Andreea asks: I’m thinking of buying the Korres Pomegranate Balancing Moisturizer. Their products are silicone free, mineral oil free, propylene glycol free and ethanolamine free. What do you think about Korres “ are they better since they`re more natural? The Left Brain communicates about Korres:
The Korres products do appear to be tantalizingly natural. They make a big deal out of the fact that they don`t use mineral oil or propylene glycol. But if you’re a regular reader of the Beauty Brains, you already know that mineral oil is perfectly fine for your skin! (And basically the same is true of propylene glycol.)
According to their website, Korres pride themselves on broadly avoiding synthetic components that can sum up to 30 to 60% of a cosmetic formula, replacing them with greatly beneficial naturally derived ingredients. Sounds too good to be true, doesn`t it? But are their products really more natural?
I see from looking at the ingredient list for the Pomegranate skin moisturizer you mentioned that they do use natural ingredients. For example, the formula contains plant extracts like Punica Granatum Extract (Pomegranate), Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Jojoba), Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, and Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, to name a few.
But I also see C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Pentylene Glycol, Sucrose Cocoate, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Dicaprylyl Ether, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Lauryl Glucoside, Methylparaben, PEG 8, Polyglyceryl 2 Dipolyhydroxystearate, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Polysorbate 20, Propylparaben, and Carbomer. These ingredients are emulsifiers, thickeners, and preservatives that are used in many other unnatural cosmetics. So at best, Korres` claim about replacing synthetic components with naturally derived ingredients seems to be a bit of a stretch.
This argument really comes down to a case of what is considered natural and what is not. I think everyone would agree that pomegranate extract is natural. But what about mineral oil which is refined from petroleum that comes out of the earth? It is it any more or any less natural? Since there is no single definition of what constitutes natural there is no clear answer. Companies can pretty much say anything they want about natural even if they`re exploiting consumer ignorance and fear of chemistry to make a buck.
I’m not saying the Korres product isn`t a good moisturizer. I’m just put off by the fact that they`re trying to mislead consumers with bad information.
Loading ...
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
hhahaha.. once a friend in my lab said “cyanide is natural, so natural things are bad”..
my other friend and I being Asian, we tend to look at things in a more black and white term.. so we concluded that “since cyanide is natural.. and natural things are bad.. then synthetic things are good”..
our PI laughed when we came up with that conclusion.. so we blamed it all on our friend.. =D
We always like to say “uranium is natural” in our lab. I don’t know where people got the notion that natural was better. Bubonic plague is natural! Yikes!
My dad told me, when I asked him as a kid about the natural vs. synthetic claims , “cyanide is natural and poisonous, and some of the worse toxins known to man are either animal or plant derived.”
This was followed with a very long and cool discussion of natural toxins and how humans have used them through time. Not surprisingly I ended up becoming a very skeptic nerd
but with natural we know the long or short term effects as we have a history – synthetics not such a history and therefore more risks – and we’re talking about a moisturiser here not a cure for a plague – so are the risk worth taking?
For many natural ingredients we do not know long term effects. There are many that are recent discoveries or newly applied to cosmetics. Also, naturals are usually processed so much that they aren’t much different than synthetics anyway. Finally, many synthetics have been around for over 50 years. How much data is needed?
natural is not always good…the FDA can only approve of things that are tested and have a median or average in the number of results. Since there are not enough funds and no government support, herbal companies/scientists cannot have facts therefore making it hard to make herbal remedies/ wives remedies(or gypsie remedies) into actual facts…that being said, it is also against the law in the U.S to state the herbal suppliments results are a fact, since they do not know what is fact or fake( the reasons they dont wanna fund is because of the booming synthetic medicine industry).
hope this helps on the quest of truth.
The skin is the largest organ we have, so therefore, careful consideration is needed when applying products to such a delicate system. People tend to forget that the skin absorbs chemicals.
That having been said, ANY product (natural or non) applied to the skin should be monitored for toxicity. Personally, I am not a fan of the “FDA” and its “proven studies and tests” due to the frequent retraction statements often made after a product is “proven” safe.
“Oh crap! Don’t use that….we just found it causes sporatic cases of cancer and severe skin disorders!”
Whoops.
One cannot convince me that formaldehyde is a “safe” chemical to put on your nails or that certain chemical preservatives in facial creams “will not harm” the human body. While I agree that not all products that are labeled “natural” are “wonderful” for the skin, I still stick to organic products for the most parts. Notice I said ORGANIC, not “natural.” There is a difference.
I suppose beauty is a risky business, natural or non.
The skin mostly does not absorb chemicals. That’s why it’s such a good protective organ.
The FDA isn’t perfect but it is the best we’ve got. It’s certainly better than the Herbal Supplement industry where no testing or evaluation of products is needed at all. People are being poisoned by that junk.
The thing is, it is impossible to prove that anything will not harm you. You can’t prove a negative. You can’t prove that formaldehyde won’t cause cancer but you can’t prove water won’t cause cancer either. Science doesn’t work that way.
And it’s good that constant testing is going on with the FDA. Everything is “safe unless discovered otherwise” but that’s true of everything, food, cosmetics, etc.
What exactly do you mean by “Organic”? There is no applicable definition in the cosmetic field. In chemistry it means any compound that contains Carbon & Hydrogen. In food it relates to a specific growing process. In cosmetics, it doesn’t mean anything.
I have been behind counters in cosmetics sales for ten years. It was once explained to me why there are not that many “all natural” products on the market (mind you this came from an Origins rep) First of all none of the major cosmetic companies have all natural products with the biggest reason being that if it were truly all natural and chemical free it would have to be stored in the refrigerator and replaced weekly to biweekly at the most. It simply is not practical for the average consumer to replace their mosturizer that frequently or have to go to the fridge instead of the bathroom. A large portion of the oh so feared chemicals are preservatives and are there to protect our health mostly from bacterial infections. Personally given a choice I would rather take my chances with the chemicals than end up with some sort of bacterial infection. On another note alot of these fancy new pomegranate and what-not ingredients are not proven yet to really make a difference in skincare however poor mineral oil that has gotten such a bad rap is a proven effective skin protectant and completely harmless. It is purified and refined before being added to cosmetic products, it is not gasoline!! Everything is purified and refined before being added they don’t squeeze the wool of sheep over the bottles to add lanolin! I personally do not believe that personal care product ingredients are causing cancer, to date there is no solid conclusive scientific proof of it. I do believe however that malnutrition, dehydration, and poor stress management do cause cancer. And I would say that 95% of us share at least one of these three risks.
As skin is one of the delicates organ of the body so we need to be very careful while applying any skin care products. Chemical products especially synthetic products are quite harmful and may lead many skin diseases. So I think there is no better option than using natural based products.
This last statement is ridiculous “Chemical products especially synthetic products are quite harmful and may lead many skin diseases. So I think there is no better option than using natural based products?” Let’s just think about that for a second because its the same nonsense that “Organic Cosmetic Agencies” pump into advertising. Neither one is bad or good, they both have pros and cons, though some chemcials used can be risky before proper testing is finished man made chemcials that are used often in cosmetics are generally cleaner, easier for the human body to use effectively and easier to create. Let us not forget that the synthetic versions of simple things like vitamin C are proven to be better for the body and more useful in a number of ways.
There is something to be said about the notion that if you can’t eat it, you shouldn’t be wearing it on your skin.