of the massive tonnage that would be required. Also in many instances, stable perfumes could not be produced for every current end use.

The cosmetic industry is certainly not standing still in addressing these issues and many new naturally derived and/or organically certified materials are appearing on a regular basis. If you need to know more about these exciting new developments, maybe you need to employ a good formulation consultant!

Profile on Judi Beerling
Judi worked for a major fragrance supply house for over 30 years. Her skills in cosmetic product formulation technology, ingredient and fragrance knowledge, plus a strong personal interest in botanical ingredients, aromatherapy and natural beauty care in general, are now utilized within her own consultancy business.

She has contributed papers to trade journals and spoken at various industry conferences around the world. Judi now also lectures on the Cosmetic Science degree course, at the University of the Arts in London. Short, intensive training courses on Natural Cosmetics are being offered this Summer by Judi and a business associate at the London College of Fashion (part of the University of the Arts).
See http://www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/shortcourses/35504.htm for more details.

Email: judi.beerling@virgin.net