2017 is well underway and this year has welcomed some great new trends in natural health and wellness. The natural health movement is moving beyond food and clean eating into the realm of skincare at a rapid pace. After all, it is believed that 60% of what you put onto your skin is directly absorbed into your bloodstream and natural skincare gives us the option to be kind to the environment and to our own bodies.
It’s what is known as the New Natural Movement*.
WHAT’S DRIVING THE NEW NATURAL MOVEMENT?
Consumer anxiety and conscious consumerism are key drivers behind the New Natural movement*. Gone are the days when lots of synthetic ingredients with long, foreboding names were part of every skincare product. Nowadays, people are concerned by the detail and make sure to examine every product to check it is free from harmful toxins. The trend looks set to continue. Research shows that millennials are already more likely than previous generations to be motivated by health and environmental concerns to purchase natural products*.
The rise of vlogging, blogging, social media and endorsements has sparked a more focused search and interest in natural beauty products. Trends such as mummy bloggers mean that safety is placed high on the agenda, and natural products represent a source of comfort and trust for us consumers who have become disillusioned with an increasingly consumerist and toxic society. We are reverting back to a simpler time and a more natural existence. Natural products and a natural lifestyle soothe consumer anxiety and allows us to form trustworthy relationships with brands that we choose.
The increasingly prevalent phenomenon of apps, social media and the internet as a whole has allowed natural brands to overcome their stereotypical ‘kooky’ image and replace it with an aspirational, trendy aesthetic with the products to match. Smaller and more niche natural brands have far more scope to communicate with their audience through mainstream, familiar and trustworthy channels. As a brand, we can forge a more direct link to our customers, where we can answer questions and communicate every aspect of our brand and our products for ultimate transparency and traceability.
NATURAL vs SYNTHETIC
The New Natural movement has seen natural skincare products overcome one of their greatest hurdles – efficacy. Thanks to new advanced technology to enhance the benefits of the natural ingredients, natural skincare products really work. Consumers now recognise that natural products feel and smell just as good – if not better – than their synthetic counterparts and are proving to be strong competitors in the beauty market. The global demand for organic personal-care products, one-third of which are skincare products, is expected to reach $13.2 billion by 2018*.
The government’s pledge to remove plastic microbeads from all skincare products by the end of this year just goes to show that natural and eco-friendly values are being welcomed into the mainstream. We are simply becoming far more aware of exactly what goes into our products. Just as we are concerned with what goes into our bodies, we are concerned about our skin too.
We are seeking products that align more closely with our natural bodies, and the New Natural movement has been a fast-paced one! We’ve had the super food revolution, probiotics, zero waste and veganism as the new sexy. We’ve seen the cold-pressed, spiralising and plant-based eating phenomenon with bloggers such as Deliciously Ella becoming cult figures. We’ve got the more obscure, such as grow your own clothes to avoid synthetic materials and natural feminine care. While these may seem abstract today, the cold-pressed movement was largely unknown not so long ago. Today, cold-pressed ingredients can even be found in beauty products, including our products that largely feature cold-pressed plant oils.
THE IMPORTANCE OF TRANSPARENCY AND TRACEABILITY
Informed natural consumption has also proved a main driver behind the movement. Even big brands are leaning towards natural, clean messaging and away from artificial associations. Huge names including Taco Bell, Subway and Pizza Hut are just a couple of examples of those who have pledged to remove all artificial colours and flavours from their food by the end of 2017.
As consumers, we are seeking to move away from synthetic ingredients and towards ingredients in their purest and most potent form. There is fluidity between healthy food and healthy cosmetics along the lines of transparency. We want to be able to trace every stage of our beauty product’s creation, from the plants that grow in the soil and how they are extracted to the transportation and even the eco principles of the product wrapping.
Here at Oilixia, we chose to work with suppliers that harvest their ingredients in an eco-friendly way and promote sustainability in within their community. Our Australian Kakadu Plum is wild-harvested in Australia’s Kimberly region by indigenous communities that know how to care for their land, based on centuries of knowledge handed down from generation to generation. The production of our Amazonian Cacay Oil provides an income to over 200 local Colombian families and it helps to support reforestation programs in the Amazon rainforest.
Our packaging is 100% recyclable and we only include an outer box for products that need extra protection, for example our facial oils that are packaged in glass bottles. Even then, the outer boxes for our facial oils are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified.
Live natural, be sustainable and reduce waste is a philosophy that we are happy to continue through 2017 and beyond. We hope that you enjoy the Oilixia journey and we are so pleased that you’re joining us for the adventure!
*source: the new natural concept and marked statistics were taken from the Innovation Group JWT intelligence report, New Natural.
