The modern concept of wellness is viewed as a balance between respect for the body/skin’s equilibrium and environmental responsibility. Thus, the success of natural-origin ingredients relies upon two key aspects that are linked in a cause-effect relationship. First is the consumer demand for natural and organic products that are safe, do not cause damage to the environment and provide the benefits of natural ingredients. Second is the development of formulas that are as compatible as possible with the physiology of skin and its annexes, without causing any adverse effects or exhibiting allergic potential.1 Although consumers are positively influenced by the growing environmentally friendly lifestyle, they will not accept substandard performances from new products compared to those with which they are familiar. Therefore, formulators are challenged to improve the technologies and strategies of their formulations using only what nature has to offer.
In the search for ingredients such as vegetable oils, waxes, actives, functional ingredients and conditioning agents that can be marketed as environmentally friendly, some categories such as emulsifiers, surfactants and fragrances are forgotten due to the intrinsic difficulty of combining the required high-tech efficacy/functionality with advanced environmental protection.
