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Caring for Your Skin, Naturally, from Healthy Living by Lorin Shields-Michel
Summer's nearly over. How has your skin made it through the season? Did you tan, or maybe get a sunburn or two? Does your skin feel tight and dry, or did it stay soft and supple?
We usually think about skin care more in the summer. (More of our skin shows, for one thing.) It's also more prone to sun damage. But pampering your skin is important year 'round. After all, skin does much more than make you look good; it is, in fact, your body's largest organ. It protects everything inside from damage—from dehydration, infection, and injury. It helps regulate temperature and manufacture vitamin D. And its condition is often an indicator of your inner health.
Keeping your skin in good condition is important—especially as you get older, when your skin produces less of its own natural conditioning oils. Without a little help, your skin can become dry, ashen, and lackluster. It may itch. It will wrinkle in places you'd rather it didn't. It becomes more vulnerable to chapping, cracking, and irritation-which can create openings for infection.
You get one birthday suit that has to last your whole life. What's the best way to take care of it?
Shelves and Shelves of Moisturizers
When we talk about moisturizers, we're really talking about two things: hydration (water), and protective oils and fats (lipids) which lock water within the skin and keep its surface supple and youthful. Lighter moisturizers contain more watery ingredients; heavier moisturizers, for drier skin, contain more lipids. Your skin needs both water and lipids.
The array of moisturizers available is bewildering. Even more bewildering: All those ingredients! Have you ever read the ingredients on a bottle of moisturizer? Your skin will absorb many of those substances. What kind of ingredients do you want your skin to absorb?
If you've read this magazine before, you already have a good idea of what we recommend: Natural is better. Moisture and lipids from plants like organic aloe and jojoba are more compatible with your skin than petrochemical ingredients—mineral oil, paraben preservatives, artificial dyes and fragrances, stabilizers, emulsifiers, used because they're cheap or because they allow a product to sit on a shelf for years. Many of those chemicals won't just stay on your skin's surface. Your skin will absorb them. But when your skin absorbs a natural moisturizer, created with only healthy ingredients, you're absorbing the nutrients in those ingredients. Why not give your skin the most nourishing ingredients possible?
Fortunately, this is getting easier, thanks to companies like Aubrey Organics. Aubrey's moisturizers are made without petrochemicals. There are products for your face and your body—formulated in Aubrey's fast-absorbing coconut fatty acid cream base, hydrating organic aloe, or even rich organic shea butter. To those bases, Aubrey adds certified organic ingredients such as Matcha green tea, Rosa Mosqueta® oil, and sea buckthorn oil—full of natural antioxidants. (More on this later.) You'll also find organic ingredients such as evening primrose oil, great for severe dry skin conditions; protein-rich blue green algae; and jojoba oil, the next best thing to your skin's natural oil.
Face It...
Your face is the first thing most people notice. You may have gorgeous, shiny hair and a figure that a properly nourished supermodel could only dream about, but it's your complexion that's right out there, every day, for all to see. It's also vulnerable to sun damage, pollutants, and chemicals in your cosmetics. Your facial skin is thinner, and quicker to show signs of aging. Therefore most people are especially concerned with facial skin care. Aubrey Organics offers a wide selection of daily facial moisturizers made for six different skin types. Almost all of these moisturizers contain herbal antioxidants—organic Rosa Mosqueta oil, sea buckthorn oil, green tea, and more. At night, you're covered as well, with antioxidant-rich products like Rosa Mosqueta Night Crème with Alpha Lipoic Acid (for drier skin types) and Vegecell Nighttime Hydrator (made with antioxidant-rich green tea, for all skin types).
Why all the talk about antioxidants? They're crucial. You want to postpone visible signs of aging, of course—the fine wrinkles and "age spots." But more important: You want to avoid skin damage that can result in deep inflammation, weakened cell membranes, and cellular DNA disruption—which can lead to skin cancer. That's where antioxidants come in. If you get an infection, or are exposed to damaging environmental factors (like too much sun), your body produces "free radicals"—unstable molecules. They have an "unpaired electron," and are driven to search for an electron to replace what they lack. In the best case, they take the electron they need from foreign proteins or mutated cells. But after the damage is cleaned up, if there are still hungry free radicals roaming around (and UV exposure in particular produces a lot of free radicals), they'll take what they need from healthy cells. This can damage these cells, right down to their DNA chains. That spells trouble for your overall health.
Antioxidants work in probably more ways than we know. They can provide the extra electron that locks up free radicals, stabilizing them, keeping them from damaging your healthy cells. Some studies indicate that antioxidants may actually rob free radicals of their energy, slowing them down, or even stopping them from forming.
By the way: Whatever you do to keep your face looking younger, you should also do to your hands. They're usually just as visible, just as exposed, as your face. They're also as vulnerable to sun, wind, and pollutants as your face, and they're subject to thinning skin, wrinkles, and spottiness.
Ankles and Elbows and Knees...Oh, My!
Moving on, you're not anywhere near finished yet. Rough, chapped elbows; dry, itchy legs; calloused feet; shaving irritation. More skin to take care of! It's worth the effort, though.
The best time to moisturize is right after your bath or shower. Here's the rule: Pat, don't rub, your skin with a towel. Before your skin is completely dry, apply an all-over moisturizer. Something with an SPF is good for exposed areas like your arms and legs (and feet, if you wear sandals); otherwise, your choice of moisturizer depends on your skin type and what condition it's in.
Once again, you can count on Aubrey Organics for a full array of all-natural hand & body lotions. Aubrey makes lotions with SPF and without, with natural oils to provide fragrance and low-scent formulas, with heavier lipid content (like shea butter) or more liquid ingredients (like aloe). Antioxidant-rich lotions include Rosa Mosqueta Hand & Body Lotion, Sea Buckthorn Lotion, and Ultimate Moist Green Tea Rosemary-Mint. The point is that no matter what type of skin or what special concerns you have, there's probably a moisturizer on this all-natural shelf that's perfect for you.
There are lots and lots of things you can do to keep your skin healthy and gorgeous. In addition to drinking plenty of water and getting the nutrients, exercise, and sleep you need, natural moisturizers can give you just that little extra edge you need for perfect, glowing, youthful skin—all over, and all through the years.
July 2005
Back to Aubrey Organics
(Resources: the above information was taken from the www.aubrey-organics.com website)
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