The Truth About Natural Skincare

It’s covetable, cool and arguably a boon for the planet. But is it all it’s cracked up to be?

In the course of becoming a top-shelf status symbol, green beauty has splintered into nuanced, often bewildering, factions. “Organic” products are cruelty-free and untouched by pesticides, GMOs and synthetic chemicals, while “vegan” products don’t contain animal-derived ingredients. Beauty offerings labelled “natural” are perhaps the most confusing, as they’re unregulated but generally deemed to be made without any artificial ingredients or fragrances. With today’s emphasis on purity and sustainability shaking up industries from food to fashion, this last classification has become especially desirable – and abused.

“Natural is a classic marketing word,” says pharmacist and founder of Truth Treatment Systems skincare brand Benjamin Fuchs. “To a chemist, there’s no such thing as natural. The distinction the body makes isn’t between natural and synthetic, it just looks at the molecular structure. If I take vitamin C [from nature] or I create it in my lab, it’s the same molecule. I look at ingredients to see whether the body will recognise them.”