White, yellow, red or black, skin is skin and needy of good nutrition. The dry, oily, aging, unevenly toned, sun damaged or clogged pores affect all of us.
Advise on how to achieve healthy skin can be baffling at times.
We are told to avoid bar soap?
I believe they mean for us to avoid the old fashioned ‘lye’ based soaps from the past. Ads and info sites advise to use instead, gentle liquid cleansers’, or if selecting a bar, use one with added moisturizing cream.
Our advice: DO use real bar soaps, not the detergent bars with the ‘additives’. Lye soaps are not the enemy. They have been used successfully for centuries. It is much more likely that you will dry out your skin from a chemical laden liquid cleanser. Go for the pure home- made soap bar without synthetic fragrance or dyes. If you really prefer a liquid, buy a pure castile liquid like Dr. Bronner’s.
We are told to use benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid for acne breakouts?
Caution is required here. While benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid are deigned to rid of acne, it could be at a cost. Both of these can have serious side effects like redness and allergies.
Our advice: To improve any skin condition, clean with nutritious handmade soap bar, with additional oils like emu, neem, argan or tamamu, tone with an alcohol-free toner and apply unrefined Emu Oil or Emu cream. Check out our Skin Management Program for the one stop shop.
We are told to use strong spectrum sunscreen all the time,
rain or shine, outdoors, indoors, 350 days a year?
Scare tactics are used to pressure us into lathering in these chemical laden and often toxic protectants. I grew up with the Coppertone’s and Bain de Soleils. The smells were intoxicating. If only we knew back then what we know now. You have to seriously digest the labels before you buy.
Our advice: Definitely do protect. This is one area where skin tone is a factor due to varying melatonin levels. But know your skin. Know what you are buying as protection. All oils have SPF factors and they do offer some protection. For centuries people used olive, shea, tamanu, emu, kukui, coconut. Today. we can use combos and achieve a natural SPF factor. When necessary, Zinc is the best block there is and has an SPF of 25-30 which is the highest and very effective. Protect carefully.
We may be told to avoid essential oils?
While caution is necessary when applying any essential oil, you may read that certain EO’s can aggravate the skin. Sensitive skin always requires proper application and testing but EO’s CAN make a world of difference. Don’t be frightened of them.
Our advice: Do not buy just any EO on the market. Some are mixed, some are actually fragrances posing as an essential oil. As qualities vary, so do prices. Look for 100% pure therapeutic essential oils. Most should be mixed with a pure carrier oil* and the blend can do wonders for the skin. *eg. Add a drop of EO to Shea, Olive, Kukui, Tamanu, Emu.
We are told ‘high end’ is best?
Advise often steers us to the best and the latest serum discovery, the high end, state of the art, skin care. Sometimes the advice holds true. But not always. Buying a dollar store large tub of face cream may not be a great idea. But you need not pay a fortune either. Clever marketing is exactly that. Just be diligent. Resorting to the tried and true, the pure, centuries old nutrition that nature made for us can be a very wise decision. All skin being equal.
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