The debate surrounding organic is mostly centered on organic food and whether it’s actually healthier or not. But food isn’t the only product that can be organic. Other goods, like skin care products, shampoo, clothing, and cleaning products can be organic as well. With the current concerns about the environment and climate, it isn’t really a surprise that more and more organic brands and companies are popping up. But what is the deal with Organic? Is it actually safer for you and better for the environment? As a short answer, yes. For a long answer, continue reading.
What is Organic?
Organic, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means of, relating to, or derived from living matter. So by that definition any product that claims it is organic needs to be derived from some form of living matter. But according to that definition, all food is organic no matter how it gets from the fields to your plate. But according to WebMD, for crops to be considered “organic” they need to be cultivated without the use of conventional pesticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, Bioengineering, and ionizing radiation while livestock can be labeled “organically raised” if they are given organic feed while growth hormones and antibiotics aren’t used. Organic livestock also needs access to the outdoors and pasture land specifically.
Food
People are split about organic food. There are those that swear it is the only type of food they will let touch their lips while others couldn’t have a care in the world about it. Regardless of whether you are on either side of the debate or just sitting back to watch, the matter of organic food isn’t going to go away any time soon. So is organic food actually healthier than regular food as the proponents say? The health aspect of organic food is actually just a single facet in the debate over organic products (granted, it’s the biggest facet right now). And organic products and living organically is just another facet of the bigger environmental issues at large across the world.
According to the Huffington Post, a study conducted by Stanford University and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine back in 2012 found that food grown organically wasn’t any healthier than food grown using conventional methods. Besides the huge backlash from various advocacy groups, the study highlights an important point about organic versus conventional. That point is that the end products can be extremely similar. The difference between an organically grown apple and a regular one isn’t noticeable when you’re looking at both side-by-side. And chances are, you won’t taste any difference either. The impact of organic food and organic products in general isn’t in how the end products differ; it’s in how the creation of those products differs. Eating either apple will be fine, but if you know that the organic apple was grown without any chemicals or pesticides, then you know the environment is better for it and you know that you won’t be ingesting even minute quantities of pesticide or other additives.
Organic vs. Natural is a thing?
According to Mayo Clinic, for a product to be labeled organic, it has to meet with the USDA’s standards as were mentioned earlier. A product with a USDA Organic seal on it must be at least 95 percent organic and products that have the 100 percent organic guarantee must be completely truthful. So if a product didn’t exactly meet with the USDA’s standards, it can’t be called organic. But it can be called natural, or hormone-free if that is the case. As long as the label is completely truthful, the only difference between a product labeled organic versus one labeled all-natural is that the latter didn’t manage to meet a criteria set by the USDA.
Skin and Beauty
Skin care products and cosmetics have been used for centuries, and a lot of different ingredients have been used to make them. According to Global Healing Center, some of the most common ingredients used in these kinds of products are mercury, dioxane, nitrosamines, ammonium laureth sulfate, polyethylene glycol, and isopropyl alcohol. The alcohol might not be particularly dangerous, but the rest of those listed (plus plenty not listed) can be very harmful, even if they’re used in minute quantities in skin care products.
When discussing organic skin care products, Emma Reinhold, the Soil Association’s trade relations manager told Press and Journal that, “choosing an organic beauty product is about so much more than what you put on your face or body. These products are jam-packed with skin-loving plant extracts and botanicals which really do work. From anti-aging moisturizers to lip glosses and mascaras, there is now an organic alternative that stands up to the stiff competition of synthetic products.”
Shopping for organic skin care products doesn’t need to be a chore, going online can net you some great information. The Honest Company’s organic skin care products are just one batch of hundreds of options. Picking the right product for you is simply a matter of doing some research and making sure to read labels so you know what’s in the product you’re buying.