Juniper & Pine’s NO List – Ingredients We Steer Clear Of – Part 2
In Juniper & Pine’s commitment to healthy, clean and green skincare, we’ve made a stance to avoid the use of potentially harmful, artificially derived ingredients into our formulas. We covered in Part 1 how ingredients like parabens, phthalates and BHT, which are often used in skincare to stabilize and preserve the product for a longer shelf life, or those that give a temporary look of skin-perfecting efficacy like silicone, aren’t that healthy for our skin, our bodies and the environment.
BUT, natural ingredients doesn’t mean that it’s gentle, harmless and irritant-free either. While they may pose no long-term health concerns, they can be giving you that allergic reaction or skin congestion, or be harmful to animals and our planet.
So often on Pinterest or Instagram, we see people DIY-ing their own skincare (not that we’re against that, so many amazing companies start this way). But, if you are using ingredients like lemon juice and coconut oil on your face, you might be causing your skin more harm than good! Some all-natural, non-toxic, and otherwise harmless ingredients do have a higher potential to disrupt the delicate balance of your skin while others will do only good.
Here are 5 natural & naturally-derived ingredients that we steer clear of for a wide range of reasons.
Coconut Oil is not Non-Comedogenic
This one’s tough. People love to use coconut oil for everything, right? In the kitchen and the bathroom, coconut oil has been touted for its versatile use as a baking agent, moisturizer, nail strengthener, hair softener, and more. But in reality, coconut oil is a highly comedogenic product. That means that constant use on your face can easily clog pores, resulting in more breakouts, blackheads, pimples and whiteheads. If you have oily, acne-prone or even combination skin, any product containing coconut oil should be a hard pass.
So yes, we agree that coconut oil is amazing, but just not for everything or everywhere. This site has a helpful chart so you can look up which oils and butters are non-comedogenic vs. those likely to congest your skin.
Is Linalool making your skin age faster?
Also known as linalyl acetate, and limonene, linalool is a little known terpene found in over 200 plants that often makes its way into many natural skincare products. Linalool is a key fragrance component of many essential oils, like lavender and lemon oil. Beloved natural ingredients, lemon oil is popular for brightening skin, while lavender is coveted for soothing nerves and skin.
But, linalool can also be cytotoxic to the skin and can disrupt the production of collagen. When linalool comes into contact with oxygen, it breaks down and becomes oxidized, which can cause an allergic reaction. In this case, natural does matter. Linalool as a natural compound of an organic essential oil may provide anti-inflammatory effects, but the synthetic version of the same name can possibly lead to skin irritation or allergic reactions.
Fruit pigments may be giving you allergic reactions
Although much better than synthetic dyes, minerals or other chemicals that result in that bright pink face wash, fruit pigments can also have a downside. Fruit pigments are natural colorants often used in place of the artificial and somewhat controversial FD & C dyes in lipsticks, lip glosses, cream blushes and so on. Yet, when applied to the skin and especially lips, they have often been accused of causing allergic reactions, especially to those with sensitive skin types and those who were originally allergic to that fruit or plant to begin with. We prefer our skincare exactly the way it is, with no artificial nor natural colorants altering its pure efficacy!
Is Palm oil causing environmental damage?
If you’ve been hearing the buzz on palm oil recently in the context of climate change, it’s true. Palm oil production has actually been posing some serious problems for the environment. In products such as soap, margarine, crackers and toothpaste, it is almost impossible to avoid palm oil, despite its destructive origins. Lands that used to be thriving rain forests are suffering from deforestation and being replaced with oil palms to keep up with global demand for palm oil (In 2013, the world consumed 55 million metric tons of palm oil, nearly four times what it used 20 years earlier!). We don’t only want our products to be good for our skin, but also good for the environment which is why we avoid palm oil in our formulations.
Water Based Products
Common water based products often leave your face feeling drier than it was before you applied the product and wait, does it smell a little strange?! If an organic / natural brand touts that they do not use any preservatives, make sure that they at least use a strong enough blend of natural ingredients with preservative powers so that the water-based formula doesn’t grow too much bacteria! Water is a great breeding ground for bacteria so you definitely want to be careful. Try to store in a cool place instead of your bathroom that can get steamy, and use it through quickly.
Juniper & Pine products are formulated without talc, parabens, phthalates, SLS, fragrances, silicones, BHT, and so much more. We also steer clear of titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, mica, coconut oil, linalool, and carmine, ensuring that every ingredient is beneficial and essential to promoting healthy skin and a glowing complexion.
Ready to shop our line and try out our products for yourself?
