Many people avoid chemical and over the counter medicines in favor of natural skin care products. Non-natural products can contain a lot of confusing ingredients and some people are simply concerned about applying something they know nothing about to their skin. Or you could just beware of the tendency of some products to irritate the skin by containing chemicals like alcohol which are drying and harsh.

There are many natural skin care products being sold both online and offline which are available to those who wish to try alternative ways to care for their bodies. Though the FDA doesn’t regulate the sale of skin care products or cosmetics so you may be buying something that’s too strong or that doesn’t have an allergy warning label on it. It is best before using a product that you rub a small dab on a sensitive area such as the skin of your inner elbow and wait a day or so to see if you’ve developed a reaction to it. A reaction would be itching or red skin. If you have a reaction pass on using the skin care product because you may be allergic to one of the ingredients.

It’s always possible to make your own home skin care products. You can pick up a simple base lotion at the store and add a few drops of essential oils like rose hips, or add some Aloe Vera gel fresh from the plant. Essential oils are very strong so be sure not to add more than a drop or two at most to a full bottle of lotion or cream. You could end up making a product yourself is much too strong for the delicate skin tissue. Many websites have directions for making your own natural products with names like Yummy Tropical Butter and Peppermint Cucumber body cream.

Mrs. Party… Gail Leino is the internet’s leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies, using proper etiquette, and living a healthy life while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. Here a place for great deals on Natural Skin Care Products.

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Your skin is your armor, your shield from the elements. Yet when was the last time you really thought about what you need to do to take care of it? Throughout your life, genetic and environmental factors will cause a lot of wear and tear to your skin. But you are never too young or too old to start taking care of your skin. In fact, skin care and protection should be an essential part of your health, fitness, and beauty regime. If you take care of your skin, your skin will take care of you! If your stuck in a skin care rut, or if you are just looking to learn a bit more about the basics of skin care, read on to learn more about this important step in your daily activities.

The Essentials of Skin Care

The first step to taking care of your skin is preventing damage. Sun, wind, pollutants, and simply aging can degrade the condition of your skin. Common complaints include dry and itchy skin, wrinkles, sagging, color changes, and age spots. There are steps that you can take to keep you skin looking and feeling its best.

Exercise, rest, and good nutrition lay the foundation for beautiful, healthy skin, inside and out. A proper diet is not only good for your overall health, it also helps to ensure that your skin will receive all of the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that it needs to maintain and repair cells. Drinking purified water is another good way to keep your skin healthy. Water helps to hydrate the skin and move waste and nutrients through the system. It is very effective mixing a teaspoon or capful of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar in with your water. Do not drink Tap Water.

The most important way to care for your skin is to protect it from the damaging rays of the sun. Ultraviolet radiation damages the skin and can lead to wrinkles, premature aging, age spots, and cancer. Take extra precautions to make sure your skin is not exposed to the sun’s rays. Use a natural sunscreen, or a moisturizer that contains sunscreen (at least SPF 15) everyday. Your skin does need some sunlight - 10-15 minutes of direct exposure daily.

Dry skin is very common, especially with age. Older skin has fewer sweat and oil glands than younger skin. Dry skin may be caused by frequent baths, certain cosmetics or medications. But whatever the cause, there are ways to alleviate the itchiness associated with it. Avoid using harsh soaps when bathing, and if possible, cut back on the number of baths or showers each week. A sponge bath with warm water may help to clean and revive skin without stripping the skin of its valuable moisturizers. When you do use soap, try using a natural very mild soap that does not contain any dyes, parabens or perfumes. Follow up the bath with a moisturizing lotion like Parfait Visage, concentrating on problem dry areas. A good all natural moisturizer is one of the foundations for a healthy skin care regimen. Continue moisturizing throughout the day to keep skin healthy. Your hands and face are particularly susceptible to daily damage, and may need to be moisturized several times.

A Skin Care Routine

A skin care routine does not have to be elaborate in order to be effective. But you should develop some kind of skin care routine based on your skin type, daily activities, and nutritional needs so that you can be sure you are taking the very best care of your skin. Following a daily skin care regime will also allow you to more closely evaluate your skin for abnormalities. Here’s a simple routine that you can adapt to fit your needs:

1. Cleanse: Wash your skin thoroughly on a daily basis to remove the dirt, debris, pollutants, and perspiration that accumulates on a daily basis. If you have dry or sensitive skin, use only warm water to wash your skin and use a mild natural cleanser every few days like the product Oxy-Skin. If you have normal or oily skin, be sure to wash with a gentle cleanser on a daily basis. Be sure to brush your teeth before washing your face, as toothpaste residue can irritate sensitive facial skin.
2. Moisturize: Unless your skin is very oily, you will want to use a moisturizer everyday to keep your skin hydrated and healthy. Your skin needs moisturizer all year long as both the indoor winter heat, and summer sun can be equally damaging to your skin. The most advanced product is “Parfait Visage” which is used for the face.
3. Protect: Use a natural sunscreen when possible, regardless of whether or not you plan on spending much time in the sun. The sun’s rays are very damaging and if you get in the habit of applying sunscreen everyday, you will never be left without protection. The suns most beneficial rays occur at sunrise and sunset.

Skin Care Products

There are several types of skin care products that may make a useful additional to your daily skin care. These include cleansers, sunscreens, moisturizers, exfoliants, facial cleansers, toners, retonoids, herbal and nutrient supplements, and cosmetics.

To learn more visit http://www.skin-care-support.org.

Dr. Group, the founder/CEO and clinical director for the Global Healing Center, heads a research and development team producing advanced, new, natural health protocols and products. To learn more visit http://www.ghchealth.com.

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Let’s start out by looking at what hyaluronic acid actually is.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally occurring biopolymer, which serves important biological functions in bacteria and higher animals including humans. Naturally occurring, hyaluronic acid may be found in the tissue of higher animals, in particular as intercellular space filler. HA is found in greatest concentrations in the vitreous humour of the eye and in the synovial fluid of articular joints, but is also found in the skin, connective tissue and elsewhere in the body.

Hyaluronic acid was made ‘famous’ by an ABC News report in which Connie Chung visited a Japanese village by the name of Yuzurihara. She found that the people there were living longer, looked younger, and were more flexible and active than their western counterparts. These Japanese villagers, in their 80s and 90s, have smooth wrinkle-less skin, a full head of hair and apparently no need for glasses.

So what is it, that allows these Japanese to be so much more youthful, lead active, productive lives at their advanced age, where as in western countries most people in their 80s and beyond are in old-age homes?

The conclusion drawn in the ABC report was that these people ate ’sticky vegetables’ and that this factor was the secret to their apparent youth. In addition, the oestrogen-like molecules in their diet, fermented forms of soy in miso paste and tofu, seem to play an important role. These molecules, along with natural oestrogen, send a signal to the fibroblast cells to make more hyaluronic acid. But is this the whole answer? - I don’t think so, but I’ll get to this a little later.

Next, let’s look at what Hyaluronic acid does.

According to scientific research by a variety of Universities and researchers, hyaluronic acid is used in the human body to cushion and lubricate joints, eyes, the skin, and heart valves (see http://www.ctds.info/hyaluronic_acid.html for an in-depth look at all the different diseases, syndromes and conditions). Some treatments, which involve the use of hyaluronic acid include: treatment for osteoarthritis and other joint problems, as well as a range of eye disorders, retinal detachment, and some cardiovascular disorders.

However, it is in the anti-aging effect on the skin that we are focusing on in this article and the effect hyaluronic acid seems to have on the skin is at the level of promoting the formation of collagen. These are the fibres that firm the skin. Now, hyaluronidase, an enzyme that breaks down collagen fibres, is produced by free radicals and UV radiation.

These factors breaks down fibres of collagen can cause premature wrinkles and sagging of the skin. Focusing on hyaluronic acid, it would seem reasonable therefore, that reducing the free radicals is a major key to reducing the hyaluronidase enzyme and secondly to promote normal levels of hyaluronic acid in the skin.

Plant substances known as bioflavonoids, contained in foods such as grape seed extract, blueberry, cranberry, citrus bioflavonoids and milk thistle, etc., inhibit the production of hyaluronidase, which helps to achieve the first aim of reducing the free radicals. In addition, reducing processed foods from our diet, increasing the level of exercise and living a more balanced life style will help in promoting natural levels of hyaluronic acid in our system, not just in the skin.

When considering injecting hyaluronic acid into the skin to treat fine lines and wrinkles, we are once again loosing sight of the holistic approach to treating our bodies and thus run a serious risk of introducing factors, which may lead to side effects or other health problems. Further, we also run the risk of creating an imbalance in the chemical composition of the skin and who knows what possible problems await us as a result.

Some known side effects of hyaluronic acid injection therapy for aging skin include:

• swelling
• infection
• redness
• tenderness
• acne
• lumps
• tissue hardening
• unknown risks when used in combination with collagen

These side effects are serious enough to reconsider using injection therapy of hyaluronic acid as an anti-aging treatment for the skin.

Remember too, that the people in the Japanese village do not use injection therapy… They life an holistic life style incorporating unprocessed foods and physical activity together with a balanced mind-set and life style.

So where can you get a holistic source of hyaluronic acid from?

There are a couple of ways. The first is from “starchy root vegetables” such as the ones mentioned by the village doctor in the ABC report which include: Satsumaimo, a type of sweet potato; Satoimo, a sticky white potato; Konyaku, a gelatinous root vegetable concoction; and Imoji, a potato root.

These vegetables help the cells of the body to thrive and retain moisture. Further, they keep joints lubricated, protect the retina of the eye and keep the skin smooth and elastic by promoting collagen.

Another source of hyaluronic acid, for non-vegetarians, is to eat animal parts known to contain a lot of hyaluronic acid. You could make a broth from fish bones. That is, once you’ve taken off the fillets, boil the rest of the fish, including their head and make a fish stock. Similarly, you can make a meat broth using animal joints, sinews and tendons, then adding a few root and other vegetables to create a healthy, nourishing soup.

In conclusion, at Wildcrafted Herbal Products we do not believe that adding isolated ingredients in elevated concentrations to our natural skin care products is a preferred option. Rather, using a holistically natural approach to skin care and for that matter health care is a far more preferable option.

Skin care is as much about taking care of your skin as it is taking responsibility and care of your overall health and wellbeing. Your skin is not an isolated part of your body and should not be treated as such.

Again I would like to remind you of the Japanese villagers - they do not inject themselves with hyaluronic acid, they do not use hyaluronic acid in isolation, they do however life a healthy, active and mostly balanced life style.

Danny Siegenthaler is a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and together with his wife Susan, a medical herbalist and Aromatherapist, they have created Natural Skin Care Products by Wildcrafted Herbal Products to share their 40 years of combined expertise with you.

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© Wildcrafted Herbal Products 2005

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