It
wasn’t that long ago that the idea of completely organic
skin care, and organic living in general, was something relegated
to the sidelines of mainstream society. Anyone that tried
to live an organic lifestyle was thought to be a bit of a
crazy person, a left over hippie from the 1960’s and
someone completely out of touch with what most people were
doing. But how times have changed!
Today, organic products make up a huge part of the world wide
market and the development and sale of organic products is
now a multi-billion dollar industry that has been championed
by unlikely companies such as Wal-Mart. But not everything
is what it seems to be in the world of organic skin care.
We need to check and double check every organic skin care
product we buy before we take it home and use it to make sure
that it lives up to expectations. Let’s take a quick
crash course on determining if our favorite organic skin care
products are really what they say they are.
As of the time of
this printing, there isn’t a universal, or even nationwide
movement for certified organic products to be guaranteed to
the public in the United States. The Canadian government,
on the other hand, just announced a plan to develop a recognized
symbol that will appear on all certified organic products
starting in 2008.
Other countries in Europe also have begun programs to help
consumers know what products really are organic and which
ones aren’t. But until those seals are a part of our
every day life, here is a quick guide you can use to try to
spot what is organic and what isn’t.
The single best piece of advice for buying
organic food is to always buy locally. While there is no guarantee
that an orange or a bottle of skin moisturizer that was made
or grown locally is any more organic than a similar product
imported from 1,000 miles away, you are helping your environment
by following the 100 mile rule.
The 100 mile rule states that optimal living can be achieved
by only buying products that have traveled less than 100 miles
to get to your front door. This not only cuts down on carbon
emissions and pollution, but you know that you are helping
to support your local economy and not the economy of a far
off place. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
The next rule you can follow is to avoid
buying from countries that have questionable organic certification.
As the recent product scares from China have demonstrated
to us, some national governments are less than adept at stopping
dishonest retailers from flooding the market with items that
aren’t what they say they are. While it may be almost
impossible to live without any products from these countries,
you can send a clear message with your pocketbook that you
won’t accept “organic” items from anywhere
that isn’t serious about real organic certification.
The next tip is that organic doesn’t
always mean more expensive. Many small companies that make
organic products create their wares by hand and because of
this, organic products are often more expensive than non organic.
But this isn’t always the case, and some larger companies
and off-shoots of major companies that have started an “organic”
line of products look to fleece well meaning people by calling
something organic and then charging double the price for it.
Just because you want to shop organically doesn’t mean
that you can’t shop around and find the best prices
on things. There are many organic skin care products that
are actually the same price as their non-organic competitors,
and sometimes, they are even cheaper!
Finally, the best advice is to simply trust
your gut. If you have a feeling that a product isn’t
quite what it says it is, avoid it. Many organic product fans
have websites that they post evaluations of products on. If
there is a major nationwide product going around calling itself
organic and it isn’t, chances are someone is trying
to expose that product, and you can tap into that knowledge
with a simple Google search.
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