LexiYoga

Back to Basics with Natural and Organic Skin Care

This article is brought to you by Margaret Mackintosh. She created Beaulance Natural Skin Care products which are excellent for all skin types, and sensitivities, since 2000. Beaulance Natural Skin Care offers you a variety of natural skin care products with organic ingredients to lavish and pamper your skin, and keep you beautiful. Visit beaulance.com for more information.

natural beauty

Know what all those ingredients are?

A little homework will enable you to scan labels of a product for synthetic and toxic ingredients. This will empower you, the consumer, to choose wisely and knowledgeably... what will go on and into your skin.

No longer do you need to be conned by the This product is completely natural routine. What's natural about all those parabens and their relatives? And are they really necessary?

The jury is in on a few key points. We know that what goes on your skin is absorbed and we know that our bodies accumulate toxins over time. As we age, it is increasingly difficult for our bodies to metabolize and eliminate all that we consume. So, a toxic build-up occurs and we can become as walking time-bombs!

I've talked to many people, mostly women, who have made the switch to organic and unprocessed foods. They've really cleaned up their act. Then they tell me they are using a brand of skin care products that is filled with toxic ingredients. Two thoughts come to mind here; they can't read the label because it is illegible, unintentionally or not, or they simply don't have the knowledge to decipher the list of ingredients.

In addition to unpronounceable names, consider also the cost of a product and its presentation. What percentage of your retail cost was spent on marketing your chosen brand, and are you buying that brand because it is heavily and cleverly marketed, or are you buying it purely on the merits of the product itself? It is known that, for most beauty products, only seven cents pays for the real cost of the ingredients, and four cents covers the production process. All the rest goes to the organization behind their production.

Is the packaging simple or does it come in a box that is immediately tossed once you've purchased it? Even some apparently natural products carry a hefty price tag, of which a considerable amount is spent on packaging, often including an unnecessary and expensive box. Health food stores are full of them! This is where a little knowledge comes in... and goes a long way! There are a few good books on the subject of Skin Care Products, what to avoid, etc. and you can also do a simple on-line search and print off a list of the nasties to avoid. A few titles that come to mind are: Toxic Beauty, The One Hundred Year Lie and The Green Beauty Guide. They can all be purchased through Amazon for $20 and under.

A good, clean product should have an easy enough label to read. Also watch out for the order of the ingredients, eg. if the first few ingredients are the least desirable ones and the last few are the most desirable, that's evidence of an unhealthy product. A decent product will also list only clean and healthy ingredients in the first couple of lines.

Back to Basics refers to both the ingredients and the packaging of a product. Take Vitamin C for example! Its benefits are far reaching. For example, in the form of ascorbic acid, it can help repair past damage to skin from both age and sun exposure. It promotes wound healing and reduces inflammation and skin swelling. It protects against free radicals that occur from sun exposure and pollution. It also helps to synthesize collagen and helps inhibit the synthesis of skin pigment melanin. Vitamins C & E, (natural Vitamin E) together offer very good skin protection. Vitamin C may also be used to lighten the skin without the side effects of hydroquinone.

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