Our Label Dictionary

Labels matter. And when they’re on personal care products like the ones we make, they need to include a lot of important information. But we know that the words and phrases we use every day aren’t always easily understandable to everybody else. Time for some decoding...

 

99.5% NATURAL ORIGIN 

This means that 99.5% of the ingredients in the product are derived from Nature.

Wondering what the remaining 0.5%, non-natural origin bit is? That’s our preservative, sodium benzoate. You can read more about it (and why it’s considered safe and Nature-identical) under the ‘Sodium Benzoate’ heading below.

 

ACTIVE NATURALS

On our liquid products, beneath the aroma name, you’ll see a list of three organic ingredients. These are our expertly formulated base blends of active naturals (active ingredients from Nature that have known benefits to skin or hair).

In shampoo, conditioner and hair masks, the base blend is made of organic rosemary, nettle and chamomile. In hand wash and body wash, it’s organic oat, limeflower and elderberry. Read more about why we chose those ingredients here.

 

100% RECYCLED & RECYCLABLE BOTTLE

Our 400ml bottles have been made of 100% recycled plastic since 1999 – but we’re going all out to get out of plastic, and our 500ml bottles are made from 100% recycled and infinitely recyclable aluminium. If you’ve got an aluminium bottle, spin it round and you’ll see the ‘METAL – recycles forever’ logo on the back.

When either of these bottles are empty, either pop them in your household recycling bin or better still, refill. You can either buy our refills and top up at home, or do it in a refill store. Scan the QR code on the back of your bottle to find your nearest one. In case you’re wondering, the pumps and caps on these bottles are both recyclable, too.

 

CERTIFIED B CORPORATION

This logo shows we’re a B Corp. Certified B Corporations (B Corps) are companies verified by B Lab to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. It’s about balancing profit with purpose. There are over 9500 (and growing!) B Corps worldwide, and we’re very proud to be one of them. Read more here.

 

THE LEAPING BUNNY

This icon is proof we’re certified by Cruelty-Free International. Animals are our friends, and we never test our products or ingredients on them.

 

VEGAN

The sunflower logo shows we’re certified vegan by The Vegan Society. When we say vegan, we mean we’ve used no animal derived ingredients in our formulations.

 

100% NATURAL ORIGIN AROMA

All our products are made with 100% natural origin aromas – no synthetic perfumes at all.

 

VEGAN & CRUELTY-FREE

As explained above, everything we make is certified completely vegan and cruelty-free.

 

99% BIODEGRADABLE INGREDIENTS

To keep our formulations gentle on the planet as well as the skin, they’re made with a minimum of 99% biodegradable ingredients. These ingredients break down into the environment without harming Nature.

 

UK MADE

All our products are currently manufactured in our Greater Manchester factory.

 

PROUDLY INDEPENDENT

We’re an independent, family business and have been since Rivka started the company in 1974.

 

CARBON BALANCED

This is another way of saying ‘carbon neutral’. We offset our unavoidable carbon emissions through the World Land Trust’s (WLT) Carbon Balanced programme. WLT work to protect the world’s most threatened carbon and biodiversity-rich habitats and support the communities that live in them. Find out more about our partnership with WLT here.

 

DERMATOLOGICALLY TESTED 

This means the product has undergone independent skin patch testing on human volunteers, under the supervision of a dermatologist, to check whether it is likely to cause irritation. All our dermatologically-tested products have been confirmed as non-irritating. Our Aloe Vera Shampoo, Conditioner and Body Wash and our Tea Tree Hand Wash have been tested on sensitive skin and confirmed as non-irritating.

 

NO PARABENS

All our products are paraben-free. Parabens are a type of preservative widely used in personal care products to prolong their shelf life, however they are a subject of concern for some people.

In certain in vitro tests (tests performed outside of the body), parabens can mimic the hormone oestrogen. This has led to claims that these ingredients may affect the endocrine system (the body’s way of regulating its metabolism using hormones) – and even that their use can be linked to breast cancer.

There is no conclusive scientific evidence proving a causal link between parabens and breast cancer. And while some parabens are banned in cosmetics, others have been scientifically proven to be safe when used at the levels set by regulatory authorities. Despite this, many people still prefer to use products that don’t contain any parabens – and we don’t include them in any of our formulas.

Instead of parabens, we use sodium benzoate. Scroll down to the ‘Sodium Benzoate’ heading below to read more about it.

 

NO SLS / SLES

SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) and SLES (sodium laureth sulfate) are both surfactants (ingredients that make products foam and trap dirt so it can be rinsed away). Lots of people prefer to avoid SLS and SLES because they have been known to cause irritation, especially in those with sensitive skin. We use ALS (ammonium lauryl sulfate) as an alternative surfactant. More on that below.

 

NO SILICONES

Silicones are synthetic, non-biodegradable ingredients that are often added to products to make them smooth and spreadable. Some silicones can be difficult to rinse away and can often lead to a ‘build-up’ on hair. We don’t use them in any of our formulas.

 

INGREDIENTS (THE INCI LIST)

The list of ingredients on cosmetics products is known in the industry as the INCI List. INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. It’s the global standard for showing exactly what’s inside a product formula.

 

WHAT ORDER ARE INGREDIENTS LISTED IN?

Ingredients on an INCI list appear in descending order of weight, so the first item on the list (usually aqua (water) in our liquid products) is the one that makes up the highest percentage of the formula, and the ingredients further down on the list make up the lowest.

 

LATIN NAMES

To meet USA cosmetic regulations, some of our ingredients have to be listed as their Latin names.

If you’d like to ask us the meaning of a Latin name, please drop us a line: support@faithinnature.co.uk.

 

PARFUM (FRAGRANCE)

We only use 100% natural origin aromas in our products, but you’ll sometimes see the term ‘Parfum (Fragrance)’ on some of our ingredients lists. People often ask us if this means the aromas are synthetic – and the answer is no, absolutely not. 

All the aromas we use in our products are 100% natural origin, and they fall into two categories: those we blend in-house, and those we purchase, pre-blended, from our suppliers. 

For legal compliance, we are required to list each individual ingredient that we purchase and add to a product on its INCI list.

In the case of aromas we blend in-house, this means listing each of the individual components that we purchase from our suppliers to make up the aroma. That’s why you’ll see a full breakdown of essential oils and natural origin fragrance extracts on some of our labels.

When it comes to aromas that are pre-blended by our suppliers, things are a bit different. These often-complex blends are classed as an individual ingredient, because they’re already blended when we buy them. In this case, we use the catch-all, legally compliant term ‘Parfum (Fragrance)’ to describe the aroma. It does not mean that the fragrance contains any synthetic components – we only work with 100% natural origin aromas.

For legal and internal operational reasons, the ingredients listing on our website must exactly match that of the label, which is why you’ll see ‘Parfum (Fragrance)’ on certain product listings on our website.

We’re not trying to hide anything – there are no synthetic fragrances in any of our formulas and everything is made with essential oils and 100% natural origin aromas.

 

SODIUM BENZOATE

Sodium benzoate is our preservative, which we use instead of parabens (scroll up to read about them!). It helps keep our products fresh and safe from microbial contamination, giving them a good shelf life.

We use sodium benzoate because it’s considered safe and ecologically sound and is permitted for use in organic certified products. Organic certifying bodies only allow the use of a very limited number of preservatives that are not harmful to health and have minimal environmental impact – and sodium benzoate is one of them.

Sodium benzoate is the salt of benzoic acid, which occurs naturally in lots of foods we eat, including strawberries, cranberries, cinnamon and cloves. When added to our liquid products, it converts back into benzoic acid, so it can be considered Nature-identical. As it is a non-natural origin ingredient, sodium benzoate is the 0.5% non-natural origin element of our 99.5% natural origin products.

AMMONIUM LAURYL SULFATE (ALS)

This is the surfactant (foaming ingredient) that we use instead of SLS or SLES. It’s a biodegradable ingredient that’s considered by scientists to be a safe and effective cleansing agent, and it is removed from skin or hair when you rinse it away.

 

COCOAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE

Cocoamidopropyl betaine is a different type of surfactant to ALS. It helps to make a thicker, milder formula with a creamy lather – and can also be used to provide a mild conditioning effect. Like ALS, it’s considered to be a safe and effective cleansing agent.

 

ORGANIC CERTIFIED

We mark all certified organic ingredients with double asterisks. While many of our ingredients are organic, our products are not certified organic. Since 1974, our aim has been to make natural products affordable for everyone. And while organic produce continues to become more accessible, it can still be prohibitively expensive for our needs. When we can go organic, we do. But when we can’t, we source high quality alternatives, favouring those with a reduced impact on the environment (e.g. zero waste ingredients, where the by-products left over after extraction are repurposed elsewhere).

 

PLANT DERIVED

Most of our ingredients come from plants. We mark these with an asterisk on our ingredients list.

 

OTHER INGREDIENTS

Every product’s INCI list is different, and we don’t have space to define every ingredient here. We know some of the long and scientific-sounding names of ingredients can seem confusing and even scary. Take tocopherol (which is in lots of our formulas): it might sound like an unnatural chemical, but it’s a plant-derived form of Vitamin E, which is an antioxidant with skin conditioning properties. If you’d like to find out more about what a particular ingredient is and why we use it, please email support@faithinnature.co.uk and our Customer Service team will be very happy to explain.

 

THE OPEN JAR SYMBOL (PERIOD AFTER OPENING)

This little icon indicates how long in months your product remains safe and stable after you’ve first opened it. In the industry, it's known as the 'Period After Opening (PAO)' symbol. The example in the image below indicates that the product will remain safe and stable for 12 months after being opened.

 

QR CODE

Scan this QR code to find your nearest refill station, where you can top up your favourite products when they’re empty to reduce waste.