How natural IS natural skincare?
Stripped Back. Honest. CLEAN. These are the beauty buzz words of 2021.
New brands and customers are emerging who will positively change the future of the skincare industry. In fact, 83% of Gen Z already buy natural or organic skincare products, and 82% would be more likely to buy a product if it was environmentally friendly. Its people meet planet; glow meets treatment. Self-care really is the new healthcare.
“Your skin is the fingerprint of what is going on inside your body, and all skin conditions, from psoriasis to acne to aging, are the manifestations of your body's internal needs, including its nutritional needs.” Dr Georgiana Donadio. It’s as important to treat your skin from the inside as it is from the outside; after all, your skin IS your largest organ! When it comes to looking after your skin, its undeniable that prevention is easier than reverse damage; making smart skincare choices now, like wearing sun cream and moisturising daily can help you down the road, but not doing these can have lifelong impacts.
The idea of natural skincare isn’t new and can be seen throughout history. The first archaeological evidence of cosmetics is from Ancient Egypt where the natural world was utilised to provide protection from the sun and insects as well as to beautify the wearer. Some modern skincare secrets originated in Ancient Egypt; such as using frankincense for its anti-inflammatory properties, which was used as an anti-wrinkle ointment. The Romans took this skincare routine to the next level, with self-care being normalised with the spa like Roman Baths where people would spend the whole day optimising their wellness. Much like today however, just because the product or ingredient you're applying is natural doesn’t mean that it’s good for you. The clearest explanation of this is the blood poisoning incurred by Queen Elizabeth 1 (and many other women throughout history including in the Shang Dynasty in China in 1600-1046 BC) due to their use of the ‘venetian ceruse’ aka a deadly mixture of vinegar and lead used to whiten the skin.
In today’s cosmetic industry, although we have a much greater medical knowledge about the dangers of certain ingredients, it isn’t much easier to decipher, as labelling isn’t standardised. As a consumer, as with everything within the wellness industry, it's important to know what to look for on a label. In recent years, it has been seen that some major brands are jumping on the natural and organic bandwagon without changing their formulas: where natural written on the label can mean “we use some natural but mostly unnatural ingredients”; it’s important to know if you’re putting your trust into the right companies. An example of this is with certain branded lip balms which have phenol, menthol & salicylic acid in them which with certain skin types, actually dry your lips out, rather than moisturising them, which leads you to buy more lip balm to try reduce the dryness!
This occurs as there isn't a regulated definition of what natural skincare actually means. Therefore, each person and each company has their own guidelines as to what they would use the label natural to mean. When buying skincare, if you're looking to try out a new brand of natural skincare it's important to look for two factors: prescisly what is in the product and how it is manufactured. For more information on the levels of natural check out this article from the School of Natural Skincare.
This lack of standardisation and legislation is why we love small, local skincare brands: such as Mei Botanic Studio and Ohana Skincare which we will stock at Evnly. Even though the regulations aren’t there, small businesses don’t cut corners. They care about their customer base and often produce their products in small batches in-house from recipes they developed to help themselves or their families with skin conditions. Comparing this to large corporations, where profit is valued above customer experience, it’s easy to see why natural skincare products from small businesses are more reliable and are increasing in popularity around the world.
Why do we care?
Here at Evnly, we want to level with you; we believe that health seriously needs a an alternative, so we think it's time alternative health got serious. We truly love CBD, plant-based supplements and natural skincare. They help us to stay healthy, sleep soundly, and keep us balanced and focused each day. We want everyone to understand the intricacies so you too can reach your health and wellness potential!
We are launching with a relatively small skincare range, compared to our plant-based remedies and CBD products. This is because we only want to offer you products from brands, we 100% trust, so would rather offer quality rather than quantity. We are on the lookout for the perfect natural skincare brands to add to the Evnly platform so we hope that in the near future we’ll have a larger selection of fully verified natural & sustainable skincare products for you to try.