One of the most common questions I get about our anti-aging bath & body products is: “Is it all-natural?”. I’ve been in the industry for over a decade, and I’m really proud that we’ve gotten far enough that this is a common question. When I first started esthetician school, natural seeming products were pretty toxic, and the truly natural products were boring. I had already been making my own potions and lotions, so knew enough about toxicity to be a pain in the rear end in school.

I’m proud of  where we now are as beauty product consumers and I also know there’s some distance to go in education. Here’s a little bit from my point of view...

Natural is a really fuzzy word as far as beauty products are concerned. Our products could easily be considered natural, and I could certainly claim it left and right, but it’s not the whole story. A whole lot of products using the word “natural” are eons less natural than BijaBody, but I still feel a little funky going that route.

To truly have all natural body products, without some of the negative effects such as rancidness, seperation or bacterial growth, the best thing to do is make them youself. This way, you only make enough for a week or so. There's lots of DIY recipes in this blog, and many others.

It happens that I want more. I want slowing and reversing. I want pigment-prevention, wrinkle softening, damage prevention. I want a gorgeous (non-toxic) fragrance, I want to be able to have it for a few months and still have it be effective, and I want it all to feel really nice. (once a pain in the rear end, always a pain...)

Nowadays, we have so much research available. We have a better understanding of what causes skin to lose elasticity, pigment, thin and wrinkle. We know what is trying to destroy it daily, and what is aging it faster than we’d like. And we have really brilliant, responsible green chemists on our side! We can't stop aging, but we can slow the effects down. I certainly want non-toxic. I want ingredients which cause no harm to our environment or people. And, I want ingredients which have been proven, over and over, to slow down the relationship between my skin’s glow/resiliency and time!

The simple answer to the question is about whether or not we're natural: Kind of. Almost. BijaBody is natural-ish. Our ingredients are from natural sources. Our formulation is non-toxic. But we’re also really attached to highly effective ingredient technology.

Here’s an example: Our Body Treatment is a really advanced anti-aging product. It looks like a lotion, smells really lovely, and the bottle doesn’t have a “medi-spa” feel to it. But looks can be deceiving! It is a powerhouse. I highly recommend slathering your arms, neck, chest, tops of knees and feet (basically whole body) with this treatment nightly.

But, if you are one of those ladies who looks at an ingredient list and thinks if you can’t pronounce something it must be “bad”, you’d be way missing out.

First and foremost, this product is filled with peptides! Two different kinds. I adore peptides. They are one of the most powerful tools against loss of collagen, which leads the the creapy skin around our knees, neck, wrists, etc. They are entirely non-toxic & derived from various yeasts. Companies refer to them as “natural”, and technically, they are. Technically. But, if something has to go through an extensive laboratory extraction, is it still really natural? Same goes for Resveratrol. It’s the really potent antioxidant from red wine and a powerful tool against premature aging. The extraction process could not happen without extensive lab work. Considered natural. 

There’s the really scary sounding ingredient: tetrahydrodiferuloylmethane. Crazy right. Common name: Turmeric extract. Turmeric is truly amazing. It has the potential to lighten existing pigment, prevent new pigemnt cells from forming, support wound healing and overall improve the health of skin. I was introduced to it in Bali, where an amazing esthetician showed me different ways to incorporate it into facials and body treatments. But it left the client stained for a couple of days, and smelling like turmeric.

BijaBody’s main chemist is from India, and when I first told her I wanted high turmeric concentration, without using harsh, synthetic fragrance or any added color, she thought I was kidding. She wasn’t sure it could be done. Our research and development period took a full year longer than it was supposed to take (nearly 2 years total!), in large part because I wouldn’t let go of two key ingredients: Turmeric and Alpha Lipoic Acid. When our gorgeous chemist finally called me, with her awesome accent, and said “Melissa, I got it! I got the pure extract…” and she said the name, I literally laughed. I was so excited, and knew the name would cause me a world of trouble. Luckily, I can now pronounce it.

Alpha Lipoic Acid has a similar story. There’s a few lines out there who use it, claim the heck out of it, and have really soft smelling products. The thing is, ALA stinks! It smells like rotten eggs mixed with something awful. Which means it's impossible to use in effective concentrations and not cover up the smell. If they're claiming it, and there's no fragrance, it's not at effective concentrations. But, the ingredient itself is un-paralleled for preventing degradation of skin cells due to pollution and sun. We use a high concentration in our Daily Body Serum. When you first put the Serum on, it seems like we added too much fragrance. Totally on purpose. Within a couple of minutes, ALA’s stink goes away, and the essential oils in the fragrance mellow out into something really balanced and light. But it was either remove ALA or increase fragrance concentration, knowing it would take a couple minutes for it to seem “right”. I knew some people wouldn’t like it as much at first “whiff”, but the the folks who gave it a second would totally get it. I can’t imagine being outside without the Serum’s protection, and adore the softness of the fragrance after a couple of minutes. I totally know it’s a little too strong to start with. Give it a second.

One of our few truly synthetic ingredients is Butylene Glycol, whihc we use in the Anti-Aging Body Treatment to prevent clumping of the Turmeric Extract and retain the connection between Honey and Oil. According to the Environmental Working Group, Butylene Glycol gets a safety score of 0-1, the safest score you can attain. It bio-degrades and is safe for internal and external use. It's also a powerful humectant. The natural alternative is Palm Oil. Palm oil makes me angry. Palm oil provides almost no jobs, is environmentally and socially devastating, and is to blame for Orangutan death. I've seen the plantations, where thousands of acres sit growing and no more than a few jobs are created. I won't use it. It's one of my non-negotiables. It's cheaper than Butylene Glycol, and doesn't have the "synthetic" mark that freaks people out. But it's a bad industry to support. Even fair-trade palm is loaded with issues.

Alright, I know this one got a little long. I could go on and on. But I’ll stop here. Know that I miss blogging!

Know also that I adore the responsibility of taking care of your skin, and that I’ll always take that role seriously.

xo, Melissa