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By Stefan Ingannamorte

For centuries women, as well asmen, have used creams, facial cosmetics,scented soaps, fragrant shampoos andaromatic lotions in the hope of enhancingtheir appeal to potential love interestsand life mates. The ancient Greeksand Romans used toiletries and beautyproducts in various forms as an integralpart of their lives. Today, these productscontinue to be widely used for the purposeof cleansing and for creating a hoped formagical alchemy of sorts, similar in natureto the potions the bewitching sistersPiper, Paige and Phoebe conjure up onthe popular television series Charmed.

BEAUTY BECOMES A COMMODITYThe quest for beauty remains an

integral part of our lives, having spawneda $160 billion-a-year global industry,encompassing make-up, skin and haircare, fragrances, cosmetic surgery, healthclubs and diet pills. Americans spend moreeach year on beauty than they do oneducation. If beauty-industry sales guresare any indication, men and women’s

desire to be perceived as attractivehas changed little since the days of theancient Greeks and Romans, however, theingredients used in beauty products havechanged dramatically in the modern era.

It was not until the start of the 20 th

century, when mass production combinedwith mass exposure to an idealizedstandard of beauty (through photography,magazines and movies) that the beautyindustry began its transformation intothe behemoth it is today. Until thattime the various and sundry substancesthat were used to make cosmetics andcleansers were principally “natural”in origin. Natural meaning that thesecosmetics and cleansers were formulatedprincipally from plants, herbs and owers,and largely lacked the science-derivedingredients that are now so pervasive.Few seem to have seriously questionedthis dramatic transition away from the useof natural ingredients, largely because ofthe widely held, albeit erroneous, beliefin science as savior and cure-all for allthat ails us. In the last three decades, andparticularly in the previous ten years,

there has been an increasingly concertedmovement by companies in the beautyindustry to incorporate or return to theuse of natural, and in some cases certi edorganic ingredients, to manufacture theirproducts.

CONSCIOUS COMMERCE CHANGES THBEAUTY INDUSTRY

Perhaps the most salient reason forthe budding back-to-nature approach tothe production of beauty and personal-care products is the increasing awarenessby certain sectors of the public of thepotential dangers to personal and, aswell planetary health, associated withthe frequent use of chemical-basedproducts, and the increasing availabilityof appealing alternatives.

Millions across the country nowpractice what might be called “consciouscommerce.” This term describes thepractice of making purchasing decisionsbased on personal values and beliefs.Such individuals are concerned aboutpersonal and planetary health, and wantto use their purchasing decisions to effect

positive change. These consumers tend tobe well educated, with a median age of42, a 60 / 40 women-to-men ration andan average annual income of $52,000and number around 50 million in the U.S.alone.

DOES NATURAL MEAN “DERIVED FRNATURE?

One challenge for consumers who wishto purchase products that are formulatedwith natural ingredients is that the wordnatural is widely used and abused. Theproblem is, regulatory agencies have yetto establish strict guidelines dictating whatmay or may not be considered a natural

ingredient. This ambiguity has encouragedsome companies to apply the wordnatural liberally on their labels, much likethe way suntan oil is applied to a tanningtourist, so as to grease the sales of theirgoods. Because of the loopholes in theregulatory process, it is the purchaser whocan potentially nd herself “burned.”

Current industry marketing practicessuggest that the health-conscious consumerof beauty and personal-care productswould do well to learn which ingredientsin soaps, cosmetics, moisturizers, shampoosand makeup truly are “natural.” Alsoimportant is to nd a cosmetics andbeauty-products company with a business

philosophy the purchaser can come toknow and trust. Natural products industryleaders Aubrey Organics and AvalonNatural Products have paved the wayand set the standard for the industry.Both companies offer appealing optionsfor those in search of naturally derivedbeauty products and cleansers.

AUBREY ORGANICS: PIONEER APERSONAL FAVORITE OF THE STARS

Ask such notable beauties as SaraJessica Parker and Brooke Shields whoseskin care products have captured theirhearts and purchasing power and theanswer will be Aubrey Organics. Tampa-

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based Aubrey Organics is the largest manufacturer of 100% natural hairand skin care products in the world. The company was founded almost 40years ago by phyto-chemist, writer and entrepreneur Dr. Aubrey Ham pton.Part of his inspiration and motivation for what was to become his life’s workwas his father’s organic farm, where he learned about and was guidedby natural laws and principles. Inspiration also came from his mother, anherbalist who made soaps and lotions with the herbs she found in southernIndiana. Dr. Hampton began to introduce chemical-free beauty products atime when few companies seemed interested in producing such products.

His company’s size notwithstanding, Dr. Hampton continues to makehis products the way he always has - in small batches. Moreover, AubreyOrganics prefers to use ingredients from grown in developing countries forreasons of purity and for the unique properties they contain. The companypurchases ingredients such as certi ed organic aloe vera from Honduras -where it is hand- lleted by farmers and shipped to Florida with Aubrey’snatural preservative - shea butter from Africa, eucalyptus from Australia andquillaya bark from Central America.

Dr. Hampton is a pioneer of natural beauty products in the cosmeticsindustry. Many years before the United States FDA began to require thatall cosmetic companies list their ingredients on the label, Aubrey Organicswas listing all of its ingredient o n product’s labels. An accomplished writer,Dr. Hampton’s has written several books to aid consumers in their quest tobecome better informed about the products they typic ally encounter inmainstream stores. His book entitled What’s In Your Cosmetics: A CompleteConsumer’s Guide To Natural & Synthetic Ingredients was written to educateconsumers about the various petrochemical ingredients that are used in themajority of hair and skin care products currently on the market.

According to Dr. Hampton, none of his company’s more than 200products are tested on animals and 95 % are vegan. Dr. Hampton, who is afellow of the Association of Of cial Analytical Chemists, claims that makingnatural products is “more than a way of making money.” It is his commitmentto future generations. Given Aubrey Organics reported yearly growth ratesof circa 20 % per annum, it seems likely Dr. Hampton’s company will bearound for many years to come.

Following in the footsteps of Aubrey Organics, Avalon Natural Productsof Petaluma, California was conceived in 1989 by husband and wife Markand Stacey Egide. Together they created a unique collection of qualitypersonal care products for consumers seeking natural, organic and cruelty-free ingredient alternatives within the vegetarian ethic.

Avalon Products are marketed under the bra nd names of AvalonOrganic Botanicals, Alba Botanica, Beauty Without Cruelty, Sonoma SoapCo., Tisserand Aromatherapy, and Unpetroleum. Like Aubrey Organicproducts, they can be found both in heath food stores and on their respective

websites.One area in particular in which Avalon leads the industry centersaround its use of certi ed organic ingredients. To meet the new federallyregulated guidelines substances labeled as certi ed organic must be grownand produced without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides,fungicides or GMOs in accordance with the USDA national standards passedinto law in 2002. A subsequent law, California Organic Products Act of2003, AB 2823 was signed by Governor Davis to provide consumers inCalifornia with the assurance that terminology used on non-food organicitems, including organic personal care products, is meaningful - and that likeorganic food products, organic cosmetics and personal care products willcontain a minimum of 70% organic ingredients.

Avalon Natural Products lays claim to being the rst company toprovide natural, therapeutic body care products under these strict labelingand content gui delines. Driven by concern that consumers are being misledby the current terminology used on organic personal care packaging a nd

advertising, Avalon helped lobby the Ca lifornia Food Advisory Board to setstandards for labeling, processing and packaging for all non-food “organic”and “made with organic” products, including personal care.

Tim Schaeffer of Avalon claims that the “biggest problem” companiesin their eld face is guring out how to formulate their products in such away so that they can remain salable on store shelves for as long as threeto four months. Schaeffer also stated that the another constraint on growthfor Avalon, and the six other major players in the eld, is the lack ofavailability of ingredients needed to maintain and expand their productlines. The constraints notwithstanding, Schaeffer claims that compared with,for example, the conventional food industry’s growth rate of about 2 %, theorganics industry is growing at a rate of 16 % per annum.

If the aforementioned trends cited are any indication, consumers ofbeauty and personal care products appear to be concluding in increasingnumbers that Mother Nature offers the best solutions when it comes tobringing out and enhancing one’s physical beauty.

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