😠What’s more? There’re not only chemicals, but also plastic in the ingredients. One common example is the scrub product. The tiny stuff rubbing away your dead cells is commonly made of plastic. When you wash away the scrub, it will go down the drainage and reach our sea. Then the marine life will inevitably take it in. When they enter into the food chain, it will be eaten by us. In short, these plastic ingredients will not only spoil our marine ecosystem, but also harm ourselves when we eat the seafood.
😠Well, some consumers may thus try to pick “more natural” products, which become another good business opportunity. The manufacturers add in a few natural ingredients into the products and make it as a highlight in marketing and packaging. It makes consumers think that the whole products are natural. In fact the harmful chemicals are still there!
😠Have you noticed that in this past year, there’re many more options of shampoo with “no silicon”? A year ago, you might only find 1 or 2 brands but now nearly across all brands. What made this happen? It’s the growing consumer awareness of the harm of silicon and thus start choosing products without silicon, although actually most of them do not know the details. Because of this increasing interest, many more manufacturers start producing “no-silicon” shampoo. There are 2 points worth of noting: 1) consumers have the power to drive the changes on manufacturers; 2) No-silicon ≠ natural! Unfortunately many manufacturers package and promote no-silicon products as equivalent to natural ones. Please remember no-silicon only means products without silicon. The harmful chemicals are still there.
As a consumer, when I was very upset and worried, I found that there’s a way to go! There are non-profit-making organizations who have dedicated themselves to inspecting, testing and certifying whether the cosmetics and personal care products are truly natural and organic. They audit the whole process of production, from the plantation of raw materials to every single step of manufacturing with reference to a series of stringent criteria and factors of consideration. They make sure the certified products do not contain any confirmed/questioned harmful ingredients, genetically modified organisms, synthetic colouring and fragrance. Besides, the content of natural and organic ingredients must reach a certain percentage of the total products. And the production and packaging must comply with strict requirement of environmental protection. Most important of all, the certification awarded is not perpetual. The full audit has to be done once every 1-2 years.
Nowadays manufacturers could easily claim their products as natural and organic as there’s no legislation monitoring this area. The application of natural and organic certification is purely on voluntary basis. However, if you understand how much efforts and resources the manufacturers have to commit in the process of certifications, you’ll be sure that only those who are truly determined to produce qualified natural and organic products will proceed with the application.
Below is a list of internationally acclaimed certifying institutes:
- ECOCERT
- ICEA
- BDIH
- Soil Association
- COSMEBIO
Be a smart consumer, from now on, say no to harmful chemicals! Only choose certified natural and organic products for the good of you, your family and the Earth.
