Recently, I often hear people raving about "natural" and "organic" beauty products on the blogs and YouTube videos. I hear them say "This product is amazing, and it's good for your skin because it's natural" or "You should try to use as natural products as possible, they are good for you". I want to object to that, and decided to write a blog post about it.
More than 5 years ago, natural and organic beauty products started becoming popular in Japan. Some specialised shops like Cosme Kitchen, Crayon House and Terracuore were the pioneers. I was studying aromatherapy at that point, and I found myself totally into those products.
I thought artificial colouring, perfume and preservative as well as silicone, paraben, sulfate and those "chemicals" were bad for you, and can be a cause of cancers. I tried my best to avoid them, and I checked all the labels whenever I would buy beauty products, to make sure those were "safe".
After a while, I found myself having breakouts on my skin. I thought it was stress or dry skin. I tried my best to cure it, I even went to a clinic as I was suffering from breakouts for more than 6 months at that point. The medicine didn't work. One day, in England actually, I had an opportunity to use a moisturiser which is not organic for a couple of days. I thought it would make my skin worse, as I believed that the organic ones were better. But it ended up clearing my skin up completely. That's when I realised that my skin was reacting towards the natural and organic products.
Since then, I stopped using organic skincare products. I stopped using organic shampoo and hair treatment as well. Then what happened? My skin became silky smooth like before, and my hair no longer looked like a bird's nest. Organic shampoo and conditioner that don't contain silicone contains oils instead, to make your hair feel smoother, which can stay on your scalp and get oxidized, that can cause an odor. It happened to me as well, and I used those products even more to get rid of the odor, which was just a negative spiral.
There are loads of chemicals you should avoid, such as paraben and artificial perfume. There are some natural preservatives that can be used instead of paraben. Essential oils can smell better than artificial perfume. But you need to remember that the natural and organic ingredients are not purified and sometimes contains impurities, which means it has a higher risk for your skin to react badly towards the ingredients. The natural ingredients are said to be sometimes stronger than chemicals, and chemicals are made for benefits (not only beauty purposes of course, but you know what I mean) whereas natural ingredients are just natural ingredients, they are not specially made for the beauty purposes. They have benefits as well, of course, but they also have impurities which can irritate your skin. It would be great if your skin doesn't react to it, but you should know that that's just you. Not everyone.
Some people react to chemicals, and some people react to natural ingredients. I am not sure what my skin did not agree with, but since I stopped using all organic products it has been in a very good condition. I still like some brands such as REN, balance me and Liz Earle that don't attack my skin. But on the other hand, I have so many brands (mainly organic ones) that broke me out so bad and I have been staying away from.
I want to say to those people, especially influential bloggers and YouTubers, that natural ingredients cannot always be good for you. I hate it when people say "It's natural, so it's good for you". You need to know that it works for you because your skin agrees with it. There is a big difference.
I am not against the natural beauty products, there are tons of them that are good, and that I like. You should switch to natural products it for sure if your skin likes them, because they don't contain ingredients that feel good for now but could be harmful later.
I'm against the people who say "You should go for natural beauty products, chemicals are bad!" or "Natural products would clear up your skin, as they are safer" or things like that, because that is not true. Look for products that your skin likes, not ONLY because the products are natural or organic.
