The Good. Clean. Fun.™ BLOG

Over the past few years it seems like everyone is talking about clean beauty. The catch? No one has a particularly clear definition for what that means. The reason is simple—there is no widespread, universal definition of what clean beauty means.

What Clean Beauty Means At Better Natured^®

What does “clean” mean to Better Natured®? It means that our products have been rigorously tested for efficacy, are compliant with global regulatory standards, and are free from our top 12 ingredient taboos: silicones, parabens, SLS/SLES (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Laureth Sulfate) sulfates, petrolatum, mineral oil, phthalates, gluten, animal by-products, chemical sunscreens, microbeads, BPA and formaldehyde-releasing agents.

As clean beauty becomes increasingly popular, both retailers and brands alike have sought to clarify what they mean when they use the term. As shoppers, we can’t go into stores assuming that all of the products they carry have ingredients that have been vetted—the burden is on us to read ingredient labels and make informed decisions about what we want going on our hair or our skin. 

That said, labels can still be confusing, which is why we at Better Natured® tried to make ours as clear as possible. On the front of our bottles, the ingredients are broken down numerically.  For example, in our Color Care Conditioner, you’ll see that we use 95% naturally-derived* ingredients and 5% purely science** ingredients.

Clean Ingredients = Clean Beauty

At Better Natured™, we love naturally-derived ingredients almost as much as we love stunning hairstyles, which is why we use a mix of both in each formula, so you never have to compromise on clean formulas and effective hair products. 

Better Natured™ follows the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Global Standard 16128 which defines ‘naturally-derived’ as “plant and mineral derived materials and water, all of which undergo limited processing, and make up at least 50% of an ingredient’s molecular weight.” 

We chose to follow ISO 16128 standard for a number of reasons. “Firstly, it has international outreach and seeks to harmonize global standards for natural ingredients and products,” explains Marina Azizova, Senior R&D Director at Better Natured™. “ISO 16128 standard is transparent, easy to understand, and encourages a wider choice of naturally-derived ingredients, not just a long list of nos.”

At Better Natured™, we believe that everyone can and should make their own choices—and that those choices should be informed ones. That’s why we’ve made transparency a top priority in everything we do.

*95% naturally-derived means that plant and mineral derived materials and water, all of which under-go limited processing, make up at least 95% of the Better Natured formula.

**Synthetic ingredients necessary to ensure the efficacy and stability of the formula.