Your ‘Natural’ Skincare Isn’t Natural at All

Why Clean Beauty Needs a Serious Reality Check

Navigating the skincare industry can be challenging because companies frequently engage in greenwashing, making it hard to determine what genuinely benefits the skin.

You’ve swapped out your conventional cleanser for one labeled “natural.” You proudly scan the ingredient list and see words like “coconut oil,” “botanical extracts,” and “plant-derived.” Sounds great, right? But here’s the problem: many of these so-called natural products aren’t natural at all—and the truth is hiding in plain sight.

Take a common ingredient like caprylic/capric triglycerides or coco-caprylate/caprate. These are touted as silky, lightweight emollients derived from coconut oil. Sounds harmless enough—until you learn how they’re actually made.

The Petrochemical Process Behind “Natural” Emollients

Despite their coconut-sounding names, these ingredients often undergo extraction and processing using hardcore petroleum-derived solvents, including hexane or butylene glycol ethers. The process strips and isolates specific fatty acids through chemical refinement, bleaching, and deodorization. What’s left is far removed from anything found in nature.

In many cases, the so-called “plant-based” label simply means that the raw material started as a plant. What happens next is a cascade of chemical manipulation, often using organic solvents that are classified as hazardous air pollutants. The final product may be free of the solvent residue (thanks to vacuum distillation), but it’s no longer natural—and definitely not what most people envision when they think of clean skincare.

Why This Matters

Consumers choose natural products to avoid harmful synthetic chemicals, support sustainability, and nourish their skin with ingredients closer to nature. But when companies hide harsh processing methods behind greenwashed language, they’re betraying that trust.

Words like “derived from,” “plant-based,” and “eco-friendly” are unregulated and often misleading. A coconut-derived emollient processed with petrochemicals is still marketed as “natural,” but it's as far from a whole, unrefined coconut oil as margarine is from an avocado.

What to Look For Instead

• Cold-pressed oils: These are extracted without heat or solvents and retain their full nutritional profile.

• Steam-distilled essential oils: Unlike absolutes or extracts made with hexane, these are processed without petrochemicals.

• Whole plant infusions: Oils infused with herbs or flowers offer real botanical benefits without the need for synthetic alteration.

• Transparent brands: Seek companies that disclose their sourcing and processing methods, not just their marketing buzzwords.

Just because a product says natural doesn’t mean it is. The beauty industry banks on the average consumer not reading between the (chemical) lines. At Elizabeth Scientific, we don’t play that game. We believe skincare should be as honest as it is effective. That’s why we use ingredients in their truest, least altered forms—no petroleum, no solvents, no greenwashing.

Because your skin deserves real nature, not a synthetic impersonation of it.