Are you buying truly natural products?

1. What inspired you to ask ‘What is Natural?​

There are so many products out there claiming to be ‘all natural’ or containing natural ingredients when this may not be truthful; and there has been an up to 21% increase (Ecovia Intelligence)​ in launches claiming natural/green in the past year, showing it is something consumers are keenly interested in.

I’m here to educate, so I wanted to provide information and create a video​ ​at a non-chemist level so consumers can make a better-informed decision as to whether they are actually getting a product as natural as promised. 

2. What do you believe consumers perceive natural cosmetics to be?​

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the internet, which means, there is actually more consumer confusion over what is natural than there needs to be.

Sometimes brands do this on purpose; mostly I think brands do this to compete with others making similar claims using similar materials and they simply don’t know better.

Consumers also perceive natural to be safer and that isn’t necessarily the case – so I wanted to let them know what natural genuinely is, and that natural doesn’t mean safer. You can choose natural if you really want natural, but don’t choose it because you’ve been scared off buying synthetic materials.

And, if consumers do want to choose natural, I want to give them a guide as to what really is natural, versus what is being touted as such but may not, in fact, be natural.

3. What has led to the rapid uptake of producers opting for natural formulations?​

I believe it is the general perception of consumers that natural is safer, companioned with our ever increasingly busy and stressful lives.

Returning to ‘nature’ gives the consumer a perception they are taking back control of their lives and doing something good for their health/body (since we can’t seem to avoid the pace of modern living!).

The second part of our Natural Focus will be published on Tuesday 7th August 2018.