Why Go Natural? -8 min read-

The natural movement in the cosmetic world has now been up and running for years now but is still a relatively new movement. Everyone seems to understand that natural is better but, many stop there and don’t commit. I began to wonder why and after a bit of research came up with 3 general reasons; Money, Time, and lack of Knowledge on the benefits. Hopefully while explaining these reason, I can convince you to go natural if you are on the fence about it or reassure your decision if you’ve already gone natural.

1. Money

Finances are probably the biggest reason most people don’t go natural. But this seems to be more of an excuse that developed with the lack of interest in health than actually having to do with money.  Don’t get me wrong, life is definitely hard and there are many who genuinely would be burdened by more expensive skin care purchases. But this is definitely not the case for a majority of the people. Going along the saying that you can know where one’s heart is by seeing where they use their money, most people simply do not put enough importance on skincare. For example, many guys put in hours of research and go crazy over tech and its specs and are willing to put down hundreds to thousands of dollars for the latest gear. But when they need a moisturizer or soap, they will go and look for the cheapest product on the shelf of Walmart. Many girls, on the same token, will pay enormous amounts of money for a brand or a product they saw reviewed by their favorite Youtuber, without ever thinking about how the ingredients in those products will negatively affect their skin. On top of that, “Natural means more expensive” is the general consensus when it comes to cosmetic products. So for those that lack interest in skincare, they will almost never buy a natural product saying that it is too expensive.

But here’s the truth, although natural products are pricier than synthetic ones, it isn’t by that much. For example, you could probably buy 1-3 months’ worth of lotion (depending on how often you use it) for about $6-10. To go natural, you would probably spend about $20-25 (maybe a little more depending on the brand). So for about $10-15 extra you can go 1-3 months from a synthetic chemical filled moisturizer to a premium nutrient filled moisturizer that your body will love and enjoy. It’s almost like upgrading from eating fast food every day to a home-cooked meal using fresh ingredients from the farmer’s market for only $10-15 extra every other month. Yet you’re going to say no to that?

2. Time

This one is fairly simple. Because the natural cosmetic world is still fairly new and up and coming, there are not many giants or well established brands yet in the market. So if you tried a giant brand like Lush, but didn’t like it, it might be more effort to look for stores that sell natural products. DIY natural cosmetics is also a very big portion of the industry right now and it makes complete sense if you do not have that time nor energy to invest in the trial, error, and making process. But, I want to encourage you! Even if it takes a couple minutes, look up various natural products online and try ordering a sample or two to try it out. Your body is important and that includes your skin! Just like working out makes you healthier both physically and mentally, taking care of your skin does the same! Medically speaking, your skin is the largest organ of your body so it makes sense that you should be taking good care of it. So yes, I know you are busy and I know have a lot to do, but I just want to encourage you to invest a little bit more time into better skincare!

3. Knowledge

Everyone knows natural is better, but do you actually know why? I personally think most people don’t know the full benefits of natural skin care and the cost/toll of synthetic products because if they did, it makes no sense to me how everyone isn’t already switched over. Let’s begin with this, your skin is an absorption machine when it comes to cosmetic products. Aside from a handful of ingredients, a majority of the ingredients in the products used on skin will be absorbed into the cells, in between, or into the blood stream. This might seem counterintuitive for those that know anatomy because the skin is supposed to be the first line defense and block all things from entering, but many skincare products are made to bypass this by having ingredients that have lipid properties so that it can diffuse into the skin. For example, a moisturizer would be useless if it couldn’t be absorbed by the skin. Given that your skin is absorbing most of the products you use, have you ever took the time to see the ingredients of your products? If you’re not using natural products, can you recognize let alone read half the ingredients on there? Do you know which ones are toxic and which ones aren’t? If you thinking, “Oh, the FDA or some kind of law will keep them from putting toxic chemicals in there,” you couldn’t be more wrong. There are regulations for sure but it is not as strict as you think. In fact, if the drug/chemical in a product has not been tested, it is allowed to be in the market until proven toxic. Think about it this way, would you ever eat food synthetically made in a lab with minimal testing done or food made with farm fresh ingredients? People today, go crazy over the use toxic pesticides on farms because it will find its way up the food chain until we eat it. Yet people don’t bat an eye about letting their skin absorb even more toxic chemicals through their skin. So when you go natural you at least know what is going into your body and that your body can use it to good use.

One of the other biggest perks of going natural is the amount of minerals and nutrients you provide your skin with. Science is extremely advanced today, but it is nowhere near catching mother nature. I spent close to three years doing cancer research so I know how it feels to be on the edge or the frontier of science and let me tell you, as much as we know, we know nothing when you compare it with what’s left to discover.  What I’m trying to get at is that science is advanced enough to create bits and pieces of nutrients and chemicals to mimic nature but we are far from replicating it. Let’s take bergamot essential oil as an example. This essential oil is an extract from the bergamot fruit, which is almost like a fusion of lemon and orange if you didn’t know. Sure we can take this oil to the lab and see what’s in it and create some of the nutrients found in it, but we can’t (at least with a standard laboratory) recreate the exact oil from scratch. Either we don’t know what all the ingredients are or we can’t chemically create all the structures. So while cosmetic products that are synthetically made will provide you with a couple of nutrients, it will be nothing compared to what natural products deliver. When you go shopping, you might see some cosmetic products that advertise having vitamin B or vitamin C infused with it acting like it’s giving you the best thing in the world. But guess what, that’s all their giving you. When you go natural and find a product that uses lemon in it, you get not only the vitamin C but all the other nutrients that come with it! So don’t fall for those marketing campaigns, because a natural product will always give you more minerals and nutrients.

To wrap up, I explained why many people haven’t switched over to natural yet and hopefully during the process convinced you to switch over. Whether the problem was money, time, or simply lack of knowledge, all these reasoning can easily and gigantically be dismissed and is overcome by both the benefits of the natural products as well as the cost/toll of a synthetic product. Have you switched to natural? What was your reasoning for it when you did? Were there some products you found where synthetic was better than the natural? I would love to hear your stories and your side of things. Post them down below and I’ll be sure to read and reply to them! Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next time.