Organic skincare is something we hear a lot about recently. Myself, I wrote an article about how to use what would become food waste in our daily care ( you can read it here). Maybe it is just a trend following the general fitness and healthy food promotion, maybe it is actually the direction that the market has taken. Surely the word "organic" itself inspires confidence, what could be wrong in something that comes from nature? But is this exactly true? And are the so called organic products really effective on the skin?

First of all a clarification must be made, and this is where organic chemistry comes in. Organic chemistry is the study of all the living or once living matter and it doesn't mean healthy or good for you at all; poison ivy, gasoline, motor oil, plastic synthetic fibers, pesticides and fertilizers are all organic, in the same way shampoos, conditioners and chemical texturizers are all organic, as they contain carbon and hydrogen. So labelling and actually knowing the company you buy from it is key.

.What about effectiveness of these product? This is a more debatable question. To have a such long shelf life, it is very probable that some conservants and stabilizers were added.

Personally I am attracted to organic, or biological beauty, I am a big fan of Yves Rocher, for example (and they have a wonderful company ethics) and I think that for young women it is something actually useful and good. I think it makes a great introduction of a beauty routine in a teenager for example. But these skins, as you probably realized, are young and almost perfect on their own, they don't need big stimuli, they just need to be taken care of. However, the older skins are the ones that are more in need of a push, they start to need anti-aging compounds, lifters and fillers. Here is the problem, can nature actually provide this?

There are many plants known for their beneficial properties in these areas, but it is here where packaging and conservants come in. Organic products are conservant free (as conservant are not natural compounds) so their shelf life is very reduced. What happens is that when you buy the product it will be fresh, and it's active ingredients will work their magic on your skin. You will have positive results in the first week or two of use. What happens next it's not so good. Natural, plant of food derived products decay. If you leave over one of those masks made out from your food you'll see it will rot. This will not happen to your organic skincare line as most products are dried up or processed somehow to acquire the conformation needed, be it creamy, gelly or liuid., nevertheless, the active ingredients will decay, vitamins and anti-oxidants will be lost (these are some of the main components of organic products) and slowily the efficacy of your product will be lost too. Here the packaging plays a big role, if you buy creams in jars, then this decay will happen faster as the contact with air will spoil the product.

Now let's talk about the good side of organic skin care products. They are usually the nicer ones for your skin and the most delicate ones as well. As I said it is a good option for young skins, as the input that these skins need is minimal.

I recomend that general moisturizers, like hand and feet, or body and lips comes from organic products. Especially lips, as you will be prone to eat some of it. Natural oils are perfect for moisturizing and will perfectly do thir job on you without adding too many non-necessary compounds and without the risk to create reactions. Oils are also good for hair masks, oh the silkiness that results from soaking your hair in pure argan oil!

I also reccomend trying shampoos, soaps and shower gels. The goal here is simply cleaning up, so if an organic product can do that efficiently there is really no need to switch to some chemical one.

The same way, a make up remover that is completely natural is a good choice, again the only purpose is cleaning up, and as cleansers could come in contact with eyes or mouth, the less chemicals in it the better.

I am very curious about other opinions inthe matter, what do you think about organic skin care?