The Myth of “Natural and Organic”

Everyone loves the sound of natural and organic. The words are like a soothing balm.

But when it comes to skin care, those words often have little to do with what’s actually in the bottle, and even less to do with results. The idea that natural and organic is inherently better than something perfected in a lab is based mainly on marketing and misconception. Like skin itself, the realm of ingredients is complex and multi-layered. Here’s what you need to know about the natural vs. synthetic debate.

“Natural” and “Organic” are Marketing Terms, not Standards in Skin Care

The FDA has no regulation regarding the word “natural,” so it gets applied liberally and has little meaning. Many things you’d never want to put on your skin are natural (arsenic, lead, mercury, to name a few).

If a skin care product contains agricultural ingredients and can meet the USDA/NOP organic production, handling, processing, and labeling standards, it may earn organic certification. But most plant-derived ingredients and essential oils used in skin care products fall outside the classification because they are not food products. That means there’s no regulation from the FDA.

Natural Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Chemical-Free

Most products labeled natural and organic contain synthetic (laboratory-produced) ingredients that are there to stabilize, thicken, preserve, and add color or fragrance. That’s because many ingredients in their natural state can be difficult to preserve and lose their beneficial elements.

It Doesn’t Work if It Doesn’t Get Past the Skin Barrier

The skin’s job is to keep things out, so unless optimized or aided by additives, many natural and organic substances won’t be absorbed by the skin. In the lab, we’re able to extract and concentrate the most vital elements and formulate in a manner that assures they can work on a cellular level and provide true benefit.

Synthesized is Optimized

Ingredients that come straight from nature can have impurities. Growing, or environmental conditions can create inconsistency. Beneficial constituents often are not bioavailable, or they may occur in too small an amount to have an impact. Additionally, some natural substances can be irritating or cause allergic reactions.

Synthetic versions of plant oils, extracts, and minerals created in a lab eliminate impurities and inconsistencies, concentrate active elements, reduce irritants, and provide sustainability.

The Proof is in the Pores

The mainstays of Vivant formulations are naturally-derived and improved in the lab—retinoic acid (vitamin A), mandelic acid, lactic acid, glycolic acid, green tea extract, vitamin C & E, niacinamide, rose hip oil, algae, aloe—the list goes on and on.

Let’s look at one that everyone is familiar with: vitamin A. It’s a natural and essential micronutrient that we get from food. It aids in cell repair and regeneration. For topical skin care, it’s been distilled to retinoic acid and enhanced in the lab. In this case, the science makes all the difference. Vivant’s patented Vitamin A Propionate has a small molecular structure that maximizes benefit while minimizing irritation and allows it to be more readily absorbed by the skin than other retinoids. It’s is the gold standard for treating acne and aging. Nature and science at their most collaborative best.

Ultimately, it comes down to efficacy. Ingredients should be chosen based on what they do, not how they sound. The best research and development is guided by clinical evidence rather than current trends. Vivant formulations use pharmaceutical grade—the highest standard set by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP)—raw ingredients in small batch production.