Why Use Natural Skin Care Products?

Good question! Why should you use natural skin care products rather than something that might have been formulated by chemists to look after your skin? Surely our scientists know more about chemistry that nature does, so surely they should be able to come up with some far better for our skin than any of these natural oils and butters you read about?

The only way to answer that satisfactorily is for you to decide for yourself. Rather than just state that one is better than the other, let’s examine together some of the ingredients contained in both 100% natural preparations and in the synthetics. Let’s consider shea butter, extracted from the nut* of the Shea-Karite tree of West and Central Africa and used to moisturize and restore the elasticity of dry and wrinkled skin. This can be smoothed onto your skin and smells delicious. You will soon find your skin feeling much suppler and your small wrinkles will begin to fade away.

Even natural olive oil can be formed into a butter, or, like shea nut extract, be incorporated into a lotion to help improve the tone of your skin. Nobody complains about these 100% natural skin care products drying up their skin, irritating it or causing itching and spots to break out. Cocoa butter, hemp seed oil, goat’s milk, coconut oil: all perfectly safe and each can do wonders for your skin. Each of these contains powerful antioxidants that kill of the free radicals that destroy your skin cells and give you the appearance of premature aging.

Some, like goat’s milk, contain natural exfoliants that remove dead skin cells, revealing the smooth, vibrant fresh skin underneath. Others contain natural anti-inflammatories that sooth irritated skin and help heal spots caused by acne and other skin conditions. All are natural skin care products, and all are beneficial to your skin. I could mention dozens more, and even more after that, every one 100% natural and 100% safe and beneficial to your skin. Their effects can be explained rationally by science, but after doing so science tries to replicate nature by using the cheapest synthetic chemicals it can find without informing you of the dangers of synthetic skin care products.

Keeping that in mind, let’s now compare these natural ingredients with one or two synthetic ingredients, starting with one simple piece of advice: read the list of ingredients on the label, and if there are some you can’t pronounce then don’t use it! Better still, don’t buy it. Simple as that! Suppliers will try to blind you with science, using long names in the hope that you will be impressed. It doesn’t impress me because I can see what they are up to: I know what these long names mean.

Let’s look at some of these ingredients. Petrolatum. This is sold under the trade name Vaseline, and might be OK for chapped lips, but when you rub it into your skin it clogs up your pores, stops your skin from breathing and prevents the evaporation of moisture that is your natural cooling system. These conditions are perfect for acne, caused by blocking of the sebaceous pores.

Here’s another: sodium lauryl (or laureth) sulfate: this is used in floor cleaners, detergents and degreasers, and can react with other ingredients to generate dangerous nitrates and dioxins. It is used in skin care preparations to stabilize mousses and foams, and it can cause hair loss and severe skin irritation. Keep clear of this. How about collagen and elastin? Natural? Yes, in respect of it being extracted from ground chicken feet (feet not feed) and dead animal skins and so an appalling option for vegetarians or vegans. In any case, the resultant molecules are very large and could never penetrate into your skin so they have no function other than to pollute it.

I could go on and mention disodium EDTA (a corrosive organic acid), ethanolamine or 2-aminoethanol (caustic and corrosive), and even propylene glycol – antifreeze! None of these are good for you, but they are cheaper than natural products and appear to have similar effects, but they don’t. I recommend none of them to you. None of them are natural products: all are manufactured.

So, rather than me just state that organic natural products are to be preferred to their synthetic cousins, you can make your own mind up. You might not mind paying less money for poisons and irritants, but in my view you would be better using nothing at all. Give your money to charity, buy nothing and your skin will likely be in better condition that if you used the synthetic substances mentioned above – and these are only a very few of them.

If you have the choice, buy natural every time. You should make sure that you know what you are rubbing into your skin and ignore advertising hype, because that’s what most of it is. Hype, to get you to part with your dollar. Don’t do it! Spend it on something that is going to benefit you, and purchase the best natural skin care products you can. However, if you suffer specific allergies, note the comment below (Purveyors of synthetics don’t tell you that!)

* Those with nut allergies might be adversely affected by nut extracts, so if you have a nut allergy make sure you know the ingredients of even natural skin care products, because they might harm you. Much depends on the nature of your allergy, so refer to your doctor before using them.

Skin Care Ingredients to Look For

Before we have a discussion of specific ingredients, it’s important to educate ourselves a little bit more on skin itself and what makes a product good or poor. Your skin is the largest organ of the body. Anything you put on it can be easily absorbed through the pores. When you use skin care products, they are typically applied all over the face, neck, and body. This covers a lot of surface area and, therefore, a great deal of chemical absorption occurs.

The biggest reason our skin, whether on the face or the rest of the body, develops lines and/or starts to sag, is that the collagen and elastin in our skin begins to break down. Collagen is a protein that is fibrous in nature. What makes collagen different from other kinds of protein is that it possesses great tensile strength, which means, among other things, it provides firmness to the skin.

You don’t need to be a scientist, therefore, to understand that as collagen breaks down due to aging, the firmness of our skin becomes…well, less firm. Wrinkles appear and skin starts to sag.

Elastin, too, is a protein that helps skin stay “flexible” and firm. If your skin is stretched, elastin is the protein that helps it return to its original position.

What all of this means for you as a consumer is you do want to avoid buying products that are nothing more than wrinkle or fine line ‘fillers.’ Some creams will give the appearance of plumper fuller skin while it still sits on the surface, but once absorbed or removed, the illusion is gone. Want you want to look for is a product that actually stimulates new collagen and elastin production in your skin. If you achieve this, you will, in reality, begin to turn back the clock.

Unfortunately, some cosmetic manufacturers will include some great ‘active ingredients’ while filling the majority of the product with inferior filler. Because these active ingredients are beneficial for the skin, they include just enough to be allowed to legally list them on the product label. This way, the typical consumer thinks they are getting a great product of high-quality. But, because these ingredients are expensive, and because, many well known companies spend much of their budget on marketing, the amount of these ‘active ingredients’ is limited to have any real benefit for your skin.

So, when choosing a skin care product, it’s not just about selecting one with good ingredients; it’s also about choosing one with a high concentration of these good ingredients.

•    Collagen

After the brief review of the importance of collagen, you would think that buying a product with collagen in it would be a great thing. And the marketers who sell products that contain collagen know this. But, again sadly, collagen molecules are much too large to penetrate into the skin when applied topically and there presence in a beauty product has no effect whatsoever. To be of any benefit, you must purchase a product with ingredients that have been shown to stimulate your body’s own collagen production.

•    Phytessence Wakame

Phytessence Wakame is an exotic kelp, native to the Japanese Sea. It works by blocking a harmful enzyme in your body called hyaluronidase. Hyaluronidase breaks down hyaluronic acid in your skin. Without hyaluronic acid, the elastin and collagen fibers lose their “glue,” which leads to a loss of youthful appearance and dark eye circles. Hyaluronan is a major component of skin, where it is involved in tissue repair.

•    CoQ10

If you look at the ingredient list for some of the better skin care products, you’ll often see CoQ10 listed. CoQ10 is short for Coenzyme Q10, so you may also see it listed this way. CoQ10 is a vitamin like substance that is found in all of our body’s cells and is very important for healthy skin. CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant. A lot of skin damage and aging comes from free radicals wreaking havoc in our body’s cells. CoQ10’s antioxidant ability can counter these free radicals before damage occurs.

Unfortunately, like many other vital substances, as we age, the amount of CoQ10 in our bodies becomes depleted.

Although CoQ10 is a great ingredient, not all forms are equal. One in particular stands head and shoulders above the rest. This version of it is called Nano-Lipobelle H-EQ10.Most of the CoQ10 you buy in a typical skin care products are not readily usable when applied topically to the skin.

•    Nano-Lipobelle H-EQ10, on the other hand, is a special nano-emulsion form of CoQ10, which penetrates far down into the skin, thereby providing much greater benefits for skin health. In fact, Nano-Lipobelle H-EQ10 has been shown to penetrate seven layers deep into the skin, making it extremely effective at gobbling up free radicals in your skin. The result is a powerful anti-wrinkle effect.

Supplements for Your Skin

Dry skin recommendations and supplements that can help your skin

Dry skin responds best to climates with high humidity and hates cold, dry and windy climates. Indoor heating and air-conditioning can also be drying to skin. If you live in a dry climate, try to use a humidifier to add moisture to the air. There are many affordable varieties available on the market or for re-sale today.
Don’t steam your face or use excessive steaming facials because steaming is actually more drying than hydrating. Likewise, avoid steam rooms, swimming pools, chlorinated hot tubs and overly hot baths. Avoid those old-fashioned recommendations to put your face under a towel over a pot of boiling water. Not only will this lead to excessive drying, it can also cause broken capillaries or blood veins along the fragile skin of the cheeks and nose.

If your skin tends to be dry, and tight or wrinkled and sun spotted, avoid excessive sun, exposure or hot wax facial treatments, hair sprays and hair dyes that can dry your skin and provoke inflammation leading to dark spots.

Hormone replacement therapy can help to lessen skin dryness after Menopause though it will increase age spots due to new hormones stimulating pigment production. It may help prevent the wrinkles that quickly occur after menopause Consult with your doctor with your family health history to make an informed decision on HRT.

Acne Symptoms and Treatments

SYMPTOMS

Acne is often not apparent to an observer. Inflamed pores, however, can cause pain or itching. The most troubling aspect of acne for many people is the scarring that can occur. And, while acne may not be very noticeable, individuals tend to be sensitive about their appearance. Teenagers especially may become concerned about the way other people react to them.

DIAGNOSIS

While many with acne often choose to self-treat or are treated by family doctors, more serious cases are referred to a dermatologist (a specialist in skin disorders) or an endocrinologist (a specialist in hormonal disorders). Because of its appearance, acne is generally not difficult to diagnose. A doctor takes a complete medical history, which includes questions about skin, diet, medication use, and other factors associated with risk for acne. He or she conducts a physical examination of the face, upper neck, chest, shoulders, back, and other affected areas. The doctor determines the number and type of blemishes, whether they are inflamed or not, whether they are deep or near the surface of the skin, and whether there is scarring or skin discoloration. Laboratory tests are not done unless the patient appears to have a hormonal disorder. In that case, blood tests and other tests may be ordered. Most insurance plans cover the cost of diagnosing and treating acne.

ANTI-ACNE DRUGS
Brand Name (Generic Name) and their possible common side effects:

Accutane (isotretinoin) > Dry skin, dry mouth, conjunctivitis
Benzamycin > Dry and itchy skin
Cleocin T (clindamycin phosphate)    Dry skin
Desquam-E (benzoyl peroxide) > Itching, red and peeling skin
Erythromycin topical (A/T/S, erycette, t-stat) > Burning, dry skin, hives, red and peeling skin
Minocin (minocycline hydrochloride) > Headache, hives, diarrhea, peeling skin, vomiting
Retin-A (tretinoin) > Darkening of the skin, blistering, crusted, or puffy skin