Emma Dance talks to green chemist Dr Barbara Olioso about why natural products are good for the skin, and why organic isn't always all it's cracked up to be.
She's a kind of eco-warrior for cosmetics.
When it comes to looking after your skin Wells green chemist Dr Barbara Olioso believes that using natural products is the only way forward.
"It is really about health," she says from her office-cum-lab on Bath Road in Wells. "You have to think long term. The skin is the largest organ in the body and it absorbs what you put on it.
"It just doesn't make sense to put silicon or other chemicals like that on your skin. You wouldn't eat it, so why would you put it on your skin.
"Some of the chemicals that are used in cosmetics have only been around for five or 10 years so we don't even know the effects they could have on your health a few years down the line.
"I think we have a chemical overload and we need to take care about what we put on our skin.
"Skin care should be about being healthy and not looking young and beautiful forever but if you choose the right ingredients you will get the right results.
"Nature works slowly. There are no quick results like with a botox injection, but you can be smart and think long term and you can help your skin regenerate itself."
And Barbara is so passionate about the virtues of using nature's goodness in skin care that not only has she become an international authority on organic and natural skincare, but she has also developed her own brand of natural, organic skin care - Forest Secrets - which is used in Harrods' exclusive Urban Retreat day spa, and all made in Wells.
Barbara's passion for botanicals and nature runs in the family.
"My great-grandmother lived in the mountains in Verona and she used herbs for everything," says Barbara.
"I have always been fascinated with the healing side of nature and when I was child I used to play with petals in the garden and that kind of thing."
But although she always had a love of botanicals, she never planned a career in organic skin care.
"When I was growing up I decided to become a chemist," she says. (She has a doctorate in Industrial Chemistry and an MSc in Food Science and Technology). "But being in a lab was a bit boring. I like the investigative side of science, but I wanted something more in touch with people and nature."
For a time she worked for other companies, helping to develop natural and organic products, and was involved in producing the first organic eau de toilette to reach the market back in 2005.
However, Barbara decided that she wanted the freedom to make her own decisions and in 2006 left to set up her own business.
"I decided I wanted to make a face oil because they are good for the skin and have anti-ageing properties," she says. And so it the iRejuvenate Plus Elixir was born, with its combination of natural ingredients to help boost collagen production
"When you get to your 20s you start producing less collagen," says Barbara. "But there is no point in producing more if it is just being lost again - it is like trying to fill up a bucket with a whole in it - so I developed the iRejuvenate Plus Serum which helps to slow the destruction of collagen."
From there she went on to add the iBright serum, to even skin pigmentation, and the iRejuvenate Cream of Wonders - an anti ageing body cream.
"The Forest Secrets range is born out of making a statement on quality," she says. "A lot of products on the market claim that they contain certain natural ingredients but there is no way of knowing how much is actually being used, or if it is just a trace that has been put in there for marketing purposes.
"Natural ingredients come at a premium but if you want it to work than you have to invest."
To the untrained eye it can be difficult to tell how much of a product is actually natural, but Barbara has some advice.
"I am a great promoter of reading the list of ingredients," she says. "When you have a Latin name on there it is a good sign that it is natural."
And it is on natural, rather than organic products that Barbara places the emphasis.
"Many of the standards that are used for certifying organic beauty products are the same as the ones that are used for food.
"It is good for food, but in beauty if you really want results you are not going to get them just by using organic products. You need more."
To make her point, Barbara cites one of the ingredients she uses in the elixir - an extract of lupin seed.
"I just take the extract which boosts the collagen production," says Barbara. "But because it has gone through a process to get the extract it does not count as organic.
"We need to allow some hi-tech green technology when we are classifying products as organic.
"We need to open up and use these powerful miracles which are still natural but combined with new technologies.
"The science, and the ethical spirit behind the natural organic movement can come together."
For more information about Barbara and her range of products visit www.forestsecretsskincare.com.
This article was taken from the April issue of The County Magazine.
