Flipping through the pages of your favorite beauty magazine or reading a skincare blog, you are most likely to find a ton of advice about what ingredients are best for your skin and what should be completely avoided. We often run to buy products that claim themselves to be “free of chemicals” or “natural” , but what if we say, chemicals aren’t really all that bad!
Let’s first start by saying that “Chemical” is not a bad word, but we are made to believe it is. But chemicals are simply elements or a combination of elements that have a specific structure and composition.
With the ever growing popularity and awareness of skincare, people have now become extremely conscious of the ingredients they allow themselves to use, and natural and organic products are now all the rage. But have you ever wondered what these “chemical free” products actually contain?
While browsing in search for skincare products, multiple products pop up that claim to be all natural and free from chemicals, but if you think about it, water, H20, is also a chemical, made from combining oxygen and hydrogen. So, chemical free products don’t really exist, not that they need to as well.
In the skincare industry people swear by the words, “organic” and “natural” and when a product doesn’t work, chemicals always become the suspect.
Chemicals have now become synonymous with toxins, which is far from the truth. No chemical can be termed as good or bad, it isn’t as simple as something being black or white. It all depends on the dosages of the chemical and what those are paired with. When we talk about natural ingredients, we talk about the chemicals that are naturally derived from them that work on specific skin concerns and goals. These chemicals have a higher efficacy rate in the long run.
Sometimes these naturally occurring ingredients may not be potent enough for solving a lot of skincare problems. For example, Vitamin C obtained from oranges may not be as effective or beneficial, when compared to the chemically synthesized Vitamin C made from Ethyl Ascorbic Acid. These chemicals are formulated and paired with the right ingredients to ensure that they give the maximum benefit to you, without risking your skin and health.
When we talk about chemicals or acids, we also talk about the source that they come from. For example, glycolic acid is extracted from sugarcane, and how toxic or unsafe can sugarcane really be? It is just synthesized and formulated to ensure that it gives the maximum benefit and efficacy rate in return, without harming the environment and the skin.
Describing harmful and toxic chemicals as just “chemicals” makes everyone believe that every chemical out there is unsafe to use, which is really not factual.
It is also common knowledge that rubbing a lemon (source of Vitamin C) on your bare face will cause more irritation compared to a stabilized form of Vitamin C like Ethyl Ascorbic Acid.
There are many chemicals in the skincare industry that work wonders on your skin, Salicylic Acid, Hyaluronic acid, Niacinamide, being just a few of many. In fact, a lot of chemicals are extracted naturally, from fruits, flowers, and plants, for example, the origin of Squalane is actually olives and rice bran while lactic acid is a byproduct of fermentation of different microorganisms.
This of course doesn’t mean that all the chemicals out there are good for you. There are chemicals like parabens, sulfates, artificial fragrances and so on that aren’t beneficial and must be avoided. But associating these misfits with all the other chemicals isn’t right.
These chemicals aren’t just limited to laboratories and beakers, it’s way more than that. Manmade or natural, everything in the world is based on chemicals, including us. It’s time we start opening our mind towards it, as we really can’t exist without it.
Understanding the basics of it, and how efficient it is in part of your skincare routine gives you an open mind to try things that you otherwise wouldn’t.
As a problem-solution brand, The Theory not just focuses on providing high-quality curated products, with ingredients sourced from different regions of the world, but also educating about the same, so you know what you’re putting onto your skin is safe and very effective.