You’ve even designed the packaging! 

But when it comes to actually making a natural cosmetic product, how do you know what ingredients to use and how much?

How the type of natural cosmetic product you are making determines your ingredient choices

What ingredients to use depends on the product you are making. In the vast majority of cases, you will be making one of the three types of cosmetic products: anhydrous, water-based or emulsion.

Anhydrous products are usually the starting point for most DIY skincare product makers as they are simple to make; they contain no water (hence the name) and can take the form of lip balms, salves and lotion bars. Anhydrous balms are made with oils, butter and waxes, and so can’t contain any water soluble ingredients, since those won’t dissolve in oils. They can, however, contain oil soluble ingredients, like carrier oils, Vitamin E (an antioxidant) and essential oils.

Think toners, body spritzes and gels. 

Water-based products can contain water (or water-based ingredients, like hydrosols), as well as water soluble ingredients, like panthenol or allantoin. 

Lastly, there are emulsions, which are in between anhydrous and water-based products. Emulsions contain both oils and water, in a stable mixture. 

Body lotions, facial moisturizers and hair conditioners are all examples of emulsions. 

When selecting the ingredients for your natural skincare product, it is really important to decide on the product type first. Do you need water-based ingredients, oil-based ingredients or both? Will you need antioxidants, preservatives, emulsifiers, thickeners, stabilizers? And so on. 

Making these decisions will help steer you in the right direction and make the right choices. So you’ve discovered the type of natural skincare product you need to make, but where do you go from there?

How do you select the right ingredients for your natural skincare product’s function?

Know your ingredients:

If you want to purposefully select the right ingredients, you’ll need to understand the properties, benefits and functions of different types of natural and organic cosmetic ingredients. To do this properly, you need to get to know your ingredients and have access to a library of accurate and up-to-date ingredient information. 

This will help you to be able to make better and more informed choices.

Types of ingredient include: carrier oils, butters, waxes, essential oils, CO2 extracts, hydrosols, glycerites, powders, clays, thickeners, stabilizers, solubilizers, preservatives, emulsifiers, antioxidants and more.

In fact, students of our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation have access to a whole body of ingredient information during their studies and graduates tell us they use the course materials as a reference guide for years afterwards. We even dedicate a whole module to all the different categories of natural skincare ingredients.

Know the anatomy and biology of skin (or hair):

To better understand how ingredients affect skin, you’ll need to develop your knowledge of how skin (or hair) works, what it needs and what can be harmful to it. 

Having a good understanding about the skin will give you the knowledge you need to be able to deliberately select the best ingredients for the right skin type and for the right skin concerns, without causing harm or irritation.

Our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation ensures students know everything they need to know to create their own unique, safe, stable and effective natural skincare products.

Follow the right product development methods:

Once you know the type of product you are making, have access to accurate information about a wide range of natural skincare ingredients, and know the anatomy and biology of the skin, you can make creating natural skincare products easier by following a professional product development process.

This is where you need to complete a product development brief – something we teach on our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation course. It is a simple process (once you know how) that will help you deliberately select the right ingredients and design your product on paper first.

The product development brief helps you to verify what you want to make, for whom, what skin type and concerns you want to address, and what the result is that you want to achieve.

After this process, you will have a clear picture of what ingredients your product needs. 

You’ll discover which ‘base’ ingredients you will use, whether or not the product needs emulsifiers, preservatives, thickeners, etc, what stabilizers are most suitable for the product, which high-performance active ingredients it will contain, and so on. Our students tell us how invaluable this professional, but simple, process is.

Check out our article, How to formulate natural cosmetics that fly off the shelves to find out more about this process. It’s useful even if you only want to create products for yourself, family and friends!

Once all these processes are complete, you’ll end up with a list of ingredients that you will need for your product!

But how will you know how much of each ingredient to use that will ensure a safe, effective and desirable natural skincare product is created?

Learn to write professional cosmetic formulas:

A formula is the professional way to write what is essentially a skincare recipe. The biggest difference between a formula and a recipe is that in a formula the amount of each ingredient is written as a percentage. 

Your formula also includes some key information about your product, such as the INCI name of the ingredients (the scientific or Latin name), the function of the ingredients, supplier, etc.

At this stage you’ll want to know how much of each ingredient to use to give you the result you want – viscosity, aroma, texture, skin feel, thickness, density, pH, color, etc. You’ll need to know their usage rates.

Different product types require different usage rates of certain ingredients.

For example, an anhydrous balm, like this lip balm, will contain only a small percentage of essential oil (0.5%), a high percentage of carrier oil (49.5%), and a reasonable amount of butter (20%) and wax (30%).

Additionally, students of the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation get a formulation template for each individual product type that tells them the recommended usage rates for each ingredient type. So we remove a lot of the guesswork and replace it with the correct formulation guidelines in line with industry standards.

How do you get started?

Creating custom formulations can be a difficult task, especially for beginners, but it can be a skill you learn with practice. In our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation, we provide example formulations for you to see what a typical example of a product would look like. 

We also give you template formulations for you to use as a guide when writing your own formulation. 

This way, the learning process is faster and easier, as opposed to just guessing the percentages of ingredients and learning by trial and error.

Once you have your formula in place, it is time to actually make the product. Often when you’ve made it, you’ll want to go back to your formula to tweak it to give it a different texture, look, feel, aroma, etc. 

If you want to dip your toe into the world of formulating first, check out the Beginner’s guide to formulating natural skincare products – this contains a product development brief so you can see firsthand how it works. It isn’t the entire process and is just an example brief, but it will give you some ideas and get you started!

The full tuition and fast track to achieving the results you seek, is found by enrolling in the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation.

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Your skin is amazing.

It’s a constantly changing, dynamic and adaptable living organ. It can adapt in an instant, responding to differences in the environment, temperature and light. It is highly sensitive to heat, vibration, movement and pressure, and it protects us – from bumps and cold weather, to microorganisms and ultraviolet radiation.

Our skin keeps us alive and keeps us healthy.

So how does your skin actually work? What does it do? And how can you take the best possible care of your amazing skin?

What your skin does for you

There are a series of crucial functions, vital to life, which your skin is responsible for:

• Preventing water loss.
• Protecting against harmful ultraviolet radiation.
• Cushioning against bumps and shocks.
• Keeping out microorganisms like bacteria, particles and chemicals.
• Producing Vitamin D.

The structure of your skin

The skin is structured into three main layers. Starting from what you can see, the outermost layer is called the epidermis. Below that is the dermis and finally, underneath them all is the subcutaneous fatty layer.

The epidermis

This is the outermost layer of skin, the skin that you can see. There are a number of layers of skin in the epidermis and each layer is made up of different types of cells.

The epidermis is continuously being regenerated. Cells in the lower layers are called keratinocytes and they move upwards, getting tougher as they get to the surface.

The top layer is called the stratum corneum and it’s actually made of dead skin cells. These constantly flake off and get replaced by layers of new cells coming up from underneath.

The dermis

This is the tough inner layer, immediately below the epidermis, and it’s much thicker than the epidermis. This is the layer that gives the skin its strength and flexibility, providing protection to the body from strain and stress.

It’s also where you’ll find the nerves that sense pressure and temperature.

The subcutaneous layer

This is the layer of skin at the bottom, positioned under the dermis and made up of fat and connective tissues. This is the part of your skin that helps to insulate the body from cold and provides a cushion to protect the internal structures of your body like your muscles and organs.

This layer of fat is also an important source of energy when needed.

The role of the skin barrier

One of the most important functions of skin is to simply act as a barrier, protecting you from the outside world. This is called the skin barrier function, and it’s the job of the outermost layer of the epidermis, the layer that interacts most with the outside world. 

This is the layer called the stratum corneum, and you can think of it like a wall made of bricks and mortar. The bricks in this case are dead skin cells called corneocytes, and they form the tough outermost protective layer. The mortar in this case is called the intercellular matrix and it’s made up of layers of mostly oil soluble molecules called lipids.

The role of the lipid barrier

This layer of lipids (oils) forms a protective shield that’s vitally important to the healthy function of our skin. 

It’s called the lipid barrier.

First of all, it prevents the loss of water, helping to keep your skin feeling hydrated. It also keeps NMFs, or natural moisturizing factors, from leaching out of the skin. And the lipid barrier doesn’t just keep good things within your skin; it also keeps things out, preventing the entry of undesirable environmental chemicals and bacteria.

The acid mantle

The acid mantle is an extra layer of protection that also acts as a barrier between skin and the outside world. It’s a thin, protective film on the surface of your skin, formed by a combination of sweat and sebum, which is the oil our skin naturally produces.

This protective layer is slightly acidic, with a pH range of 4.5 to 6.5, depending on your skin’s chemistry and the type of products you have been using.

The acid mantle helps to keep skin soft, supple, smooth and strong, helps to prevent water loss and helps protect against pollutants and UV rays.

It provides resistance to infection, because the acidity prevents the growth of harmful bacteria which thrive in alkaline environments. It also boosts the immune system by producing antigens close to the surface of the skin so they can kill the ‘bad’ bacteria.

What happens when the skin barrier and repair functions aren’t working

Put simply, our ability to maintain glowing, well-nourished and healthy skin is compromised. 

When skin is dry, flaky, cracked or even bleeding or has a rough or scaly texture these are the signs of a damaged skin barrier. If the acid mantle is disrupted, it can result in burning or itching skin, or conditions like eczema.

The effectiveness of the skin barrier can be influenced by many different factors, including: 

• Ultraviolet light – prolonged exposure can weaken the skin’s natural defence system.
• Chemicals – detergents, solvents and even perfumes can change the skin’s pH balance leaving it dry and sensitive.
• Water – too much washing can result in a loss of the skin’s NMF.
• Aging – the skin can lose some of its protective function as it matures.
• Humidity and temperature can cause excessive dryness or oiliness.

This is where we can make a difference in the skincare products and cosmetics we use. 

Choosing the right products, or making them ourselves, ensures that the skin’s essential protective functions are maintained, keeping skin looking and feeling good.

We often hear of stories from people in our community about how they always just thought they had bad skin. They believed it was their fault and perhaps some issues that they had inherited. 

Of course, sometimes there are some underlying health, environmental, climate or genetic issues that contribute to the challenges we face, but often it comes down to the products they’ve been using! 

When they see the transformation in their skin after converting to making their own natural & organic skincare products, it is even easier to lay the blame at the door of those products. You can read more about that in our article “It’s Not You or Your Skin, It’s Your Skincare Products!” here.

How natural skincare can help protect your skin

First of all, what is natural skincare? This is an important question because the term “natural skincare” is not a regulated term! You can find out more about this in our article, ‘What is natural skincare?’

Now generally speaking, good skincare plays a vital role in supporting the skin’s barrier function, promoting healthy skin growth, alleviating irritation and inflammation and encouraging healthy, glowing, soft, supple and well-nourished skin.

One of the most important things we can do for our skin is to keep it hydrated and moisturized. This maintains the suppleness or plasticity of skin which protects it from damage.

The great news for ‘truly natural’ skincare here is that put simply, natural skincare products contain ingredients that literally feed the skin! 

Not only do they help to replenish the lipid barrier, restore the acid mantle and maintain a proper functioning barrier repair system, they also provide vital nutrients that promote healthy skin growth, encourage local blood circulation and combat irritation or inflammation.

So, choosing the right natural skincare ingredients can help to maintain the Natural Moisturizing Factors (NMFs) which are so important for soft supple skin.

Let’s look into this a little more.

Hydrating vs moisturizing

Moisturizing is when we create a barrier on the skin to retain the water content and prevent transepidermal water loss (TEWL).

Hydrating is when we actually increase the water content of the skin.

How can we keep the skin hydrated?

You can keep your skin hydrated by making sure you drink plenty of water and eat plenty of fruit and veg, and only using gentle washing products that won’t strip your skin of its natural oils. 

You can help your skin to stay hydrated by using natural skincare products that contain water. These are called hydrous products eg creams, lotions, milks, toners and spritzers.

And finally, using moisturizers which contain ingredients that draw water in from the atmosphere (humectants), as well as ingredients that prevent water from being lost (occlusives) through the layers of skin (transepidermal water loss), can help to keep the skin moisturized and hydrated.

Hyaluronic acid (often shortened to HA) is one of the most powerful humectants available; it can hold up to 1,000 times its own weight in water! Read all about what hyaluronic acid is and how you use it in natural skincare here.

When selecting the type of skincare products best suited to your skin, you need to think about what your skin needs. 

For example, if you have dry skin it is probably better to use creams and lotions than balms and butters, because your skin needs the water from those skincare products to help keep it hydrated. You can read more about that in our article Why dry skin needs creams and lotions more than balms and butters.

How do we keep the skin moisturized?

Whilst water will help to maintain good hydration, to keep it moisturized your skin needs a little more, which is where selecting the right type of ingredients that help to ‘moisturize’ the skin, comes into play. 

You’ll therefore need to select ingredients that when blended together have these three qualities:

• Emollient.
• Humectant.
• Occlusive.

Emollients are substances added to formulations to lubricate the skin’s surface and they give skin a soft and smooth appearance and feel. This quality tends to come mostly from carrier oils and butters.

Humectants are water soluble ingredients that increase the water content of the top layers of the skin by drawing moisture from the surrounding air or from the dermis. Glycerin is an example of a good humectant.

Occlusives are usually oil-based ingredients that coat the surface of the skin to form a barrier that prevents transepidermal water loss. Butters, eg shea butter, and waxes, eg beeswax or jojoba wax, and some carrier oils, eg avocado oil, are examples of good occlusives.

A good moisturizer is one that makes use of ingredients that possess these qualities, and helps to maintain the skin’s barrier function.

You can read more about these ingredients in our article about carrier oils here.

Learning to make your own natural skincare

First things first, the term itself, “natural skin care,” is not regulated across the industry. It can mean vastly different things. You can read about what natural skincare is here.

No matter if you’re looking to treat skin that is dry or oily, aging, sensitive or damaged, there are natural products you can make yourself that can help.

If you’d like to begin your natural skincare journey by following other people’s recipes, just be aware that most recipes you find online are not correct and full of bad advice, from well-meaning but unqualified professionals. You can find out more about how to spot an unsafe skincare recipe in our article on that topic here.

However, we have a few better options for you. 

Rather than making mistakes, following incorrect advice and piecing together inaccurate and incomplete information, there is a better way.

If you want to discover more about the natural function of your skin and how to maintain and nurture its natural defenses to keep it strong and healthy, take part in one of our online courses and join a worldwide movement towards natural skincare. 

Our Certificate in Making Natural Skincare Products is an online multimedia course with 120+ skincare recipes using luxurious natural and organic ingredients. The course has been created and designed by qualified industry professionals and there is support from your course tutor and your student and graduate peers in our vibrant online student community.

Alternatively, if you want to find out how you can learn about formulating for any skin type for yourself from scratch like a professional – rather than just following other people’s recipes – then our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation is for you! 

It is our most comprehensive course that teaches you the practice, art and science of natural skincare formulation all in one place. It gives you everything you need to understand skin and formulate any skincare products using natural ingredients.

Of course, if you are not quite ready for that yet and you want to have a look around first, download a copy of our free Natural Beauty Recipe Book, join our mailing list, and follow us over on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

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It’s something we hear all the time – “I want to learn how to make products free from chemicals.” 

Perhaps that’s something that resonates with you? 

It’s a sentiment that really means a lot to us – but there’s something we should explain first.  

You can’t make a product without any chemicals. That’s because everything – even plain old H2O water – is a chemical!

So when we say “natural skincare free from chemicals”, what do we really mean?

Most natural beauty lovers who search for truly natural and organic products, or who want to learn how to make their own skincare, want to avoid the kind of chemicals that they find harsh, or just plain undesirable.

We’re talking about chemicals that can irritate or even harm your skin, chemicals that are known to be toxic, or chemicals that can damage the environment.

Eight types of ingredients to avoid:

If you want to avoid harmful chemicals in your skincare products, here are eight of the most common chemical ingredients to look out for:

• Parabens
• Sodium laureth sulphate (SLeS) and Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS)
• Polyethylene glycols (PEGs)
• Mineral oil
• Animal derived ingredients 
• Synthetic fragrances
• Formaldehyde releasers
• Silicones

People want to avoid these ingredients for many a good reason, and you can find out much more about them here

If you want natural cosmetics that are free from harmful chemicals like these, then we’ve got some good news for you.

You can make them yourself. And we can show you how!

You can choose your own natural ingredients

When you make your own products, you get to choose exactly what goes into them. You can easily avoid any ingredient that’s not suitable for you and your skin. If it’s harmful, irritating or toxic, or doesn’t fit your values, you can simply leave it out.

And it’s not just the chemicals on that watchlist you can cut out … you can also avoid any ingredients from nature that simply don’t work for you.

It’s up to you. That’s the beauty of making your own skincare products.

And when you learn to make your own products, you find out so much more as well. You learn about natural ingredients from all over the world, their botanical names and where they come from, and discover how they work and what they’re best for.  

You also learn about the structure and function of your skin. You find out about the different types of skin and the best way to treat and nourish each skin type as well as the science of skincare formulation.

You develop the practical skills you need so you can rely on yourself to make your own products whenever you want, and wherever you are.

And as a member of a well-trained community, you can reach out to like-minded people across the world who can offer support and give you the answers whenever you need.

Finally, through this process, you become a more conscious consumer, because you’re armed with the power to make informed decisions, and better choices.

It’s easier to tell right from wrong, so if you want to continue buying products made by other people, you can make sure your purchasing decisions are good ones.

What’s more… our students will tell you how much they love doing it!

There’s no denying it. Making your own skincare product is a huge amount of fun. It’s a unique creative expression that gives you the opportunity to live your values.

If you’re a natural and organic enthusiast, who likes to make sure your purchasing choices reflect your values – well now you can do more. You can spend your time designing, creating, and enjoying your own handmade beauties!

Live your values and save money doing it!

You might be surprised to find out just how much you can save by doing it yourself. 

Genuine natural and organic cosmetics can come at a price, and for good reason. They are quality products, using the very best ingredients, and they’ve been carefully formulated. The brand owner puts in a huge amount of time and effort, and that’s reflected in the price.

On top of that, they have business expenses. From manufacturing to marketing, research and development to lab and administrative overheads. These business costs can add a lot to the bottom line.

When you choose to make your own products for yourself, you don’t have to pay these business expenses. All you pay for are the ingredients and equipment you use and the packaging you choose to put your own product in.

This means that making your own products is much more cost effective.

That high-quality face cream that retails for $30 or $40? You can easily make it yourself for $5-$10. Most creams are made of two thirds water – another reason they can cost you less to make yourself!

And you don’t have to take our word for it. Have a look at our article here where we show you a serum on the market for $140 and how you could reformulate it for under $5!

By creating your own skincare products from scratch, you know precisely what is in them, and exactly what they are made of. Could you say the same for any product you pick up off a shelf in a store?

A store-bought product might say it contains natural ingredients, but the label doesn’t always tell you the whole story.

Packaging can use words like “organic” and “pure” when in fact the product might only contain a drop or two of essential oil – and could still be loaded with all the chemicals you want to avoid.

If you want to know more about how to see past the packaging, there’s more information in this article from the Soil Association:  5 Tips To Avoid Greenwashing

 Where do I start?

There are so many amazing products you can make – from balms, butters, oils and serums, to lotions, creams, spritzes and toners – not to mention the cleansers, scrubs, soaps, masks and so many others tailored to your skin type and condition, and to your needs, desires and preferences.

And then there is the vast selection of amazing natural ingredients to choose from.

So where do you even begin?

To start with … just keep it simple.

Skincare and cosmetic products can fall into one of two types. It all depends if the ingredients they’re made from dissolve in oil or water.

Start by working with anhydrous, or oil-based products. These are products that don’t contain water and only contain ingredients that are oil soluble. Oil-based products are a lot easier to work with than water soluble products.

Starting with oil-based products means you can make a safe and stable product without needing to get into the complications and the science of emulsification and preservation.

When you make oil-based cosmetics you don’t need to use a preservative, and that means you can make something that is 100% natural. It can also be 100% organic or vegan.

Balms, butters and oils are the best place to start. And there are so many products you can make, from massage oils, to serums, body butter and much more.  

Try this very simple but highly effective Wild Rose Anti-aging Facial Serum recipe here (if you can’t get hold of Sea Buckthorn CO2, don’t worry it will work just fine without!) 

And check out this brilliant article – 5 ways to use nourishing cocoa butter (plus an amazing recipe here

Ingredients

As you start out, it’s all too tempting to go and buy all manner of luxurious and delicious sounding ingredients. But you could end up wasting a lot of money … and a lot of those wonderful ingredients. 

Believe it or not, you can make lovely products with just a handful of amazing natural ingredients. 1 wax, 2 butters, 3 carrier oils, 3 essential oils and an antioxidant – vitamin e.

Equipment

You don’t have to buy the latest professional kit or refit your kitchen to get started. It’s easy to start small and keep it simple … then you can build your confidence, knowledge and abilities. After that, the sky’s the limit!

If you’re looking to kit out your kitchen, check out this article:

The equipment you need for making natural skincare products at home!

How can we help? 

If the prospect of making your own natural skincare products is something that excites you, we’ve got everything you need right here. 

There’s plenty of recipes and information on our website – but, to be honest, they will only teach you so much and get you so far

. 

The fast track to success is to invest in your passion by enrolling on one of our fabulous multi-media online classes. 

You can study whenever you want, wherever you are in the world. Learn how to make your own natural skincare from the comfort of your own home, at your own pace and in your own time. You are in control of your studies and you can be with passionate, like-minded natural and organic beauty lovers from all around the world in our private student and graduate community. 

If you want to develop essential practical skills and learn how to make your own products, try our Certificate in Making Natural Skincare Products. With more than 120 amazing recipes and detailed instructions about how you can tailor your skincare products to suit your unique needs and preferences, it’s the perfect place to start. 

This 9 module course will teach you the essential theory you need to know, show you the equipment you’ll need to get you started, and introduce you to the suppliers we trust and recommend. 

You’ll get beautifully designed workbooks, guides and easy to follow instructions, plus video demonstrations showing you how to make your own natural products step by step. You’ll learn how to make a range of natural & organic skincare.

If you want to go one step further you can learn to create your own products entirely from scratch. Rather than following someone else’s recipes, we’ll teach you how to master the practice, art and science of formulation in our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation. 

Here you will learn the secrets of how to formulate like a professional while keeping the handcrafted essence of creating your own skincare. You’ll come out with a complete range of your own unique and personally designed products. And if you want to set up your own brand, we’ll show you exactly how to do it! 

Either of these courses will be your fast track to skincare success, but if you just want to dip your toe, why not help yourself to our Free Natural Beauty Recipe Book?

The satisfaction of creating our own natural skincare products can be immense. No matter what draws our students to natural and organic skincare in the first place, there’s no question that seeing the hard work pay off when they successfully create a beautiful product is a fantastic feeling. 

Nevertheless, for most, there will also have been moments of stress, maybe even self-doubt, along the way, as they strive to turn their skincare product dreams into a reality.

It can be too easy to lose ourselves in the process of pursuing the perfect product. We can become disheartened and self-critical when we feel we are not achieving our goals quickly enough. 

When we begin to think of achieving our goals as a chore, we forget to engage with the real fun and creativity of the product making process. When we feel this pressure mounting, it’s time to remind ourselves of the passion that brought us this far!

This got us thinking…! 

What do our students actually experience? How do they keep their enthusiasm and passion for natural & organic skincare alive? 

So we asked them 🙂

We’re excited to share the inspiration that keeps their passion for making their own natural skincare products burn brightly today. 

What part of making natural skincare products is the most fun?

Enjoy the whole process and each small step…

Many of our students told us how important it is to enjoy each small (but important) step that leads to creating the perfect handcrafted product.

Building a recipe, choosing which essential oils to use, and even just sitting down with a pen and paper to start crafting the perfect ingredients list were all listed as personal highlights of the making process. 

All these seemingly small steps are crucial to creating a great natural skincare product, and if when we truly appreciate the fun that can be had with each step then the process itself becomes far more rewarding – and the products that much better!

For one student, the fun is found in…

“…the whole process. The most important is finding the right blend of essential oils, the amount depending on if they are base, middle and/or top notes. I love the smell of the soaps, the scents are all around me while they cure.”

Maintain full creative control…

It was also important for a large number of students to ensure they have full creative control when making a product, especially from scratch.

There is so much freedom that comes when you create your own natural skincare products. Discovering the ingredients that work best for different skin types and skin concerns can be a transformative experience, and our students have shared with us a huge array of favourite ingredients from across the globe. 

From essential oils to carrier oils to high-performance botanicals, there is a whole world of ingredients for students to discover, enjoy, and share with others. 

One student shared: 

“I love the preparation time, and the feeling of satisfaction when it is done 🤗 I am always Super proud of myself 💫”

Knowing exactly what you’re putting on your skin…

Perhaps the most commonly heard reason people choose to make their own natural skincare products is the fact that they know exactly what is in the products they are using.

Most people, especially the more conscious consumer, struggle with conventional products because it is hard to know exactly what ingredients are being used and where they have come from. 

When they find out how to read a cosmetic label, they are often shocked and disappointed to find out what’s in the products they’ve been using

However, when you make your own products, you decide! You know exactly what is in your products and what you’re putting on your skin. You also know that those ingredients are straight from Mother Nature.

Ensuring that products are free from any harsh, synthetic, or undesirable ingredients is a huge source of motivation for many. Drawing from nature, our students learn to create beautiful, safe, and effective products. No parabens, petrochemicals, or silicones, but pure, organic goodness.

One student described the values they incorporate into their products as… 

“organic and as non synthetic as possible. We are bombarded with toxins. I would like to get back to wholesome, good, honest ingredients.”

Another student shared their own journey to creating natural skincare products: 

“Started to help family with skin issues – discovered I really like making them – realised products can be so much better than what’s on the shop shelves 😁 added bonus I get exactly what I want.”

Make products you believe in…

Everyone who enrolls with the school has a great desire to make their own all natural skincare products and most – if not all – want to make products they absolutely believe in.

It seems to be a growing trend that people don’t want to compromise any more. They aren’t satisfied with using anything they find on the shelves. It has to conform with their deepest values and beliefs.

We hear from all sorts of passionate people in our community, and it is wonderful to hear how personal values can inspire the creation of ethical products.

One student spoke on creating a product that helps retain natural skin color:

“My Ocheukele blacksoap made up of plant extract, traditional herbs, pure honey & body friendly oils to help clear skin issues like eczema, white patches, rashes, etc. while it helps retain your natural color. It is our best seller.”

For so many, the making process is a chance to create products that  reflect their values and ethos – vegan products, halal products, organic products, locally sourced ingredients, fairtrade, waterless products, plastic or package-free products… 

Making your products for many has become more than just the physical act of making and using our handcrafted masterpieces, it has also become about giving back to the world in positive ways and creating a brighter, more sustainable or ethical future.

This is a fantastic reminder that creating products can contribute so much to the causes we care about most deeply. 

What is your favourite product you’ve created whilst studying with the School of Natural Skincare this year?

There were so many different answers to that question, and this stands as a reminder that there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to success! 

For one student, it had to be… 

“my facial serum, my favourite so far !!! Leaves the skin deeply moisturised and oh so soft !!! I’m also seeing great results in reducing fine lines and wrinkles. This serum has also helped extremely dry skin, eczema and reduced the size of pores on the face !!! So all around win !”

For another, the winning product was… 

“Whipped Jasmine Mango Body Butter with Hemp Oil. It was so easy to make and it’s deeply moisturizing.”

From body butters to facial serums and overnight oils, the projects we heard about were fantastically diverse, as were the reasons behind pursuing them. 

For some, the reason one product stood out was that it had helped to alleviate troublesome skin concerns – dry skin, eczema, psoriasis, and more. 

For others, it was the simpler joy of crafting a recipe that was effective and easy to make, or even being able to use product making as bonding time with a child who was keen to help! 

What we heard from our students was that natural skincare is not only a learning process, but a part of everyday life that can be incredibly joyful. 

It is when we take a step back and appreciate all the small steps that go into a big project that we reconnect with our joy.

Learning is more than simply acquiring new skills

When we learn, we must connect to the root of our passion, and rediscover the source of inspiration that inspired us to start learning in the first place. 

We’d like to encourage you to ask yourself, what was it that inspired you to make great skincare products in the first place?  Where and how did it all begin?

Finally, and most importantly, please remember to allow the next project, and every one after that, to be one that lets you have fun! 

Always remember the fun. Keep your ‘why’ close to your heart and everything you do. 

Make the reason for doing this the centre of everything you create.

We make our own natural and organic skincare and haircare products because it is the thing we love to do – the thing we get excited about. Please don’t forget that 🙂

When you’re just getting started with making your own products, it’s a fun and exciting time.

You’re discovering lots of amazing natural and organic ingredients: Argan oil, coconut oil, shea butter, kiwi seed oil, kukui nut oil, cocoa butter, hemp seed oil, and essential oils like lavender, frankincense, ylang ylang, bergamot, just to name a few.

You’re also starting to discover that there are tons of amazing products you can make, too.

Things like massage and body oils, face oils and serums, bath bombs and fizzes, lip balms, foot balms, chest and temple balms, body butters, spritzers, toners, masks, cleansers, moisturizers, creams, lotions, body milks…

Not to mention things like body washes, soaps, shower gels, bubble bath, shampoos, conditioners, hair treatments and styling products.

There’s just so much to make!

Most people who start making their own natural and organic skincare and beauty products get hooked instantly, because they realize it’s less intimidating, and so much more accessible, to make amazing products with top-quality ingredients that are as good as, if not better than the ones you find in shops!

There is a huge sense of satisfaction when you’re able to make something amazing, at home for yourself, your family and your friends.

When you can produce products that feel good, look good, and smell divine, and most of all, work, you feel empowered and excited to make more!

And even when things don’t go as planned, once you’re hooked, the thought of making products and refining your skills makes you daydream of what you can make next, what you can improve, or what ingredients you want to try to use next.

You want to find other people who are on the same journey as you are, search for resources online or in books, swap and share ideas.

What Our Students Tell Us

Throughout the years we’ve been offering our courses on natural skincare formulation, we’ve been so proud to connect with our students, and listen to their experiences.

Our students tell us that they love playing around with ingredients, exploring different blends, trying to make different products…and of course, using them once they are ready.

It is a fun and creative exercise.

What students of our courses also tell us is how they love the handmade, handcrafted, artisanal nature of it all. It is real, tangible, meaningful and personal, and gives them the feeling of: “I did that!! In my kitchen!”

It feels personal, and meaningful.

But, when we mention the idea of doing it like a professional, some people are put off because they want to keep that creative spark, that ‘handmade in my kitchen’ essence.

We get that.

There is something special about making products by hand; it’s an expression of who we are, and the fact that we are making things because we love it, and find meaning in it, even self-expression.

Our students want to keep that feeling. And we do too!

But we believe that DIY spirit can be built upon to create something truly special.

Professional Is Not Impersonal

The truth of it is, sometimes DIY methods can be limiting. 

The trial-and-error method can leave newcomers with blind spots they may not even know they have. There’s a lot of good information out there, but there’s also a lot of misinformation—or even outright gaps. 

In our courses, we teach people the right way to make their handmade natural skincare products. We teach people how to create professional-quality products, from scratch, with the very best ingredients and techniques to ensure safety and efficacy. 

But that doesn’t mean it has to be a dry, boring, and impersonal process—not at all! 

It’s about giving yourself the tools and knowledge to make the things you dream become a reality, without compromising safety or values, or that wonderful, personal touch. 

And learning how to do things “like a professional” doesn’t remove any of the spark of excitement, zone of genius, or the creative, fun, energizing element with DIY creation.

Because of this, DIY Done Professionally is kind of our unofficial motto. 

You get all of the benefits of DIY, without the errors that some DIYers are making

—and trust us, so much of the DIY content out there is incorrect, and maybe even dangerous.

After all, what’s the point in making your own natural skincare products if you’re making something that won’t work, isn’t safe, and isn’t stable? 

What’s the point in copying mistakes made by well meaning but unqualified people? 

What is the point in following bad advice or incorrect information?

When DIY Falls Short

There’s nothing wrong about doing things yourself, but good intentions can take you only so far. You also need good information. 

One of the challenges in life is that you don’t know what you don’t know. 

You may not be able to see where the blind spots are, or identify the gaps in knowledge. And that’s okay! It only means that there’s an opportunity to learn, and to grow, and to add to your skills. 

And when you finally do know, you’ll look back and say, “If only I knew then what I know now… I’d do things differently.”

We hear this from our students sometimes, too. 

When you’re starting with recipes crafted by well-meaning but unqualified people, you’ll be copying their mistakes without even knowing it. Try as you might to follow them, your products won’t be safe for use, their effectiveness will be limited and the products won’t be stable. 

Plus, usually there is no support available when things go wrong—which they will. 

Even with the very best of intentions, people following these kinds of recipes often find their balms go hard, butters go grainy, their creams separate, and their products don’t turn out the same each time they make it. They also experience poor results with products that aren’t suitable for their skin.

We see DIY cream and lotion recipes out there without a preservative. We get that people want preservative-free products, but this can lead to serious safety concerns with mold, yeast, and bacterial growth—things that can cause way more harm than any preservative will! (Plus, there are natural preservatives out there!) 

Also, lots of recipes we find online say a drop of this, a teaspoon of that, a tablespoon of this, an ounce of that and a cup of this. Using these inconsistent measurements makes them hard to follow and scale.

There are stacks of problems!

And there’s a much better way to go about it. 

Make Your Products, Your Way

There are so many great reasons to get started making your own natural and organic beauty products. You might want to:

• Make a custom product that addresses a stubborn skincare challenge
• Express your values about green, sustainable, fair-trade, or cruelty-free beauty
• Create lush and lovely, deeply pampering gifts for your loved ones
• Have the satisfaction of expressing your creative spark
• Embrace nature and everything that the world of natural beauty has to offer
• Play with new scents and capture the benefits of essential oils
• Start a brand and sell your products one day, sharing your joy with others

But no matter your reasons, you want your products to smell and look and feel and work as good as they possibly can, right? 

You want your handmade products to be safe and stable, and to share them with total confidence.

This is where DIY Done Professionally becomes so important. 

Keep that handcrafted spirit, and learn how to follow correct information, best practices, and industry guidelines so you know that love and that effort won’t be wasted. 

(And if you want to take it to the next level and sell your products one day, you’ll already be on your way to having a professional framework, a structured design and development process—which puts you ahead of the game!)

Ask our students and they’ll tell you that none of this removes that fun, that handmade feel, that creative, DIY spirit behind your work. You get to keep all of that, and remove the mistakes, the wasted time and effort, the products that don’t work out. 

You stop following bad advice and using poor quality recipes. You start to become more knowledgeable about what you are doing and why, you become an informed creative formulator of your own products.

How to Get Started

When you enter the world of DIY Done Professionally, you can stand behind your products, equipped with scientific fact—even if you are not a scientist—ingredient knowledge, and product making skills. 

When you have better information, you’ll begin to look at product labels and see behind clever marketing, misleading slogans, and questionable claims. 

DIY Done Professionally is about keeping it real, keeping it honest, keeping it personal, maintaining the fun, the creativity, and staying within the energy of doing it for the love of doing it. 

And it’s also about doing it right, doing it properly, doing it like a professional, making products that are as good as they can be—all in your own home.

Get started on your product making journey and take advantage of:

• Correct, professional, and scalable recipes
• Accurate and up-to-date information
• Helpful and detailed instructions
• Support from tutors, experts, and peers

DIY Done Professionally keeps the essence of DIY and combines it with a professional approach that results in safe, stable, and effective products. 

This is all at the heart of what the School of Natural Skincare does. 

Our team of experts consists of cosmetic formulators, cosmetic scientists, regulatory experts, beauty business experts, aromatherapists and more. 

We’ve created award-winning and accredited online courses that teach students just like you how to experiment from a position of knowledge and confidence, minimizing the mistakes they make, and learning what to do when problems happen. 

Our Certificate in Making Natural Skincare Products online course teaches the practical art of making your own products by following our safe and thoroughly tested recipes (there are over 120 of them!) to start making products today. 

And our Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation online course helps teach you how to formulate like a professional, designing your own products from scratch, from the seed of an idea through the design and ingredient selection process, then on to the formulation stages all the way to actually making your physical masterpiece.

Avoid dubious DIY recipes and learn the practical skills and principles to elevate your products rather than copying mistakes; we have a team of professionals to support you and bring their knowledge to your home today!

Check out our Beginners Guide to formulating

Loved this article? Why not pin it to remember?

So in this article we’ll explore:

• Why Consumers are Turning to Natural Skin Care
• Degrees of Natural
• What ‘Natural’ Means to Us
• Choosing a Natural Standard
• Case Study: Ecocert Certification
• Your Products, Your Choice

Degrees of Natural

The important thing to understand is that when people—or companies—talk about natural skin care, they often mean wildly different things. This is because the term itself, “natural skin care,” is not regulated across the industry. Each different company and manufacturer and even consumer might be looking for a different standard of “natural” in the products they formulate, purchase, and use on their bodies. Which means that each company can pick and choose what ingredients, even synthetic ones, adhere to their corporate guidelines for what constitutes a “natural” skin care product.

When it comes to the term “natural,” there are no strict definitions, and as a consumer, a lot depends on your own personal choice. You have the responsibility and the privilege of educating yourself, learning to read labels, and choosing what matches your values.

When considering if something is natural you can look at two factors:

1. What it’s derived from. Is it from a natural source? For example, from plants, animals, minerals, marine sources, or is it derived from petrochemicals—and therefore considered synthetic?
2. How it’s processed or modified. Naturally-derived ingredients can be processed physically (they are only subjected to physical processes and the molecular composition/structure stays the same) or chemically (they are subjected to at least one chemical process and the molecular composition/structure changes) or both.

Here is the spectrum of natural to synthetic according to these two factors:

Naturally-occurring ingredients. This simply means ingredients that are naturally-occurring and presented in their natural, unprocessed state, like raw honey or crushed flowers.

Naturally-derived, physically processed. Raw, unrefined oils and butters are an example of naturally-occurring ingredients which have been processed using physical processes such as cold-pressing or filtration. For example, cold-pressed cocoa butter. Other processes can also be used—for example, natural oils or butters can be refined, bleached, or deodorized; distillation is used to produce essential oils; different kind of extractions are used to produce plant extracts, etc.

Naturally-derived, chemically processed. There are naturally-occurring ingredients which have been synthetically processed to become an entirely different chemical and structural substance. An example is castor wax, which is actually castor oil that has been hydrogenated by adding an H2 hydrogen molecule, along with a chemical catalyst such as nickel, to result in a hard and brittle wax. Natural soap is another example, plant oils are reacted with sodium hydroxide to form soap molecules.

Nature-identical. These are ingredients that are made in the lab and are chemically identical to those that occur in nature. For example, sorbic acid, which is a preservative commonly used in the food and cosmetic industry, is originally derived from rowan berries. However, sorbic acid is now often sold as a synthetic nature-identical ingredient, which is produced in a laboratory.

Synthetic. On the far end of the spectrum, these are the wholly synthetic ingredients which have been created and processed in a lab, and have no ties to nature or the natural world whatsoever. These ingredients are derived from petrochemicals and are often referred to as chemicals or synthetics. An example of this would be parabens, the majority of which are entirely synthetic.

It’s up to you what level of processing you’re happy with.

What ‘Natural’ Means to Us

When deciding on the ingredients for our courses, we follow Ecocert and/or COSMOS certifications. These organizations have a list of acceptable physical and chemical modifications of natural raw materials. For an ingredient to comply with these standards, it must be naturally derived (so no oil-derived/petrochemical-derived ingredients are allowed), biodegradable, and created with a production process that only permits certain specific chemical and physical modifications. For example, one chemical process that is prohibited by both of these natural and organic standards is ethoxylation, which can leave ingredients with traces of the toxin 1,4-dioxane. Ecocert permits the use of certain synthetic ingredients, mainly used as preservatives. The amount of them in an Ecocert-certified cosmetic product must be below 5%. The full Ecocert guidelines can be found here.

Because we follow this standard, in our courses we include plenty of natural oils, butters, and clays, ingredients which are naturally-derived and require minimal processing. You can easily choose organic versions of these ingredients if you want to formulate organic products. We also use emulsifiers and surfactants permitted by Ecocert and COSMOS. This means that although they have undergone more processing, they are still naturally-derived and processed using acceptable methods. We also use preservatives that are permitted by these standards, which often use nature-identical ingredients.

Whilst we are advocates for natural and organic ingredients, we are also realists and understand that not everyone can obtain Ecocert and COSMOS-approved ingredients. So we’ll also provide alternatives to some ingredients that can be particularly difficult to source. We like to allow you make your own mind up about what to use, taking into account your individual preferences and situation.

Case Study: Ecocert Certification

Founded in France in 1991, Ecocert is a certifying organization which was one of the very first to set the standard for natural and organic cosmetics. They are just one of the certifying bodies that is possible to obtain for those who intend to sell their products under a verified label of organic or natural, but we thought it might be helpful to take a look at their certification process.

To obtain Ecocert certification, the ingredients of your products can:

• Be left completely unmodified, or raw;
• Have minimal physical processing, so that the molecular structure of the ingredient has not been modified;
• Or have minimal chemical processing, which may have transformed the molecular structure of the ingredient.

They consider “synthetic” to mean any ingredient fully or partially stemming from a petrochemical origin. Ecocert does permit the use of certain synthetic ingredients, mainly used as preservatives. The amount of them in an Ecocert certified cosmetic product must be below 5%.

There’s much more within their standards to help specifically detail what approved physical and chemical processes Ecocert permits. A full list can be found in Appendix IV of the Ecocert standard (link below).

You can read more about their standards here.

Your Products, Your Choice

As formulators, taking part in the natural beauty movement can mean very different things to very different people. What’s the right choice for you? How does your skin work?

When you study with us, we encourage you to explore your values, and the values of your customers, and make up your own mind about standards you wish to formulate to and the ingredients that are and are not acceptable to you.

Natural, organic, green, clean, vegan, cruelty-free, fair-trade, local, sustainable, ethical—it’s YOUR choice!

The more you research, the better you’ll be able to develop products that can do more than just heal and soothe the skin. Perhaps, the products we make can heal the world, too.

Whether it’s the power to address a specific skincare need, the desire to free yourself from unhealthy chemicals, or a call to remove products that aren’t in alignment with your personal values, formulating your own skincare products offers you a chance to truly customize what you put on your body. Taking what you’ve made and sharing it with the world can be an amazing way to develop a business that meets a need and makes a difference.

But for many just starting out on the path to creating their own products, it can be difficult to quickly and easily assess if a DIY recipe is safe. Here are some quick tips to get you started.

Consider the Recipe’s Source

This may be the most important consideration: Who created the recipe? Common misconceptions abound, and it can be difficult to sort through all of the conflicting opinions and know who to trust.

Books can be a great resource, but they also can go out of date when new research is available. They may not list all of the information you need to know to create the specific products you want.

Recipes gleaned from websites, blogs, YouTube channels and even Pinterest links may have been created by well-intentioned people who are accidentally passing on inaccurate information.

Think Safety First

On the surface, safety can include a wide range of potential issues. Not every seemingly-unpronounceable ingredient is by default harmful, and not every edible ingredient is good for your skin. Too many safe ingredients, in the wrong combinations or proportions, can lead to an unsafe result. As you build your skills and knowledge about ingredients and interactions, you’ll be able to spot specific potential problems and troubleshoot them, but broadly, safety considerations can be easily narrowed down into a few key categories:

For many people with a goal of using more natural products, preservatives tend to get a bad reputation. The function of preservatives is simply to prevent microorganisms, bacteria, mold, and yeast from growing. It is true that parabens, a collection of synthetic esters widely used as preservatives in many cosmetics and other body-care items, have been linked to harmful effects on female reproductive health and endocrine disruption.

However, there are safer, natural options. Using the right kind of preservative is essential for a safe and long-lasting product.

If the DIY recipe you’re considering contains water in any form (including aloe vera) and doesn’t include a preservative, it is going to be unsafe—even if you intend to keep it in the fridge to extend its shelf life.

It’s also not uncommon for DIY recipes to mistake antioxidants for preservatives. While antioxidants such as Vitamin E, rosemary extract, and grapefruit seed extract can extend shelf life by preventing oxidation in oils and butters, they do not stop the spread of bacteria, yeast, and mold. In fact, many commercially-available grapefruit seed extracts contain additional ingredients, even preservatives, which may be affecting your end result in unexpected, harmful ways.

Essential oils

Oil and water don’t mix. And even if you agitate them, they very quickly separate, often leading to a result that is both aesthetically displeasing as well as functionally less effective. If you attempt a recipe that uses both oil and water, it will require some kind of emulsifier or solubilizer to maintain the consistency desired, and to prevent separation. Which one you choose depends on what kind of product you are making.

Shaking a bottle every time you use it is great for a vinaigrette, but there are better options out there. When making toners, room sprays, and mists, keeping the smaller amounts of oils from separating out requires a solubilizer. When considering a recipe with a larger amount of oil, an emulsifier will be essential to hold that emulsion.

As a fairly commonly-available ingredient, beeswax tends to be used in DIY recipes such as lotions in place of an emulsifier, but it is not. Beeswax is a wonderful thickener which can soften and soothe the skin, but attempting to use it as an emulsifier will only result in a separated product, no matter how long or how carefully it’s mixed.

Good practice

There are many factors to consider when approaching a new DIY recipe, and it can feel intimidating to know where to begin, and how to separate out the good advice from the bad. But like any skill, it gets better the more you practice, and good information is available, once you know where to look.

You can expand your skills today by signing up to learn more about the Diploma in Natural Skincare Formulation. The course includes 14 in-depth modules and over 80 videos that you can explore at your own pace, and teaches you everything you need to know to take your passion for natural beauty from a hobby to a business.

Armed with this knowledge you’ll know exactly how to spot an unsafe DIY recipe—and how to fix it!

Join our FREE webinar: How to make your own organic lotions and creams for a fraction of the price of store bought brands!

To be blunt, there is a lot of incorrect information circulating around online and in books.
It is so difficult to know what is right and what isn't.
A lot of this bad advice relates to making creams and lotions.

That's why in this FREE training we are going to teach you:

• How to go behind the label: discover what is REALLY in the products you buy and how you can make your own at home for less.
• 4 common myths that are all over the internet (so you don’t fall for them).
• How to avoid problems like creams that separate, lotions that are too runny or too thick, or products that can cause irritation and inflammation.
• How to make safe, stable, and beautiful lotions that are 100% natural & organic!

Enjoyed learning about unsafe DIY? Save this image below on Pinterest so you can be sure to remember!

References

“New developments in the extraction and determination of parabens in cosmetics and environmental samples. A review.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25597796

Tisserand, Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Health Care Professionals, 2nd ed.

Don’t be fooled by a product name or description – get to know and understand your cosmetic labels! That’s the only way to truly know what is in the products you are using, and how safe they really are. This guide will help you do just that.

A lot of cosmetic products appear interesting and appealing, but that doesn’t mean all of them are as efficient and safe as you might think. Many products contain ingredients you may prefer to avoid, ingredients that can be sensitizing and irritating, or ingredients that can even be harmful.

Fancy packaging and clever wording on the labels can make you believe the product is something that it actually isn’t.

Fancy packaging and clever wording on the labels can make you believe the product is something that it actually isn’t.

For instance, a large number of companies use a product name or label to highlight ingredients that are only present in tiny quantities, and that in reality are not big enough for the ingredient to have an effect, but they sound very attractive on the label.

Other companies use words like ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ to give the impression that the product is made entirely from natural or organic ingredients, when that isn’t the case.

To really know what is and what isn’t in your product, you need to read the whole label, not just trust an attractive name.

Don’t know how? We’re here to help!

What you’ll usually see on a cosmetic label

Cosmetic labels often look different to one another but on closer inspection they contain similar information. Much of this information is a legal requirement.

Some of the common information you’ll find includes:

• brand name and product name
• product type/purpose and description
• ingredient list
• symbols
• the product weight or volume (net contents)
• usage/storage directions
• manufacturer contact details.

In this guide we’ll cover the two key areas that you need to understand in order to know what is really contained in the product you are using:

• the ingredient list
• symbols.

Part 1: Understanding the ingredient list/INCI list

In addition to the product name and basic characteristics, a cosmetic label will also include ingredients in the product – the INCI list. INCI stands for “International nomenclature of cosmetic ingredients” and is a naming system for ingredients based on scientific nomenclature.

The INCI list might seem confusing and frightening at first. Don’t be afraid of it, take some time to read and investigate it. If you feel lost in all the scientific names, below we provide some resources to help you.

The INCI list might seem confusing and frightening at first. Don’t be afraid of it, take some time to read and investigate it. If you feel lost in all the scientific names, below we provide some resources to help you.

Plant ingredients are easy to spot because they are listed with their latin names (always two words) and a common name in brackets, eg rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) oil, which is  rosemary essential oil; helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, which is sunflower oil.

Some ingredients on the list sound very ‘chemical-like’ and many people believe that ‘if you can’t pronounce the ingredient name, it must be bad for you’. That is not always true. There are plenty of common or naturally derived ingredients that have complicated names, but are safe to use and even have an important function in the product. Here are few examples:

• Tocopherol: vitamin E, it protects the product from going rancid.
• Xanthan gum: a naturally derived gum that thickens the product.
• Cetyl alcohol and cetearyl alcohol: a fatty alcohol that stabilizes emulsions and has a moisturizing action. It is not drying as pure alcohol (ethanol).
• Citric acid: even though it has the word ‘acid’ in it, it is not harmful. It regulates the pH levels of the product and also protects it from microbial contamination.
• Sorbitan olivate: this is an example of an emulsifier, it sounds very ‘sciency’, but is in fact made from sorbitol (alcohol sugar found in chewing gums) and olive oil.
• Potassium sorbate: an example of a preservative, potassium salt of natural sorbic acid, it is also used to preserve foods.

Ingredient order

The order the ingredients are listed on the label is important. Ingredients are listed in descending order from greatest amount to least amount present in the product (except ingredients present at a concentration of less than 1%; those can be listed in any order).

Allergens

At the end of an INCI list you will find the allergens listed. These allergens are constituents of natural essential oils or synthetic fragrances. There are 26 possible allergens including geraniol, limonene and linalool. You’ll a full list of all 26 here. Often companies mark with an asterisk or in italics which ingredients are essential oils allergens. It is worth becoming familiar with the common allergens as to the untrained eye these allergens can look suspicious.

Here is an example taken from the Neal’s Yard website showing how they indicate allergens.

Abbreviated ingredient lists

Sometimes, especially on online shops or brand websites, companies do not list all of the ingredients, instead providing just the ‘key ingredients’ or ‘active ingredients’, and leaving the rest out. This makes the ingredient list quite short and very appealing too – it usually contains natural plant-based ingredients. Here is an example from Mary Kay:

It only mentions chamomile, green tea and aloe extract as active ingredients, which are likely present in tiny amounts, less than 1% of the product. To find out the full list of ingredients you would need to consult the label on the product itself, where a brand is required to list everything.

Resources for understanding INCI names

It’s normal to feel confused by an INCI list at first. These resources are helpful in deciphering INCI names so you can understand more about what the ingredients is and/or what it does.

Skin Deep: On the Skin Deep website you can research single ingredients or a whole product (if it is in the database). It will tell you if there are any concerns about the ingredients, eg toxicity, irritation, contamination possibility.

Cosmetics Info: Here you can also search for ingredients to see what they are and what they do in a product.

Paula’s Choice: This is a nice and simple dictionary of cosmetic ingredients and their function in a product.

The Chemical Maze App: Easy-to-use app that included food additives and cosmetic ingredients.

A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients, 7th Edition: Complete Information About the Harmful and Desirable Ingredients Found in Cosmetics and Cosmeceuticals, Ruth Winter
This is great book with information about cosmetic ingredients, if you prefer printed material rather than online databases.

Toxic Beauty: The hidden chemicals in cosmetics and how they can harm us, Dawn Mellowship
This book focuses more on dangerous ingredients in skincare.

Interpreting an ingredient list

Let’s have a look at an example of a product and the ingredient list on the label.

Below we have listed all the ingredients found in the INCI list and our interpretation of them. This takes practice so don’t worry if you can’t do the same straight away. Remember to join our Skincare Detox Challenge so we can help you! Click here to join.

HUMAN + KIND  Day+Night Cream

INCI:

Aqua – water

Caprylic/capric Triglyceride – liquid fraction of coconut oil

Centella Asiatica Flower/leaf/stem Extract – tiger grass extract

Tricaprylin – oily emollient (naturally derived)

Glycerin – humectant (glycerol, naturally derived)

Cetearyl Alcohol – emulsifier (naturally derived)

Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate – solubilizer, emulsifier (naturally derived)

Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil – avocado oil

Sucrose Stearate – emulsifier (from sugar and stearic fatty acid)

Stellaria Media (Chickweed) Extract – chickweed plant extract

Rosehip Seed Oil – rosehip oil, emollient

Althea Officinalis (Marshmallow) Extract – marshmallow plant extract

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder (Aloe Vera) – aloe vera

Tocopherol – vitamin E

Xanthan Gum – naturally derived thickener

Benzyl Alcohol – preservative (suitable for natural cosmetics)

Dehydroacetic Acid – preservative (suitable for natural cosmetics)

Potassium Sorbate – preservative (suitable for natural cosmetics)

Sodium Benzoate – preservative (suitable for natural cosmetics)

Perfume – fragrance

Linalool – fragrance component/allergen

Hexyl Cinnamal – fragrance component/allergen

Misleading product names

Reading a label will help you identify products with arguably misleading names – eg products that falsely claim ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ origin, or products that emphasize an ingredient for marketing purposes only. Here is an example.

Boots Beautiful Hair Moisturise & Nourish Shampoo with added Organic Argan Oil

INCI: Aqua, Sodium laureth sulfate, Cocamidopropyl betaine, Sodium chloride, PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil, Panthenol, PEG-200 hydrogenated glyceryl palmate, Sodium benzoate, Polyquaternium-10, Parfum, Dipropylene glycol, Glyceryl laurate, PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate, Polyquaternium-7, Citric acid, Argania spinosa oil, Alpha-isomethyl ionone, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool.

The label says the shampoo contains organic argan oil. While this is absolutely true, the issue is the amount of it. Can you find it on the ingredient list? It is listed almost at the end. The shampoo is likely to contain less than 1% of argan oil, an amount so small it won’t have any real benefit for the hair. Also, notice the emphasis on the word “organic”. The product is far from organic or natural, only the argan oil is organic, but a statement like that on a label might make people believe the shampoo itself is organic.

This leads us on nicely to consider the symbols present on a label. If this shampoo really was organic and had been certified as such then it would also carry a recognised symbol from one of the certification organizations.

Part 2: Understanding symbols

There can be a whole array of symbols on a cosmetic label!

Some symbols can be very useful, helping you see key information about a product at a glance. Others can be more misleading or harder to understand.

Some symbols are official seals or logos that are given to a product (or a company) by an external certification organization such as the COSMOS organic certification.

Other symbols are created by the brand to give an impression of a specific quality. The non-official symbols are not necessarily making false claims; the problem is that there is no way of knowing if they are truthful.

If a product carries an official organic symbol, eg from the Soil Association, you know that the product meets certain standards required by the certification body. On the other hand, if a product has a made up organic symbol, it might be just a marketing strategy or it might actually mean that the product is organic but the company didn’t go through organic certification (usually due to high costs).

OFFICIAL SYMBOLS

Let’s have a look at some of the official symbols you can find on skincare products. These official symbols are used to show:

• The expiry date of the product or Period After Opening.
• Important or legally required information.
• If the packaging can be recycled.
• If the product has been certified to a particular organization’s standards.

Below we have included the most common symbols as a ‘cheatsheet” for you. This list isn’t exhaustive but gives you a good starting point.

Expiry date (BBE/PAO)

Somewhere on the label you will see an indication of when to use the product by. This might be indicated by a ‘best before end’ date (BBE), which can be represented by an hourglass symbol, or a ‘period after opening’ duration, represented by opened jar symbol. Check for this information on your product to ensure you use it within expected time period.

Best before end: the product must be used before the marked date (regardless of when it has been open).

Important or legally required information

The ‘e’ mark (Europe): Cosmetics must be labeled with their nominal net content. The ‘e’mark is  is used in Europe to indicate a brand complies with average fill requirements. “Packaged goods labelled with the ‘℮’ mark are declaring their compliance with the requirements of the ‘average system’ under Directive 76/211/EEC” (Gov.uk).

Recyclable

Plastic classifications: On plastic packaging you’ll often see a symbol that tells you what type of plastic the packaging is made from so you can recycle it correctly.

Certification body symbols: Organic/Natural

EcoCert: France-based international standard for organic foods and cosmetics.

Soil Association:British standard for natural and/or organic cosmetics.

Natrue: Belgian standard for natural and/or organic cosmetics.

Certification body symbols: Vegan

Vegan Society:UK-based organization certifying vegan products.

Certification body symbols: Cruelty Free

Choose cruelty free: Australian organization that certifies products that have not been tested on animal nor contain ingredients tested on animals. It has certified over 250 companies.

Certification body symbols: Fairtrade

NON-OFFICIAL (MADE-UP) SYMBOLS 

Here are some examples of made-up symbols found on cosmetic labels. When you start looking at labels closely, you will find many more.

If you see a logo that looks like a certification logo it is worth checking to see if it is from a recognized certification body (which means the product complies to their standards), or if it is one of the brand’s own symbols/logos.

We really hope that you have found this guide useful and that it helps you uncover what is really in the cosmetic you use!

Join our FREE webinar: How to make your own organic lotions and creams for a fraction of the price of store bought brands!

To be blunt, there is a lot of incorrect information circulating around online and in books.
It is so difficult to know what is right and what isn't.
A lot of this bad advice relates to making creams and lotions.

That's why in this FREE training we are going to teach you:

• How to go behind the label: discover what is REALLY in the products you buy and how you can make your own at home for less.
• 4 common myths that are all over the internet (so you don’t fall for them).
• How to avoid problems like creams that separate, lotions that are too runny or too thick, or products that can cause irritation and inflammation.
• How to make safe, stable, and beautiful lotions that are 100% natural & organic!

This guide will help you to detox your skincare products by knowing which harmful or undesirable ingredients to look for on the label. You can then either stop using them right away, or know what to avoid in the future.

If you want to take back the power to look after your health and wellbeing, eliminate toxic chemicals and feel good about what you’re using on your skin, then this guide is for you.

Why should you detox your skincare products?

1. There are a lot of undesirable and potentially harmful ingredients in beauty products.
2. Marketing claims can be misleading. Even if you use products labelled ‘natural’ or ‘organic’, they can still contain undesirable ingredients.
3. Some brands use animal products or still test on animals.

What should you detox/eliminate?

Below we make eight suggestions for ingredients that you might like to eliminate from the skincare products you use. Of course there are others too, but let’s keep it simple to begin with. We have included:

• Potentially harmful ingredients that cause skin irritation or can be toxic.
• Animal products.
• Synthetic ingredients.
• Ingredients that are a problem for the environment.

Which you choose to eliminate will be up to you. You may choose all of them. Or you might just choose some, for example, you may feel strongly about avoiding animal products so will avoid beeswax and lanolin. Or you might be ok with using those but want to avoid synthetic ingredients instead.

There is no right or wrong answer – it really comes down to what is most important to YOU.

8 Ingredients to detox

Do natural and organic products contain these ingredients?

Organic certification organizations (such as ECOCert and Soil Association) will prohibit most of these ingredients.

But you can’t assume that products labelled natural or organic don’t contain these ingredients. ‘Natural’ is not a regulated term and the word ‘organic’ can often be used in misleading ways, too.

“I was shocked to find ingredients which could contain human carcinogens in products with labels which could misleadingly suggest that they might be organic,” said Professor Vyvyan Howard of the Centre for Molecular Bioscience at Ulster University as part of the Soil Association’s Come Clean About Beauty Campaign.

We found some of these ingredients in products like The Body Shop Strawberry softening body butter, Aveda tulasāra™ renew morning creme and Liz Earle Botanical Shine™ Nourishing Hair Oil.

Join our FREE webinar: How to make your own organic lotions and creams for a fraction of the price of store bought brands!

To be blunt, there is a lot of incorrect information circulating around online and in books.
It is so difficult to know what is right and what isn't.
A lot of this bad advice relates to making creams and lotions.

That's why in this FREE training we are going to teach you:

• How to go behind the label: discover what is REALLY in the products you buy and how you can make your own at home for less.
• 4 common myths that are all over the internet (so you don’t fall for them).
• How to avoid problems like creams that separate, lotions that are too runny or too thick, or products that can cause irritation and inflammation.
• How to make safe, stable, and beautiful lotions that are 100% natural & organic!

References

1. Yanpeng Gao, Yuemeng Ji, Guiying Li, Taicheng An,, 2016, Theoretical investigation on the kinetics and mechanisms of hydroxyl radical-induced transformation of parabens and its consequences for toxicity: Influence of alkyl-chain length, Water Research, (91) 77-85.
2. Laura A. Geer, Benny F.G. Pycke,  Joshua Waxenbaum, David M. Sherer, Ovadia Abulafia, Rolf U. Halden, 2016, Association of Birth Outcomes with Fetal Exposure to Parabens, Triclosan and Triclocarban in an Immigrant Population in Brooklyn, New York.
3. L. Rhein, 2007, C.3 – Surfactant Action on Skin and Hair: Cleansing and Skin Reactivity Mechanisms.
4. Emmanuelle Lémery,  Stéphanie Briançon,  Yves Chevalier, Claire Bordes,  Thierry Oddos, Annie Gohier, Marie-Alexandrine Bolzinger, March 2015, Skin toxicity of surfactants: Structure/toxicity relationships, 469:166-179.
5. E. Bárány, M. Lindberg, M. Lodén, 2000, Unexpected skin barrier influence from nonionic emulsifiers, Int. J. Pharm., 195 (2000):189-195.
6. Stickney, H. Carlson-Lynch, 2014, Dioxane, 1,4-Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences, from Encyclopaedia of Toxicology (Third Edition),  Pages 186-189.
7. R.J. Parod, September 2014, (Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences, from Encyclopaedia of Toxicology (Third Edition), 535-538.
8. Lorenzini, R., Fiselier, K., Biedermann, M., Barbanera, M., Braschi, I., & Grob, K. (2010). Saturated and aromatic mineral oil hydrocarbons from paperboard food packaging: estimation of long-term migration from contents in the paperboard and data on boxes from the market. Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, 27(12), 1765-1774.
9. Ravoet J, Reybroeck W, de Graaf DC. Pesticides for Apicultural and/or Agricultural Application Found in Belgian Honey Bee Wax Combs. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 2015;94(5):543-548. doi:10.1007/s00128-015-1511-y.
10. Jover, E., & Bayona, J. M. (2002). Trace level determination of organochlorine, organophosphorus and pyrethroid pesticides in lanolin using gel permeation chromatography followed by dual gas chromatography and gas chromatography–negative chemical ionization mass spectrometric confirmation. Journal of chromatography A, 950(1), 213-220.
11. Flyvholm MA, Menne T, 1992, Allergic contact dermatitis from formaldehyde. A case study focusing on sources of formaldehyde exposure. Contact Dermatitis, 27(1):27-36.Boyvat A, Akyol A, Gurgey E, 2005, Contact sensitivity to preservatives in Turkey. Contact Dermatitis, 52(6):333-337.
12. Pratt MD, Belsito DV, DeLeo VA, Fowler JF Jr, Fransway AF, Maibach HI, Marks JG, Mathias CG, Rietschel RL, Sasseville D, Sheretz EF, Storss FJ, Taylor JS, Zug K, 2004, North American Contact Dermatitis Group patch-test results, 2001-2002 study period. Dermatitis, 27(1):27-36
13. Boyvat A, Akyol A, Gurgey E, 2005, Contact sensitivity to preservatives in Turkey. Contact Dermatitis, 52(6):333-337.

If you are thinking about making your own natural skincare products at home or taking one of our courses you are probably wondering what equipment you need to get started.

Luckily for making products at home, you don’t need too much. What you do need is inexpensive kitchen or lab equipment which is easy to find both in stores and online.

In this video, Gail runs through the essential equipment that you need. This is a sneak peek from our Certificate in Making Natural Skincare Products. Below the video, you’ll find a handy list of the equipment you’ll need to get.

Where to buy the equipment you’ll need?

There are several places that you’ll be able to find the equipment you need:

• Online stores selling science lab equipment such as www.betterequipped.co.uk (UK) or www.carolina.com (USA).
• Kitchen supply stores.
• Cosmetic ingredient suppliers often also sell equipment.
• Amazon or eBay. While we don’t recommend buying ingredients on eBay or Amazon, they are useful for finding equipment.

What equipment do you need for making natural skincare products at home?

1. Thermometer such as an inexpensive glass lab thermometer.
2. Digital scales that measure to 0.1g.
3. Electric stick blender for creating emulsions (creams and lotions).
4. Electric hand whisk for whipping body butter.
5. Measuring beakers/jugs – heatproof glass lab beakers are ideal.
6. pH strips.

7. Hand whisk, spoons, spatulas.

8. Protective gloves – to protect both you and your products.

Creating a double boiler/water bath/bain-marie

You’ll need some way of creating a double boiler/water bath/bain-marie. This is for heating the oil and water phases of an emulsion and also for melting ingredients for balms and butters.

This could be created by:

• Standing a glass beaker/jug on a metal trivet in a saucepan of water.
• Placing one saucepan inside another.
• Using a double boiler insert.

Depending on which method you choose the following may be useful:

9. Two saucepans.

10. At least two heatproof glass lab beakers, pyrex jugs or autoclavable polypropylene chemical-resistant beakers.
11. Double boiler maker or metal trivets/rings (even a cookie cutter would work). You place the beakers on top of this so they don’t touch the bottom of the saucepan.
12. Double boiler insert – these are often sold as melting pots for chocolate making and sit inside a saucepan of water.

Want to get started with making your own skincare products?

Learn the proper way to create your own products from a team of professionals with our

Certificate in Making Natural Skincare Products