Components

Body care products are generally made of different components. For instance, a moisturizer generally is made from a solvent, an emollient, a thickener or stabilizer, an emulsifer, and a preservative. Cleansing products, in addition to some of the aforementioned components, also contain a surfactant.

Solvent

A solvent is a substance in which all of the other ingredients are dissolved or diluted. Water is the most common solvent.

Emollient

An emollient is a liquid or substance that is used to keep the skin from drying by creating a barrier to prevent water loss. Natural oils are the best emollients, but there are some oils that should be avoided. Look for emollients such as:

• oils such as almond oil, avocado oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil
• beeswax
• butters such as cocoa butter, shea butter and mango butter.
  

I would avoid any products that contain the following:

• castor oil (since castor beans may yield a biotoxin ricin),
  
• cottonseed oil (cotton is generally exposed to a large amount of pesticides),
  
• grapeseed oil (cold pressed grapeseeds do not yield much oil, so the oil is generally solvent extracted), and
  
• peanut oil (because of the higher incidence of allergies).

Thickener or Stabilizer

This generally deals with the viscosity of the product. I think that most people are used to products that have a certain thickness and they equate this thickness with effectiveness. Thickeners generally do not add any qualities to the resulting product that make them more effective as a moisturizer. But, if a thickener is used, natural thickeners such as guar gum and clay minerals are better.

Emulsifier

Emulsifier are used to blend the oil and water elements together. Otherwise, the water and oils will separate. Lecithin is a natural emulsifier.

Preservative

Preservatives are used in most products that contain water, and it is used to prevent the growth of bacteria. Natural preservatives exist, such as certain essential oils, honey, alcohol and salt, but synthetic preservatives are used in many products that purport to be "organic" or "natural." If you've seen the literature relating to the use of "parabens", then you may be aware of the possible effects of some of these commonly used preservatives today; however, this has been a subject of hot debate. The jury is still out on the use of parabens, but I generally tend of avoid products that contain any parabens.

Surfactant

Cleansing products also contain a surfactant, which is a substance that is used to clean surfaces by being attracted to both oil and water. Natural soaps are the best surfactants, and they are generally made from a combination of oils, water and an alkali (sodium hydroxide for bar soaps and potassium hydroxide for liquid soaps). Commonly seen synthetic surfactants include ammonium lauryl sulfate, coco betaine, coco polyglucose, sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate.