34 SUSTAINABILITY
of regulatory compliance, safety profiles, and evolving consumer trends. Interestingly, while the paraben-free claim
is no longer permitted on beauty products in many regions, consumers continue to actively seek out paraben-free options when shopping online, demonstrating the lasting impact of that early marketing push.
The certifications era After mastering the art of natural preservation systems, I turned my attention to the emerging natural standards that were beginning to shape the beauty industry. The need for validation of natural claims had become increasingly apparent, given consumers’ limited ability to distinguish genuine natural products from those making misleading claims. One of the pioneers in this space was the
BDIH (Bundesverband der Industrie- und Handelsunternehmen) natural cosmetic standard from Germany, which operated on a positive INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) listing approach. This meant that only ingredients appearing on their approved list could be used in certified products. Ecocert and the Soil Association eventually
developed their own standards, each based on slightly different criteria, including organic content requirements and specific permitted manufacturing processes for ingredients. The fragmented nature of natural definitions
led to a proliferation of eco-labels, each with its own interpretation of what constituted ‘natural’ or ‘organic’. Initially, certified applications were primarily focused on skin care products, but the scope gradually expanded to include fragrance and hair care as new biodegradable cationic ingredients made hair conditioning achievable within certified cosmetics.
I had the privilege of developing one of
the first organic certified eau de toilette with the Organic Food Federation in 2005, which was both challenging and rewarding given the limited palette of certified aromatic ingredients available at the time. The presence of multiple eco-labels,
particularly in Europe, created confusion among both brands and consumers. This fragmentation triggered a harmonization process that began in 2002 and culminated in the launch of the Cosmos standard in 2011. This comprehensive standard incorporated
criteria related to green chemistry principles, biodiversity conservation, promotion of organic farming, and other ethical considerations such as animal testing. The Cosmos standard has evolved
significantly since its launch and is now in its fourth version, with constant updates reflecting the growing number of certified natural and organic products and cosmetic ingredients entering the market.
The standard permits the use of some
petrochemical ingredients (up to 2% maximum petrochemical content) such as certain preservatives from Annex V and betaines, primarily to facilitate the formulation of effective rinse-off applications. However, just before Cosmos was officially launched, a more stringent alternative emerged. Natrue was formed specifically to deliver truly all-natural cosmetics, though it too made exceptions for certain Annex V preservatives such as sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate. Like Cosmos, Natrue now offers two levels of certification: natural and organic, providing brands with flexibility in their positioning. Recognizing that formulating according
to private standards created significant ingredient restrictions and forced difficult decisions about which certification system to follow, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) decided to develop a more accessible approach. Working with other industry stakeholders, they created a standard that would define natural cosmetics in a simple and universally applicable way. In 2016 and 2017, the first two parts of the ISO standard for defining natural cosmetics were launched and continue to be used today for validating natural origin claims. While this is essentially a self-certification
process, such declarations still require third- party verification of all relevant information for each ingredient and calculation of the natural (physically processed) and naturally-derived (chemically processed) origin percentage of finished products. This standard focuses purely on ingredient origin and does not include sustainability criteria, making it appealingly simple and universal. Today, this standard continues to play a
valuable role within other validation systems that incorporate broader sustainability criteria.
PERSONAL CARE August 2025
www.personalcaremagazine.com
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