Natural vs. Natural Origin. What’s the difference?

Looking and feeling your best is one thing. But combining the best ingredients that nature and science has for your skincare needs delivers amazing results. Bulldog Skincare is proud to clearly state the percentage of ingredients derived from nature on our product labels.

As you may have noticed, there’s a “natural origin” percentage claim front and center on our products. But what exactly does all that mean? Excellent question.

Let’s start with the ISO. This is the International Organization for Standardization. They are an independent, non-government international organization that creates clear and uniform criteria on a topic. The ISO 16128 provides standardized guidelines and definitions for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients, with the intent to promote a wider choice of ingredients in the formulation.

Now, back to the term Natural Origin. Natural origin ingredients contain >50% material from natural sources. These are natural ingredients that have underwent a physical transformation or natural ingredients that have been chemically and/or biologically processed, which means the ingredients required a chemical reaction between multiple natural elements in order to create the final product.

The ISO 16128 & Natural Origin Percent

According to ISO 16128, the percentage of natural origin content is determined by the weight percentage of natural ingredients and natural portions of derived natural ingredients.

Natural
Ingredients

  • Ingredients obtained only from plants (including fungi and algae), animals micro-organisms or mineral sources.
  • Produced through physical processes, fermentation processes and solvent extraction

Derived
Mineral Ingredients

  • Derived mineral ingredients are chemically processed minerals with the same chemical composition as natural mineral ingredients
  • Obtained through chemical processing of inorganic substances occurring naturally in the earth

Derived
Natural Ingredients

  • A chemically and/or biologically modified ingredient with greater than 50 percent natural origin content (by molecular weight or by renewable carbon content)
  • Derived mineral ingredients derived through chemical processing that is linked to mineral ingredients naturally occurring in nature
  • Example: A plant extract obtained by aqueous extraction, then hydrolysis

Nature x Science. It's not just talk.

Just as the ISO had done for other industries, it has set clear criteria and recommendations for defining natural and organic ingredients for the skin care industry. This makes it easy for us to be completely transparent about the thoughtful choices we make for you and the planet we all share.