Hello!
I have something really exciting to share with you! For over 20 years, I have been really interested in natural skin care products. And honestly, all natural non toxic products including those for hair, cosmetics, home cleaning and more.
In fact, back in the day, I used to make my own homemade natural skin care products using plant oils like almond or jojoba oil, essential oils and things like oats, walnuts, witch hazel astringent, avocados and other plant derived ingredients. I’d also give them away as gifts. I loved doing this! Then something terrible happened.
When I was 25 years old, I had a severe case of cystic acne breakouts around the lower part of my face near my mouth. Then it spread to my jawline, then the front of my neck. If you’ve ever struggled with this, you know that these are not just little blemishes that go away in a few days. These are deeply embedded, larger, inflamed breakouts similar to boils that take a much longer time to heal. It was a brutal, struggling time for me that lasted nearly 2 years. While I had some acne as a teenager, I presumed that by age 25 I should be over this already.
Over those 2 years, I had frequent emotionally distressing meltdowns over my plummeting self confidence in my appearance and copious amount of tears. I was beside myself with embarrassment and also frustration at trying countless products that never truly helped long term or in some cases made it worse.
I became obsessed with finding the right product for my skin and tried countless ones (and spent a fortune in the meantime!) only to be later disappointed with the unsuccessful results.
Then one day, I decided to give this higher end natural skin care line at Whole Foods Market a try. I had nothing to lose (other than more money) and figured something’s got to work! This natural skin care line was specifically for acne and claimed to penetrate and heal the deeper layers of the skin. I bought several bottles and hoped and prayed for a miracle.
Literally within 24 hours, I noticed the blemishes were less swollen and inflamed and the redness had lessened. I couldn’t believe it! I began to feel hopeful. As time went on over the next few weeks and months, not only did the acne heal, but the sebaceous glands beneath the surface of my skin stopped producing excessive amounts of sebum – the oil, waxy substance that can lead to acne.
These products were not only therapeutic, they were preventative as well. The redness diminished and the pitted acne scars began to heal and become less noticeable. To say that I was relieved and elated is an understatement!
During that time in my life, I started researching all of the ingredients in those products (along with similar ones) to find out why they worked so well and so quickly compared to all of the other products that I had tried from drug stores, department stores, online products and even other products at natural food stores.
What I discovered was that certain skin care companies were using clean, natural, non-toxic, plant derived ingredients like herbs, nut/seed oils, essential oils, natural astringents, natural vitamin based preservatives and emulsifiers that were aimed at healing at a deeper level. Rather than excessively drying out the layers of the skin (the epidermis and the dermis) which can lead to overproduction of acne, these natural ingredients and products were focused on balancing and nourishing the sebaceous glands, allowing the skin to function normally.
Conversely, compare this to the mainstream skin care industry that uses a plethora of toxic, harmful and unsafe ingredients that are still capable of “slipping through the cracks” of the FDA and are commonly used in products that you might be applying topically on your body.
Read more about those toxic ingredients HERE.
And keep in mind that what you put ON your body gets INTO your body!
And here’s what’s even more amazing. During my research at that time in my life, I realized that chronic skin problems are often the result of something deeper within the body – mainly the Gastro-Intestinal Tract, the Liver, the Endocrine System and more. It’s a whole body condition! Simply treating the surface with a quick “band-aid” product doesn’t address the root or underlying cause(s).