ABSTRACT
Cosmetics obtained from plants, phytocosmetics, have been used traditionally by many cultures all around the world. In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of interest among consumers for cosmetics with a natural origin as they are considered less toxic than the cosmetics containing synthetic chemicals. However, not all the natural products are safe and do require a toxicity assessment to guarantee safety. The methodologies used for the evaluation of chemical ingredients should be adapted for the assessment of plant ingredients. In this chapter, the different regulations concerning the safety of phytocosmetics and the most frequently used methodologies for their evaluation, focusing on the methods without animals given the ban on animal testing in the European Union and other countries are presented. The conclusions of the safety evaluations of different natural ingredients will also be discussed.
