So What Do We Mean by “Naturally Derived Ingredients” or Ingredients of “Natural Origin”?

We consider an ingredient to be naturally derived (or natural origin) if it is unchanged from its natural state or has natural sources and has undergone processing, yet still retains greater than 50% of its molecular structure from natural plant or mineral sources.

Naturally derived (or natural origin) ingredients start with natural materials, but are then changed from their natural state; this means that naturally derived (or natural origin) ingredients can include synthetic ingredients that are made from materials found in nature.

An example is when we take a natural material, like jojoba oil, and process it to derive hydrogenated oil to ensure the stability of the ingredient and modify its texture.

Because 50% of the molecular structure of the hydrogenated jojoba oil comes from plant or mineral sources, hydrogenated jojoba oil, although chemically processed, is a naturally-derived (or natural origin) ingredient.

We then total up the percentage by weight of each ingredient to figure out the percentage that is naturally-derived (or natural origin), including water. For example, if 60% of a formula is water, and 36% of the formula are naturally-derived ingredients, we label it as 96% naturally-derived (or natural origin).

The remaining ingredients constitute the other 4% of the formula, and are there to ensure its sensoriality, efficacy, and/or preservation.