About Organic Skin Care
Why Organic?
Organic and natural ingredients are more effective than the petroleum derivatives & waxes (eg propylene glycol, mineral oil & petrolatum) and synthetic fillers found in conventional skincare. Natural ingredients work in harmony with your skin and body to enhance your body's natural healing and regenerative capabilities.
More and more research is emerging about the richer nutritional benefits of organically farmed products. Organic farming does not deplete the soil's natural minerals, unlike modern farming methods, and so your skin benefits from more potent and effective ingredients.
Organic farming methods avoid the use of unnecessary chemicals & pesticides; chemicals that pollute the environment, our water system and your body - a high proportion of what you but on your skin is absorbed by it.
Ingredients in Organic & Natural Skincare
Organic or bio-dynamic
Organic ingredients are grown without the use of commonly used pesticides and according to strict guidelines issued by various regulatory bodies. Where ingredient listings for products show a particular ingredient to be organic, the ingredient has been grown under approved conditions and given a stamp of approval by an organic standards body.
Bio-dynamic farming goes one step further and uses methods of farming designed to harness the health giving forces of nature. It has grown from a series of lectures given by philosopher Rudolph Steiner (also the founder of Weleda) in 1924.
Natural
The Oxford dictionary gives the following definition of natural;
"of, or existing in, or produced by nature"
A natural ingredient is from a natural source and is either untreated or treated and processed with other natural ingredients. These ingredients will have a latin name on the INCI listing.
Semi Synthetic
Sometimes natural ingredients are treated with synthetic substances to produce the final ingredient - which bares a chemical rather than a latin name. Foaming agents in natural skincare and bodycare products often fall into this category.
The Soil Association recognises the necessity of this when creating certain products such as body washes and shampoos and allows certain semi synthetic ingredients in organic beauty products, such as cocamidopropyl betaine.
Beware though that these ingredients can also be chemically, rather than naturally, derived. Read up about the manufacturer to find out which they use.
Ingredients to avoid
The term 'organic' refers to the method by which an ingredient has been farmed. However 'organic skincare' does not mean that no harmful chemicals have been added to a skincare product in formulation.
Get savvy about the ingredients commonly found in skincare, such as parabens and phthalates, and look for retailers and manfacturers with a clear ingredient policy showing what they don't allow in their products.
find out more....
Read about the ingredients LoveLula.com avoids in organic skincare >>
The Environmental Working Group in the US has collated research on skincare ingredients and provides safety data on brands. See their Top 10 Tips for protecting yourself and your family against harmful chemicals in skincare >>
The Women's Environmental Network in the UK has campaigned for years to raise awareness of the chemicals used in beauty products. Their website has lots of useful information to help you in cleaning up your bathroom cabinet. View WEN website >>
The World Wildlife Campaign, in partnership with the Women's Institute and the Cooperative Bank, have launched a new campaign against chemicals in our homes and environment.
Find out about Demeter and Bio-Dynamic Farming >>
Preservatives
Unlike food, that is consumed within days or hours, natural and organic skincare products need to be made to survive somewhat longer without growing harmful moulds and bacteria.
It is essential that an organic skincare product contains a preservative system to guarantee its safety. Preservatives natural skincare products use include;
Packaging
Airtight packaging that prevents bacteria getting into the product can help to preserve it.
used by: Lavera, Weleda, Naturetis, Kimberly Sayer, suki
Herbs & Essential Oils
Certain herbs and essential oils possess anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties which, in certain preparations, can preserve the product.
used by: Spiezia, suki, Mother Earth
Plant Alcohol
Not to be confused with the ethyl alcohol (derived from petroleum) found in conventional skincare, plant alcohol may be used in natural preparations to preserve the product.
used by: Weleda, Lavera, bod
Vitamin E & Plant Oils
Balms and oils are naturally self preserving and need little or no additional preservative.
used by: Burts Bees, Spiezia, Badger, Trilogy Rosehip Oil
Safe semi synthetic preservative systems
Some of our brands use safe, paraben free, semi synthetic preservative systems. A commonly used preservative is phenoxyethanol which is approved for use in organic beauty products by the Soil Association or benzyl alcohol which is approved by the Soil Association and Ecocert and commonly found in French organic and natural skincare products.
Certain trilogy skincare products use a combination of phenoxyethanol and iodopropynyl butylcarbamate. Iodopropynyl butylcarbamate was reviewed for safety by the University of Exeter as part of Greenpeace's research on ingredients in skincare for REACH. It wasn't found to have any gender bending or hormone mimicking, carcinogenic, genotoxic or toxicity of reproduction properties and there was no evidence that it is bioaccumulative (ie it builds up in the body) unlike other preservatives.
used by: Green People (select products), Trilogy (select products), Beaming Baby, Earth Friendly Baby, Kimberly Sayer (select products), Naturetis (select products) (all our other brands use 100% natural preservative systems)
Certification of Organic Skincare
If you are feeling baffled, and are looking for assurance about the quality and integrity of organic and natural cosmetics, go for products that have been certified by a reputable organisation.
Soil Association - Organic Beauty Standards 
Certified products carry the Soil Association symbol, guaranteeing organic content and ensuring that suspect chemicals such as parabens and phthalates are not used. LoveLula.com has also been certified by the Soil Association (we are the first beauty specialist retailer to have achieved this) so you can be confident that when we say something is organic it is!
see Soil Association certified organic beauty products at LoveLula.com >>
BDIH - Natural Beauty Standard 
The BDIH standard is well established in Europe and has certified many of the pioneers of organic and natural skincare such as Lavera, Weleda & Dr Hauschka.
The standards govern what ingredients can and cannot be used, acceptable preservative systems and ensure that no animal testing is performed by certified brands.
see BDIH certified natural skincare & beauty products at LoveLula.com >>>
Read the BDIH standard guidelines >>
Ecocert - Organic Beauty Standard 
ECOCERT is a pioneering company founded in 1991 on strong ethical values, inherited from the agro-organic associative movement of the 1970s.
Organic farming is today seen as a global solution to the environmental crisis in its agricultural, food and non-food aspects. It respects water resources, soils and biodiversity, sustains yields over the long term, offers products rich in micronutrients and does not release toxic molecules. It is energy saving and produces fewer greenhouse-effect gases.
By building the support of players and consumers alike, ECOCERT has become a leading figure in organic certification around the world and certifies over 70% of producers in France.
see Ecocert certified organic skincare & beauty products at LoveLula.com >>>
Product Key
With over 300 products in the organic apothecary there's a lot of natural and organic skin care & body care to choose from. Lula's put these little icons in each product's description to help.....
Product fragrance
Our sense of smell is incredibly powerful; we can catch a subtle aroma in a room or on a person and it can bring long forgotten memories flooding back. All fragrances in skin care products at Love Lula are naturally created from essential oils, not from artificial fragrance.
We know how important the aroma of a product is and that the fragrances we love are personal to each of us. Lula has put these 'scent' icons in product descriptions on the web site to give you an idea of each product's fragrance.....
FAQs >>>
