How to spot an organic imposter

At Pai we’re absolutely passionate about organics – and do absolutely everything in our power to ensure our products contain only the highest quality, certified organic ingredients.

We go to such lengths to ensure the organic origin of our products because sadly, there’s no legal definition of the terms ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ in the beauty industry.

So products are allowed to feature the words on their packaging without actually containing any natural or organic ingredients!

There’s plenty of room in the beauty industry for all products, natural or synthetic – but I think it’s wrong for brands to deliberately mislead customers into paying a premium for products that knowingly fall short of their claims.

Here are my top tips for making sure the products you’re buying are really as organic as they claim to be…

Does it carry an official certification logo?

Look for the Soil Association kitemark as this demands the cleanest ingredients – with 70% of their non-water ingredients having to be organically grown, harvested and extracted.

Standards such as ECOCERT allow companies to use as little as 10% organic ingredients in products that carry their ‘organic’ kitemark.

Some companies invent their own certification logos – be wary of these they stand for nothing!

Check out the Organic ‘stars’…

A product claiming to be organic should have its organic ingredients clearly marked, usually with a star ‘*’.

If 70% of its non-water ingredients are organic then you’ll expect to see quite a few stars. If there are just a couple then you’ll know that its organic credentials are, at best, tenuous.

Know your ingredients!

I’m always encouraging people to get stuck into their ingredients lists. Once you begin reading you’ll begin to recognise certain ingredients that crop up on products you’re sensitive to.

Ingredients are always listed in proportional order with highest quantities at the top of the list, so if you see something you don’t like the look of listed within the top half, put it back on the shelf.

Put all this into practice and you’ll never be tricked by an organic imposter again!

 



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