In 2006 four small natural cosmetics companies in Finland, all importers of certified brands, decided something had to be done. Neither the retailers, the buyers for multiple retailers, nor the media, not mention the consumers, knew the difference between main stream cosmetics and certified natural brands. At the same time, more and more brands were using "our" language to make misleading claims about products that were far from natural.

We founded an association, Pro Natural Cosmetics (Pro luonnonkosmetiikka ry) , with the aim to clarify the meaning of "natural" to our customers, the media and the general public. We stated that our mission is to become unnecessary as soon as possible as we hope for laws and regulations defining the use of natural claims.

We immediately received wide public attention in the media after having had one press event. A year later we published a German book in Finnish, Rita Stiens' The Truth about Cosmetics. We compiled our own "standards" for natural cosmetics, as there was nothing about the subject in our own language. We exhibited together at the annual main beauty fair in Helsinki.

Our customers are now well aware of us and what we stand for. Commercially it has helped all of our now close to twenty member companies and nearly fourty brands.

Consumer awareness has increased beyond all expectations.

We were attacked, too, of course. Beauty journalists criticized us for "negative marketing", as we listed what real natural products do NOT consist of and how we do NOT manufacture our products. We still have trouble getting our message through to the public, as none of us have the financial means to buy the media space. Big brand houses secretly went to the buyers demanding them to refrain from giving us and our message visibility - clearly we were seen as a huge threat ;-) !

There have been setbacks, too. The market is flooded by countless certified imports making for fierce competition in a still very small nisch. A major domestic producer took to marketing itself as natural, "from the clean Finnish nature", but yet has no certificate of proof. And, due to the rapid global growth of the natural segment, major global companies are launching certified subbrands.

We cannot take credit or blame for all of the above, as much can be contributed to the favorable global trend. But our association has definitely made a difference and gained a lot of respect. It is still needed as a speaker for our values and authenticity, as we are far from getting the laws and regulations to clarify the difference between real natural cosmetics, main stream cosmetics and wannabe natural but extremely misleading brands.

Welcome!! NATRUE is excited and delighted to read your post – same values same challenges... Congratulations on having had the courage to take constructive action and the positive results! The very purpose of this new NATRUE Community is to link those for whom preserving integrity and authenticity in an unregulated and unprotected market is a must - in the coming days NATRUE will be posting news concerning regulatory developments impacting our sector – follow and contribute to the discussion – together we can achieve what cannot be achieved in isolation!!!!