The words ‘chemical free’ are not hard to evade in the slew of natural, organic and earth-friendly make-up and skin care product brands available both on retail and online stores.
Irony at its best, consumer awareness has become a double edged sword, with consumers wanting to know to be more aware about what’s going into the product vs consumers being mis-informed about the product itself. Marketing the ingredients has been abused to the extent that consumers relate more to the ingredient than the overall usage of the product. But, everything that glitters isn’t gold and thus it has become imperative for upcoming and established brands alike to take responsibility for educating the consumer on what chemicals are okay for usage, and ones that are harmful.
Going back to school, to our biology and chemistry classes, it is logical to state that ‘there is no such thing as a chemical-free beauty product. Pass me a glass of H2O (water)! Well its just water, everything in nature is chemistry. Thus exploiting the world ‘Chemical’ is to be blamed on blatant advertising agencies who use it for Mass Consumer Bait strategies. Hence, since we are surrounded by chemicals all the time, it is important to be self-educated on which chemicals are harmful, while which are just scientific names of common ingredients.
Scientific name polyhydroxystearic acid seems alarming, and one might wonder if its an acid. And whats the first thought that comes to the consumers mind? Oh its an ACID,its bad for the skin. Interestingly enough, it is simply a derivative of castor oil, a natural wax – a great healing agent and the moisture doorkeeper for the skin. Further chemicals like Glycolic acid are present in sugarcane, milk, apples and citrus fruits but cannot be used in its natural form in cosmetics but only in the synthetic form. Just because it is in a synthetic form does not mean it is bad for you. Glycolic acid is one of the mildest exfoliants one can use, especially for people with sensitive skin and people who react quickly to harsh natural exfoliants like granulated sugar or apricot scrubs.
Even though all that is chemical sounding or natural in plants may or may not be good for the skin, one cannot certainly state that any product is chemical free. How do you find them? Just read the back of the label and google them, and most of your worry will be over. At, GLOW UP we are working on informative FAQs to debunk the ‘Chemical Free’ myth and promoted through our social media channels to engage larger audiences.
