Beauty And The Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Skin Care’

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 »

No woman wants a mustache. Or those weird chin hairs that magically appear one day with no warning. We all know about waxing, tweezing, bleaching and depilatories.

And now in addition to electrolysis we have lasers that are very effective for removing unwanted hair not only on the face but other areas of the body as well.

Now, what would you think if I told you that dermatologists and estheticians have been recommending shaving as a real alternative to the methods of hair removal for the face? I’m an esthetician and I hadn’t heard about it! But I haven’t been working in a salon or medical spa since 2003. Read the rest of this entry »

Shopping for anti-aging products and skin care in general on the internet can be tricky. Of course if you already have used a product and know you like it you’re fine. But what if you don’t know what to choose. Or worse… your own skin type.

I have found in the past, by asking a few direct skin related questions, that many women are wrong about what type of skin they have. Therefore, they are treating it wrong, with a product inappropriate for them. That would mean two things for them. No results, and possibly, worse skin problems. Read the rest of this entry »

Of course you have seen them. Just about every women’s magazine has them. You know, those articles where they tout what the beauty editor claims is the best skin care or anti-aging products. Or often it is based on a reader’s poll.

Do you believe the products receiving these “Beauty Awards” are truly the best you can get? Do you run right out and stock up? Or do you do a little research of your own first, like finding out the list of ingredients and what they really can or can’t do?

I have wondered at times if some of these ‘awards’ are based on advertising dollars. What do you think?

And if it is “Reader’s Choice”, do you really think the average reader (not you of course, you read this blog, wink..) knows what the right combination of ingredients are? Are they voting/nominating these products because they smell great? Or maybe because it is a highly advertised product, so therefore, it must be great? Read the rest of this entry »