DIY All Natural Pampering

As a woman, it’s natural to want to look and feel your best. These days, when it comes to beauty care though, we can’t afford to neglect the high possibility of chemicals and harmful substances which are commonly used in many skincare products, even some well-known ones!

While the reality of these facts are sometimes brushed aside in favor of convenience, clever advertising and big names, more and more women these days are starting to pay attention to what they apply on their skin, even more so when they’re pregnant and the well-being of their unborn baby is also at stake. Read on…

Women and beauty-care cannot be separated, for there is not a woman alive who would not appreciate looking and feeling her best. These days, as more awareness on chemicals and other nasty stuff in beauty care products get shared around, more women are beginning to re-evaluate and redesign their beauty regime to be more gentle on their skin.

Pregnant women, especially, are now naturally concerned about what goes onto their skin, for it is now common knowledge that much of what we place on our skin is absorbed into our bloodstream. This ultimately means that what goes onto a pregnant woman’s skin, might affect her baby.

If you are still not that convinced, just think about the mechanisms of products such as nicotine and birth control patches. The effective ingredients work by penetrating into our skin and entering our bloodstream, enabling us to forgo a daily oral pill in lieu of a patch that prevents pregnancy, or keep nicotine in our system while we attempt to wean off from an addiction. While there may be some chemicals that are too large to enter our bloodstream, many are small enough to penetrate and disturbingly enough, many of these unwanted substances find their way into our bodies through regular use of skincare items such as beauty lotions, masks and oils.

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Re-think your beauty plan

Cosmetic advertising are meant to help sell a product and they don’t necessarily portray the truthful facts about the product. Countless brands of creams, lotions, and miracle serums at the pharmacies and beauty counters are made of ingredients you would never otherwise even consider putting onto your skin! Still, in the quest of the ‘changes’ we were promised, we keep using all sorts of these products in hopes to look younger, prettier, fresher, etc.

While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to look better than you do now, it’s best to keep your skincare as simple and utilise more natural ingredients as opposed to using tubs of products which make promises that are almost impossible to deliver.

When it comes to facial beauty care, for example, all you’ll ever need is a basic cleanser, toner, moisturiser, and broad-spectrum sunscreen to keep your skin in tip-top shape. Everything else is just extras that don’t do much for you in the first place other than add unwanted substances such as toxic synthetic ingredients onto your face! So, by simply swapping your arsenal of beauty products for a simple set of certified organic cleanser, toner, moisturiser and sunscreen, you might be actually a step ahead in terms of ‘naturally’ beautiful skin! Once a week, a pampering facial with a scrub and perhaps a beautifying mask perfectly rounds up your regime!

Choose Organic!

If a product is certified organic, it means that the ingredients in it are grown without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. This makes them healthier not only for your body, but for our planet too! Even better yet are ingredients grown using biodynamic farming methods, which go beyond organic by emphasizing a holistic relationship between the soil, plants, and animals. The USDA National Organic Program certifies such personal-care products, and an increasing number of organic skincare products now bear the USDA organic seal. To tell if a product is biodynamic-certified, look for Demeter U.S.A.’s stamp of approval on the label.

Nasties hidden in beauty care products

1,4-dioxane: A known animal carcinogen and probable human carcinogen, it’s also a byproduct of a petrochemical process known as “ethyoxlation,” which involves adding ethylene oxide (a toxin linked to breast cancer) to other chemicals to render them less harsh.
Hydroquinone: A skin-bleaching chemical, as well as a possible carcinogen, neurotoxin, and skin sensitizer. In high doses, Hydroquinone can cause a disfiguring skin disease called ochronosis, which results in irreversible black-blue lesions.
Mercury: Used as a preservative and antibacterial agent in cosmetics such as mascara, where it can be listed under the name “thimersoal,” mercury can damage brain function even at low levels. Mercury can be found in eye drops and certain skin-lightening creams, as well.
Parabens (methylparaben, ethylparaben, butylparaben, isoparapben, etc.): The most common preservatives used in cosmetics to prevent bacterial and fungal growth. Parabens can mimic the hormone estrogen, which some studies show plays a role in the development breast cancer and urogenital abnormalities.
Triclosan: An antibacterial compound found in cleansers, deodorants and other cosmetic products that is classified by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen. Overuse could also result in strains of drug-resistant superbacteria

Make your own skincare products!

While organic beauty products are excellent, so are home-made ones! You can whip up luscious masks and scrubs from ingredients you can find in your own kitchen! Here are some you can try:

Rose Lemon Body Wash

Ingredients:

1/2 a small cup coconut oil

1/3 cup dried rose petals

1/4 cup aloe vera gel (scraped from aloe leaves)

1/4 cup glycerin

1 cup castile soap

1 tsp lemon essential oil

1/2 tsp lavender essential oil

Make your wash:

Preheat oven to 300°F. Once that temperature is reached, turned the oven off.
Mix the rose petals and coconut oil in a loaf pan and place in the oven.
Leave for about 3 hours.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
After letting the oil cool, strain out the rose petals.
After the roses have been strained out, add the castile soap and the essential oils.
Stir to combine.
Pour into a bottle and label it!

Oatmeal gentle wash

Oatmeal is a very gentle exfoliant, so it’s perfect for sensitive skin. It is a natural anti-inflammatory and is very moisturizing.

Mix finely ground oatmeal with honey and/or yogurt or buttermilk. Massage onto your face in a circular motion, let sit for 15-30 minutes, rinse, wash as usual.

Manuka Honey Facial Scrub

Ingredients:

1 tbsp baking soda

1/2 tbsp raw Manuka honey

1 drop of organic lavender essential oil

1 drop organic frankincense essential oil

1 drop of organic geranium essential oil

Make it:

Combine the baking soda and honey together until it looks like a paste.
Add one drop each of lavender, geranium and frankincense essential oils.
Place a warm washcloth over your face and hold on skin for a minute or so to open up your pores.
Gently rub face with facial scrub using small circular motions (be gentle with your skin!). Keep massaging skin with scrub for 1-2 minutes to fully remove dead skin from face and to let the essential oils work their magic.
Rinse off with warm water.