Showing posts with label natural. Show all posts
Showing posts with label natural. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Getting Rid of Redness - How to Lighten Your Skin Naturally

Do you have an uneven skin-tone? Perhaps your capillaries are overactive and there are reddish spots on your skin where your circulation can be seen too close to the surface of the skin. Or maybe you're unhappy with your freckles and dark spots that you're gaining with age. Skin tone is constantly varying with time and environmental conditions, it never remains as light as it used to be. The worst skin damager is the sun, although you may love your darker complexion, you ought to think about the consequences of weather-beaten effects on your skin cells. However, there are ways to lighten your skin naturally, seeing as those expensive beauty regenerating creams tend to be filled with unhealthy chemicals and do not show the results they promise. You should always be using sunscreen in your daily routine (even in the winter) because it's the easiest way to keep your skin's youth, most moisturizers can be found with at least SPF 15-30.

Natural exfoliation - do this once a week
  1. 2 tbsp brown sugar (+ 2 tbsp oatmeal if you choose) and mix with 1/4 cup milk
  2. stir until pasty consistency
  3. scrub your face gently
  4. rinse with water
  5. apply moisturizer so your skin doesn't dry out from treatment
Lighten your skin - do this as often as you'd like
  1. take 2 egg whites and an equal amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice and mix together
  2. heat mixture in a pan and put it inside jar
  3. let mixture cool until room temperature and apply to skin
  4. rinse after 15 minutes with water
Another method of lightening - you can do this 3x a day if you want
  1. take 1/2 cup tomato juice and 1/2 cup oatmeal and mix together
  2. place mixture on your skin
  3. rinse off with water after 20 minutes
Drinking lots of water regularly helps maintain your hydration level and make sure you eat many fruits and vegetables in your pursuit of lighter skin. If you wish you can rub your face with lemon juice, milk, or papaya as all of these have natural whitening properties. Be extremely wary of skin lightening treatments you can purchase as many of these are not FDA approved for such usage and increase cell turnover (how fast your skin's cells are killed and replaced) which can lead to detrimental effects such as the pigment going underneath the outermost layer of your skin and possible skin cancer-promoting mechanisms. The chemical whitening solutions that can be found in stores also have a high possibility of causing an allergic reaction on your skin.


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Cosmetics Consumer Conspiracies

The cosmetics industry has long been shrouded in mystery, making up false pseudo-scientific reports for their products, not releasing any of their testing information to the public, and hocking up the price of simple cosmetics that could literally be made in your own home. If you look at the product labels you will see many compounds that you don't necessarily recognize even if you've taken high-level Biochemistry courses and have similar academia qualifications. There have been accusations and fines for almost all of the cosmetics manufacturers (Sephora and L'Oreal to name a few) for price fixing after secret meetings. Apparently, these companies have always been monopolizing the market to their advantage, so that private-label household brands stand no chance in the multibillion dollar industry.

If you want to know what poison the cosmetics industry is pouring into the majority of your products and calling them 'cosmetic grade' (in that they won't kill you if you use them) you can check out the list of 12 chemicals used that will adversely harm your skin, promote aging and are carcinogenic agents. If your cosmetics claim that they are organic, you should look at the ingredients list on the back of the product, because I can almost guarantee you that these products are not organic. Just because something is 'Certified Organic' does not mean the entire product is, it means that some of the ingredients used in the product are organic compounds, these will usually have asterisks by the name. At the very bottom in fine print you will see that the asterisk means that only those products are organic. It is very important when purchasing products that you read between the lines and pay attention to the fine print. The cosmetics industry is preying on the fact that the majority of their consumers are not educated in that specific field and/or don't care about what the products are made out of. You don't need to have a degree in Chemistry to see strange long-winded chemical names that you don't recognize and wonder what they're doing to your skin and body.


Lavender Gift Crate
http://www.vermontsoap.com/specials.shtml
It's a big let down to know that companies are trying to fool consumers so if you have any doubts or questions you should call up your favorite cosmetics companies and ask about their products and practices. They have a responsibility to be honest with their consumers and if you find that they are beating around the bush or being dishonest and have a history of bad practices you may want to consider switching brands. If you're unsure where to start, ry Vermont Soap Organics products, for example, because they are completely open about their ingredients and even have a page on their website dedicated to listing all of the ingredients in every product. If you see that a cosmetic has a 'USDA grade' label on it, then you know you're dealing with a product that is good enough for your body as determined by the Food and Drug Administration because 'USDA grade' means that it is good enough for human consumption (these are the guildelines used to determine whether something is healthy to eat!). The factory where these products come from must be an Organic Processor factory that is legalized to make these products with federal certification in the United States. 
http://www.liquidplanet.com/images/tier3/Organic_USDA_Paneldiagram.gif

Keep in mind that without fragrance enhancers and chemical oils, naturally made products will not be as potent in their overall appearance and smell as those jam-packed with inorganic compounds. Changing to an all-natural, healthy skincare routine may take some getting used to, but it's definitely worth saving your skin from the risks of drying out, cancer, and oil imbalance. Also, if you think you are purchasing products that are hypoallergenic, you must keep in mind that this only means that there are less allergic compounds in that product compared to others, but it does not mean that there are no allergic products. There is no federal regulation for products that controls the amount of allergens found so these labels are purely introduced by the manufacturer. Make sure you know what it is you are allergic to by going to your doctor and then look out for those ingredients in everything you buy and stay away from them.

Until next time, stay beautiful and healthy everybody!!