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From the drugstore to chic department stores to online boutiques, natural skin care products are everywhere you look. How do you know what’s good and what’s not, and are they really better for your skin?

What are natural skin care products?
Natural skin care products typically contain one or more botanical extracts, essential oils and plant-based oils such as olive, avocado or almond. Scientific studies have confirmed what herbalists have known all along: that many herbs have astringent, anti-inflammatory or healing properties. Cosmetic companies have taken advantage of this scientific proof by adding herbs and other botanicals to everything from face cleansers to moisturizers.

Read the label
Unfortunately the amounts of herbal extracts in most natural skin care products are often so minute that they have little effect. In addition, although many natural skin care products are made without petroleum-based ingredients or artificial colors and fragrances, some are not, so it pays to read product labels.

The product label contains a list of all the ingredients in a particular product. Although the exact percentage of each ingredient is not given, the rule of thumb is that about 90% of the skin care product is made from the top 33% of the ingredients. Let’s take a look at a name-brand “natural” (but not certified organic) face cleanser found at the drugstore.

In this particular example there are 25 ingredients, at least half of which are botanical extracts or essential oils. Using the rule of thumb, at least 90% of the “natural” product is made up of the first eight ingredients, which contain only two botanical ingredients (lime oil and sesame oil). Most of the botanical extracts make up the remaining 17 ingredients and probably have little impact on how the product works.