1. Introduction: The Science Behind Natural Beauty and Skincare

Natural beauty and skincare is a term that has gained significant popularity in recent years, but its journey goes back a long way. In many ancient cultures, the use of natural ingredients and remedies for beauty and skincare was a common practice. On the other hand, the importance of natural beauty in the past was associated with cultural ideologies.

For instance, in the Victorian era in the British Empire, naturalness, modesty, and morality were attached to all sorts of cultural practices, including ideals of beauty 1. During this time, women, irrespective of their social class, used the same home remedies for beauty and skincare.

Similarly, in traditional Chinese culture, a flour-like, white powder was frequently used by wealthy women to enhance their facial beauty. However, over the years, the ideals of beauty changed, and women in many cultures began to embrace whitening lotions, facial masks, and other chemically-formulated cosmetic products.

Beauty standards, like everything else in society, are subject to change over time. This change in definition occurs in cyclic forms and is usually influenced by external and instant needs in society and industries. Today there is a change in the perception of beauty that comes from within, internally healthy skin, embracing the flaws, being confident, and ultimately being comfortable in one’s skin 2.

As a part of this holistic approach, mainstream skin science companies, beauty brands, and luxury skincare brands in the industry have embraced the natural, organic, and sustainable trend in their products, production methods, and marketing strategies. This is causing a rising concern about assessing the authenticity or actual naturalness and sustainability of many newly launched products in the industry.

In this context, discussing the opportunities and challenges with respect to naturality in beauty and skincare does not merely hold academic interest, but could arguably be one of the greatest current social, economic, and cultural issues of our time.

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