Factors that can Influence Your Skin Type
Normal skin type
Normal skin is smooth, finely-textured, soft and supple. If you are lucky enough to possess this skin type, treasure it by using light cleansers and lotions and mild toners and fresheners.
Dry skin type
Dry skin is usually thin and delicate and often flaky and prone to fine lines. It sometimes feels tighter than it should. Extremely rich and greasy creams are not good for it because they strangulate the pores, often enlarging them and so creating an extra problem. Use light oils and lotions for moisturising and choose herbal toners, which are mild and not too astringent. Try to restore the pH or acid-alkali balance with the application of such things as cucumber juice or diluted vinegar so that the sebaceous glands are encouraged to function.
Generally speaking, the emollient and hydrating herbs (chamomile, comfrey, cowslip, elderflower, fennel, marshmallow, orange blossom, rose, violet) are the best to use in lotions and toners for dry skin. But there is no hard and fast rule. Astringent herbs can be good for dry skins, for example, if blended with emollient herbs or oils and gels, and many herbs are suitable for all skin types. If the skin is sensitive as well as dry, see the notes on sensitive skin below.
Oily skin type
Oily skin is shiny and coarser-textured, often with enlarged pores. It is prone to blackheads and spots. Don’t use alcohol to reduce the oiliness of the skin, as it will only worsen the problem. Many herbal toners are suitable for reducing oiliness and tightening the pores (see list of suitable herbs below). Egg-white makes a nice mild face-mask. Don’t over dry the skin; moisturise with a light lotion. Aim to restore your skin’s acid-alkali balance so that the sebaceous glands cease to produce such large amounts of oil.
Astringent and cleansing herbs are generally the best to choose when treating an oily skin. These are: cinquefoil, clary sage, comfrey, cucumber, dandelion, horsetail, houseleek, hyssop, lavender, lemon balm, lemongrass, lemon verbena, marigold, mint, parsley, sage, witch hazel and yarrow. But don’t forget that many herbs are suited to all skin types and that many of the strengthening and anti-inflammatory herbs (chamomile, cowslip, fennel, lettuce, elderflower, orange blossom, rose, violet) are suitable for oily skins.
Combination skin types
The person with this skin type will have to follow two beauty routines, one for the dry areas, and another for the oily. I think the oily areas balance up more easily in this type of skin than when the whole face is oily, so don’t despair.
Sensitive skin type
This skin is usually fine-textured and often prone to reddish veins and patches. Keep to light oils and lotions for cleansing and moisturising, and mild herbal toners and compresses to soothe the skin and reduce redness and veins. It is usually wise for people with sensitive skins to stay away from the stimulating herbs (lavender, lime flower, mint, nettle, sage, southernwood, summer savory, thyme).
Dull skin
Dull skin has lost the bloom of vitality and the soft glow of renewal. It looks matt and lifeless. Its acid balance has slipped. If it is oily or large-pored skin use diluted cider vinegar or lemon juice, or cucumber juice to balance it. If it is dry skin, use buttermilk or cucumber juice.
Mature skin type
Older skin can be toned and softened and restored to much of its former beauty. The skin is a wonderfully regenerating organ, given encouragement. Use a light hand with makeup if you must use it, as this dries and ages the skin.
Other Factors that can influence you skin
The foundation of a healthy beautiful skin is diet. Are you getting sufficient polyunsaturated fats? These are essential to a healthy skin and do not cause facial oiliness. They are found in cereal grains, nuts and cold pressed nut and vegetable oils.
Plenty of vitamin C is fundamental to a beautiful skin, because it builds collagen and elastin, the bonding and structural substances which give tone and resilience. There is no need to resort to tablets. Eat bean sprouts, green and red peppers, black currants, oranges and lemons. Then there are guavas and rosehips, so your diet need not be restricted or dull. There is infinite variety to suit every palate.
Lack of vitamin A can cause dryness of the skin. Eat dandelion, parsley, watercress, carrots, pumpkins, celeriac.
If your skin is unbalanced, either flaky or too oily, or if your lips peel, then check your intake of vitamin B foods. Oats, years, bran, goat’s milk, whole rice, sunflower seeds, sprouted seeds and grains are some of the sources.
About The Author
Danny Siegenthaler is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and together with his wife Susan, a medical herbalist and Aromatherapist, they have created Natural Skin Care Products by Wildcrafted Herbal Products to share their 40 years of combined expertise with you.
Join our Natural Skin Care Newsletter - it’s fun, free and Informative and you receive a free eBook on natural skin care.
Tags: combination skin, dry skin, Natural Skin Care, natural skn care regime, normal skin, oily skin-
Posted by admin on June 14th, 2008 filed in skincare | Comment now »
Chemical Free, Natural Skin Care - How Can You be Sure
People are having adverse reactions from their skin care products and our bodies are getting bombarded with potentially toxic substances it can not eliminate.
Wildcrafted Herbal Products have been actively taking part in educating the general public and informing them of the potential dangers of not reading the labels carefully and just buying their skin care products based on advertising slogans and marketing strategies which are often misleading if not down right false…
Below is the report (in part) which was aired on Channel Seven’s Today Tonight:
Expert warns of toxic cosmetics
REPORTER: Glenn Connley
BROADCAST DATE: September 21, 2005 - viewable at: http://seven.com.au/todaytonight/story/?id=24679
Expert warns of toxic cosmetics
A toxicologist has warned consumers to avoid certain additives in cosmetics, saying they could do long term damage or even be deadly.
From moisturiser to shampoo, hair dye to toothpaste, Australians are using lotions and potions daily, trying to look better, younger, smoother and softer.
But what exactly are we asking our bodies to absorb? Toxicologist Dr Peter Dingle said many of the cosmetics that are meant to make us look good and defy age, were actually doing significant, long-term damage.
He said chemical additives, often used in creams as a preservative, could trigger dangerous - even deadly - allergic reactions.
“Over the long term, these are not improving the quality of your skin, they’re damaging the quality of your skin,” Dr Dingle said.
“So you’re going to end up looking older and more wrinkled, the more of these chemicals you put on the skin. That’s the incredibly ridiculous thing about it.”
Eve Diamante had a bad reaction to a sorbolene cream, usually renowned as a simple, safe product. After a burning sensation, Eve frantically washed her face in cold water to ease the pain.
“The water was drying out my face and it even started to bleed along here, if you look in the photos there’s quite deep cracks and it started to bleed,” Eve said.
“My eyes were swollen, I had a red face, but the funny thing was I had a red line to where I didn’t put cream.”
Eve consulted a dermatologist, who discovered she’d reacted to a chemical preservative known as chlorocresol. It took two weeks and a layer of skin to get Eve back to normal.
“All my skin peeled off and that took the heat off my face,” Eve said. “I still looked quite wrinkly and red.”
Melanie Brown’s cleansing mousse freebie didn’t feel quite such a bargain when her skin reacted violently after just two applications.
“It looked swollen,” Melanie said. “It was very red, scaly, it had little white pimples forming on top of the redness and it felt awful, it was burning and itching and it just felt terrible.”
Leanne Black, 30, reacted to a foaming gel which she said turned her clear complexion into a spotty, inflamed nightmare.
“I just thought it was something I’d eaten or drank, but it wasn’t and it continued to get worse and worse,” Leanne said. “And I got some peeling on my nose and cheek areas, and when I put moisturiser on, it would sting quite a lot.”
Neither Leanne nor Melanie were sure which ingredient caused the reaction.
Cosmetics manufacturer L’Oreal insisted its products met all Australian safety standards, but Melanie claimed she was not the only one to have a problem with the cleansing mousse.
“I’m a member of an online forum for women, Vogue Australia, and there’s a whole thread dedicated to just this product and the reaction that a lot of women are getting is identical to what I had: the redness, the inflaming, there was one woman that woke up with her eye fused shut,” Melanie said.
While chemical preservatives were found in many foodstuffs and cosmetics these days, doctors said people were now also more susceptible to allergies. Either way, Dr Dingle said many of the chemicals were unnecessary.
“There is no need for all these chemicals,” Dr Dingle said. “One, you can make simpler products. Two, you can make safer products and just by reducing the number of chemicals that go in people are going to be exposed to a lot less chemicals.”
No matter what the label promises, consumers were advised to test a small amount of creams or cosmetics on their hand or wrist before smearing it elsewhere.
Comment:
This is what we at Wildcrafted Herbal Products have been saying now for 20 years and is the reason why all our skin and personal care products are formulated by a medical herbalist and Aromatherapist, and why only herbal extracts and pure essential oils (as opposed to isolated, extracted active ingredients) are used.
After all, you don’t add a beat-carotene tablet to your salad instead of a carrot, do you?
Also be careful of terms such as hypo allergenic, which are marketing terms and really have no meaning what so ever - you can be allergic to anything, even the most natural, purest form of a substance - peanuts are natural, possibly even organic, but if you’re allergic to them you will have a reaction, which could kill you. It’s that simple.
In some brands of Natural skin care, Natural can mean the addition of one natural ingredient to a cocktail of ‘un-natural’ chemicals; Organic can be as little as 1 per cent organic content…
Doctor Dingle named a danger list of ingredients to avoid.
1. Formaldehyde, an industrial chemical linked to burning eyes, nose and throat, rashes, coughing and nausea.
2. SLS, or sodium lauryl sulphate, which can reportedly affect the brain, eyes, heart and liver.
3 and 4. DEA and TEA, di- and tri-thanolamine, used as wetting agents in creams and shampoos, linked in research with stomach, oesophagus, liver and bladder cancers.
5. Propylene glycol, used as a humidifier in cosmetics, which has been connected with liver abnormalities and kidney damage.
“Sometimes its just the combination of chemicals,” Dr Dingle said. “And there are so many combinations that it’s just impossible to actually pick out a chemical that could be causing the problem.”
In Anna Bragaglia’s case, the chemical was PPD, or paraphenylenediamine, used in hair dyes.
“My son came into my room early in the morning and he just looked at me and he started crying, and he said ‘Mummy, what’s wrong with your face?’,” Anna said.
Anna had put a burgundy tint through her hair at her hairdresser. Within a day, the swelling and pain was unbelievable, she said.
“I think people need to be more aware of the dangers because it has become a society where everyone’s high on looks and everything like that,” Anna said.
“So I really think that people need to look into that, read more about it before they start using products which are available from the supermarket shelf and chemists.”
Take a look at: http://www.wildcrafted.com.au/Chemicals%20in%20Skin%20Care.html entitled ‘Chemicals in skin care’ - This article contains a long list of chemicals commonly found in popular skin care products and you should definitely avoid them.
Danny Siegenthaler is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and together with his wife Susan, a medical herbalist and Aromatherapist, they have created Natural Skin Care Products by Wildcrafted Herbal Products to share their 40 years of combined expertise with you.
Join our Natural Skin Care Newsletter - it’s fun, free and Informative and you receive a free eBook on natural skin care.
© Wildcrafted Herbal Products 2005
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Posted by admin on June 9th, 2008 filed in skincare | Comment now »
Natural Skin Care Products - Why Natural Ingredients Work Best on Skin
Natural Skin Care Products - Why Hundreds are Making the Switch to Natural Products
Natural skin care products seem to be on the rise recently. Go to your local drugstore and you’ll see evidence of this.
“Natural Skin Care” seems to be quite a buzzword lately, and with good reason - many natural skin care ingredients actually outperform their man-made counterparts. As with any other natural beauty product, unfortunately the adage “you get what
you pay for” applies almost two-fold here.
If you’re spending very little, odds are you are getting a watered down or poorly manufactured version of the primary natural ingredient you are looking to receive skin repair benefits from. Natural skin products must contain a high enough concentration and quality of the essential
nutrients, vitamins or compounds they advertise in order to have any effect at all in most cases.
So, to give you an idea of what to look for, here is a summary of a few of the most potent natural skin care products. Some can actually be taken as an oral skin health supplement, while all of them come in topical application form. They are
all absolutely the most powerful skin mending agents available
today. You won’t believe the difference these can make in your skin tone, clarity, firmness, and reduction of lines and wrinkles. It is nothing short of amazing that these powerful compounds are found in nature and have such profound healing properties.
1.)DMAE or Dimethylaminoethanol
This natural compound, found naturally in the skin of fish (especially wild salmon)is known for providing excellent collagen support to the outermost layers of skin (the most important since this is what shows on the surface!). The results are tighter, firmer skin and a
great reduction in fine lines and wrinkles. It also is known for helping to reduce age spots (liver spots), and is a well known memory and concentration enhancer.
2.)Alpha Lipoic Acid
This natural acid is a very potent antioxidant that eliminates free radicals, one of the primary factors in the aging of skin and breakdown of skin elasticity. When applied externally and taken internally as a skin supplement, it can dramatically improve skin’s appearance within a matter of just a few weeks.
3.)Vitamin C
Well, Vitamin C truly is the miracle cure vitamin! Topical Vitamin C protects the skin from sun damage, and even helps reverse the effects of photodamage (sun damage) on the skin. It protects from sun damage(in conjunction with a sunscreen of course), by neutralizing free radicals. Vitamin C is actually the only antioxidant that is proven to increase the production and synthesis of collagen. Vitamin C is an absolute must-have in your skin care regimen regardless of your skin type.
4.)Retinol
Retinol is a natural form of vitamin A. It helps the skin regenerate and rejuvenate in a healthy manner and is especially effective on sensitive skin since it does not cause redness or peeling.
Using a combination of these four very effective natural skin care products, you can’t help but see a noticeable difference in your skin. Don’t be surprised if you suddenly start receiving complements like “have you been on vacation?”, or “wow - what are you using on your skin?”. This stuff is that good. Give it a few weeks, you’ll see a huge improvement.
Who says we have to accept dull, wrinkled, broken out or uneven skin? You will never go back to a normal skin care routine once you’ve found the right natural skin care products!
Visit Best Skincare Product Reviews for information on the most effective natural skin care products. Danna Schneider is the founder of Natural Acne Remedies
Tags: Natural Skin Care, Natural skin care products, natural skin vitamins, skin care, skin supplements-
Posted by admin on June 3rd, 2008 filed in skincare | Comment now »