How Natural is too Natural?

Last week I happened to notice several “natural” brands promote products on instagram, and as I looked at the products themselves, I couldn’t help but think “Why buy products that I can literally make in my own kitchen?”

I follow one brand, S.W.Basics of Brooklyn, and when I looked at the ingredients for many of their products, which they proudly boast right on the front of their packaging they read like my kitchen and/or bathroom cabinet; shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil, witch hazel, tea tree oil, etc… Now all of these ingredients have the word “organic” in front of them, but my question remains, why buy these products when most of us in this day and age have all the ingredients necessary to mix up in our own kitchens?

My answer is packaging, and smart marketing.  There is a major “natural/organic” revolution that is happening in the beauty world.  Ten years ago you would not be able to find one beauty product with less than ten ingredients, most of which you could not pronounce, now there are several brands.  Several studies have shown that ingredients that have been put in products in the past like sulfates and parabens have not been the best for the skin, linked to cancer, etc… Documentaries have pointed many fingers at institutions like the FDA accusing that federal organization of taking bribes in exchange for saying certain ingredients are suitable for cosmetics, prescription drugs, food etc…

In this new age of accessible information, the educated general public has grown very suspicious of cosmetic companies for these reasons and there fore support most brands claiming to have organic/natural ingredients.  Now I too am a sucker for these “all natural/organic” products because I am just a product junkie in general, and recently purchased a rose, coconut oil, and salt scrub from Whole Foods, and was dissatisfied.  I have grown accustomed to making my own body scrubs, and have developed certain preferences.  Not only that, I kinda feel like if I’m not on the farm where the raw ingredients are being grown and harvested, how can I really know if something is truly organic or not? I love shea butter, but I have never been to Burkina Faso where the women and children are cooking the nuts to create the fatty deposits that eventually make the butter that is transported all the way to the oil shop on 7th and Florida where I like to buy it.

Nonetheless, I ended up adding some coffee, and olive oil, to the scrub (which made it awesome) and reminded myself that while there are several folks who do not have the patience, know how, or ingredients to make products themselves prompting them to buy these often over priced “organic” and “all natural” labeled cosmetics, I can do it all by myself with no problem and encourage others to do the same!  Now please believe, I have been strongly considering going into this business because my body scrubs are amazing!!