Organic Skin Care Nourishes Skin and Takes Years Off Appearance

The largest organ on your body is your skin. A lot of times we forget our skin is an organ, just like the brain and liver. We need it to survive and still we often neglect it or don't care that we harm it. Skin is our protective shield and it's important that we treat it with respect. It's also our biggest vanity badge. We don't care what our liver or brain looks like as long as their functioning correctly but we do care about the appearance of our skin. And we should.

Like every organ in our body skin needs vitamins and nutrients. The best way to treat skin is to go as absolutely natural as possible in skin care products and cosmetics. Look at organic and all natural products as food for your skin. Does that mean giving up your favorite Cover Girl foundation or Noxzema cold cream? The answer is: Would you allow yourself to eat those products? No, they're filled with chemicals, toxins and unknown ingredients with long scientific names. Then why feed them to you skin which is a functioning organ just like all the others?

Many commercial companies have now jumped on the natural skin care craze by advertising that their products are "all natural." This isn't necessarily true; typically, it isn't true at all. Often major lines will carry a face cream that's all natural but if you look at the ingredients you'll see a bunch of long words that you may not know. This is a warning that one or two ingredients may be derived from a natural source but the rest of the cream is still made with synthetics.

Also, remember that extracts isn't as pure as oils. When a product is labeled as having "apricot extracts," it's not as pure and concentrated as having "apricot oil." Lots of companies use extracts because it's cheaper. Extracts are often deluded with water and in some cases alcohol.

The best way to find good skin care products is to search for organic lines, these can be found online and in health food stores. Cosmetics are harder to come across than hair and skin care products. There is a downside to organic products, they are generally more expensive than what can be found in a drug store and they have a short shelf life. The purer the product, the quicker you'll have to use it or throw it out. That's because they don't contain all the preservatives that are found in your typical bottles of shampoo and face wash.

Fantastic skin and hair care can be done right in your own home from what's in your refrigerator or garden. If you've never done a homemade facial - try it. You'll be surprised at what the vitamins, minerals, and pure antioxidants can do for your skin. Forget about Botox and all those other expensive, temporary poisonous fillers. Beauty doesn't mean you shouldn't have a few wrinkles and lines on your face, it's about looking real, healthy and glowing from inside. When you're skin is clean, clear and healthy that alone can take years off your appearance.

Fantastic organic and healthy skincare lines

Aubrey Organics - One of the purest skin care lines on the market. Aubrey was founded by Aubrey Hampton in 1967. Aubrey Organics has remained true to the companies policy of remaining organic and listing all the product ingredients in order on the product container. You won't have to worry about long unknown words, though he does list things by their scientific name he also "speaks English" - so to speak. None of his products contain chemicals or artificial ingredients. All products can be ordered online or found in health food stores. If the health food store doesn't carry a particular item you're interested in, put in a request and they will order it for you. Here are some recommend items:

• Aubrey Natural Lips - Lip glosses that aren't heavy and gooey on the lips. They come in fabulous colors and smell and taste great. They are also made from 100% organic ingredients.
• Silken Earth Powder Base - Much better than Bare Minerals. It also has healthy ingredients like real vitamin E.
• Sparkling Mineral Water Herbal Complexion Mist - A herbal mist in a bottle. Spray a little and refreshen your face with nutrients through out the day.
• Collagen TCM Therapeutic Cream Moisturizer 2oz - Natural collagen. No needle fillers needed here.

Larenim Mineral Make Up - A product that puts Bare Minerals to shame. This product comes in powder bases, powder concealers, powder blushes and an endless array of beautiful mineral eye shadows. They also have a great natural mineral mascara. The Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op sales the Larenim Mineral Make Up product line.

Edgar Casey Health Care Products - A brand created called Olivae is sold on the internet through Baar.com. The skin care products of lotions,soaps,mists and tonics do not contain synthetics. Edgar Casey was a firm believer in alternative and holistic medicine before it became popular. The Olivae line was created based on Casey's psychic readings on health.

Homemade skin and hair care recipes

The Banana Hair Wrap (for dry hair and normal skin)

• 1 large banana if your hair is long. (If hair is short, cut all ingredients into halves).
• 2 tbsp. of local honey.
• 1 steam heated towel.

*Mix the banana and honey in a bowl as throughly as you can. It's ok, if big pieces of banana pulp are present. Take what you have mixed and work through hair. Next, wrap your hair in the steam heated towel, leave on for 15 minutes. After time is up, remove the towel and allow mixture to remain on your hair for an hour. Then rinse clean in luke warm water, followed by cool water. This is a tricky task to accomplish because the honey is sticky but once thoroughly rinsed your hair will feel and smell terrific.

Mediterranean Body Scrub (for dry and normal skin)

• 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil.
• 2 tbsp. spoons of sea salt.

* Mix ingredients together in a bowl. Scrub body with mixture and rinse. This works best if you are able to scrub and then leave mixture on for an extra 5 minutes to allow olive oil time to moisturize the skin.

Apricot Lime Face Mask (for oily skin)

• 1/2 apricot (pit removed)
• 1/2 c. of plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. of fresh lime juice.

* Mix apricot in a blender if its hard, softer apricot tend to work better for this. Next, mix apricot and plain yogurt together in a bowl, stir in lime juice. Rub mask on face. Avoid eye area. Leave mask for 5 to 10 minutes.

The Mean Green Mask (for all skin types)

• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 tsp. of fine chopped mint
• 1 tsp. of fine chopped parsley.
• 1 tsp. of chopped watercress
• 2 tbsp. of plain yogurt

* Mix cucumber, mint, parsley and watercress together then add to plain yogurt. Stir until batch is nicely blended. Apply to face for 20 minutes.

Please fill free to add any of your own homemade beauty recipes in the comment section.