Are Iron Oxides Natural?

This morning I did a lengthy beauty blog post about my use of minute amounts of Iron Oxides for pigmentation in my natural Gluten Free Beauty cosmetics. Every other aspect of the line is 100% natural, but for the few color products, Iron Oxides were the purest, best option for creating skin-enhancing color products.

There has been some interest in this subject over the past few months, so I thought I’d take a moment to clarify:

• What are Iron Oxides? Rich, intense, pure pigments used to color natural and mineral makeups. Even most Micas are colored with Iron Oxide pigments. And in nearly every natural cosmetic line, you will find Iron Oxides. As for lines listed here on Naturally Dah’ling, you will find them in Gluten Free Beauty, Jane Iredale, Afterglow, Dr. Hauschka, Mineral Fusion and Lavera products. All of these lines are renowned for their commitment to creating pure, natural products.
• Why are they not natural? The FDA permits the use of only Cosmetic Grade/Lab-Produced Iron Oxides for use in cosmetics, as naturally occurring Iron Oxides can be contaminated with unhealthy ingredients. So in this case, natural is not the safer option.
• What are alternatives? I do not use products containing FD&C colors/dyes, and will never use them in my own product formulation, nor do any of the most respected natural beauty lines. FD&C colors are synthetically derived and can contain coal tar, they can also cause irritation (I for one experience allergic reactions to them). Food and botanical color sources could become a viable alternative in the future, but food based pigments are not currently FDA approved for use as cosmetic colorants, and could require the use of harsher preservatives. There are a couple of botanical color sources currently allowed, such as annato which produces a yellow/orange hue. But most of these colors are not favorable to creating products that match the skin tone. Most food and botanical cosmetics that I have tried did not perform like professional cosmetics, the textures, finish and adhesion were off, in my opinion.

So while your natural cosmetic products might only be 99.9% natural, as they may contain minute quantities of rich Iron Oxide pigments, they are still the best of what’s around!

Tags: Gluten Free Makeup, Natural Makeup