Unfortunately, organic personal care is not legally regulated in the same way as organic food and drink. Skincare and toiletries can be called organic and natural, even if they contain a tiny percentage of organically grown ingredients. The only way to be sure that the product you are using is genuinely organic is to use products that are certified by a recognised and independent organic body, and even then, standards differ across countries.

All Essential Care products are certified to Soil Association organic standards, which are among the strictest in the world for organic health and beauty products. Indeed, only a handful of companies have achieved these standards for skincare products and we were the first company to make a Shampoo certified for its organic ingredients.

The Soil Association's organic standards correspond to our philosophy that health and beauty products should be ethical, chemical-free and as organic as possible. In particular, the SA ensures that any products carrying its logo not only use organically grown ingredients where available, but also do not contain the substances that we are strongly against and never use (see below).

To obtain organic certification for a product, a minimum of 95% of all ingredients must be certified organic. Where insufficient organically grown ingredients exist, the Soil Association will approve products that contain at least 70% organic ingredients (such as our Shampoo) but they cannot be labelled "organic". The remaining ingredients, however, are also bound by strict guidelines. Substances suspected of being toxic to humans or the environment are not allowed, neither are genetically modified ingredients.

We must provide the Soil Association with certificates of organic status for every single supplier we use during the year. To be accepted by the Soil Association, suppliers' certificates must either be issued by the Soil Association or by a body that the Soil Association has investigated and recognises as equally rigorous in its testing and certification. - When we began the certification process, we were surprised to learn that some ingredients suppliers could not back up their organic claims with the relevant paperwork. 

We also have to provide the Soil Association with declarations from every supplier of a non-organic ingredient (where organic is not available) to prove that it is GM-free. Our formulae, labelling and production methods are examined regularly for quality and integrity.

So you can see that it can be a quantum leap in purity and organic content between a product that claims to have natural or "certified organic ingredients", and one that bears a (e.g. Soil Association) logo indicating the whole product has been independently certified as having a certain organic content and being free from suspect substances.

A full list of Essential Care ingredients, is on our ingredients page.