Up-Close Look at Natural Skin Care Products: How to Tell If They Live Up To Their Claims When it comes to natural skin care products, separating marketing claims from science is a challenge. Here’s a primer. By Suzanne Wright @ WebMD Feature; Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Pomegranates.

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Up-Close Look at Natural Skin Care Products: How to Tell If They Live Up To Their Claims When it comes to natural skin care products, separating marketing claims from science is a challenge. Here’s a primer. By Suzanne Wright @ WebMD Feature; Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD Pomegranates. Green tea. Mushrooms. They taste great, and scientific studies have shown that they may have powerful health benefits as foods. Now, many cosmetics companies are touting these same ingredients in their natural skin care products. But drinking green tea is one thing, putting it on your skin another. Do these botanically based potions, often labeled “natural,” “green,” or “organic,” live up to the hype?
“The marketing is still ahead of the science for the most part, but there is enough published work to convince me that the antioxidant botanicals will be the next big thing in skin care,” says Richard Baxter, MD, faculty member at the University of Washington School of Medicine and chief medical officer of Calidora Skin Clinics. Leslie S. Baumann, MD, an expert in the area of cosmetic ingredients, agrees that there is little proof behind most marketing claims for natural skin care products. She is the director of cosmetic dermatology at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, the first university-run cosmetic research center in the United States. If you want to try natural skin care products, Baumann recommends zeroing in on a specific concern and match the ingredient to it. Here are some botanicals she suggests: Keep in mind as you try these natural skin care remedies that many of them may not contain enough of the ingredient to make a difference. “A drop of an extract in a two-ounce product is most likely not enough. Unfortunately, products containing only such ‘trace amounts’ of active ingredients for marketing purposes are still the majority on the market,” says Thomas Bombeli, MD, a Seattle-based member of the International Society of Dermatology and founder of the Shenui, Inc., a line of cosmeceuticals. Also remember that labels such as “green” and “natural” are marketing labels that are not regulated by the government. And just because something says it’s natural doesn’t mean it works better than synthetic products. Some natural skin care products can actually aggravate skin conditions, Baumann says. “Many natural essential oils such as rosemary, bergamot, and peppermint can irritate or inflame sensitive skin,” Baumann says. “Coconut oil, a popular natural ingredient, can cause acne.” Although many natural skin care products make anti-aging promises, experts say these products are probably better at preventing aging than improving existing signs of aging. If you want to treat the wrinkles you already have, you may have to turn to synthetic products. “Antioxidants can prevent future wrinkles, but they can’t treat existing wrinkles,” Bauman says. “If you want to restore youthfulness, retinoids and vitamin A products derived from red and orange fruits made in the lab are what you need. They work better than if you just put carrots on your skin.”

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