It's only natural

IT was a small step for womankind, but a giant leap for me. Deepest suspicion had relegated the sample-size crystal deodorant to the back of the bathroom closet. There are a few things in life I am prepared to take a risk on, but personal hygiene isn't one of them.

Then two things happened. A press release arrived warning of a potential link between the aluminium salts in antiperspirants and breast cancer. Weeks later, I interviewed two York women who set up ecoathome, a company selling green products through party plans, who said the crystal deodorant was their best seller. More over, both had used it and said it worked.

Next day I nervously took a step into the brave new world of natural deodorant, crossing my fingers that everything would come up smelling of roses. By bedtime, I felt confident to wear it all week - until a hot spell left me a bit sticky and reaching for my trusty roll on.

Kat Richardson, of ecoathome, (www.ecoathome.co.uk), said she had similar results with the product, but urged me not to give up, adding it was better to use it now and then than never at all. "I really like it because I have quite irritable, dry skin and it doesn't aggravate it," she said. "I wear mine, but if I was going to a job interview I might not! It is good to give your body a breather every now and then."

More and more of us are now giving our bodies a break from mainstream beauty products. Just as the organic grocery industry has boomed from growing concern over pesticides in food, natural beauty products are big business too as consumers search for chemical-free alternatives.

Kat said: "When we started out doing parties we had very few beauty products, but people kept asking for them. It's been a growing line for us."

Another success story is Niky Keane. Three years ago, mum-of-four Niky set up her own company, Pure 'Nuff Stuff, making and selling natural products from the kitchen of her home in Harrogate. Niky was motivated to do so after discovering just how many chemicals were used in mainstream products while working on Organic Living magazine. Today, Niky runs a shop and a booming business from Penzance, Cornwall. Besides a lucrative mail-order market (www.purenuffstuff.co.uk), she stocks 17 other stores across the UK and has a party-planning arm.

"Turnover has gone up each year by 300 per cent," says Niky, whose aim is to sell natural products at affordable prices. "We compare quite well with the mainstream, but are a lot cheaper than many of the natural products out there. Our face cream costs £5.95. We want to make it so everybody can use it everyday and not as a special treat."

The product range is pretty extensive too, including colour make-up, fake tan and sun-protection cream. She said: "We make pretty much the equivalent of everything - apart from waterproof mascara."

In York, natural beauty products are also selling well at health food store Tullivers in Colliergate. The health food shop stocks A'kin, a natural and organic hair and body products range from Australia.

Manager Mandy Geary said: "It is very popular because it is free of preservatives and parabens, which are preservatives put in certain products such as deodorants. There was a recent scare because parabens were found in breast tissue, which might have been absorbed through the skin.

"People are looking for things that are paraben-free. There is still a fair amount of research that still needs to be done, but it is still a big issue for a lot of people."

At organic store Alligator in Fishergate, owner Steve Heyman stocks a small range of organic soap, natural shampoos and conditioners, organic hemp seed moisturiser and natural deodorants. He said: "People are more appreciative of the fact they don't need to put some sort of toxic chemical on their body when they have the choice of a more natural-based product."

Top York department store Fenwick, in Coppergate, may seem an unlikely bedfellow for York's tiny independent health food stores, but it too stocks a good selection of natural beauty products including Aveda, Dr Hauschka, Korres, Neal's Yard and Crystal deodorants.

Natural beauty products will become even more widely available in York when Out Of This World, the organic supermarket chain, opens in George Hudson Street in September. It will stock an extensive range of goods from shampoo and face cream to lipstick and make-up.

Company managing director John Walker said: "A lot of dedicated organic consumers say 'what is the point of going completely organic in food if I am still putting chemicals into my skin?'."