There was a time when skincare felt uncomplicated, a cleanser you trusted and a cream you came back to. It was about care rather than correction. Somewhere along the way, skincare was swept up into something bigger, louder and far more demanding. The beauty industry, an industry that thrives on newness, speed and the promise that if your skin is not behaving, it is because you have not bought the right thing yet.
That shift matters. Because when skincare became beauty, real ingredients quietly slipped out of the spotlight. Where they came from, how they were grown and what else might be absorbed alongside them became secondary to claims, packaging and results designed to be photographed.
As ingredients were reformulated, replaced and increasingly designed in factories rather than grown in soil, something fundamental began to slip away. In chasing perfection, the beauty industry stopped being beautiful. It became extractive, overwhelming and, in many ways, deeply ugly.
This is where organic skincare begins to matter.
When Skincare Became Part of the Beauty Industry
The beauty industry is very good at separating products from their origins. An oil becomes “nourishing”, a plant extract becomes an active, and rarely are we invited to think about soil, farming practices or what happens long before an ingredient reaches a serum bottle.
Conventional agriculture relies heavily on pesticides and herbicides to increase yields and control pests. These chemicals do not simply disappear at harvest. They remain in the soil, move through water systems and stay on plants that later become cosmetic ingredients. As skincare scaled to meet beauty industry demand, these realities were quietly left out of the conversation.
From Soil to Skin
Many of the oils and extracts we see again and again in skincare begin their life as agricultural crops. Sunflower oil, soybean oil, oats, corn derived ingredients, citrus extracts, lavender, chamomile and tea tree all start in the soil. When grown conventionally, these plants are often treated with pesticides and herbicides throughout their growth cycle. Those residues do not simply disappear at harvest. They can survive extraction and refinement, particularly in oils, where fat soluble chemicals are more likely to concentrate.
Our skin is our largest organ, and it is not a sealed barrier. What we apply daily can be absorbed, especially when products are used consistently over years, sometimes decades. Pesticides are biologically active substances, and many are known to disrupt living systems. On skin, even low level exposure can contribute to irritation, inflammation and a weakened barrier, particularly for skin that is already sensitive or reactive.
The Exposure We Rarely Talk About
This is not about one product being good or bad. It is about accumulation. A cleanser in the morning, a toner, a serum at night, an eye cream and a moisturiser used twice a day. Each product may meet regulatory limits on its own. Together, they create ongoing exposure that is rarely acknowledged within the beauty industry.
It helps explain why so many people feel stuck in cycles with their skin. Redness that never fully settles. Breakouts that appear without warning. Tightness that never quite feels nourished. Sensitive skin that reacts daily, burns more easily in the sun and shows damage sooner than it should, leaving a sense that skin is constantly responding rather than recovering. Removing potential irritants, including pesticide residues, is often less about dramatic change and more about giving skin the space it needs to calm down.
Looking Beyond the Bathroom Shelf
The impact of pesticides reaches far beyond skincare. In the UK, the Brighton based charity PAN UK has spent decades highlighting the environmental and human cost of pesticide use. Their work connects agriculture, public health and everyday consumer choices, reminding us that what is sprayed on crops rarely stays neatly contained within fields.
Organic skincare sits naturally within this wider conversation. It asks us to think not only about how a product performs, but how its ingredients were grown and what kind of systems we continue to support.
It is why, at Olive & Joyce, everything I make is guided by one simple belief, Skincare So Natural You’ll Want To Eat It.
Skincare so natural it feels like nourishment, not chemicals on your skin.
Why Organic Is Not a Trend
Organic skincare is often framed as niche or indulgent. In reality, it is quietly practical. Organic farming prohibits the use of synthetic pesticides, and that single decision changes the entire lifecycle of an ingredient. It protects soil health, biodiversity and farm workers, while also reducing the chemical burden placed on skin.
In an industry that constantly pushes stronger formulas and faster results, organic skincare offers restraint. Fewer inputs, fewer irritants and fewer things for skin to defend itself against.
A Quiet Choice at Olive & Joyce
At Olive & Joyce, choosing organic ingredients was never about perfection. It came from listening to my own skin and questioning an industry that often prioritises performance over wellbeing. Stripping things back was not giving up. It was returning to what skincare was always meant to be.
Every Olive & Joyce product is made with certified organic oils and botanicals, chosen not for how impressive they sound, but for how gently and consistently they support skin, especially skin that has had enough of fighting.
Organic skincare will not promise a new face or erase every line. What it can do is support skin as it is, not as the beauty industry insists it should be. Calm rather than correct. Nourish rather than chase.
Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do for our skin is stop asking it to perform and simply let it rest.