Natural Skin and Body Care

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Organic Body Products – Worth it?

Posted by Natural SkinCare Sista On October - 15 - 2008

When visiting the personal care section of your local store, you’re faced with an array of choices:  natural, organic, organically natural, organic, half-organic, sort of organic, kinda natural, might be natural, nature inspired, looks kinda like nature, etc.  It is truly confusing.
In addition, manufactures of organic products are certainly charging you a pretty penny to revel in the fact that their products are ‘certified organic’, which brings us to the questions:

Are your organic body products really organic? What is organic anyway? Find out the facts about those organic body products on store shelves and discover if they’re worth the extra cash.

Organic doesn’t always mean…organic

1. The FDA (Federal Department of Agriculture) does not regulate or define the term “organic” in reference to personal body care products. In other words, the government does not certify organic body care products as “officially organic” but they do regulate the ingredients that are contained within that body product.  Only foodstuff is currently designated as organic/certified organic in the United States.
2. In order to be certified organic, the product must be made up of organic agricultural ingredients (such as cocoa butter, herbs and oils). In addition, the way in which the ingredients are produced, the handlers of these ingredients and manufacturer of the final product must be certified by an organic certifying agent who is USDA accredited. (Water and salt are excluded from the ingredients .)

Levels of Certification

A product which is labeled as “100 percent organic” indicates that the product includes only organically produced ingredients. These products carry a USDA Organic Seal and display the certifying agent’s name and address.A product which is labeled “organic” should contain at least 95% organic ingredients and the remaining percentage of the ingredients must be on the approved National List of approved substances organic products. These organic body products will display the USDA organic seal as well as the certifying agent’s name and address.

“Made with organic ingredients” indicates that the particular product contains at least 70% organic ingredients. These products cannot carry the USDA organic seal but must display the certifying agent’s name and address.

7. An “organic body product” with less than 70% organic ingredients cannot use the term “organic” on the main label. They should not carry the USDA seal, nor the certifying agent’s name/address.

Conclusion

Understand that while the USDA regulates agricultural ingredients that go into the organic body products, they do not regulate and have no authority over the labeling or production of products that do not utilize agricultural ingredients. Which basically means if that mascara you’re buying claims to be “organic” it’s most likely is not or it is “certified organic” by an entity other than the Department of Agriculture.

In addition, be aware that the organic body products that you may purchase in the store might also be certified by private agents that are not connected with the USDA and thus are subject to private standards, not the government’s.  AND containing organic ingredients doesn’t always mean chemical free.

I do not make the claim that my products are organic, although they are 95% natural.  The virgin coconut oil and the soybean oil that I use is certified organic because it can be and is used in cooking in the United States.  However, the shea butter that I use is not certified organic by the Department of Agriculture.  Shea butter is not recognized as ‘food’ in the United States and thus is not certified organic by the US Government.

Hopefully, this information will assist you in making an informed choice when you visit the personal care product section of your local store.

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