Does Natural Skin Care Work?
In the course of becoming a top-shelf status symbol, green beauty has splintered into nuanced, sometimes bewildering, factions. “Organic” products are untouched by pesticides, GMOs, or synthetic chemicals, while “vegan” products do not contain animal byproducts. Beauty offerings labeled “natural” are perhaps the most confusing, as they are unregulated but generally deemed to be made without any artificial ingredients or fragrance. With today’s emphasis on purity and sustainability disrupting industries from food to fashion, this last classification has become especially desirable—and abused.
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“Natural is a classic marketing word,” says pharmacist and Truth Treatment Systems founder and formulator Benjamin Fuchs. “To a chemist, there’s no such thing as natural. The distinction the body makes is not between natural and synthetic; it just looks at the molecular structure. If I take vitamin C [from nature] or I create it in my lab, it’s the same molecule. I look at ingredients to see whether the body will recognize them.” That recognition is what translates to results, the holy grail of any beauty product. Nevertheless, an ever-growing number of consumers are greening their routine, whether motivated by concern for the planet or the suspected toxicity of certain chemicals—but they’re also questioning the scope of what can be achieved for the skin using all-natural products. “Every day, someone comes into the store wanting to go organic,” says Jessica Richards, owner of cult beauty shopping mecca Shen Beauty, in Brooklyn. “Often it’s because someone close to them has cancer, or they’re pregnant. They want everything new. And 99 percent of them come back to buy something to get a result they can’t get with a natural product, like fixing an age spot. They always incorporate something chemical back in.”
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The Case for Natural
For years now, studies have suggested that certain endocrine disrupters found in personal-care products, such as phthalates and parabens, may have adverse effects when used long-term, and many informed beauty shoppers have a general aversion to silicones. But that’s not the only reason to go natural. “One of the main benefits of natural ingredients is that they can be more sustainable and generally better for the environment” if responsibly sourced, explains Perry Romanowski, one of the cosmetic scientists behind the Beauty Brains website.
Some of the hardest-working, scientifically proven ingredients in beauty products are natural. Romanowski recommends rosa canina fruit extract (rose-hip oil) and niacinamide (vitamin B3), which are “skin-smoothing, antiwrinkle, and antihyperpigmentation,” as well as green tea, “an antioxidant that is a preventive against aging.” For redness and inflammation, scan the ingredient list for soothing argan oil, feverfew, chamomile, and aloe, says Leslie Baumann, MD, a Miami dermatologist and author of Cosmeceuticals and Cosmetic Ingredients. Blue tansy, the superstar ingredient in May Lindstrom Skin the Blue Cocoon, an übercalming skin balm, instantly counters irritation, while the rice and cotton extracts in Burt’s Bees Sensitive Daily Moisturizing Cream provide major hydration. Plant oils like rosemary and rose, two ingredients found in Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum and Kypris Antioxidant Dew, boast antioxidants to both combat the stressors that cause dryness and return the glow to parched skin. Even acne has met a worthy foe in the salicylic acid contained in black willow bark, a key element in True Botanicals Clear Cellular Repair Serum. Hyperpigmentation can be addressed, to a degree, with brightening mulberry extract or with licorice, as in Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Exfoliating Peel Spray, which whisks away dead skin cells in minutes to bestow luminosity to all skin types. Vitamins A and C are similarly effective; Tata Harper Retinoic Nutrient Face Oil provides a double hit of both, without peeling or redness.
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When to Go Synthetic
The experts agree: For truly impactful anti-aging effects (smoothness; wrinkle, pore, and pigment reduction; increased firmness and radiance), there isn’t a natural equivalent for retinoic acid, which is produced with chemically derived vitamin A. Retinoids are available in prescription creams (like Retin-A and Renova) and in over-the-counter products such as retinol, a weaker version of the ingredient. Why are signs of aging best treated with synthetic retinoids? In order to get maximum cell turnover and antiaging benefits from the ingredient, Baumann explains, “the molecule has to act like a key in the ‘lock’ of the retinoid receptor in your skin, and the key has to be a particular shape. Vitamin A from nature is not the same shape as retinoic acid or retinol.”
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A Happy Medium
Luckily, we don’t live in a black-and-white world. Companies like Glossier (née Into the Gloss) and Paula’s Choice—neither of which have gone completely natural—have armed a generation of beauty buyers with knowledge, encouraging people to make informed decisions about their own skin, and a world of options has emerged to meet them. Millennial-beloved brand Drunk Elephant has invented its own category of “clean-clinical,” which Tiffany Masterson, the founder, defines as simply using the most effective ingredients: “I don’t look at ingredients in terms of whether they’re natural or synthetic. I [assess] them by whether they’re safe and biocompatible with your skin. There are natural ingredients that your body perceives as toxic. For me, it’s about results.” Skin care is an intensely personal experience, and finding the balance between what feels good intellectually and physically might just be finding a comfortable shade of gray. “I sell what works,” Richards says. “When I started my store, it was only organic and natural products. Now it’s a mix of the most efficacious. Most women who shop all organic, 60 percent of them also get Botox or drink [flavored] lattes pumped full of GMOs. It’s a balance.”
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The Best Natural Deodorants
For many women, the first and easiest switch is deodorant. The key is in the lexicon. “Think about the names,” says Austin-based dermatologist Ted Lain, MD. “Deodorants stop odor. Antiperspirants stop perspiration.” Traditional antiperspirants rely on aluminum salts, which melt with moisture to form a gel that plugs your sweat glands; natural deodorants use ingredients to mask odor, usually a strong essential or coconut oil. Lain recommends looking for absorbing ingredients, like activated charcoal, baking soda, or magnesium salts. And keep expectations realistic: “Depending on the weather and how much you sweat, I might not wear natural deodorant in front of someone I want to impress,” Lain says. Our favorites: Agent Nateur & Shiva Rose Holi (Rose) No. 4 Deodorant and Schmidt’s Lavender + Sage Natural Deodorant.
This article originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of ELLE.
