Organic is as proverbial as peanut butter or Walter Cronkite’s voice announcing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and updates on the Vietnam War. It has worked its way into American and International households, and is now a regular on grocery lists and marketplace shelves. Organics in personal care items is a newer concept, but consumer knowledge and interest is continuously increasing.
French women are riding the organic wave, with one out of three reporting the use of at least one organic cosmetic product; but popular or not, organic cosmetics are still misunderstood. According to a survey from Cegma Topo, few French women understand what “organic” really entails. "Behind this very fashionable term, perceptions are still vague," the company stated. “Three-fourths of French women have in mind that an organic beauty product is composed by 95 percent of ingredients derived from organic farming.” Some clarification from the industry might be beneficial for consumers.