Natural Skin Care Products

You have probably seen many skin care products that tagged "natural", but do you know what does "natural" really means? How is it different from other skin care products, and why are so many people people turning to use natural skin care products? If you’re interested to find out more about natural skin care, keep reading. When you finish reading this post, you will know more about natural skin care and how its products work. It's important for you to have a basic understanding for natural skin care in order to select the safest, nontoxic products, and avoiding those with noxious ingredients. After all, natural skin care is about natural and healthier way of life.

What's Natural Skin Care Products
In simple definition, natural skin care product simply refers to skin care products that use only botanically sourced ingredients currently existing in or formed by nature, without the use of synthetic chemicals, and manufactured in such a way to preserve the integrity of the ingredients. The following are a few example of common ingredients used in natural skin care products:

• Shea Butter: A natural moisturizer, shea butter is extracted from the nuts of the Shea-Karite trees in Africa. It contains Vitamins A, E and F -- all known for their skin protection and rejuvenation properties.
• Beeswax: A natural wax made by bees in the cell walls of honeycombs. It's an emulsifier that smooths the skin and is an excellent base for lip balms and moisturizers. It also adds a wonderful natural color and smell to the products.
• Jojoba Oil: Jojoba oil is a natural extracted liquid wax from Jojoba plant. It's is similar to the natural sebum of whale, and is a natural moisturizer which absorbs quickly into the skin.
• Cucumber Extracts: The juice extracted from the cucumber is mildly astringent, yet soothing and can help cooling the skin, taking away the puffiness caused by lack of sleep or dehydration. It also has a slight bleaching action which aids in removing dead skin cells.
• Avocado: A tropical fruit from Central America and California. It's ranked by Guinness World Records as the most nutritious fruit available. Rich in Vitamin A, C, E, protein and amino acids, it's an ideal ingredient for conditioners and moisturizers. Because of the antioxidant properties of Vitamin E, it is also believed to protect the skin from pollution and from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
  
• Thyme: A natural astringent found in facial toners, thyme has been used for centuries for its many medicinal properties. Its natural tannins aid in the treatment of acne.
• Deep Sea Mud/Clay: Precious clay obtained from the Dead Sea in Israel. This age-old natural substance is used in mud baths and clay masks and can help to remove impurities from deep within the pores, leaving the skin clear, clean, and stimulated.

Of course, the ingredients for natural skin care products are not limited to the list above. Other ingredients includes safflower oil, rose hip seed oil, witch hazel, aloe vera, tea tree oil, lavender, ginger, etc.. Many of these natural ingredient combination can be tailored specifically to the individual's skin type or skin condition.

Why Natural Skin Care Product?
So why is natural skin care product so popular and why are so many people turning to it? The reason is simple. Natural skin care products do not contain as much chemical ingredients compared to other non-natural products. Here's the fact. Our skin is the largest organ in our body. An average person slathers, lathers, spays and rubs 10 different skin care products on his or her body every day—and if you are using non-natural skin care products, you absorb the nearly 130 chemicals you regularly expose yourself to. According to the Environmental Working Group, most skin care and cosmetic ingredients known to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are NOT tested for toxins by any accountable institution. Now think about this.. anything you put on your skin, can be detected in every organ of your body within 28 seconds from the time you applied it, and you never know how those chemical ingredients will affect you over time. Isn't that scary? And it really make sense for anyone to turn to natural skin care products once they find out about this.

Tips For Selecting Natural Skin Care Products
Now that you understand the importance of using natural skin care product, here are a few tips that will help you to make the right choice of the safest, nontoxic products, avoiding those with noxious ingredients:

1. Read labels and pay attention to the ingredients used. While natural skin care product are always better than non-natural products, there are still ingredients that you need to avoid even though they are natural. One of the ingredients to avoid is mineral oil. When applying products with mineral oil, it will not immediately absorbed and form a thin layer on the skin. This layer will clogs the pores and results in slowing down the skin’s ability to eliminate toxins. When mineral oil is absorbed, it will steal important vitamins from your body which can eventually lead to nutritional deficiencies. There are definitely more ingredients that you should watch out for. We will cover this in detail in another post. The important thing to remember is: always read the label and understand what ingredients are being used, then spend a little time researching them.

2. Choose recyclable and non-toxic packaging. Glass is the safest packaging as it has totally no danger of leaching toxins to the product, and it's recyclable. Other than glass, plastic is another material that is often used for packaging skin care products. You should pay attention to the recycling code of the plastic if it's used. Code #1 (PET), #2 (HDPE), #5(Polypropylene) are safe, while #3 (PVC), and #7 (polycarbonate) are considered unsafe materials which may release toxins to the product.

3. Keep it simple. There are companies out there which spend more money on marketing more than researching their products. So don't be fooled by their advertising which make promises they could never deliver on. For example, eye creams are usually nothing more than your basic facial moisturizer. So keep it simple. Cleanser, moisturizer, toner, and broad-spectrum sunscreen are basically enough to keep your skin in tip-top shape.

4. Choose products with organic ingredients, which are grown without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. They are healthier not only for our bodies, but also for the planet. The USDA National Organic Program has been certifying personal-care products since 2003, and an increasing number of organic skincare products now bearing the USDA organic seal. A biodynamic-certified product can be indentified by looking for label with Demeter U.S.A.'s stamp of approval on it.

5. Research a skin care company's reputation. Check out the company's website to find out more about the philosophy and values of the company. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a nonprofit health and environmental organizations have listed out all companies which have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, a pledge to remove harmful chemicals from ingredients lists and replace them with safer alternatives. Also, you can always look for reputable and neutral website like Treehugger for recommendation of safe natural products.

Conclusion
Everyone wants smoother, more radiant, and youthful skin. But when caring for our skin, we should also keep in mind those that can actually help us and not put our health in danger in the long run. Natural skin care is the safest way to go. Not only it keeps us beautiful, it helps to prevent harmful chemicals and preservatives both from us and from our environments!