What does ISO 16128 mean for cosmetics?

"Natural" is one of the most used — and least regulated — words in the cosmetics market. Any brand can call a product "natural" without any regulation preventing it. That changes with ISO 16128.

What is ISO 16128? It is an international technical standard (ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017) that establishes definitions and criteria for classifying cosmetic ingredients as natural, naturally-derived, organic or organically-derived. It also allows calculation of a naturalness index: the actual percentage of natural ingredients in the final formula.

How is the index calculated? Each ingredient receives a score between 0 and 1 according to its origin and degree of processing. The final index is the weighted average of all ingredients by their percentage in the formula.

What does it mean in practice? A product with an ISO 16128 index of 96% has 96% of its mass composed of natural or naturally-derived ingredients. The remaining 4% may be, for example, preservatives necessary for the microbiological safety of the product.

At Natura Esencials we have used ISO 16128 as a formulation tool from the start: it forces us to justify each ingredient, to look for natural alternatives when they exist, and to be honest about what is in each bottle.