The word "natural" is one of the most abused terms in the beauty industry. Here's how to see through it - and what seed-to-skin actually means in practice.
What do you actually think when you hear the words "natural skincare"? I mean, really - beyond the beautiful, seemingly sustainable green packaging and the lovely leafy plant-like motifs. When I am in a generous mood, I may think of it as nuanced, but the reality is far darker than a hint of layers.
For consumers, choosing a skin cream can be as simple as just choosing. But behind that choice is one of the most layered and least regulated discussions in the entire beauty industry - and the word "natural" sits right at the centre of it.
Honestly, I think I have a strong background in the darker corners of the industry. Before you enter into the pristine, clinically stunningly curated beauty labs, it's the start of the industry's supply chain, and if you guess right, the first round is on me, but it will have to be a chai because I am a dedicated teetotaller.
For ten years, I worked in shipping as a ship's agent for an oil major. So many amazing life lessons, none of them the beautiful, inspiring TED talks of today, more the 'grime and dirt' type. The biggest irony? The shipping industry's motto is "my word is my bond." Sorry, not sorry, but a bigger bunch of liars you couldn't find if you tried.
I'm not going to name names - that's not the point of this story, but it was my breaking point. There was an oil spill off the Durban SBM. We had a whole protocol we had to adhere to, and as I geared myself up, a directive came down: It's light, Brent crude, you can only see a glimmer of it on the oceans at a certain light, so no need to report. That was it, I was out.
So how does this fit into the beauty industry? Well, here is the thing: crude oil comes into South Africa, and 85% of every barrel of crude oil becomes fuel, petrol, diesel, jet fuel. The byproducts, the roughly 15% that's left after the fuel has been extracted, become plastics, synthetic rubber, asphalt, lubricants and petrolatum. Here's something the beauty industry would rather you didn't think about too hard. According to World Bio Market Insights, cosmetics and fossil chemicals are arguably the ones with which most of us have the closest, most regular contact throughout our entire lifetimes. The stuff in your moisturiser is literally the bottom of the barrel. Refinery residue. And this is the product you find in your skincare - petrolatum. Having had a front-row seat to supply chains - how things move, where they actually come from, the gap between what something is called and what it actually is - well, it was always just the cherry on top.
When I left shipping and started looking seriously at skincare, that gap followed me everywhere. "Natural." "Pure." "Clean." "Free from nasties." Labels covered in leaves and amber tones and promises of something wholesome. And then you turn the bottle over, and there's petrolatum sitting at number three on the ingredient list.
After leaving the shipping industry, I went on my own path of self-exploration, definitely moving away from the grit and the grime. I always think this is when I found my inner hippie, albeit more of an A-type than your traditional give peace a chance type. But it was definitely my soapbox era. I went from refusing to read the back of a label - I mean, how much prettier is the front! - to not being able to stop. Anyway, it all set me on the path to building AYA Natural Skin, from the best beginning of all: a kitchen formula, a fermentation jar, and a very patient beekeeper. But before we get there, let's talk about the word that started all of this: natural.
Why "Natural" Means Almost Nothing (Legally)
Here's the uncomfortable truth: in South Africa, and in most parts of the world, the word "natural" on a skincare label means diddly squat. It is entirely unregulated. There is no legal definition. Nobody checks it. No standard must be met before a brand prints it on its packaging.
This means a product can contain one drop of lavender oil, a full load of synthetic fillers and petroleum derivatives, and still legally call itself natural. It happens constantly. Not occasionally, not in the dodgy corners of the market, routinely, in mainstream pharmacies and beauty counters, and on products that cost a lot of money.
The terms that get thrown around - natural, organic, clean, pure, eco-friendly, plant-based - most of them carry no regulatory weight whatsoever. The ones that do mean something (like certified organic through COSMOS or Ecocert) require voluntary third-party certification that brands opt into. Most don't bother, because they don't have to.
SAHPRA in South Africa, like most regulatory bodies globally, places the onus on manufacturers to ensure safety and compliance. There's no pre-market approval required for every product. Which means the ethics of what ends up on your shelf depend almost entirely on the ethics of the people making it. And in a market driven by margins and shelf appeal, that's a precarious place for the consumer.
So when you're standing in an aisle of a "health and beauty retailer" which is actually just a chain pharmacy, trying to make a good choice, the front of the label is essentially marketing. The back - the INCI list - is the truth, with a few caveats. I wrote a full guide on how to read a natural skincare label if you want to go deeper, but don't say I didn't warn you.
The Three Types of "Natural" (And Why It Matters)
When the industry talks about natural ingredients, there are actually three very different things being described - and they're not equal. Understanding the difference is one of the most useful takeaways from this blog post.
Natural origin
means the ingredient comes directly from a plant, mineral, or animal source with minimal processing. Cold-pressed marula oil. Raw beeswax. Fermented papaya extract. This is what most of us picture when we hear "natural": something that came from the earth in a form close to its natural state.
Naturally derived
means the ingredient started from a natural source but has been chemically processed or modified along the way. Citric acid is a good example. It occurs naturally in citrus fruit, but the citric acid in most skincare products is produced by fermenting sugar with a specific mould in an industrial process. Still considered "naturally derived" on a label, but it's a long way from a lemon. This category is where a lot of greenwashing quietly lives, because the transformation from source to finished ingredient can be extensive, and the label doesn't have to tell you how extensive.
Nature-identical
means a synthetic ingredient manufactured in a lab to have the exact same chemical structure as a naturally occurring compound. It's chemically identical to the real thing, but entirely man-made. These show up in products marketed as natural all the time, often in fragrance compounds, preservatives, and vitamins.
None of this makes naturally derived or nature identical automatically bad. Some naturally derived ingredients are wonderful. Some nature-identical ones are genuinely safe and effective. The point is not that synthetic equals evil, it's that without knowing which category you're dealing with, the word "natural" on the front of the label tells you almost nothing about what's actually inside.
The Petroleum Problem (And Why I Feel Strongly About It)
The ingredient I feel most strongly about excluding is petroleum — and its many derivatives. Petrolatum. Mineral oil. Paraffinum liquidum. Liquid paraffin. They appear under different names and at different concentrations, but at their core, as I wrote above, they are a byproduct of crude oil refining.
I came from an industry that moved crude oil around the world. And unfortunately, I know exactly what it is, where it comes from, and what sits alongside it in that supply chain. The idea of it ending up in a moisturiser, marketed as something that nurtures and cares for skin and labelled natural, was genuinely astonishing when the penny first dropped.
Here's how petroleum derivatives work in skincare: they sit on the skin's surface, creating an occlusive seal. They don't absorb. They don't nourish. Even the industry's own research confirms this: a 2019 peer-reviewed study on mineral oils funded by L'Oréal and published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology found that mineral oils are restricted to the stratum corneum and do not penetrate beyond the skin's surface. They create a barrier that holds moisture in by preventing transepidermal water loss, which sounds good in short, but in practice means your skin can't breathe, can't regulate, can't perform the normal functions it's designed to perform. Over time, this creates dependency. The skin stops managing its own moisture balance because it's been relying on an external crutch for so long.
Beeswax, the base of AYA Balm, works in a completely different way. It's breathable. It allows the skin to function normally while still providing protection and sealing in nourishment. It has antimicrobial properties. It's been used on skin for thousands of years across cultures around the world. It passes every test I've ever set.
If I had one starting point for reading ingredient labels, this would be it: petroleum-free is your first filter. If petrolatum or mineral oil appears in the first five ingredients, I'd put it back on the shelf. This is, however, where it gets really challenging at times, because breaking a label down into identifiable parts feels like it takes another degree - but it's worth doing.
How to Read a Skincare Label
Just to try and break it down a little bit. The INCI list - International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients - is the ingredient list printed on the back of every product. By law, ingredients must be listed in descending order of concentration. What appears first is what there's most of. What appears last is present in the smallest amount, often less than 1%.
This matters enormously, because a brand can put a hero ingredient in the name of their product, splash it across the front of the label, and have it appear at position 22 of 24 in the INCI list - present at a fraction of a per cent. Working hard for the marketing of the product, but for your skin, not so much.
A few things to look for when you're reading the back of a label:
Petroleum derivatives to avoid
- Petrolatum
- Mineral oil
- Paraffinum liquidum
- Liquid paraffin
- Paraffin wax (in skincare products)
Synthetic liquid polymers
- Dimethicone
- Cyclopentasiloxane
- Cyclohexasiloxane
- Anything ending in -cone or -xane
- Ingredients beginning with Poly- (polyethylene, polysorbate, etc.
I went deep on these in the invisible plastic hiding in your skincare — worth a read if you want to understand exactly what they're doing on your skin.
Signs your "hero" ingredient is barely there
- It appears near the bottom of a long list
- It's listed after fragrance (which is typically present at less than 1%)
- The concentration isn't disclosed, and the brand deflects when asked
Signs a brand has nothing to hide
- Short ingredient lists with recognisable names
- Willingness to explain every ingredient and why it's there
- Concentration disclosure where relevant
- No proprietary blend hiding what's actually in the formula
The INCI list doesn't lie. The front of the label often does. Learning to read the back can take ten minutes and change everything. While I said it feels like you need a degree, reading this makes it so much easier. Check out how to read a natural skincare label and see for yourself.
What Seed-to-Skin Actually Means
The first time I heard the term seed-to-skin it just felt golden. I am sure that it was largely a perception created by the speaker at the time; she was really lovely, she had golden blond hair, the sun was shining, we were in a permaculture garden with the bees buzzing, it was a deeply profound moment. It was part of the journey that led me to AYA Natural Skin and became the cornerstone philosophy of how we work.
For us, seed-to-skin means we can trace every ingredient from its source to your skin, and we're willing to tell you exactly what that journey looks like.
It means our beeswax comes directly from local honey beekeepers who practise sustainable beekeeping, not from a cosmetic ingredient supplier three supply chain steps removed from the hive. It means our raw fermented papaya is processed entirely in-house, because I needed to know exactly what was happening to it and couldn't find anyone doing it the way I wanted. It means if I can't trace it, it doesn't go in.
Coming from a shipping background, I know how murky a supply chain can get. The distance between "sourced from the Amazon rainforest" on a label and what actually happened in that supply chain can be vast. Supply chain transparency is not a luxury or a marketing angle; it's the actual difference between a claim being true and a claim being branding.
My personal test, the one I've used since I started formulating in 2012, is simple: would I put this on my newborn? This cuts through every grey area instantly. Fragrance? No. Preservatives I can't pronounce? No. Petroleum derivatives? Absolutely not. The question strips away all the rationalising.
This isn't a certification. It's not a stamp you can buy. It's a decision I make every time I reformulate, and it is genuinely non-negotiable. Because if I wouldn't put it on my own children's skin, I have no business putting it on anyone else's.
Clean Beauty - What We Mean When We Use the Term
"Clean beauty" is another phrase that's suffering from overuse and under-definition. A decade ago, it meant something clear: no parabens (which is another whole cesspool), no sulphates, no synthetic fragrance, no ingredients with known toxicity concerns. Today, it's been appropriated by every brand with a green logo and a "conscious collection."
For us at AYA, clean beauty means:
Petroleum-free, always.
No petrolatum, no mineral oil, no synthetic occlusive barriers derived from crude oil.
Fragrance-free.
Synthetic fragrance is one of the most common contact allergens in skincare and a common hiding place for undisclosed chemicals. In many jurisdictions, "fragrance" or "parfum" on an INCI list can conceal dozens of individual chemical compounds under a single trade secret. We don't use it.
Food-grade ingredients throughout.
Every ingredient in the AYA range meets food-grade standards. Not "food-grade inspired." Actually food-grade. If I didn't eat it, it doesn't go on your skin. This is not an industry standard - it's a choice we made and maintain. And I have heard the term skincare is for the skin and food is for eating, I think whoever said it first needs to maybe spend a moment in a permaculture garden.
No greenwashing.
We won't claim something is organic if it isn't certified. We won't put a leaf on the label to suggest environmental credentials we don't have. We won't use the word "toxin-free" because everything is a toxin at the wrong dose. We try to be specific, and when we can't, we say so.
This is AYA Natural Skin's definition, not a universal definition. Other brands will define clean beauty differently. The point is not to gatekeep the term - it's to tell you exactly what it means when we use it, so you can hold us to it.
What This Means for AYA - In Practice
Every ingredient in the AYA range is traceable, food-grade, and petroleum-free. The full ingredient list for every product is available on the website, and I'll explain any of them to anyone who asks. That's not a marketing promise. It's just how I think a skincare brand should work.
The hero ingredient across everything we make is raw fermented papaya - a formulation I've been developing and refining in-house since 2012. Fermentation unlocks the papain enzyme in papaya, making it bioavailable for the skin. The science behind it is genuinely fascinating, and it's what makes AYA effective and natural; the two don't have to be a compromise. If you want to understand how it works, I broke down the full science of fermented papaya skincare and why it works.
Our beeswax comes directly from beekeepers. Our oils are cold-pressed. Nothing in our range has undergone the kind of industrial processing that would require us to call it "naturally derived" and hope you don't look too closely.
If you're new to AYA, our hardworking, multi-tasking natural balm is the place to start. Six ingredients. Every one of them is traceable. It's been the foundation of everything we've made since 2012, and it's still the product I reach for every single day.
Does "Natural" Skincare Actually Work?
This is the question I get asked most often by people who are curious about making the switch - and it's a fair one. There's a common assumption that natural skincare means choosing gentleness over results. I'd argue that's a false choice. When the ingredients are right and the formulation is intentional, you don't have to compromise.
The reason I built the range around fermented papaya rather than a more conventional active is that fermentation is genuinely transformative - it doesn't just deliver an ingredient, it changes it at a molecular level. Papain, the enzyme produced through the fermentation of papaya, is a proteolytic enzyme that selectively digests dead keratin cells on the skin's surface. It doesn't strip. It doesn't burn. It recognises and dissolves only what needs to go, and leaves healthy living skin tissue completely alone.
That's not a gentle version of what acid exfoliants do. It's a fundamentally different mechanism — more in tune with a natural process, and ultimately smarter. Far less likely to compromise your skin barrier.
The same principle applies to the oils in our range. We use cold-pressed marula, rosehip, baobab, kalahari melon, and others - not because they're fashionable South African ingredients (though they are), but because cold-pressed oils retain their full fatty acid profiles and bioactive compounds. Refining and heating destroy a significant portion of what makes plant oils therapeutically useful. Cold-pressing preserves it.
Effective natural skincare isn't about replacing synthetic actives with weaker natural ones. It's about using ingredients in a form that's biocompatible with skin, the way your skin has evolved to recognise and use them over thousands of years.
What to Do Next
If you're reading this because you're considering switching to natural skincare and you're not sure where to start, here's the most practical advice I can give:
Start with the product you use most and check the INCI list. Just that one product. Identify the first five ingredients. Look them up if you don't know what they are. That single habit, done consistently, will change the way you shop for skincare more than any guide, certification, or influencer recommendation.
If that product contains petrolatum or mineral oil in the top five ingredients, consider switching it out first. That's usually where the most significant change happens.
And if you want to try something with a genuinely short, fully traceable ingredient list, AYA Balm is R65 and lasts three to six months. It's a very low-risk way to see what food-grade, petroleum-free skincare actually feels like on your skin.
The Question Worth Asking Every Brand
The beauty industry has become very good at the language of transparency without the substance. So here's the question I'd encourage you to ask any brand you're considering, including us:
Can you tell me exactly where this ingredient came from and how it was processed?
A brand with genuine seed-to-skin credentials should be able to answer that. Not with a vague story about "ethically sourced botanicals" and a beautiful image of a rainforest, but with specifics. Which supplier. Which farm or hive? Which process. What the INCI name is and what it means.
If the answer is evasive, the label probably is too.
