Fine Lines

www.ascpskincare.com 11 There's no doubt natural products are very popular. Many people prefer ingredients that are naturally sourced and sustainable, such as botanicals. Choosing natural over conventional products is an important choice, but in order to make intelligent decisions, you need to have a good base of knowledge about ingredients and biology to avoid being bamboozled by misinformation. Fact: There is no such thing as chemical-free. Everything in the universe is made of chemicals, including the human body. The human body contains many chemical elements, including carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, sodium, phosphorus, and even chlorine. Every human body function is possible because of biochemical reactions. Plants are no different. They grow and reproduce and have benefits to the skin because they are complexes of many chemical components. Therefore, the term chemical-free is a misnomer. Fallacy: Natural ingredients are less likely to cause allergies and reactions. Natural ingredients are actually more likely to cause allergies than isolated chemical ingredients. Most allergies are caused by proteins, and because plants contain proteins, so do extracts derived from them. Secondly, because plants are made of many different chemical substances, when used in skin care, the skin is exposed to many more chemical components than just one isolated chemical. Fact: There is a difference between natural and organic. Natural is a very general term when used in conjunction with skin care and cosmetic advertising claims. Many products contain naturally derived ingredients, yet are mixed or suspended with ingredients that may not be naturally sourced. Plants can be naturally grown without being grown under organic conditions. The term organic is regulated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which sets and defines the terms of producing certified organic plants and food products. Organic means that the ingredients, or at least the majority of ingredients, in a product have been obtained from certified organic sources. Fact: Many chemicals used in skin care and cosmetics are derived from plant sources. Plants contain many ingredients chemicals can be extracted from. Some examples are salicylic acid, which can be extracted from willow bark, or glycolic acid, which can be obtained from sugar cane. Over one-third of prescription drugs are at least partially made from plant-sourced components. Fallacy: Products made with natural ingredients do not need preservatives. This one is really wrong! Any skin care product that contains water or natural materials must have preservatives to keep it fresh and to kill bacteria and other pathogens that may contaminate the product due to normal use. In fact, products that contain large concentrations of natural ingredients may actually be more likely to spoil or oxidize faster. Another interesting fact is that many plants make versions of their own preservatives to help protect themselves from things like mold and disease. Fact: Some natural extracts are well-researched and work effectively just as they occur in nature, without any manipulation or processing. Good examples of this are aloe vera—which works exceptionally well and can be helpful for burns, sunburns, and irritations—and green tea, which is a mega-antioxidant complex helping to squelch free radicals, inflammation, and redness. Arnica as an extract is helpful for bruising and is now often used by plastic surgeons to help patients minimize surgery-related bruising. There are many more plant extracts that have excellent benefits for the skin, and research is constantly being conducted by cosmetic scientists to learn and document uses of many plant-sourced ingredients. Fallacy: Products made from natural ingredients are more effective. There is no evidence that a chemical ingredient extracted from plants is any more effective than the same chemical ingredient produced in a laboratory. Fact: Using naturally derived ingredients helps support sustainable sources. Many consumers today are careful to buy products made from sustainable sources. Plant-derived ingredients are certainly more sustainable than those made from petrochemical sources. Fact: Education is the key to understanding natural ingredients. If you're interested in using naturally sourced ingredients and products, be sure to seek out good, nonbiased sources of information. Your esthetician can serve as a resource to understand how natural ingredients can benefit your skin and can dispel the misinformation that circulates from uninformed and biased sources. ▪

• Cover