For years, handmade and artisan bath and cosmetics people have been making organic and cruelty-free products, providing an alternative for consumers who want to avoid petrochemicals and animal testing.  Well, it didn’t take long before the large chemical companies caught on to the fact that they were leaving a market untapped, and suddenly, we see a plethora of products on supermarket shelves that tout “Organic” and “Pure” all over their labels.

Let’s take a look at some of those products, shall we?

• Jason’s “Pure, Natural & Organic” liquid soaps, body washes and shampoos are made with  Myreth Sulfate Sodium. To delve into the chemistry for a minute, making Myreth Sulfate Sodium requires ethoxylating a conventional non-organic fatty chain with the petrochemical Ethylene Oxide, which produces caricinogenic 1,4-Dioxane as a contaminant.

• The major cleansing ingredient in Avalon “Organics” soaps, body washes and shampoos, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, contains conventional non-organic agricultural material combined with Amdiopropyl Betaine.

• Nature’s Gate “Organics” main cleansers are Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate (ethoxylated) and Cocamidopropyl Betaine.

• Kiss My Face “Obsessively Organic” cleansers are Olefin Sulfonate and Cocamidopropyl Betaine.

• Juice “Organics”, Giovanni “Organic Cosmetics”, Head “Organics”, Desert Essence “Organics”, and Ikove “Organic” all use Cocamdiopropyl Betaine as a main cleansing ingredient and no cleansers made from certified organic material.

Just as milk producers hopped on the “no hormones” bandwagon, cosmetics corporations have hopped on the “organic” wagon.  Except instead of actually getting on the wagon and producing healthy, non toxic, organic products, what they’ve done is just painted the organic wagon on the side of their petrochemical truck and called it a day.

But you can do something about it.  You can buy natural products from companies like mine, like Dr. Bronner, like Burt’s Bees, like the thousands of small market cap companies who actually care about our customers, our products and our planet.

Educate yourself about the products on American shelves, most of which contain ingredients that have been banned in most of the world as carcinogens.  Learn to say no to body and food products manufactured in countries where there are no safety standards, like China.  Read the ingredient label.  If you can’t pronounce the majority of ingredients, you probably don’t want to put it on your skin.

And remember; marketing and advertising people get paid to lie.  It’s their job, it’s what they do.  Just because something says “Organic” on the marketing materials, doesn’t mean it’s actually a healthy or organic product.  Anything where the first or second ingredient is a sulfate or other chemical surfactant, then the product you’re holding is not organic in any sense of the word.