Our natural skincare philosophy
We take a holistic approach to personal care. In our understanding, looking after your body serves not only beauty but also health. In order to do so we develop products designed to support a healthy balance between body, mind and spirit. Our lead plants give special character to each of our unique skin care collections. Lead plants are emblematic of our needs in different life phases and contribute to the effectiveness of our products. We believe that the life processes of nature and of humans are interconnected. Understanding this relationship allows us to harness the plant’s inherent benefits.
Our active ingredients come from nature
Our NATRUE-certified natural personal care products contain precious ingredients, such as plant oils. They work together with natural essential oils, plant extracts and further high quality ingredients (some of which are natural-identical or natural-derived, according to NATRUE standards) to support the overall effectiveness of our holistic formulations. Does your skin need support, or does it mainly need moisture? We combine different oils and extracts in order to respond to the specific needs of the skin. The oils we use in our high-quality skin care products are obtained from apricot kernels, the fruits of the argan tree, pomegranate seeds, wheat kernels, sea buckthorn or evening primrose seeds. We obtain effective extracts from a variety of plants, such as white mallow or the moisture-retaining prickly pear. Since 1926, Weleda Skin Food has been caring for people’s skin thanks to its effective formulation with extracts of pansy, chamomile and calendula blossoms.
How is a calendula tincture made?
We produce a variety of tinctures for use in different products. A calendula tincture, for example, is an extract of substances from either the whole calendula plant or certain parts of the plant depending on the product in which it is to be used. Our extraction methods preserve as much as possible of the plant’s inherent qualities and characteristics. The extracting agents we use include alcohol, water, saline solution and oil. To create a tincture, freshly crushed calendula plants are mixed with an extracting agent. Each step of the process is meticulously carried out in a controlled environment. This ensures that the calendula releases its substances and properties into the tincture in the best quality possible.
Why plant oils are good for your skin
Plants absorb the light and heat of the sun and convert it into matter such as sugars. Over the course of several stages, these are converted into substances which form lipids and are stored in the seeds. The oil extracted from plant seeds and kernels is rich in saturated and unsaturated fatty acids as well as nourishing vitamins. Pure plant oils are similar in composition to the lipids of the human skin barrier, so they can be absorbed by the skin and metabolized by the body. They penetrate easily into the skin’s upper layers and support its natural functions, supplementing its lipid content and counteracting moisture loss. In contrast to plant-based oils, mineral oils have a sealing effect (meaning they sit on the skin’s surface) and cannot be metabolized by the body.
We believe in transparency and full disclosure of our ingredients
All of our NATRUE-certified natural personal care products products include a list of their ingredients according to terminology specified by INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients), which may at first seem puzzling. This is because in the European Union, USA and Japan cosmetic ingredients must be indicated according to internationally standard names. We want to be clear and transparent. That’s why, on our homepage – and, if space permits, also on our packaging – we provide a list of ingredients in the respective country language together with the international INCI declaration. This enables you to easily identify the ingredients used in our cosmetics.
What our products do not contain
Some cosmetics leech small microplastic beads and liquid plastics, such as silicones, into rivers and oceans, which pollutes the environment. We do not use these substances. Our Body Cleansing Scrub, for example, uses environmentally friendly wax beads made from carnauba and beeswax. We believe that quality and sustainability go hand in hand.
We believe that a product is more than the sum of its parts.
Our natural cosmetics are certified
You can see how natural our products are on their packaging: Weleda products bear the NATRUE seal. This guarantees that strict standards are maintained when it comes to their ingredients. NATRUE is an international non-profit organisation focusing on natural and organic cosmetics. For NATRUE certification, products may contain only three categories of raw materials: natural raw materials, nature-derived raw materials (modified natural materials) and nature-identical raw materials. There are two different sets of certification standards which distinguish between natural cosmetics and organic cosmetics. All NATRUE-certified products consistently refrain from using synthetic fragrances, silicones, microplastics, nanoplastics, and petroleum-based raw materials such as paraffins.