Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Organic vs. Organic Cosmecuticals? What's the difference?

So what's difference between a organic skin care product versus a organic cosmecutical?

Cosmecutical Grade products use active ingredients at higher levels than "over the counter" products in order to get more consistent and significant results. Many cosmecuticals give the most effective anti-aging ingredients, coupled with  bio-active & bio-peptide Ingredients. Some organic cosmecuticals synthesize the purest organic ingredients combined with medical effectiveness to achieve maximum clinically proven results.

 Organic products in the USA can only be certified by the USDA. Because the cosmetic industry in America isn't regulated you see so-called organic products popping up everywhere from CVS to Macy's Department store.

USDA

Let's check out a few certifications that may help you understand the difference in these different products. 

ECOCERT
Ecocert was the very first certification body to develop standards for "natural and organic cosmetics".
Introduced in 2003, the specification was drawn up in conjunction with all stakeholders in the value chain, i.e. experts, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, consumers and development organisations.
Ecocert currently supports and guides more than 1,000 companies through their certification processes.

The basic principles of the Ecocert standard

To ensure an environmentally friendly cosmetic product, the Ecocert standard lays down:

1. The use of ingredients derived from renewable resources, manufactured by environmentally friendly processes. Ecocert therefore checks:

  • The absence of GMO, parabens, phenoxyethanol, nanoparticles, silicon, PEG, synthetic perfumes and dyes, animal-derived ingredients (unless naturally produced by them: milk, honey, etc.).
  • The biodegradable or recyclable nature of packaging.

2. A minimum threshold of natural ingredients from organic farming to be reached to obtain certification:

  • For both labels, Ecocert Standard imposes that a minimum of 95% of the total ingredients come from natural origin.
  • For the natural and organic cosmetic label: logo-organic-cosmetics
A minimum of 95% of all plant-based ingredients in the formula and a minimum of 10% of all ingredients by weight must come from organic farming.


  • For the natural cosmetic label: logo-natural-cosmetics
A minimum of 50% of all plant-based ingredients in the formula and a minimum of 5% of all ingredients by weight must come from organic farming. 

LEAPING BUNNY
The Leaping Bunny Program provides the best assurance that no animal testing is used in any phase of product development by the company, its laboratories, or suppliers.