Certifications and seals explained
The seals, labels and information on our packaging give consumers lots of insight into our products and help them guide their purchasing decisions. However, sometimes they might leave people puzzled or raise more questions than they answer. That’s why we have compiled all the most important information here to help you understand our product information.
Click on the keywords you want to learn about to see a compact explanation of the term.
The certification of our products according to the highest quality standards has a long tradition at Speick Naturkosmetik. We were involved early on in the development of modern natural cosmetics standards: As a founding member of the first German natural cosmetics certification system (BDIH), our first products were officially BDIH‑certified in 2001. Since 2014, all newly developed products have been reviewed in accordance with the internationally recognised COSMOS standard – a European joint standard created through the collaboration of BDIH, Ecocert, Cosmebio, ICEA and the Soil Association.
What does the COSMOS seal mean?
The COSMOS seal is awarded exclusively to products assessed as certified natural cosmetics. They meet strict requirements and, for example, may not contain silicones, petroleum‑derived ingredients, synthetic fragrances, colourants or preservatives, nor parabens.
COSMOS distinguishes between two quality levels. COSMOS Natural: certified natural cosmetics that meet all basic COSMOS criteria. COSMOS Organic: certified organic cosmetics with additional requirements: at least 20% of the total product must come from organic farming, and at least 95% of physically processed agricultural ingredients must be of organic quality.
All products in our Speick Natural Aktiv, Speick Men Active, Speick Thermal Sensitiv, Speick Organic 3.0, Speick Sun and Speick Pure ranges, as well as many of our “Made by Speick” products, are certified according to the international COSMOS standard. On our products, this certification is indicated by the small, round COSMOS seal and the corresponding certification text on the packaging.
Exceptions prove the rule at Speick Naturkosmetik as well. This means that there are a few Speick products that do not carry COSMOS Standard certification. This is mainly due to our long company history.
The products in the Speick Original and Speick Men ranges, which have been part of our full product range for many decades, are not certified as natural cosmetics and therefore do not bear the corresponding seal. This is rooted in our company’s over 95‑year history and the way the understanding of natural cosmetics has evolved over the decades. These two ranges contain fragrance ingredients that are today considered nature‑identical – however, they can no longer be certified.
As the fragrances of these popular classics from the Speick Naturkosmetik range are so closely connected with our brand and have many loyal fans, we continue to offer these products with their well‑established scents.
About 90% of products in the Speick Naturkosmetik range are vegan – with absolutely no use of animal components in the formula or packaging. We are in favour of vegan formulas in general. However, in order to produce an optimal product it can sometimes be necessary to deviate from this rule. In some cases, for instance, we may use beeswax, honey or buttermilk.
The vegan products in our range are labelled with the word “VEGAN” on the front of the products. Sometimes this label is also on the side or rear of a product – depending on how much space there is on the label, tube or box.
Speick Naturkosmetik has neither performed nor commissioned any animal experiments since the company was founded in 1928. Since 1989, the entire German cosmetics industry has voluntarily stopped testing on animals for finished cosmetic products. Although obvious to us from the very beginning, it is now also prohibited by law throughout the entire EU and has been since 2004. Since 2009, it is also illegal to market cosmetics in the EU that have been tested on animals. Since 2013, animal testing has also been prohibited for raw materials that are used exclusively in cosmetics.
However, other countries have different customs. In some non-European countries, certain cosmetic products are compulsorily tested on animals before they come onto the market. This applies, for example, in China to so-called "special use cosmetics" such as sunscreens. For this reason, Speick Naturkosmetik does not export any products to regions where animal testing is a prerequisite for import.
Gluten intolerance is a thing, we primarily associate with our diets. Sometimes even small amounts of gluten are enough to cause unpleasant reactions in sufferers. When bathing or showering, it cannot be guaranteed with any certainty that traces of shampoo, face cream or soap will not accidentally be swallowed or enter the digestive tract via the mouth. All products in the Speick Naturkosmetik range are gluten-free.
Products from Speick Naturkosmetik do not provide any information on shelf life. However, we have to ensure that the products can be kept in an unopened state for at least 30 months or more after production.
The date of production can be seen in the batch number, which appears in a combination of numbers: e.g. 0102 for the first batch in 2020 or 0491 for the fourth batch in 2019.
The shelf life of a product after it is opened for the first time is designated by the PAO (period after opening), which is specified on our products in the form of an opened jar symbol labelled with the corresponding number of months. The product should be used within this period.
Of course, many products can be used long after the PAO has expired. If the PAO has expired, we recommend checking the smell and consistency of the product before using it. As such, the product does not need to be thrown away based on the PAO alone.
INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients – the international naming system for cosmetic ingredients. It is a globally standardised system that defines how ingredients in cosmetic products must be listed on the packaging. INCI information must be included on every product and is found on the packaging. The order in which the ingredients are listed indicates the proportion of each ingredient within the product.
Palm oil is a much‑debated topic in cosmetics. However, completely avoiding it is difficult, as many important ingredients such as emulsifiers and surfactants are produced from palm oil or palm kernel oil fractions. In addition, the oil palm is the most productive oil‑bearing crop in the world – alternatives such as sunflower or rapeseed would require significantly larger cultivation areas to achieve the same oil yield.
The central problem lies in the large‑scale clearing of tropical forests to create new palm oil plantations, which causes considerable ecological damage, including loss of biodiversity and high CO₂ emissions.
Speick Naturkosmetik therefore uses palm‑oil‑based raw materials from RSPO‑certified sources – an initiative co‑founded by WWF that has been developing stricter standards for sustainable palm oil cultivation since 2004.
In short: no Speick product contains microplastics. We deliberately avoid them because microplastics hardly degrade in the environment and can, for example, enter rivers and oceans via wastewater, with far‑reaching consequences.
The products of our Speick Thermal Sensitiv series are labelled with the logo of our partner at Schlangenbad thermal baths. There, we take silica-rich thermal water through an exclusive right directly from the source to exclusively enrich our Thermal Sensitiv products. The water is particularly rich in silicic acid, because it flows through a quartz tunnel located 60 meters below the earth’s surface. Here, it is enriched with 40 mg/l of silicic acid.
Silicic acid is made up of 94% silica, a trace element which is necessary for the metabolism of cells. Silicon also improves the strength and elasticity of connective tissue. In this way, the thermal water from Schlangenbad supports the effect of the plant extracts in Speick Thermal Sensitiv products.
The products in our Speick Sun sun protection series are labelled according to the UVA and UVB protection they provide. There are two types of sun rays: UVA and UVB radiation. While UVB radiation makes us turn brown and can lead to sunburn, UVA radiation causes long-term damage over time.
An effective sunscreen should therefore protect you against both types of radiation. The UVA seal certifies exactly that: it confirms that the UVA protection of a product equals at least 1/3 of its UVB protection. In turn, this is specified as a light protection factor. This is the case on Speick Sun products.
Our sun care products contain exclusively mineral UV filters and are formulated solely with zinc oxide. They do not contain the chemical UV filters octinoxate or oxybenzone and are compliant with the Hawaii Sunscreen Law.