Is Organic Shampoo Chemistry or Botany?
Despite their leafy labels, many personal care products bearing the word organic contain ingredients that do not exist in nature. The federal guidelines that regulate organic food labeling do not apply to hair and skincare products. The other night I served an organic pasta sauce and washed my face with an organic cleanser. The sauce was made from tomatoes and other farm ingredients, all certified organic under strict federal guidelines. The facial cleanser featured a handful of synthetic and chemical ingredients, including some that ecological activists have questioned as possibly harmful to users or the environment. Both products came from the same store and promised the same organic quality. But in each case the word organic described a different set of standards. When it comes to soaps and shampoos, “almost every product out there labeled organic isn’t,” said Ronnie Cummins, executive director of the Organic Consumers Association. At meetings of organic manufacturers and federal re
