Natural Skin Care
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2010The natural facial products on the market include cleansers, masks and anti-aging creams. Toners and astringents are available, too. But, most people really don’t need them.
What everyone needs is a good moisturizer. A recent study conducted by the University of Maryland showed that plain old tap water strips the skin’s protective oils. Doctors call the oils sebum.
Sebum provides protection, but also starts to smell bad, if it is not washed away on a regular basis. So, bathing is necessary. It’s just as necessary to follow each bath or shower with the use of a good moisturizer.
When you go to compare the moisturizers on the market, you will see that there is a huge difference in price. Cheap products go for less than a dollar per ounce, while expensive ones containing the anti-aging ingredients can go for as much as $100 per ounce. You have to wonder what the difference is. Let me tell you about it.
The cheapest products are not actually moisturizing. Most of them contain an ingredient called petrolatum. Petrolatum is nothing more than white petroleum jelly. You probably realize what petroleum jelly does to your skin. You certainly wouldn’t think that natural facial products would contain it. But, some of them actually do.
Glycerin is a much better moisturizer. It can be derived from plant fibers or from chemical compounds. You would probably need to ask the manufacturer in order to find out where the ingredient comes from. Some manufacturers provide a great deal of information on their websites. Their hope is to inspire confidence.
Other manufacturers provide very little information. There hope is that people don’t care about ingredients. A sales rep from one of the companies providing natural facial products told me that one day. No one cares what the ingredients are. I care and so should you.
Grape seed oil is an excellent moisturizer with a unique filming ability. This ability allows it to hold moisture in and keep dirt out of the pores. So, it is one of the dual purpose ingredients. Actually, it has another purpose. It serves as an anti-aging ingredient, because it has antioxidant activity. Antioxidants prevent and repair free radical damage.
If we’re smart, we will avoid some of the things that trigger free radical damage. Overexposure to the sun and cigarette smoking are two of the things that can easily be avoided.
But, we have to use antioxidant-rich natural facial products, because we cannot avoid everything that could damage our skin. That brings us full circle back to taking a bath.
If you live in an area serviced by a public treatment facility, the water that you shower in contains toxins. Many of them are used to control bacteria and algae levels. The toxins can cause increased numbers and activity of the free radicals naturally present in the skin’s layers.
That’s just one more reason to use antioxidant-rich natural facial products on a daily basis. Keeping free radical damage to a minimum will keep you looking younger.
All Natural Beauty Products, Their Ingredients & How They Work
Friday, July 9th, 2010
The benefits of all natural beauty products depend on what they contain. Here’s a look at some of the compounds you might see on the list of ingredients and the benefits associated with them.
Active Manuka Honey
Active Manuka honey can be found in some of the better body lotions, nighttime facial creams, under eye gels and deep cleansing masks. The benefits have to do with the antioxidant and the antibacterial activity.
Antioxidants of all kinds are beneficial to the skin’s health and appearance. They prevent and sometimes repair free radical damage, which dermatologists believe to be the primary cause of wrinkles, age spots and other visible signs of aging.
The antibacterial activity of Manuka honey will help heal pimples, scrapes and other injuries. It will help prevent those things from becoming infected. It can also help to prevent future pimples caused by over-growth of the P acnes bacteria.
All honey varieties have been used in cosmetics, but few have proven benefits. Manuka honey is tested for its antibacterial and antioxidant activity, before it is shipped. It is graded with a “Unique Manuka Factor”. A high UMF number is equivalent to a highly active honey.
You might think that all natural beauty products would contain manuka. In some cases, it is just not necessary or other ingredients are more beneficial. For example, daytime moisturizers do not usually contain it. As long as you use a nighttime cream that does, you can reap the benefits.
Maracuja
Maracuja is a kind of passion fruit. The tree is native to Brazil. All passion fruits have been included in skincare creams and lotions, because of the antioxidant and the moisturizing benefits.
Maracuja is unique, because it is very similar on a molecular level to the skin’s own oils, which are called sebum. Because of its similarity to sebum, maracuja balances sebum production.
All natural beauty products containing the ingredient will help prevent your skin from becoming too dry or too oily.
That also means it can be used by any complexion type; oily, dry or combination.
Babassu Palm Oil
The benefits of Babassu are similar to those of maracuja. It is one of the few moisturizers that can be used on oily and acne-prone complexions.
It is Babassu wax that is most beneficial, because the wax helps to prevent moisture loss. Most companies use paraffin for this purpose. But, paraffin should not be included in all natural beauty products. It is not close enough to human skin. So, it causes dryness and clogs the pores.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is another antioxidant. People with acne typically have low blood levels of the vitamin. The same deficiency is seen in many different skin conditions.
If used on a regular basis, creams containing vitamin E can prevent age spots. Age spots are heavily pigmented areas. They are sometimes referred to as senile freckles. They are caused by free radical damage, typically due to excessive sun exposure.
All natural beauty products may contain a number of anti-aging ingredients or they may contain none. Check the label before you buy to be sure what you are getting.
Natural Moisturizers Shouldn’t Contain Mineral Oil or Petrochemicals
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Natural moisturizers are typically composed of plant-based or vegetable oils. Mineral oils are technically naturally occurring. But since they are derived from crude oil (used to make gasoline or petrol), they are probably not what you are looking for.
Mineral oils have been used traditionally in body lotions, while petrolatum has typically been used in facial creams. There is actually very little difference between the two. Petrolatum is white Vaseline or petroleum jelly. Mineral oils are simply a liquid version of those jelly-like substances.
Plant-based oils were the standard until petroleum jelly was discovered on some of the first oil rigs built in the US. Since they are basically byproducts of gasoline production, petrolatum and mineral oils are cheap.
As we are trying to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, some of us are also trying not to use products that contain fossil fuel byproducts. Cosmetics, creams, lotions and other skincare products are often packed full of them. If they don’t contain petrolatum or mineral oil, they often contain petrochemicals.
Petrochemicals are byproducts of gasoline production. There is no other way to describe them. They would be trash were it not for the fact that the carbon molecules are simple enough to be converted into many different things.
One would hope that natural moisturizers would not contain petrochemicals, but that’s not always the case. If the lotion or cream contains vitamin E, it could be derived from a petrochemical. Much of the vitamin E in the US is synthetic; derived from petrochemicals.
If only naturally occurring vitamin E is used, it is not necessary to add an artificial preservative like a paraben to the product. Parabens are derived from petrochemicals. They compounds also include a petroleum-based alcohol and are some of the most common causes of allergic reactions.
Natural moisturizers containing plant-based oils often contain naturally occurring vitamin E, simply because it is present in the oil. Some examples include avocado and grape seed oils. They are both effective for moisturizing and they both contain vitamin E.
Avocado oil contains vitamin A, as well. It is typically recommended as a nighttime moisturizer, while grape seed oil is recommended for daytime use. There are a couple of reasons for that.
Natural moisturizers containing avocado oil support and stimulate the skin’s own reparative processes, which go on at night. Studies have shown that use of creams containing it increase the skin’s collagen content.
Grape seed oil on the other hand has a unique filming ability that makes it a perfect choice for use under makeup. If you let it dry for 10 minutes or so before applying your makeup, the lightweight film will prevent makeup from clogging your pores. It also makes the makeup easier to remove at night, which means you might be able to use a milder cleanser.
Ideally, the naturally occurring oils would be added to antioxidants and other beneficial anti-aging ingredients. You might be surprised by what natural moisturizers can do for you, as long as they contain the right ingredients.