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Fashion and Beauty

Are "Organic" Beauty Products Worth the Hype?

Organic! Vegan! Gluten-free! You might feel virtuous buying products bearing these buzzwords, but what do they actually mean? We asked experts to define six of the trickiest terms in the book.
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1. Natural
"Natural" doesn't necessarily mean anything about the purity of a product—it's a term that hasn't been defined by the FDA. To determine what's actually in a product, pull out your magnifying glass and read the ingredients list. How many can you pronounce? If they sound like a list of chemicals, chances are, they are. Should you care? Perhaps, says Elizabeth Tanzi, MD, associate clinical professor of dermatology at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. There may be a benefit for some people to avoid parabens, usually absent from “natural” products, if their skin is sensitive.

TRY: Tata Harper Illuminating Moisturizer, $85; TataHarperSkincare.com
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From the March 2017 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine
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