Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating %natural & % plant based calculations.

  • %natural & % plant based calculations.

    Posted by JellyFishKarma on November 24, 2024 at 10:17 pm

    Now and days I am being asked how much is my formula, % plant based, %natural, %synthetic etc… Is there any particular format that should be followed in producing these numbers? I understand about checking the composition statements for accuracy is a good thing to do. Is there a basic calculation that will cover everything and be accurate?

    Herbnerd replied 5 days, 1 hour ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • evchem2

    Member
    November 25, 2024 at 10:44 am

    What region of the world are you selling to? In the US there is no FDA definition of natural for cosmetics. Many brands choose to use ISO 16128 as a standard way of making these calculations, and this would include calculating the Natural Origin Index, giving you what percentage of the product is from natural origins. https://www.iso.org/standard/65197.html
    I’d also suggest looking at competitor’s products who make the claims you are interested in and try to find out how they substantiate their claims.

    you can look into third-party certifications from organizations such as COSMOS and NATRUE as well but these may have additional requirements about your facility

  • JellyFishKarma

    Member
    November 28, 2024 at 1:39 pm

    Thank you for the response. This is basically for internal use. So I am looking for “quick and dirty” way to come up with this. We wouldn’t make strict claims based off this number,.

  • Herbnerd

    Member
    November 28, 2024 at 5:18 pm

    If a quick and dirty calculation is what you need - go to the Natrue website and download the standards and the annexes and work through them. As long as you don’t make claims about meeting Natrue, you should be fine; but if you want to use Natrue certification, then an audit/fees etc will be required.

    Natural ingredients are pretty much anything plant based - where you may not consider the solvents, Natrue does consider extraction agents and the excipients/diluents. Check Annex 1

    Annex 2 Natural & nature identical minerals, pigments etc with the exception of some fluoride salts, pretty much anything that occurs in nature is permitted, though if it is not on the Natrue list, you may need to make a submission - I got potassium nitrate listed this way.

    Annex 3 - Derived natural - there are a ton of derived natural compounds here. Just search the list

    Annex 4 - permitted preservatives. This is minimal. There really isn’t much there.

    Download the label requirements and refer to table 1

    Natrue has tighter requirements than COSMOS - where sodium CMC is permitted under COSMOS, it is considered synthetic under Natrue.

    Happy to assist if you need further help.

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