Organic In Style

It’s time for me to find new skin care products and I’ve decided to put my face where my mouth is, so to speak.  In other words, I am going try practicing what I preach and look for organic products instead of what I normally use.  I found a couple of promising items at the store and then again during my online search.  The problem I’m now facing is this: what is the difference?  While they are not nearly as expensive as the current products I use ($75.00 for eye cream, thank you very much) I still don’t want to waste a lot of money finding the right product line.  I find myself wondering, as probably most of you do, which products are truly organic and which aren’t. 

The biggest question I have is this: are products labeled as organic really certified organic?  In one of the videos on this site, the author says that skin care products are not required to have an organic seal.  However, in my online search, I found products that did have the USDA seal.  Then I found out why.

The USDA Organic Label was created in 2002 as part of the Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program (NOP).  Their goal was “to certify the organic claims made by food producers, such as that meat came from animals raised without antibiotics and not confined indoors, or that vegetables were grown without pesticides.”  In other words, they were going to monitor food.  What happened is that other products became eligible including dog food, cosmetics, dietary supplements and cotton t-shirts. 

After a couple of years, however, the legal department and the policy makers decided that the seal on these products wouldn’t stand up in a court of law.  So the policy was changed.  As of 2004, the USDA no longer monitors products such as lotions, skin care cleansers and cosmetics.  In other words, it’s a free for all.  Before, companies could say they used organic ingredients, but unless a USDA label was attached, it didn’t mean anything.  Now that little bit of protection is gone.  Any company can claim the use of certified organic ingredients and there is no one to say different. 

This makes it even harder to know which products are really organic.  What’s a person to do?  Stop trying?  I don’t think that’s the answer.  I’m not sure what the answer is actually.  But I intend to find out…

Sources:

“No more ‘organic’ labels for skin care.”  MSNBC.com  06/06/05. 

Image: Wikipedia.com