Our Process
Nature provides the means to keep your skin healthy, happy, and beautiful. There is no need to use synthetic substitutes that can potentially harm both your body and the environment. We take great pride in using the highest quality ingredients possible in our formulations. To achieve this, we are present in every step of the process. Our ingredients, including alfalfa, chamomile, echinacea, nettle, red clover and a variety of Botanical Tree Essences, are hand selected and harvested throughout the year from forests and farms across the Pacific Northwest. This harvesting process helps to ensure the use of only the healthiest and highest quality extracts and essences.
Sourcing
Our sourcing methodology is based on selecting the highest quality ingredients. This means ingredients that are certified organic and impact nature as little as possible in the harvesting process. This includes impact consideration of emissions, regrowth of the plant being harvested, and the surrounding environment. Those ingredients labelled as green are sourced from QAI/USDA certified growers and account for an average of 98% of our certifiable ingredients. We also strive to use local organic suppliers and farmers wherever and whenever possible. A selection of these suppliers are too small to receive the accreditation due to the cost, those ingredients are labelled in black as natural and organic. Should a product not be available locally we aim to find the nearest supplier meeting our environmental standards. Every supplier of raw materials is researched to confirm that their methods of farming or harvesting meet these sustainability standards.
Palm oil is of particular concern for many and this is for good reason. Palm oil production in many regions of the world has come at an extreme environmental cost including deforestation, habitat loss, and the harming of orangutans and other wildlife populations. Rather than re-using and re-planting previously deforested areas, some palm oil producers choosing instead to destroy rainforest eco-systems to make way for palm oil plantations, leaving orangutans homeless and vulnerable to starvation, disease, poaching, and other conflicts, pushing this species closer to extinction.
Our palm oil is 100% organic and sourced from Brazil. Because orangutans are not native to South America, the Brazilian palm industry does not adversely impact their wellbeing. When necessary, alternative supply comes from responsible sources in peninsular Malaysia, which is also a non-native orangutan habitat. Suppliers are all members of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the leading global organization developing and implementing global standards for sustainable palm oil production.
Beeswax is another ingredient we receive many inquiries about. The bee population which, through pollination, play a pivotal role in nature and agriculture, has seen a staggering decline in population over the last decade. A strong and growing body of evidence points to exposure to a class of neurotoxic pesticides called neonicotinoids—a fast-growing and widely used class of synthetic pesticides—as a key contributing factor to bee declines. The European Union banned the three most commonly used neonicotinoids, based on strong science indicating that neonics can kill bees outright and/or make them more vulnerable to pests, pathogens, and other stressors. To ensure we are being part of the solution and not part of the problem, our sourcing abides by the agricultural standards set by the European Union and thus our beeswax is sourced from small scale, local, farms who conduct and abide by the outlined ecological farming methodologies that ensure they are not contributing to the bee crisis.
We have also taken an initiative to reduce the amounts of both palm oil and beeswax in our formulas, with the eventual dismissal of the oil. We have been working with higher proportions of organic coconut oil in several of our formulations for many months now, so that a more ethical formula can be used without compromising the integrity of the products and philosophy of what Carina Organics stands for.
For further information on ingredient sourcing or general inquiries about our formulations please do not hesitate to send us a message. A comprehensive list of all ingredients currently used in our products can be found in our ingredients glossary and we are pleased to keep that updated as ingredients are removed or modified in accordance with our product line.
