The Word is Used Often, but What Does "Natural" Mean?

Jennifer Katehos

Posted on May 18 2017




As Natural As Possible


We believe that making products as "natural" as possible addresses environmental and sustainability issues, a way to maintain the conditions in which humans and nature can coexist harmoniously.

Take a mental detour with us to the movie “Jurassic Park,” wherein the character of Dr. Ian Malcolm, perfectly portrayed by Jeff Goldblum, admonishes the creator of the park, saying, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.”

We are coming out of a phase in cosmetics where we were using certain ingredients because we could, not necessarily because we should.  Take,  for example, petrolatum, which is one of the most maligned cosmetic ingredients today.  Petrolatum (or “petroleum jelly” or “soft paraffin”) is derived from a byproduct of oil refining.  (Amusingly enough, this means that petrolatum is 100% natural because oil comes from the earth!)  The process of refining petrolatum into a cosmetic product was discovered in the 1860s by a chemist named Robert Chesebrough.  For Chesebrough, petrolatum was the business, figuratively and literally; indeed, he patented the process and started making his product under the name “Vaseline.”  Despite its current reputation, petrolatum is actually an excellent skin protectant and is considered safe by the FDA

Thus, we’ve been using petrolatum as a product and an ingredient since roughly 1870, taking advantage of a byproduct of the oil refining process, because we could.  However, petrolatum is derived from non-renewable sources, and the time has come for the beauty and skincare industry to question whether it should keep using this ingredient.  Luckily, many of the ingredients used in the beauty industry can be produced from renewable plant sources, and the industry has begun to reduce its reliance on it and other petroleum-based ingredients.  Gramercy Skincare is excited to be part of this new trend.