Plant-based ingredients in skin care are not a passing fancy or fad.  Using herbs and botanicals in skin care preparations has been a proven tried and true way of taking care of skin for thousands of year.   My Great-grandfather, Dr. Thomas Cooper was known as the last of the great American herbalists.  Much of his life was spent in early morning hours gathering mountain herbs so that he could make saves, tinctures and teas for his patients. 

Several well-known medicines were brought to us by plants: foxglove gives us the cardiac muscle stimulant digoxin, and periwinkle offers a source for the widely used chemotherapy drugs vincristine and vinblastine. In fact, there are at least 250,000 species of plants, out of which more than 1,000 have been found to possess significant anticancer properties.

 A 2009 study from Tulane Medical School reported that botanical extracts were the fastest growing category of cosmeceuticals, thanks in part to consumers' demand for organic and all-natural products.  Although plant-based products are finally gaining popularity, you may be surprised to learn just how many animal ingredients go into 90% of skin and hair care products...not to mention cosmetics.  Skin care products that contain ingredients derived from animals have long been debated.  Some activists and vegans avoid such products because of personal beliefs, and some people don't use skin cleansers that contain tallow & animal fats because the ingredients can clog pores and lead to acne. If you want to avoid products that contain animal derivatives, look for soaps, shampoos and skin cleansers that contain sodium isethionate -- a substitute for animal-derived sodium salts that comes from coconuts.  I must point out that it is nearly impossible to avoid every single animal ingredient. Being vegan is about helping animals, not maintaining personal purity.  Using "cruelty free" products, (products that are not tested on animals is essential).

Our skin is the largest organ in our body and it is permeable. That means that skin products don't just sit on the skin, they absorbed through it.  As consumers, we assume that products undergo some type of safety testing; however, that is rarely the case. There are more than 80,000 synthetic chemicals in the marketplace but only 5 percent have ever been tested.  Two ingredients most often found in many skin care products that are known to cause health issues are parabens and phthalates.

Phthalates are a group of chemicals that disrupt our endocrine system. They cause problems in the development of the male reproductive organs and have been linked with behavioral problems such as reduced social skills, increased anger and depression, and ADHD.  A wide range of household products, not just personal care products that are created to hold fragrance for a sustained amount of time may contain phthalates, and may not be listed. If the label says "fragrance" or "perfume," it probably contains phthalates.

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