why likha embraces nature and science

There is a common argument, especially in the natural skincare space, that “natural” ingredients are good and “chemicals” are bad.

The problem is that everything on Earth is made of chemicals. Water has a chemical name, plants have a chemical makeup, so do our bodies. The word, “chemical” does not automatically mean toxic, synthetic, harsh, or dangerous. It simply describes matter and what it is made of.

Before I started studying formulation, I heard the same advice a lot of people do: if you cannot pronounce an ingredient, you probably should not put it on your skin.

That sounds sensible until you actually start looking at ingredient names.

Plenty of completely natural ingredients have long scientific names that are difficult to pronounce. Even Vitamin C can sound alarming when it is called Ascorbic acid. The name may sound intimidating, but that does not tell us whether the ingredient is safe.

I think the fear of chemicals also depends on another assumption: that natural automatically means safe. It does not.

We would not rub poison ivy on our faces just because it’s a plant. Ok, bad example….“poison” is in the name. So let’s take another example, Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia) sounds heavenly, but it contains toxins that can be harmful upon contact. Plenty of botanicals can irritate the skin, cause allergic reactions, or be harmful when used incorrectly. An ingredient being natural does not tell us whether it is appropriate for a particular formula, concentration, or person.

“All-natural” sounds nice. It just does not automatically mean healthier, safer, or better.

The more I learned about formulation, the more I realized that nature and science are not opposites at all. They go hand in hand. Nature gives us plants, animals, minerals, fossils, and ecosystems. Science helps us study them, understand how they work, and utilize them. They are not separate stories. Science is one of the ways we learn from nature.

Skincare is not that different.

People have used plants, oils, clays, and other natural materials to care for their skin for a very long time. Those ingredients were not always chosen at random. People observed them, experimented with them, and passed down what they learned.

Modern cosmetic chemistry lets us take that knowledge further. It helps us understand which parts of a plant may be useful, how much of an ingredient should be used, whether ingredients work well together, and how to create a product that remains stable and safe.

It can also allow us to recreate the same chemical structure found in nature without relying on limited natural resources. In some cases, a nature-identical ingredient may be more consistent or more sustainable than extracting the same material from a plant.

Preservation is where this really clicked for me.

You can create a formula with beautiful oils, hydrosols, extracts, and other natural ingredients. But once a product contains free water, bacteria, yeast, and mold can grow in it. That contamination is not always visible. A product can look and smell completely normal while still being unsafe to use. In that situation, refusing an effective preservative because it does not sound natural can create a much greater risk than using an ingredient that is naturally derived or nature-identical.

Even studying organic skincare formulation requires learning chemistry. There is no way around it, because formulation is chemistry. Oils, water, emulsions, pH, preservation, oxidation, and ingredient interactions are all chemical processes, whether the ingredients began in a plant or a laboratory.

There is also a lot of greenwashing in the natural skincare space. Some brands benefit from keeping people afraid of unfamiliar ingredient names because fear makes an easy sales tool.

I do not want to formulate that way, and I do not want to talk about ingredients that way.

I love botanicals. I also value what modern cosmetic science makes possible. One is not better than the other, and I do not think we should have to choose between them.

What matters is whether an ingredient is safe at the amount being used, whether it contributes something meaningful to the formula, and whether the finished product has been made responsibly.

Chemical does not mean toxic.

Natural does not always mean safe.

There is room for both.