Is Organic any healthier?

Anyone who has followed the cosmetic industry over the last couple of years will be well aware that organic products are the big thing, with rising sales and high levels of appeal to the consumer.  People love natural, and hate synthetic.  And organic is the ultimate in natural.  It is obvious isn’t it. Continue reading →

We all live in a bubble on the internet

Regular readers will know that I am scathing about scaremongers like the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group who combine a despicable lack of sincerity with an astonishing lack of knowledge.  The problem is basically that these people are businessmen selling fear while posing as consumer advocates.  But there are genuine environmentalists out there who I respect greatly.  They don’t really have much to do with cosmetic products because they tend to be very well informed and so are interested in real problems.  But there is a category of blogger who makes me pull my hair out.  These are the green tree hugger types who are obviously sincere and trying to do the right thing, but who seem to get all the facts wrong. Continue reading →

I have looked at the benefits of organic skincare to you as a consumer in the first two posts in this series.  I concluded that the risk posed from pesticides in conventional products was zero for ones that didn’t contain natural ingredients.  And as we don’t eat through our skins, there is no advantage from the extra nutrients that organic products might contain.

But I have a feeling that most fans of organic products are not simply looking for benefits for themselves.  I think they believe that by purchasing organic products that they are helping to make the environment better.  This is a noble motive and I applaud people who think that way.  Lets have a look at how much this public spirited behaviour is really achieving. Continue reading →

One of the reasons given for eating organic food rather than conventional food is that it is richer in nutrients.  This is possible. The way a plant is grown or the way an animal is kept is going to have an effect on how it turns out, and this could affect how valuable it is to you when you eat it.

This is an interesting issue and one that I might well return to in future blog posts.  But this particular series is looking at whether or not you should use skincare made from organic ingredients.  Is the question of nutrient levels significant when choosing your skincare products?

I don’t really need to answer that one.  We don’t eat through our skin.

Diocletian’s palace where he grew organic cabbages

The emperor Diocletian did something that very very few rulers in history have ever done.  After a long and successful reign he handed over to someone else and retired.  He set up a palace and set about growing vegetables.  Politics being what it is, before long there was a crisis and someone was sent to persuade him to come back into public life.  His reply was “you wouldn’t even ask me if you could see the cabbages I have grown with my own hand.”

They must have been some cabbages.

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There is a roaring trade in hot dogs from street sellers in Oxford Street. Who doesn’t love a hot sausage and onions?  The cheery vendors rarely have a good grasp of English, but there is nothing wrong with their grasp of economics.  The London police often have to cope with violence between rival hot dog salesmen over pitches.  The more sellers the more choice for buyers and they have to work harder to earn their money.

The spammers and scare mongers who latch onto the natural and organic skin market market are rather similar.  They don’t actually beat each other up, but they are quite happy to rubbish one another’s green credentials, and even take one another to court.  I think this is what is behind what is on the face of it a rather curious story that was e-mailed to me by a friend in America a few days ago.

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The Society of Cosmetic Scientists organised a very interesting symposium on the subject of sustainability in cosmetics recently.  Quite a lot of interesting stuff came up and I’ll be sorting out the juicy bits from my notes for you over the coming weeks.  One of the speakers was Perry Romanowski of the Beauty Brains.  He pointed out something that might not be obvious. Continue reading →