Celebrities leading way in being environmentally friendly

Sep 28 2009 by Jade Wright, Southport Visiter

IMAGINE for a second that money is truly no object. You could burn tenners for fun, splash out on triple-ply cashmere and small replica Ferraris for your brood of novelty-named kids. And, it seems spend a fortune on pots and potions of miracle cosmetics to keep the ageing process at bay...

Well, that was until recently, and now it seems any celeb worth their low-sodium salt is ditching the big brands in favour of ‘green’ beauty products.

Take Gwyneth Paltrow – she may be the face of Estee Lauder with a bathroom cabinet brimming with free products but it’s the kitchen cupboard Gwyneth Paltrow raids for a natural beauty fix.

The actress recently confessed to covering her body in coffee, olive oil and honey to make her skin smooth, in what she dubs her “five-minute makeover”.

Gwyneth joins the increasing number of UK consumers craving all-natural beauty. Last year sales of certified organic health and beauty products soared by almost 70% to £27m, indicating that organic beauty has well and truly got the green light from shoppers.

“Increasingly consumers are extending their organic lifestyle choice beyond the food they eat to what they put on their skin,” says Clio Turton of The Soil Association.

“Organic products are also increasingly available and perform just as well as their non-organic versions.

“The fact that supermarkets like Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have all launched ranges of their own brand organic products is testament to the growing popularity of organic beauty.”

With organic the new buzz word in beauty, many companies are climbing aboard the green and natural bandwagon. But finding your organic fix isn’t clear-cut.

Any company can label a product as organic even if they only contain tiny amounts of organic ingredients, so stay beauty-savvy, when you’re picking up products marked ‘natural’.

“In the EU, all food and drink must be certified as organic before it can be sold as organic, but this regulation does not extend to organic beauty products,” Clio explains.

“As there is no legal definition as to what constitutes ’organic’ beauty, products labelled as such may vary enormously in the organic content and the other ingredients they contain.”

So if you’re an organic beauty beginner, how do you know you’re getting the real deal?

Check for the Soil Association stamp of approval. If a product carries their logo and is labelled ‘organic’, it must contain a minimum of 95% organic ingredients. If the description is ‘made with organic ingredients’ it must contain more than 70%.

From this month, you can also look out for the COSMOS standard - a new EU-wide standard for organic health and beauty products. Visit www.cosmos-standard.org