H

ealthy skin can enhance one’s beauty. No argument is needed.

Skin serves many important roles, from protecting our internal organs, maintaining our body temperature and regulating moisture.

Choosing the right skincare product is crucial not just for the look of our skin but to ensure that it nourishes the skin.

The phrase “You are what you eat” also applies to getting the right nourishment for the skin, which absorbs more than 60 percent of what is put on it, which eventually goes through bloodstream and is circulated throughout the body.

Natural ingredients in beauty products can nourish cells and act like food, while other non-natural ingredients in other products stay in the body and cannot be excreted through sweat, urine or feces. Although some of the ingredients might not be dangerous, the accumulated substances could affect our lymphatic system and blood circulation.

“People are now starting to get back to nature. It’s good, because natural things are much better than synthetic ones, since some synthetic materials may cause cancer,” says Maria Satiaputri, managing director of Spa Factory Bali.

Spa Factory Bali started its production with a traditional lulur, or scrub, which Maria developed as a hobby in 2008. She was raised in the Javanese tradition and was familiar with traditional beauty treatments.

As her business flourished, the company switched focus to supplying high quality beauty products for the private labels of many renowned five-star and high-end establishments in Bali and around the globe. She also opened her first retail shop overseas in Singapore.

In explaining the benefit of natural ingredients, Maria used body scrub as an example. A body scrub made from rice can nourish skin, since it contains
moisturizing substances, while its lavender aroma can stimulate the nervous system, making us feel relaxed.

Mary Muryn — an author of spa books and also the developer of Bali Temple Flowers, an organic perfume for meditation and healing as well as other several natural products used in renowned spas in Bali and Europe — described in one of her books, Spa Magic, how plant-based scent work to stimulate the mind.

She said that natural ingredients are beneficial for people since they have an organic molecular structure. Just like scents, the gaseous molecules in plant-based fragrances when inhaled are taken up in the bloodstream and delivered to the brain, where they can cause the release of endorphins and pheromones — hormones that can cause the rest of the body to be relaxed or stimulated, or to feel cool or hot.

“Scent creates a memory and changes your mood. Flower essences create endorphins — that’s why we feel good. Chemical compounds and artificial scents can still affect memory, but they don’t have a resonance with the body, because there’s no cellular ‘intelligence’ that communicates and gives you a sense of wellbeing,” Muryn said.

Kholik Mawardi of the Bali Natural Spa Products, a home-industry beauty-product manufacturer, said that beauty products need to have a composition similar to that of skin to be perfectly absorbed.

People’s skin, he said, is composed of fat cells, therefore the product’s material composition should be the same.

“The basic ingredient in body lotion is actually oil, processed in such a way, so it becomes thick and has pleasant smell. It’s almost as same as applying oil on our skin,” Kholik said.

Shea butter is the best material, he said, since its composition is closer to human fat, but he claimed that coconut oil — often called VCO — is also good enough to moisturize the skin.

In this case, he advised people to avoid products that contain paraffin, a derivative of petroleum. “Paraffin cannot be absorbed by our body. Not only it feels sticky, it can also clog your pores,” he continued.

VCO is also used as the main ingredient in Bali Alus’s products.

According to Yuni from Bali Alus, one of Bali’s most renowned natural beauty products, the use of natural beauty products is much safer because they don’t contain preservatives.

“Our products are comprised of 90 percent natural ingredients. We really avoid using dangerous ingredients and whiteners. There are some cosmetics that use synthetic ingredients which act as cleansers, but there is no nutrition given,” she claimed.

In the market, some products are still found using dangerous chemicals and synthetic ingredients that are suspected to be carcinogens. Usually, those synthetic chemicals are used as preservatives to make products with a longer shelf life.

Such chemical compounds are also added to deliver tempting textures, such as a silky feeling or a desirable scent.

The synthetic chemicals SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate) and SLES (sodium laureth sulphate), for example, can produce foam to produce a “clean” feeling when used in lieu of a shower.

But according to Joy Akins, a scientific affairs manager of the Natural Product Association (NPA), products containing SLS can also cause skin and eye irritation and SLES can undergo a synthetic carcinogenic process that is dangerous to our health.

Akins listed substances suspected of containing carcinogens on the NPA website. Among them are parabens. Usually used as preservatives, parabens are dangerous because they mimic estrogen in the body, possibly leading to a rise in genital abnormalities in boys, early puberty in girls and development of breast cancer.

Others are chemicals to watch out for are phthalates, or formaldehyde donors, which include SLS, SLES, quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin and diazolidinyl urea. All of the compunds above are thought to cause different types of cancer and allergies.

Since the study of those toxic substances is still in its infancy, Maria believes that an awareness of natural products has just started to emerge here.

At the moment, European countries have defined standards for natural products – which Maria has followed. Unfortunately, Indonesia is far behind.

Research is being done to substitute synthetic chemicals with natural components so that high quality final products can be delivered.

“For example, any derivative of paraben — methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben — can be substituted with phenoxyethanol, a plant-based derivative chemical from alcohol which is thought to be milder than parabens,” she said.

“Beside parabens, other substitutions include cocamidopropyl betaine for SLS. Cocamidopropyl betaine is derived from coconut oil. You must inform yourself about carcinogenic ingredients in beauty products,” she added.

Adding to the list of toxic ingredients, Corry Panjaitan, chief of the National Food and Drug Agency (Badan POM) in Denpasar, pointed out that mercury and hydroquinone have been banned in the country and Bali is already free of those dangerous toxics.

In finding safe beauty products, she urged consumers to read the labels.

“The label is beneficial since it connects both manufacturer and customer. Read the ingredients, usage information, storage information and warning. Also check the expiration date,” she said.

Muryn suggested looking for the ingredients that you can read or pronounce.

“If it’s too long and complicated, it’s something you should think at least twice about buying. Chances are most of the time it won’t be healthy for your skin.”