This ad for Jergens Naturals is part of a disturbing new trend. People want natural products. Jergens jumped on the natural products bandwagon with a line called Jergens Naturals.
People understand natural to mean all-natural. But Jergens Naturals aren’t all-natural, they’re part-natural, containing “over 90% natural ingredients.” Part-natural means part-unnatural. A product that is part-unnatural, by definition can’t be called natural.
The product featured in the ad, called Hydrate, claims to be 92% natural. That means it’s 8% unnatural.
Let’s get real here. If I took a bottle and filled it with 10% benzene and 90% milk, can I sell it as Marc’s Natural Milk and claim that it’s 90% natural milk? Would you give it to your kids?
I’m not a chemist or a scientist. I’m not saying that using this or any other Jergens product constitutes a health risk. I am saying that if there are 8% unnatural ingredients, then don’t call your product Naturals.
Here’s a complete list of the ingredients of the Hydrate product, taken from the Jergens website:
INGREDIENTS: WATER, GLYCERIN, GLYCERYL STEARATE, MYRISTYL MYRISTATE, THEOBROMA CACAO (COCOA) SEED BUTTER, GLYCINE SOJA (SOYBEAN) OIL, HYDROGENATED PALM KERNEL GLYCERIDES, CETEARYL ALCOHOL, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS (JOJOBA) SEED OIL, AGAVE TEQUILANA LEAF EXTRACT, OPUNTIA VULGARIS EXTRACT, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS (SUNFLOWER) SEED OIL, CARTHAMUS TINCTORIUS (SAFFLOWER) SEED OIL, LIMNANTHES ALBA (MEADOWFOAM) SEED OIL, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER), OLEA EUROPAEA (OLIVE) OIL UNSAPONIFIABLES, LECITHIN, JOJOBA ESTERS, OLEA EUROPAEA (OLIVE) FRUIT OIL, AVENA SATIVA (OAT) MEAL EXTRACT, CALENDULA OFFICINALIS FLOWER EXTRACT, PERSEA GRATISSIMA (AVOCADO) OIL, *TOCOPHEROL, CETEARETH-20, POLYGLYCERIN-10, PEG-100 STEARATE, ACRYLATES/C10-30 ALKYL ACRYLATE CROSSPOLYMER, HYDROGENATED PALM GLYCERIDES, HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, FRAGRANCE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, DMDM HYDANTOIN, PHENOXYETHANOL, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, CARAMEL.
*VITAMIN E
Most of the ingredients appear to be natural, but if you look closely, especially at the end, you’ll find the ingredients that aren’t natural, such as DMDM Hydantoin. According to John L. Meisenheimer, M.D., a board certified dermatologist and skin care specialist based in Orlando, Florida, DMDM Hydantoin releases formaldehyde and may result in an allergic eczema. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that formaldehyde has ”been shown to cause cancer in animals and may cause cancer in humans.”
I researched this blog post while writing it. I started out with the intention of discussing why anything that isn’t all-natural isn’t natural and I ended up with formaldehyde.
We’re learning together.
