Photo: Bioethique “Certified ORGANIC” Skin and Body Care Products
This from Tanya Coade (formerly of West Vancouver Capers Community Market “Natural Living” department):
“What’s the difference between NATURAL vs. ORGANIC in skin and body care products? Unfortunately, the term “natural” means nothing when it comes to body care products. Even chemical ingredients can technically be considered “natural.” Manufacturers use those labeling loopholes to their advantage. When labels say “organic” look closely at how many of the individual ingredients are actually organic. For the product itself to be labeled organic, something like 70% organic ingredients must be organic. But since things like water can be included in that percentage, again, manufacturers can get around it.
I’m in the same boat (as everyone else) now that I’m shopping more at Choices Markets and other stores. Without the comfort of knowing who is screening and selecting products for a store (which I did know at Capers), I’m definitely scrutinizing labels more. The same will be true soon at Capers Robson since the Grocery and Natural Living buyers (Bob Morriseau and Dave Moore) have left, and the company will be adopting more of the Whole Foods lines. I don’t think Whole Foods is nearly as picky about ingredients as Capers was.
There are websites like Cosmetics Database that rate product safety for you. Hope this helps.” [Editor’s Note: Thanks, Tanya! This is very helpful. More and more “certified organic” skin and body care products are now available also on Internet. One such product line is “Bioethique” from France. This is “one of the world’s first and only lines of Third Party Certified Organic skin and body care products.” These products are guaranteed “100 percent Certified Organic.” You can purchase these products online at Bioethique, or locally, at Facial Fitness Vancouver. For more information call: 604-731-0044.]
It’s always a challenge shopping for quality body care products and it’s true that you have to be careful when purchasing product brands that claim to be only “natural”. However, this does not mean that all these companies are being dishonest and selling unhealthy products. I have found an amazing line by Harnn & Thann. The company is based on asian herbal science and they use only natural active ingriedients and essential oils. Some of their products are certified organic. Somtimes there will be an ingriedient that sounds like a chemical but I have researched alot of of these substances and they are all derived from natural botanicals. Alot of Harnn and Thann’s products contain minimal ingredients which is something you want to look for as well when shopping around. The massage oils only contain the highest quality rice bran oil and a blend of pure essential oils. beautiful products! See for yourselves!
there is one distributor in north America, in Ottawa, Canada. You can also order online at:
http://www.harnnandthann.ca