In this issue, we continue our project of providing consumers and formulators with clear explanations of at least one important ingredient and technology every month. For February 2005, our focus is on natural ingredients; to illustrate our discussion of what "natural" means in the context of topical formulations (if it was formulated, it didn't fall from the sky that way: someone, somehow, designed and built it), the technology of distillation is explained and related to a well-known natural ingredient: witch hazel. Please read our feature article to see how these examples help explain each other.

Topical formulations have been used around the world for thousands of years, so a great deal of information is already available about them: the challenge is to become familiar enough with that vast body of information to identify what may be useful. For that reason, we will include monthly book reviews and website reviews, as well as brief explanations of terminology; we hope this will help our readers make better sense of the information they encounter on the web, in the bookstore, on product labels, in conversation, and elsewhere.

We are very interested in hearing from our readers; we invite everyone to participate in our online forum, where the discussions initiated here can be continued. We will also consider publishing reader-submitted articles and reviews; please contact us at natural@topical-formulations.com to share your ideas for future issues.

We hope you will enjoy reading this issue of the Journal of Topical Formulations as much as we have enjoyed producing it.

Rosemarie L. Coste, General Editor
Elishalom Yechiel, Ph.D., Scientific Editor