Buying REAL Organic
Body Products

In a sea of imposters, it can be incredibly hard to find truly organic body products. Here's what you need to know so you don't pay extra for a fake "organic" product with potentially harmful ingredients.

The FDA's lack of regulation has led many cosmetic manufacturers to jump on the organic bandwagon.

One might think that that would be a good thing. And it would be if those manufacturers were willing to provide a quality organic product.

But, instead, a lot of companies have seen a great way to increase their profits. They know that consumers are willing to spend more money on organic body products. So they try to mislead you with fancy labeling that disguises an inferior, cheaply made product.

You see, the term "organic" is not defined by the FDA as far as personal products go. In fact , the whole cosmetic industry is left to regulate itself (learn more on my safe cosmetics page).

And with less than 1% of the FDA's budget invested in cosmetics, we can be sure that that won't change anytime soon.

So statements like "made with 100% organic botanicals," "nature inspired," "made with organic ingredients" or simply "organic" are prominently displayed on many imposter brands. Pretty pictures of natural ingredients grace the front label.

The trouble is the contents are probably synthetic and petrochemical compounds - the same as most conventional products. But they've added some tiny amount of organic ingredients. If you're lucky. After all, who is going to check? The FDA readily admits it doesn't have the time or the resources.

Another favorite trick is to count water as an organic ingredient. Can water be organic? Simply, no. Yet some manufacturers use a tiny amount of organic herbs to make a weak tea and then claim that their product has a high amount of organic ingredients.

Since most personal care products have a lot of water in them to begin with, this is highly deceptive. So when you see a claim of "80% organic ingredients" take a look at the ingredients before you believe them.

So with all the deception, exaggerations, and outright lies, how can you choose a real organic body product?

Look for plant oils or extracts and other unadulterated agricultural products on the ingredient label. Don't buy a product that has a long list of hard to pronounce chemicals.

Look for the USDA seal. This means that the product must contain 95 to 100% USDA organic ingredients that have been verified by a third-party certifier.

And remember that without the USDA seal, an organic body product can contain just about anything.

For a list of body care products that I use myself, see this page on non-toxic cosmetics.