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If It Ain't Natural...
A Practical Guide to Soap Ingredients
... don't say it is! If you're like us, you're frustrated by everyone calling their products natural, even when they're not. How can you tell? Whether you are buying soap and skin care for your company or for personal use, the only way to know if a product is truly natural is to understand the ingredients it contains.

The problem with the term "natural" is that there are no official definitions for it. Believe it or not, the only standards for defining a product as natural are voluntary ones, and a company is free to make up its own. In other words, in the world of soap and skin care, companies can call their products "natural" regardless of what's in them. We know, it's crazy. But it's true. You can't just trust what it says on a product's packaging, and you can't assume a product is truly natural just because it is sold at a natural products store.

The highest and truest standard for "natural" is organic certification, and we'll address this concept in the next newsletter. For many soap and skin care companies, though, "natural" is a more attainable standard. Whole Foods has developed its own "Premium Body Care" standard to define "natural." Two organizations, the Natural Products Association and the Natural Ingredients Resource Council, also offer strong standards for "natural."

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For example, the Whole Foods Premium Body Care standard forbids the use of synthetic fragrances in skin care products. However, the use of synthetic fragrances is common in "natural" soaps and skin care. How can you, the consumer, tell the difference? The following terms refer to synthetic fragrance: "fragrance", "fragrance oils", "perfume", "parfum". If you see any of these on a label - even on a label that says "all natural" - you know the product has synthetic fragrances in it. By contrast, pure essential oils are the only truly natural scent ingredients. Also, be sure to read the ingredients panel on so called "fragrance free" or "unscented" soaps found in grocery stores. Some products, with names like "Unscented", "Fragrance Free", or "Sensitive Skin," have fragrance listed among their ingredients. Worse, some have clever ways to hide this, such as using ingredients like "Malto" as a "fragrance mask." Whole Foods has a helpful brochure that discusses this: PREMIUM BODY CARE

Fortunately, "natural" soaps are easy to understand. In our Newsletter coming in a few months, we'll be discussing the actual chemistry behind soap formulation and the technical names for ingredients you sometimes see on soap labels. Always, the highest standard for Natural is organic certification. For all the rest, here are four basic rules of thumb for determining whether a soap is natural:

• It is made from vegetable oils (if you see "tallow" or "tallowate" in the ingredients, this refers to animal fats)
• It is scented with essential oils only, or, if unscented, is truly unscented
• It contains no synthetic pigments, dyes, or preservatives
• SUMMARY: The ingredients sound like plant names!