Why Natural Skincare is more Expensive but Oh, So Worth it.
Yes, it’s true: Natural Skincare is more expensive than conventional skincare. There we said it. Consumers are becoming more mindful and aware about skin health, sun protection, and effects of overall stress. However, making the switch to natural can sometimes come with a hefty price tag. We are here to explain why natural skincare is more expensive, but oh so worth it.
Truly Natural
Just to be clear, we are talking about skincare that is actually natural and free of all preservatives and chemicals, highly concentrated and made with pure, raw ingredients, not just skincare claiming to be.
Why Making the Switch is Worth the Extra Green
You are reprioritizing what you look for when purchasing skincare products– and we love that! More of you are adopting a healthier lifestyle, taking note about environmental issues and animal cruelty. Not to mention, which we can state with the utmost confidence, how natural skincare products make significant changes to your skin. They are full of higher quality and effective ingredients, without chemicals that damage your skin’s moisture barrier, which makes skin vulnerable to allergens, inflammation and irritation. Not to mention the potential negative consequences these toxins have on your immune system and body! In a nutshell, you are helping make it possible to take care of our animals, our environment and our health by using natural skincare.
Why Natural Skincare is more Expensive
Cost
Natural and organic products are more expensive, plain and simple. There are so many GMO products out there that it has sadly become mainstream. In order to maintain product integrity, companies must use pure, raw ingredients, which are generally 1 ½ – 2 times more expensive and the cost continues to soar. Natural skincare contains natural oils, botanicals and more nutritious ingredients with higher concentrations.
In the skincare world, business often goes to the companies with the most desirable marketing campaigns, which is usually mass brands with the largest advertising budgets.
Small Batch Production
Time is money. Natural products are grown with no pesticides, genetic altering ingredients or growth-inducing hormones often associated with drugstore products. They take longer to grow and often come from smaller farms, whose farmers (thank you!) have chosen quality over profit.
At the point of production, natural skincare is often created in small batches as opposed to factory-mass production, which also increases the cost. There is also more hands-on testing and third-party certification.
Did you Know:
- Manufacturing in North America is much more expensive.
- Having skincare products that consist of preservative-free ingredients can cost up to 2-5 times more.
- It costs less for companies to produce mass quantities of products with synthetic fillers. They also tend to sit in the warehouse long-term, which means they can be exposed to extreme cold/hot temperatures. (Um, hello 110 degree summer Florida heat).
Formulation
One way to reduce skincare formulation cost is to use, well, cheaper ingredients. This includes using dangerous chemicals like petroleum-based fillers, artificial fragrance, waxes and dyes. Even many high-end skincare is filled with parabens, phthalates, PEG, silicones and chemical compounds.
Natural skincare is packed with wildcrafted botanicals, vitamins and skin-soluble, nourishing ingredients that are undiluted and lack impurities. Main ingredients consist of concentrated, naturally pressed oils, extracts and vegetable waxes and emulsifiers that include plant substances and oils.
Water
If you look at your skincare label, you will most likely see the first ingredient is water. Water serves many purposes in your skincare: it helps emulsify the oils in your product for that dreamy texture and helps dissolve water-soluble actives and cellular extracts. However, unfortunately, drugstore products often contain a very large percentage of water (up to 80 and 95% percent!) to lower the cost of their formulation. If your product contains that much (too much!) water and it also contains preservatives to keep the product from spoiling, it sure doesn’t leave much room for skin-loving, active ingredients – which is why you bought the product in the first place!
Did you know?
Our Organic Collection is water-free. Organic juices, such as aloe vera and fruit stem cells, are used for the base for the high potency, nutrient-rich serums and moisturizers.
Beauty Sleep – Repair Moisturizer – Antioxidant + Fruit Stem Cells + Vitamin C botanical juices
Canadian Maple – Ageless Moisturizer – Organic Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice & Shea Butter blend
Mad Glow – Vitamin C Serum– Vitamin C Complex of organic fruit extracts and plant stem cells
Daily Fix Calming Serum – Imprinted with Organic Sunflower oil and Sea buckthorn oil
HA Quench Hyaluronic Acid Serum – Organic Aloe Barbadenis Leaf Juice
Clean Confusion
With the staggering natural skincare market trends on the constant rise, large stakeholders have taken notice. This means there is a considerable increase in larger skincare companies marketing skincare as natural and manipulating study data.
With no clear definition on what “natural skincare” is and lack of regulations, skincare companies are able to claim their products are natural even when they are not. Make sure to read labels and research companies. If you are interested in learning about how to make sure the natural skincare you are purchasing is, in fact, natural visit our blog on greenwashing: Greenwashing 101.
Natural Skincare Statistics
The natural skincare market continues to accelerate at a staggering pace, valued at 6.7 billion in 2021 and continues to grow more than any other part of the beauty industry. (1) . Even Sephora has taken notice to the trend and dedicated a space on their shelves for just clean products. As demand continues to increase, we hope this will help drive costs lower over time. In the meantime, unfortunately, natural skincare is still more expensive.
Making the switch is worth the extra green. Investing in your health, planet and our animals.
Resources
(1) Why Is The Skincare Market Growing At Such Breakneck Speed? Automat.
(3) Value of the natural and organic skin care products market from 2021 to 2030 (in billion U.S. dollars). Statista.
(4) Does or Doesn’t Water Belong in Your Skin Care Products? Seaflora.
(5) Why are clean beauty products more expensive than their traditional counterparts? Hear directly from the experts on why it’s worth your while to make the switch. H. Khatib. VOGUE.