Beautiful Beginnings :: Beauty

Beautiful Beginnings
by author Jenn Farrell

In the months ahead, resolve to give some thought to your skin and your beauty routine. Sensitive to environmental pollution, stress, and poor lifestyle choices, your skin needs help to repair itself and continue its all-important job of protecting you from the world.

Here are some tips to get you started on a year - and a lifetime - of vitality and health.

Out With the Old
Unearth your makeup from bags, drawers, and the medicine cabinet. Taking inventory can be unnerving - surprised at how much you’ve accumulated? How many of these products do you actually use? How many have you kept because you can’t face throwing them away? Now is the time to be merciless.

If a cleanser irritates, or a colour doesn’t flatter, let it go. If a product has separated, changed in texture, scent, or appearance (possibly because of spoilage or contamination), throw it out. This is especially important for products used in the eye area.

Some average “life spans” for cosmetics are as follows:

Liquid eyeliners, eye creams, and concealers—6 months
Eye and lip pencils and lipsticks—1 year
Foundations and mascara—3 to 6 months
Eye shadows, blushers, and face powders—2 years

Old lipsticks or pencils you just can’t part with can be swabbed with alcohol-dampened cotton pads to remove surface bacteria.

Give your applicators a thorough cleaning, too. Sponges and brushes can harbour germs that you rub into your skin with every use. Soak them in warm, soapy water, rinse thoroughly, and air dry.

Now that you’ve purged, look at the products you actually use and enjoy. Stick with products you’re happy with. But if you’re ready for a change, buy new cosmetics only after you’ve checked the ingredients list.

Would You Eat That?

It’s strange that manufacturers are required to list ingredients for things we put in our bodies, but not for things we put on them. Until stricter laws regulate which ingredients cosmetics companies can use, it’s up to consumers to make informed choices.

Common ingredients in cosmetic manufacture include the following:

Mineral oils and petrochemicals
Synthetic fragrances and colours containing lead, coal tar, and other allergic compounds
Formaldehyde, sulphates, and other chemicals that accumulate in human tissue

These ingredients are used because they are cheap, extend shelf life, and produce “quality” actions, like creamy texture or thick lather. Public awareness about these chemicals is rising, and alternative products are increasingly popular. Offerings from natural health and beauty companies contain fewer preservatives and use plant-based ingredients. A visit to your health food store will introduce you to some of these products that can beautify the skin without harming the body.

Magic in the Cupboard

Pollution, wasteful packaging, and over-hyped advertising - who needs it when you can make your own cleansers, toners, and scrubs in your kitchen? They’re economical and creative, and you might find that your homemade treatments are better than store-bought.

Popular at-home skincare ingredients include:

Honey
Fruits (bananas, avocados, strawberries)
Eggs, milk, and yogurt
“Scrubbers” (cornmeal, oatmeal, sugar, ground nuts)
Oils (olive, coconut, almond)
Clay or fuller’s earth
Plants, flowers, and herbs (lavender, chamomile, rosemary, aloe)

Many books and Web sites feature recipes that use these ingredients. Experiment to find the combinations that work best for your skin type. A word of caution: just because ingredients are natural doesn’t mean they’re not powerful. Some preparations create strong reactions, especially for the allergy-prone. Test on a small patch of skin first, use clean tools, and trust your instincts.

Your Skin is a Mirror of Your Health

Healthy eating, regular exercise, and TLC are the best things for your skin. But sometimes they’re not enough. Serious breakouts, excessive dryness or oiliness, hypersensitivity, or other irritations are worthy of professional help.

Skin disorders can reflect your internal health, and are sometimes the first warning of a greater imbalance. A naturopath will be able to determine your skin condition and offer treatments. Also consider a visit to your natural health practitioner for a fuller assessment. Simply treating the skin without recognizing possible underlying causes could mask deeper health issues.
Use these suggestions as a springboard for your own research. Bookstores, libraries, health shops, and the Internet offer endless resources on caring for your largest organ. By making the health of your skin a priority in the New Year, you’ll ensure that you can enjoy it for a lifetime.

Jenn Farrell is a professional writer and editor who lives in Vancouver, BC. Her work has appeared on CBC Radio One and in literary journals. Find homemade beauty recipes at pioneerthinking.com,honey.com/recipes/ beauty, and the Kitchen Cosmetics Web site at geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/ 8088/beauty.

Source: alive #255, January 2004

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Complexion Perfection
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Natural Beauty
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Mesotherapy
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Cultivating Beauty
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Essential Oils
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Help Yourself Soothe Your Soles
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All Aglow
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Skin Care 101
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Healthy Skin
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Living Beauty
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The Natural Makeover Diet
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Cannabis Cosmetics
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Beauty Without Injections
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Topical Antioxidants
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Don't Crack Under Pressure
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Healthy Glow Food Sources
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Vitamin B complex--bran, blackstrap molasses, brown rice, b.

Cellulite Solutions

Refined Starches Behind Pimple Problem

Duct Tape Banishes Warts

MMA Alert!

Nature's Own Skin-care Technology

Cut Long Hair for a Cause

DBP and birth defects

Natural sunscreens

Derma E®
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Refresh Your Flesh

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Face Cleansing Juice

Hold on...to Your Hair!

Make Moisturizers Your Best Friends

Slough It Off
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Au Naturel?
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Cold Sores
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A Close Shave
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The Perfect Spaaah!
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Deeper Beauty
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Do-It-Yourself Spa
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Rethink Your Skin Care Routine
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Bathing Beauly
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Jojoba
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Twinkle toes
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Give Dry Skin the Brush Off
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