Not sure what to look for when choosing cosmetics? Need some advice on taking care of your skin? Here are eight tips to help your skin look and feel its best.
1) Select moisturizers made with vegetable oils. The lotions, creams, and body oils that you use should be made with vegetable oils, not mineral oil. Vegetable oils, (like olive oil, sweet almond oil, corn oil, etc.) contain fatty acids that help to moisturize and soften the skin. Mineral oil is derived from petroleum and does not contain anything that helps to nourish the skin.
2) Look for herbs and herbal derivatives in your cosmetics. Herbs and their derivatives (essential oils, extracts, infusions) contain natural chemicals that soothe, tone, and help condition the skin. Two herbs that are especially useful in natural cosmetics are Lavender and Tea tree. The essential oils of both lavender and tea tree are gentle, natural antiseptics.
3) Once a week soak your feet in warm water and gently exfoliate dead skin with a pumice stone. Follow-up by moisturizing your feet with a natural foot oil or foot lotion.
4) Every week soak in a tub of bath salts. Salt, especially salts mined from the Dead Sea in the Middle East, is rich in minerals and helps draw impurities out of the skin.
5) After a shower or bath, seal in moisture by using a body oil or lotion made from natural vegetable oils.
6) If you have blemishes and your skin is dry, moisturize your skin in the morning and at night with products that contain vegetable oils that are high in essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids help to soften and hydrate the skin, and they can also help soothe minor irritations. Vegetable oils that contain large amounts of essential fatty acids are corn oil, sunflower seed oil, safflower oil, borage oil, blackcurrant seed oil, and evening primrose oil.
7) Look for toners and astringents that are made without ethyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol, or isopropyl alcohol. These ingredients are solvents that are extremely drying to the skin.
8) Every time you wash your hands, moisturize them with a natural lotion or cream to help them stay soft.
