The discovery process: Why expectant mothers are a route in for natural beauty

Published: 27-Sep-2017

While millennials are the golden ticket for countless cosmetics brands, companies aiming to enter the natural beauty market also need to embark on the journey into motherhood

Tony Rechtman founder and CEO of Australian beauty brand owner Total Beauty Network has built his company based on appealing to women concerned about cruelty-free, healthy and ethical beauty.

Here he talks to Cosmetics Business about why natural beauty is growing ever more important to expectant mothers and how to tap into the market.

Tony Rechtman

Tony Rechtman


"Many people don’t consider the amount of chemicals that their bodies are exposed to day to day.

From the pesticides used to treat our fruits and vegetables to harsh toxins used in our cleaning products and especially, what is used to manufacture the products we apply topically to our skin.

This is perhaps why there is a huge spike in interest around natural and organic beauty products in women who are at the stage of their lives where they are looking to start a family.

Women are given many forms of advice when pregnant or trying to fall pregnant.

The rules from the GP are clear around limiting soft cheeses or uncooked meat and seafood but, there are little to no guidelines around what products should be excluded from a woman’s beauty routine for the safety of her future child.

As women enter motherhood, they discover that there are many natural options available for swapping out their cleaning products and for transitioning to an organic diet to reduce chemical exposure.

Where women have the hardest time however, is the ability to recognise where toxins lie in their cosmetics.

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Limited options

There are not many clear options in the beauty space for women who are mindful of chemicals, as the majority of mainstream cosmetics are made using toxic ingredients that are not healthy for the body, particularly when pregnant.

This is a huge area of concern and marks a real ‘life moment’ for women, as they begin to question what nasties are hiding in the make-up they’ve been wearing all their lives.

We are just beginning to see this concern being addressed by the medical industry and as a leader in natural and certified organic cosmetics, we are increasingly being called upon to be involved in education for patients and the wider community around the ingredients and common chemicals to avoid in beauty products.

Take phthalates for example, you’ll see these listed as ‘fragrance’ on many product labels, sounds harmless enough, right?

Unfortunately for many cosmetic wearers around the world, phthalates are actually a group of chemicals that have been proven to interfere with hormone production, damaging neurological and reproductive functions in the human body.

As a woman who is looking to start a family, this is a horrifying discovery and it heightens the desire for information around the ingredients found in make-up.

Keep it clear

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In the search for safe and natural cosmetics, you only need to glance at an ingredient label to see how hard it is to discern exactly what substances are used to create that product.

Peruse the long list and you might notice terms like sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, while this might not sound familiar at first, it’s proper name formaldehyde, certainly gets the alarm bells ringing for most.

While a long list of pseudonym ingredients is all good and well, consumers need more relatable indicators such as ‘percentage natural’ and ‘percentage certified organic’.

When a product is listed as 100% natural, women are able to understand which items they can safely let into their day to day lives.

Natural beauty has come such a long way in the last decade and women that are wanting to make the transition to natural, no longer need to trade purity for performance.

There are certified organic and 100% natural cosmetics available that are healthy, safe to use and that create the exact look beauty users are searching for."

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