A clear preference for natural ingredients for the skin has become more evident in recent years. Cosmetics and skincare products with botanical ingredients now seem to be the most popular and favorite on the market.

However, it is worth stopping to review what their characteristics are, what it means that they are natural or botanical, whether or not they are better than chemicals, what are the ingredients of natural origin that you can try and what natural cosmetic brands are worth it.

What do the terms “natural” and “botanical” mean?

The term natural refers to everything directly from nature, and “botanical” refers to what originates particularly from plants or vegetables. Put another way, all botanicals are natural, but not all natural ingredients are botanicals.

This same distinction between both terms is also valid for ingredients of “natural origin” or “botanical origin”; in both cases, the relationship is towards nature or the direct origin of plants and vegetables.

Are chemical ingredients in skincare bad?

Different studies affirm that they are not, and others say the opposite. Unlike the previous ones, these ingredients do not have a natural origin; They are created in a laboratory and used in personal care products.

For example, the only natural sunscreens are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. In both cases, the protection they provide to the skin is limited because they do not cover the full spectrum of the sun’s rays. So, to have complete sun protection, it is necessary to use synthetic sunscreens with the ability to create a broad-spectrum shield.

Even some laboratory-created ingredients are useful for caring for certain skin types that cannot use natural ingredients that cause allergies. This is because they allow the manufacturer to have better control over the concentration levels of each ingredient to avoid unwanted skin reactions.

On the other hand, synthetic preservatives are added to natural cosmetic and personal care products to keep them free of mold and bacteria, as well as natural preservatives that fulfill the same function. As you can see, a product can be created with a formula combining the best of both worlds.

Are natural skin care products better?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Natural skin care ingredients are not necessarily more effective than synthetic ingredients. Remember that this will always depend on your skin type and the particular care needs it has; It is recommended that you test the products in a small portion of your skin to check if they do not cause reactions or allergies.

Despite this, there are some key benefits of some natural skin ingredients that you should be aware of:

• Its use is regulated by law
• They care for biodiversity and the environment
• Some pollute less when they follow international certifications and ecological manufacturing processes
• They are biodegradable

On the other hand, we must also know that a product with botanical ingredients or ingredients of natural origin is not always synonymous with the fact that the brand that manufactures it is responsible for the environment, and we must be careful with that.