If you are reading this, then you have probably already read a great deal about organic products and their ingredients as well as the usual synthetic product and their ingredients. But even after taking in all that information, do you really know how one translates into the other? How does something like silicone relate to quince seed? After all, how do you know that what you should be looking for the most when two items could be acting in similar ways?

A little research can go a long way. With the number of websites out there boasting they sell organic or natural products, it can seem a little daunting, but if you dig deep enough, you can find out all you wanted to know. Avoid sites selling a barrage of products that only appear to have jumped on the organic or natural bandwagon.

Look for labels carried by the company and then check those out. If you find that the organization supplying the label looks legitimate, you can begin looking at ingredients. You would not want to waste time checking all the ingredients of numerous sites, so your best bet is to find a company that really does seem to sell organic or natural (whatever your preference happens to be) products and move on from there. Always remember; the first ingredient in the ingredient listing means it makes up the majority of the product.

Emollients, or products that help bind together oil and water to better moisturize skin, are a popular and in many cases a necessary ingredient. There are a great deal of synthetic emollients out on the market, so if you see the following, remember they are synthetic: PEG- 45 Almond Glyceride, synthetic alcohols (which are any number of products that end with butyl-, cetearyl-, cetyl -, glyceryl-, isopropyl-, myristyl and many others), petroleum, paraffin, dimethicone, and cyclomethicone.

There are a several natural emollients out there that work just as well and can replace these synthetics: plant oils such as can be found in jojoba, avocado, and roseship, and butters created from jojoba, shea, and cocoa.

Humecants are meant to keep moisture held in the skin, to keep it from escaping and leaving your skin high and dry. You may have heard of collagen, elastin, and keratin and think they are natural, but most are derived from animals, which may not be exactly what you were looking for in your skin care product. Other synthetic humecants are ehoxylated surfactants, meanthing they will have the beginning of laureth-, some synthetic alcohols such as glyceryl goconate, oleate, and hydroxystearate.

A few of these synthetic materials may actually cause some allergies as well as dermatitis. Seeking a natural alternative to these mean you should look for lecithin, panthenol (or pro-vitamin B5), and glycerin.

Surfactants are able to dissolve away oils and dirt, holding them in suspension so they can be most easily washed away by clean water. You can find surfactants in your facial cleansers and shampoos, as well as some other skin cleaning agents. Seeing the following in your product mean it is full of synthetics: Sodium or ammonium lauryl or Laureth sulphate, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate, cocomidopropyl betaine, compounds of TEA (Triethanolamine), DEA (Diethanolamine), MEA (Monethanolamine), and PEG (Polyethylene Glycol). Also are quaternium -7, 15, 31, 60 and disodium oleamide. Look for these ingredients instead: Castile soap, yucca extract, soapwort, quillaja bark extract.

Finally there are the preservatives. Just as your food will not last forever, netierh can skin care products. Through temperature changes, too much light, and other factors, your skin care products can eventually lose their potency; drying up or simply failing to do their job anymore.

Though synthetics made through chemical combinations can actually last longer than natural alternatives, just by sticking your products in your refrigerator, you can give them a longer life. Avoid methyl, propyl, butyl and ethyl paraben, 2-bromo-2-nitro-propane-1, 3-diol, isothiazolinone, butylated hydroxytoluene, and BHT. Instead, stick with tea tree essential oil, thyme essential oil, grapefruit seed extract, and D-alpha tocopherol acetate (vitamin E)