Botanical skin care is a term that's used a lot, but there are a number of possible meanings.
The term technically means that plant extracts are being used to heal and improve the skin.
Botanical skin care products, however, vary widely in their definition of what it really means to use botanical ingredients.
Pros: The biggest pro is that natural plant extracts tend to be much gentler to the skin than man-made chemicals.
Plant extracts tend to cause less irritation to the skin.
Anyone, even those without sensitive skin, can have adverse reactions to synthetic chemicals.
Botanical products use natural substances that are known to be soothing to the skin without causing irritation or redness.
Botanical products are often the only kind that can soothe sensitive skin and provide anti-wrinkle effects to a variety of skin types.
While synthetic ingredients are often so harsh that they can only be used by one very specific skin type, plant extracts are generally gentle enough that they can benefit any skin type.
Plant-based ingredients are so effective that the synthetics are just that- a synthetic attempt to reproduce the beneficial effects of botanicals.
But because the real thing is available, there is no reason to rely on synthetics that can only approximate the effects of real botanicals.
Cons: The main argument against the products is that some products billing themselves as being botanical actually contain only one or two botanical ingredients in the entire formula.
These products may contain a natural ingredient or two, but they also contain a large number of man-made ingredients.
Those ingredients change the way the formula works and may result in an adverse reaction.
This can lead to a false sense of security for people who think they are buying something that doesn't have irritating ingredients.
And for people with sensitive skin, this can be detrimental to the condition of their skin.
It may lead to inflammation, redness, blemishes or dry patches.
To find a true botanical product, look for one that contains only ingredients that are derived from nature.
Botanical skin care is the best type of skin care for people who want to heal their skin and to keep it looking its best.
The real botanical skin care products are the ones that contain nothing but natural ingredients and no synthetics.
Botanical products are safer for more skin types and generally safe for sensitive skin.
This results in a gentle product that is effective without being too harsh.