Beauty And The Blog

Archive for the ‘Ingredients in Skin Care’ Category

If it is ‘natural’ skin care it is good for your skin, right? Did you say yes? Well, it isn’t always the case. Sometimes a ‘natural’ ingredient can be irritating or even damaging to the skin.

We all want to think that natural and/or organic are the best choices when addressing our skin care needs. But in some cases we can actually be doing more harm than good.

There is no factual or scientific proof that natural ingredients are better for our skin other than the claims being made by the manufacturers or media.

Claims are made by the manufacturers of skin care that contain synthetic ingredients as well. No matter what side of the fence the manufacturer sits on, they are going to make claims of wondrous results in an effort to get you and me to use their product. It’s just advertising and marketing that they hope we will all buy into.

But I want to talk about natural ingredients here. Because even though they are natural ingredients, some can cause skin sensitivities, irritation or allergies. Did you know that irritation and inflammation of the skin can cause the breakdown of collagen, impair the skins ability to heal and defend itself from environmental pollutants and damage? Yeah, not so good, huh?

There are, of course, many natural ingredients that are just fine and quite effective. But how do you know which may be good and which may be harmful? Well, like I have said about any skin care, you need to know what to look for, or what to steer away from.

The simplest way to navigate a natural ingredient product list is to be aware of which are known to be irritating and not beneficial to skin in general.

I’m going to give you a list (yes!) of common natural ingredients that are known to cause irritation to most (not all/everyone) skin. So if you are using a natural product and having a little issue or two, your answer could be just an ingredient on the list. Or, if you aren’t seeing the results you would like, perhaps you are experiencing irritation at a deeper level the eye can’t see. Remember- irritation = damage, even if you can’t see the irritation. Read the rest of this entry »

This time I’m not going to tell you about some great anti-aging ingredient, what it does and why you should use it.  No, this time I have found something that is truly bizarre, if you ask me.

I was checking out some skin care info, you know, just surfing around to see what’s up. And I came across this article that seriously blew me away. I do know that there are some wild and wicked things in some of those potions and lotions we women use. But really now….

This article made me jump up and check out some labels, like real quick. And I am happy to say I found none of the things I just read about in the ingredient lists of my own skin care. I am a bit concerned about a lipstick or two.  The tubes don’t have ingredients listed on them, that is on the box that you throw away. Hopefully there are no ground bugs in mine. If there are, well it hasn’t hurt me yet. I just don’t like thinking about it. So I won’t. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you already discovered the wonders of retinol? If you are using a product containing this anti-aging ingredient, smart woman. For those of you who aren’t yet using retinol, you are about to be enlightened. And yes, you are smart, too. Because you have come looking for the info.

Retinol is two things to our skin. 1)  A cell communicating ingredient. Retinol tells your skin to start behaving as if it had younger, healthier skin cells. Yessss! (meaning smoother, glowing, radiant skin) And, 2) Retinol is a potent antioxidant that fights free radicals resulting from exposure to UVA and UVB rays (sun) and pollutants. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you using a night treatment that includes the active ingredient retinol? Or the prescription strength form Retin-A? And are you using a leave on chemical exfoliant (cream, lotion, liquid or gel) to remove the layer of dead skin cells on your face (so that awesome retinol, a cell communicating ingredient, can really penetrate the skin)? Would you happen to be applying them both in the evening?

Retinol and Retin-A do their best work at night. While your body is at rest and in repair/rejuvenate mode. Used during the day these products can cause reactions in the skin from the sun, such as redness and burning. They can also be neutralized by sun exposure. So you aren’t really doing yourself any favors by using these ingredients during the day..

But if you are using an AHA or BHA product in the evening along with your retinol or Retin-A, you may not be getting the benefits you think you are. Read the rest of this entry »

When you look for anti-aging products, what do you look for? It’s important to know the components of a good anti-aging product, whether it is a serum or a moisturizer.  If you have read any of my earlier posts you already know that I am not all that enthusiastic about cleansers that contain anti-aging ingredients, why pay the extra money for something that is on your skin such a short time and rinsed away? Active ingredients need to stay on your skin a while to do their work. And that just doesn’t happen with a cleanser. Off it all goes down the drain….

So, 5 things. 5 things that are not negotiable when it comes to ingredients in your anti-aging routine. This is important stuff, because each of these 5 things does a different job. And we need all those jobs done to maintain the complexion we all strive for. Read the rest of this entry »