Staying hydrated, a good diet, exercise, plenty of sleep, limiting sun exposure and an overall healthy lifestyle will all help keep you looking young. Having the right skin care products will also make a huge difference and can make you look healthier and years younger.
The challenge is how to find products that are both safe to use and effective at rejuvenating our skin. Unfortunately, we’re bombarded with so much marketing material that it’s hard for a normal person to sift through it all. Our constant overexposure to fancy advertising campaigns and glossy pictures has done little to educate us. In fact most of us know very little about the products and ingredients we apply to our skin.
It’s definitely worthwhile to learn more about what you’re using. Being informed not only helps you determine if your products are safe, it gives also you valuable insight into their effectiveness. However, learning about what’s in your products can be a real eye opener. One of the most shocking revelations is that even in 2011, there are lots of dangerous chemicals commonly used in personal care products.
We know that formaldehyde is a carcinogen, parabens have been found in breast tumor samples, and petroleum based skin care ingredients have been shown to be contaminated with carcinogenic impurities. Aluminum salts, sulfates, PEGs, artificial dyes and fragrances are also under fire. Yet all of these ingredients are still being used in personal care products.
It’s also surprising to learn that fragrances are considered trade secrets so their actual ingredients don’t even have to be listed. Keep that in mind the next time you see the word “fragrance” on the list of ingredients. How are we supposed to know if a product is actually safe when we can’t even find out what’s in it? It’s really unsettling because manufacturers put fragrance in practically everything.
The first step to finding great skin care products is narrowing down your choices by avoiding anything on the long list of controversial chemical and petroleum ingredients. Great products should never pollute your body or threaten your health. That’s why people are drawn natural skin care products. Just make sure your healthy choice really is “natural” by checking the full list of ingredients and not just the front label. That’s because many products are labeled “natural” even though they only contain a token amount of natural ingredients. Their formulas often contain synthetic petroleum ingredients and/or controversial chemical preservatives like parabens or PEGs. Once you start checking your product’s ingredient list for toxins, you’ll be empowered to make better choices.
While avoiding controversial preservatives like parabens, sulfates and PEGs helps insure your safety, it’s equally important to make sure that your products do contain specialized nontoxic anti-microbial agents. That’s because dangerous bacteria, mold and yeast in personal care products can prove even more dangerous than controversial chemical ingredients. These biological threats can flourish in untreated products causing serious skin problems or worse. Natural beauty creams formulated with no protection will have a short shelf life and can pose a major health risk. Like produce, they need to be used when fresh but should be kept in the refrigerator and discarded before spoiling.
To protect your health, make sure any formulas you apply to your skin are protected with nontoxic agents that have been specially designed to preserve natural products. Conscientious skin care companies ensure the safety of their products by using these safe and effective alternatives to commonly used preservatives. Good products should be safe on all levels as well as easy and practical to use.
One company using these specially designed anti-microbial agents to protect their Botanical Anti-Aging Skin Care System is Faiza Cosmetiques from Montreal. Their natural products are fully protected and have all successfully passed the official “Laboratory Challenge Test” which ensures product safety and an extended shelf-life. Faiza Cosmetiques is a great find because their Advanced Anti-Aging Skin Care System is formulated from rare botanicals without any synthetic or petrochemical ingredients. In fact, a video on their website shows just how many different high performing plant species they actually use.
Having the tools to determine whether or not a product is as “natural” as the claim on the front label can be very empowering. Reading labels and learning about ingredients can even give you some insight into a natural skin care product’s effectiveness. After all, not all natural ingredients are the same. They don’t all have the same properties or offer the same level of performance and protection.
Great natural skin care products should contain superior botanical ingredients with proven abilities to nourish, hydrate and protect the skin. Some of the most outstanding natural ingredients for skin care include Shea butter, jojoba oil and rice bran oil.
Shea butter is derived from the nut of the African Shea tree. This complex natural fat definitely excels as an excellent skin protector that thoroughly hydrates the epidermis. It gives skin perfect elasticity while nourishing it with a high proportion of unsaponifiable components (which increases its ability to moisturize and condition), vitamin A (retinol), vitamin E (tocopherol), oleic and linoleic acid. Shea butter is also able to melt at body temperature and is rapidly absorbed into the skin without feeling greasy.
Jojoba oil is an exceptional natural ingredient because it has a composition similar to that of human sebum. This liquid wax (produced in the seed of the jojoba plant) creates a hydrating and non-greasy protective layer on the skin’s surface. It contains vitamin E, fatty acids and phospholipids with a high proportion of unsaponifiables that play an important role in protecting and healing skin as well as in reducing transepidermal water loss.
Another superb ingredient is Rice Bran Oil which is rich in a very strong anti-oxidant called gamma-oryzanol, polyphenols, phytosterols, vitamin E, minerals, squalene, oleic, linoleic and linolenic fatty acids. The synergy of rice bran oil’s components helps reinforce the stratum corneum improving skin’s suppleness and firmness. Its anti-oxidant properties help prevent oxidation in the epidermis which damages and kills our cells.
All of these natural ingredients offer superior performance and effectiveness for moisturizing, protecting and healing the skin. However, for skin care products to deliver true anti-aging results, they also need to contain active ingredients. Active anti-aging ingredients are chemically active agents that produce a pharmacological altering effect on your skin. Without them, products merely hydrate skin without any effect on wrinkles, skin firmness, lift or rejuvenation.
Understanding which active ingredients are safe and actually work is another challenge. You’ve probably seen creams formulated with collagen and elastin. The only way these products will make your skin look younger is if they also contain real active ingredients. That’s because collagen and elastin are not active ingredients. In fact, their molecules are too big to even penetrate skin so they just end up clogging your pores. Manufacturers only use them because it gives marketers something to talk about.
So if putting collagen and elastin in a cream doesn’t make a difference, how do you tighten your skin’s collagen and firm up your face? Amazingly, modern cosmetic science has isolated active botanical ingredients that actually stimulate your skin’s own collagen. The newest discovery in anti-aging is the Spilanthes Acmella Flower. An extract made from this remarkable flower has been proven to boost the natural interactions between collagen fibers and fibroblasts reinforcing the architecture of the dermis. Basically, this means that your skin is able to tighten from within while being repaired and rejuvenated on a cellular level.
Another great active ingredient is Sodium Hyaluronate which occurs naturally in the skin. It is often used by plastic surgeons for facial injections to treat fine lines and wrinkles, and is very effective when added to formulas that are topically applied to the skin. It’s ideal for moisturizing and essential for tissue hydration, lubrication and cellular function. Sodium Hyaluronate is unique in that it’s able to hold more water than any other natural substance which helps retain moisture in the skin. Its hydrating properties can increase smoothness, soften your skin and decrease wrinkles.
Ceramides are also highly effective active ingredients when used in skin care formulas. They are complex lipids that are able to enrich and restructure the intercellular lipid matrix of the outermost layers of the epidermis. This strengthens the epidermal barrier as well as your skin’s cellular cohesiveness making skin more smooth and glowing.
A specialized Lens Esculenta (lentil) seed extract also demonstrates extraordinary properties as an active agent. This cutting edge ingredient has been proven to decrease sebum production, reduce pore size and increase collagen and keratinocyte production. Who knew about the power of the lentil? Amazing.
For the safest and most effective skin care, look for nontoxic products that combine the very best natural ingredients with powerful active botanical ingredients. They will produce the results we all want for younger, healthier looking skin without posing a health risk. Researching who makes the best products will lead you to health and safety conscious companies like Faiza Cosmetiques. Their products are free of controversial chemical ingredients and are formulated with the very finest and safest botanical ingredients. The best part is that their advanced Anti-Aging Skin Care System contains ALL of the amazing natural ingredients and cutting edge active botanical agents listed above. That’s why Faiza Cosmetiques’ clients are able to boast about amazing results like younger looking, moisturized skin, improved complexion and a lifted reshaped face while still feeling secure about their well-being.
If you would like to find out more about Faiza Cosmetiques or try samples, visit
Safe, Natural and Effective Anti-Aging Skin Care 