Extracts   
Caution
This term is often used to mean solutions made from plants that have been processed so it's easy to use in personal care products. Since many plants aren't soluble in water, they must be processed with solvents. The solvents may be water, alcohols (like denatured ethanol or isopropanol), glycols, oils, or mineral oils. These are not generally listed with the extract on the product label, which is of concern to the FDA. Often, when many plant extracts are put into a product, they are joined by "and" as they are listed on a product label, instead of each one being listed separately (though this is not approved of by the CTFA). This is done to make the extracts seem like one ingredient, and is therefore put higher up in a product's ingredient list than if it had been listed on it's own (implying there is more extract in the product).

After the plants or plant parts are collected, they are often air-dried, ground up, and extracted with a solvent. The extract is filtered, concentrated, and sometimes more solvent is added. Afterward, a preservative is added, often it's a paraben.

Natural extracts in personal products are usually there for marketing appeal. There is little chance they can actually do anything in the product, because they are so diluted by the time they are in the product. If any of the extracts actually were active in the product, the product would then have to be classified as a drug.

Often extracts are put in the product for "conditioning", or another vauge cosmetic claim. Then it is up to the person using (or purchasing) this product to interpret what that claim means to them [Hunting (Conditioning) pgs 200-202].
Source(s): Hunting