Introduction

The human skin is the largest organ of the human body. It not only has quite a complex structure but also performs several life sustaining functions.

We can live without a Spleen Gall Bladder or an Appendix and we can survive with only one Kidney or one Lung but we cannot survive without our skin. As a result it is of the utmost importance that we take care of our skin.

Using natural skin care products is a good first step in providing the skin with the right nutrients and building materials to retain its health and functionality.

What Does Our Skin Actually Do for Us?

Our skin has many functions most of which we are unaware of until something goes wrong. They include:

• Regulation of body temperature;
• Protection against the elements;
• Sensation;
• Excretion;
• Immunity;
• Blood storage and
• Synthesis of Vitamin D.

If you want to read about these functions in more detail you can have a look at this article: “Anatomy & Physiology of the Skin“.

In summary these functions provide us with awareness of our surrounding climatic environment protect us against some of the bacteria and other potentially harmful bugs in our surroundings allow us to experience touch and feel eliminate toxins from our body store blood and provide the means for our body to obtain vitamin D while protecting our body from the sun’s UV-rays.

Considering these vital functions our skin has to perform it is no surprise that we need to look after our skin and make sure it is given every opportunity to function properly and remain healthy.

Why You Should Choose Natural Skin Care Products?

With all the media and news reports warning consumers of the potentially toxic ingredients in many of the commercially available skin care products sold in supermarkets and department stores this is an easy question to answer.

Firstly many of the commonly used skin care products contain artificial and/or synthetic ingredients that the body has difficulties in eliminating and as a result it tends to store these chemicals in its tissues. Research has shown that the accumulation of many of these substances can have serious health effects.

If you are interested in learning more about some of the toxic chemicals used in skin care products please read the article ” Potentially Toxic Ingredients In Skin Care Products”. It will provide you with much information and research references for you to be able to identify what is in your skin care products and what should not be there.

Holistically natural skin care products do not contain artificial or synthetic ingredients. They should also not contain isolated concentrated natural substances such as parabens (pseudo-natural preservative) and the like that have been shown to be potentially hazardous.

How To Choose Natural Skin Care Products That are Safe and Effective?

This is where it starts to get really difficult. You see many so called natural or organic skin care products are in reality nothing of the kind. Adding a miniscule amount of aloe vera to water does not constitute a holistically natural skin care product. It may be ‘natural’ or even ‘organic’ but it will not be effective and therefore is a waste of your money.

To have an effective aloe vera product for example it requires at least 10% of the overall content to be aloe vera. Or the aloe vera needs to be combined with several other active natural ingredients that are combined to achieve a specific result.

The term ‘Organic’ is another area where consumers are being misled. Adding a single ‘organic’ ingredient and then calling the products ‘organic’ is quite simply wrong. You see the commercials on television and magazines every day… “xyz product contains organic this and organic that”… but no mention is made of the other ingredients that are contained in these products many of which have been shown to be hazardous to our health.

There is yet another problem with natural skin care products that is an area of confusion and potentially misleading. Just ask yourself what exactly is “natural”? What is actually meant by the term “natural”?

The word ‘natural’ congers up images of nature – pristine environments that make us feel good. A safe natural environment that is conducive to health and a sense of wellbeing. Spring water waterfalls pristine lakes a healthy salads Rainforests etc. are all images that we perceive as ‘natural’ or in other words ‘good for us’.

The cosmetic industry has ceased on this and is using the word natural to instil in their advertisements a sense of wellbeing and the idea that this product is good for us. Unfortunately one or two natural ingredients does not a natural skin care product make… Far from it natural skin care products should not contain any ingredients that are not naturally sourced. This brings us to another problem with natural skin care products.

A naturally sourced ingredient such as the various forms of paraben may still be potentially hazardous. Just think about it – would you put arsenic or lead on your skin? No of course you wouldn’t. But they are natural so what’s the problem? Natural substances too can also be deadly poisons.

Applying this to skin care products you might be looking for a product that is natural and contains AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids) which we know help to remove dead skin cell layers which in turn helps to remove fine lines and wrinkles revealing new vibrant skin.

Now you could buy a product that lists as one of its ingredients AHAs it might even contain AHA in its name or you could buy a product that contains a concentrate called papain which is a natural substance from the Papaya fruit. So yes papain is natural and yes this product could depending on other ingredients be called a natural skin care product. However papain is a concentrate and as such many people have experienced side effects because the papain is present in too high a concentration for some people.

A truly holistically natural skin care product would not contain papain as an extract. Rather it would contain Papaya fruit itself. You see the whole fruit still contains papain however it also contains other ingredients in the papaya that modify the excessively strong effect of the papain. Choosing such a product will at least to a large extent reduce any potential side effects from the papain because the product is naturally balanced and contains naturally balanced ingredients that will benefit your skin rather than burn it.

The results of removing fine lines and wrinkles may take a little longer but are overall better and you reduce the chance of ‘burning’ your skin with a concentrated AHA. Remember AHA stands for alpha hydroxy acid and we all know acids burn our skin.

How To Use Natural Skin Care Products?

Following directions

This is actually a lot more important than most people think. Directions for use are a communication by the manufacturer of a product to their consumers about how to use and get the best results from a particular product.

It has been our experience that most people who purchase our natural skin care products do not read the directions and use our products the same way that they have been using their previous brand. This however may or may not be the correct way to use our products.

Properly formulated products contain ingredients in sufficiently high quantities to achieve a desired effect if used in accordance with the product’s directions. Using more does not mean better or quicker results rather using too much can have adverse effects or no more effect than the lesser quantity.

Conversely if for example the product’s directions suggest that it be used 2 or 3 times a day using it merely once is not likely to produce the desired effect in most cases.

This is obvious when we think about taking medicine. We read the directions and take the drugs herbs or what ever as prescribed and hopefully we get the desired result.

So why is it that we do this when it comes to taking medicine but ignore it (for the most part) when it comes to using skin care products or other personal care products?

Reading the instructions carefully and following them ensures that a) you are not wasting your money and b) you should get the desired results.

Good and Bad Reactions from Using Skin or Personal Care Products

There are several possible reactions you may experience. There are good reactions and negative reactions. Let’s look at good reactions to begin with.

Good Skin Reactions to New Products

Herbs essential oils and most of the other ingredients that you’ll find in our range of products have a medicinal actions and are included for a specific purpose that is the formulations that make up our various products were originally designed to treat particular skin health issues. This intent though we do not actively promote this continues to this day.

As you probably know there are three basic skin types; Normal Oily and Dry. In addition your skin may also be sensitive prone to allergic reactions or under the influence of hormonal changes that are taking place in your body. The herbs and essential oils in our products are specifically chosen to normalize the skin given one of the skin types. The herbs and essential oils will have a therapeutic effect on the skin’s structure and function in order to provide an environment under which your skin will start to function normally again.

Similarly this is relevant for sensitive skin that tends to react inappropriately to different stimuli. It is possible for example that an individual with sensitive skin who is using our products for the first time will experience a reaction which they may see as being a negative reaction.

This however may well be totally the opposite to what is actually taking place. You see in order for your skin’s health to improve it has to change. This change may appear at first as a worsening of a particular skin issue and this will understandably be interpreted as a negative.

Under normal circumstances however this type of reaction if the products are continued with will only last for a few days and following this time the skin will improve and end up much healthier. This process is sometimes referred to as ‘A healing crisis’ and is actually a good thing to happen.
It signifies that the ingredients are doing what they are supposed to that is they are repairing and normalizing the skin’s functions. This is a normal and in fact good reaction.

Bad Skin Reactions to New Products

Obviousely there are times when a new product may actually cause a bad skin reaction. Unfortunately a bad reaction often appears very similarly to a good reaction. So how can you tell the difference and what should you do?
The first thing to do when ever you purchase a new skin or personal care product is to test it to see if you have any adverse reactions to this product. Below is a detailed outline and links that will provide you with all the information you need to test a new product in order to determine whether or not your skin is going to react adversely to it or not.

Test the Products to Avoid Allergic Reactions

Another important aspect to using any skin care personal care or cosmetic products whether they are natural or otherwise is to test the products first in order to see if you are allergic to any of the ingredients.

To do this follow the steps described in our article “The Skin Patch Test” which will provide you with a simple yet effective step-by-step test that you can easily do at home over a 24 hour period to reasonably ensure that you will not experience major adverse reactions to the ingredients in products you want to use on your face or anywhere else on your body. This test is simple and very effective.

Finally before you purchase a product look at the ingredients list and see if the ingredients are easily recognisable. As a rule of Thumb if the ingredients are easily recognizable it is more likely that the ingredients are of a natural source and have not been excessively modified. If on the other hand you need a chemistry degree to understand what the ingredient is it is likely not to be a holistically-natural ingredient. It may still be a natural ingredient but it is likely that it has been isolated and is used in a concentrated possibly even synthetic form.

For the most part most ‘natural skin care products’ widely available in the market place are far from natural or that matter organic. Most have minimal quantities of some natural ingredient in an otherwise non-natural product and are referring to the one natural ingredient in the product rather than the nature of the product itself.

Hopefully this article will clarify some of the confusion that exists about what is a natural skin care product and what is not help you to choose natural skin care products that will actually live up to your expectations and clarify why using natural skin care products is a healthier choice.

Nobody wants to have acne. It’s a skin condition that many have and everybody wants to get rid of it as soon as possible. It looks horrible and they can be painful too! It’s an ugly sight and if you won’t do anything about it chances are it will multiply and cover your entire face! Here are some tips on how to get rid of acne. These are just tips so you can try them out and see which ones are effective for you.

1st tip – Use a different soap. Change the soap or facial wash you are using. Maybe it’s what’s causing you acne so try and use a milder product to see if it will solve the problem.

2nd tip – Change your makeup.

Girls maybe the makeup you’re using irritates your skin. Maybe it’s not hypoallergenic and is an irritant to your skin. Try hypoallergenic makeup and see if that will solve the problem.

3rd tip – Use warm water for washing your face. Warm water opens up your pores so you get to clean deeper. Use cool water after so the pores would close so no dirt would get in to your open pores.

4th tip – Drink lots of water. Juice sodas alcohol coffee and energy drinks are not water substitutes. Drink lots of water as in pure water. Water helps flush out toxins from your body so you’d feel cleansed each time.

This will give you healthier skin!

Lastly sleep ! Sleep for 8 hours a night. If you can’t get 8 hours of sleep a night try to get some sleep during the day. This will distress you and will make you feel more alive ! Stress has an impact on your hormonal system so sleeping wards off acne breakouts too.

There you have it. 5 tips on how you can get rid of acne. Try it and see if they will work for you. These of course look very simple but could be very effective and are very easy to implement. These small changes in your lifestyle can make a difference and may even actually make your skin care regimen work better.

If you already have some healthy lifestyle and have tried changing few of your habits then don’t think there is no hope. You can get rid of acne there are some highly effective acne treatments on the market that are very affordable. An acne treatment kit that offer you a complete solution (elimination and prevention) is ideal. Some acne kits even includes dietary supplements to regulate your body so your internal issues (hormonal level changes digestive system…) are controlled. This is some great help to prevent future acne breakouts and an effective addition to common acne creams lotions or gels.

Healthy skin care is very important in that it can prevent skin problems and slow down the signs of aging. Many people have busy lifestyles and do not take care of their skin properly with the right face care products or the best skin care routine. As we age our skin becomes finely wrinkled and thinner which is why it is a good idea to use the best face care products to slow this process down.

Good Skin Care Habits

One of the best ways to take care of your skin is to use sun protection. The ultraviolet rays from the sun can cause wrinkles dry skin and even skin tumors if you expose your skin to excessive sunlight. You should avoid sun exposure in the high intensity hours use face care products containing UV filters and wear a hat or cap if you have to be in the sun.

Smoking also ages the skin and increases wrinkles because it constricts the small blood vessels in the skin’s outer layers.

Cleansing and Moisturizing

Cleaning is a very important part of healthy skin care and you should always be gentle with your skin. Avoid strong harsh soaps because they can strip the natural skin oils. If you have sensitive skin avoid unnecessary additives in your face care products such as perfumes and colorants. To dry your face always pat it with a towel rather than rubbing.

Moisturizing is just as important as cleansing if you want a healthy skin care regime. Moisturizers work by sealing in the skin’s natural oils.

Your skin type and age determine which type of moisturizer you should use. Choose a moisturizer with an SPF or sun protection factor of at least fifteen.

Ingredients in Face Care Products for Healthy Skin Care

Some face care products contain natural ingredients which have been proven to benefit the skin. Cynergy TK is a new ingredient found in some skin care ranges which contains keratin. This rejuvenates the skin and stimulates the growth of new cells.

Nano-Lipobelle H EQ10 is a type of coenzymeQ10. It penetrates deeply into the skin and works well in anti-wrinkle creams. Phytessece Wakame is a Japanese sea kelp extract which helps to keep the skin elastic and toned.

Natural Vitamin E is an ingredient in many face care products because it can reverse the effects of skin aging thanks to its powerful antioxidant properties. Some products contain oils such as jojoba oil which is deeply moisturizing or grapeseed oil which is an antioxidant and repairs the skin banishing stretch marks and smoothing the skin’s surface.

The best face care products for healthy skin care are usually those containing only the purest most natural ingredients. Be careful to check the labels before buying a new skin care product and avoid anything containing cheap fillers. Your skin deserves the best and to keep it healthy and young looking always choose the best natural skin care products you can get.