Most people assume that natural beauty products and cosmetics are better than their more conventional counterparts. However, they do not realize that neither type is inherently superior, and that whether or not either one works depends almost entirely on the skin type of the person using them.
Nature is good. Nature provided the human race with everything it thought it could need, and continues to provide humanity with most of its needs. Whenever a product is labeled as being natural, it is automatically assumed to be better than its artificial counterparts. There is a common belief that natural beauty products are better than their chemical opposites, or are less likely to cause side effects, or are better for the skin. Whether or not this is actually true is something that most people who use natural cosmetics don't bother to verify by talking to a medical professional. That, in the end, would be the fundamental question on this matter. Are natural beauty products inherently better than their pharmaceutical counterparts?
The actual answer is no. A chemical, whether made in a lab or extracted from some obscure Tibetan herb, is still a chemical. Yes, it is true that some people find natural beauty products work better for their skin and their bodies, but that does not mean that it will be the same case as everyone else. The one thing that neither synthetic cosmetics, nor their natural counterparts, pay too much attention to is that no two individuals have the same skin. Things like sensitivity, pH balance, and tolerance can all vary from person to person, with even the slightest difference making one cosmetic worth and trigger an adverse reaction with another.
Some chemists point out that many of the compounds found in plant and herbal extracts are the same things that can be found in conventional beauty products. It just happens that they're from different sources. Natural beauty products also usually rely on the same principles that their conventional counterparts do, such as moisturizing the skin or peeling off layers of dead skin cells. Natural products, because of these methods and the similarity of the chemicals found in them, are just as likely to cause irritation as synthetic products. Also, just because a number of natural beauty products claim that they are hypoallergenic does not mean that they are hypoallergenic. There is also no guarantee that they are as effective in preventing acne outbreaks as a synthetic drug that might cause allergic reactions.
Some also point out that “natural” and “all-natural” are different from one another. Anything with the label “all-natural,” by virtue of legal and medical regulations and restrictions, is likely to have gone more rigorous, stringent testing than other products. There are rulings passed down from various authorities that dictate that any product that uses the label “natural” as containing 70% natural ingredients. Claims of being holistic may be inaccurate, largely because holistic medicine takes everything into account and focuses on specific treatments for specific patients. By nature, pre-packaged natural beauty products being sold on the market are not made with a specific patient in mind.
That is not saying that natural products are useless, however. Just as some skin types and variables can make a conventional cosmetics fail, some natural products can also fail. The ultimate decider of whether a person should use natural beauty products or synthetic ones comes down to one very simple determining factor: if it works without causing any undue or unpleasant side effects.
