you are what your face eats

What is your skin eating?

Seriously, think about this. What is your skin eating? What do you feed it on a daily basis? Do you feed it expensive lotions that contain a ton of chemicals, synthetics and parabens?  Your skin is your largest organ and guess what, it absorbs and literally pretty much ‘eats’ what you put on it.

According to the Environmental Working Group, “The average woman uses 12 products containing 168 different ingredients daily. Many cosmetic chemicals are designed to penetrate into the skin’s inner layers, and they do. Consequently, some common cosmetic ingredients turn up in people’s bodies. Among them: industrial plasticizers called phthalates; parabens, which are preservatives; and persistent fragrance components like musk xylene.”

Think about the products you use. You may like to read the teeny tiny fine print that's full of compounds that are unnatural + hard to pronounce. Better yet, check the EWG's Skin Deep database EWG’s Skin Deep database to rate your products - you'd be shocked to see how many rate highly for things like cancer, reproductive toxicity and immunotoxicity.

I'm not trying to make you feel bad here - admittedly, this isn’t something that crossed my mind until a few years ago. I spent many years slathering on lotions and potions and make up and make up remover and soaps and other items I never thought to investigate or give a second thought. 

That has all changed. Now, I don't put things on my skin that I would not eat. Seriously. This sounds CRAZY at first. But when you pause to think about it – really think about it, you’re already eating that lotion with 20 ingredients you can’t pronounce when you put it on your skin…and it doesn’t taste good.

What if, you used natural items and oils that nourish your skin from the outside-in instead of irritating it with chemical-laden products?

My clients have been asking for a few months now to write a post about the items I use and love and I’m happy to do that today. 

Please give this a thought – it doesn’t mean you have to dramatically throw everything in your bathroom away (though cold-turkey is a wonderfully dramatic place to begin)  - but it DOES mean you should start to think about things. Maybe even try out a new plant-based product or two. Your skin (and your immune system) will thank me later. 

Body care

• organic cold-pressed almond oil, organic cold-pressed sesame oil, coconut oil, and even high quality cold-pressed olive oil can become your skin’s best friends.  You want to look for the high quality stuff (the cold-pressed, the organic), and then you can go crazy. Yes a little goes a long way….yes you may feel like a greased pig at first…but no…using natural plant-based oils will not promote acne. They actually work together with the oils in your skin as opposed to many of the synthetic chemicals in other lotions that don’t do your vibrant glow (or your pores) any favors.  So the oil actually helps to balance your own skin's oils regardless of where you fall on the oily/dry spectrum. And it will also give your skin a nice, dewy glow. 

Face

• You can use ANY of the above oils on body or face. You don’t have to separate! That said, if you do want to use some of the specially designed facial stuff - designed with extra special essential oils, check out Alex Elle’s luscious and exquisitely scented ‘glow serum’ through her all-natural company Balm + Co. Better yet, check out their entire line and all of the wonderful products sold at the plant-based, woman-owned Be Clean Shop in Washington, D.C. (and everywhere online). Yes, when you take care of your skin and want to buy beautifully crafted products it’s a little bit more expensive. Yes, you are worth it. Yes, your skin is worth it. But please do remember – a big ol’ jar of Coconut oil (about $12) could be used on body, face, etc.
• I'm also a big fan of Annmarie organics. Their essential oil and plant-based serums are wonderful + smell super good. They also offer samples for just a small amt. of $. 
•  Keep in mind, you can also use any of the body care oils as makeup remover. How wonderful to not have to remember to buy or bring expensive wipes or little potions of eye-makeup remover filled with chemicals that may irritate your super soft (and sensitive) skin around your eyes -huh?! Coconut is a personal favorite here but the sky is the limit.

As always – I’d love to hear your feedback and offer further explanations about any products or items I use. I’m sure there are many many other wonderful, plant-based and natural items out there, I just haven’t found or used them all….yet…I challenge you to explore the ingredients listed on the things you use on your face every day. 

We’ll address makeup another time, for now, kick the habit of overpriced lotions and try the natural stuff. You'll love it.