Foreue – Natural Skin Care (Handmade & Vegan)

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” Benjamin Franklin had said. This was actually advice for fire protection against economic loss due to house fires. Wisdom here can also be applied to our health by choosing vegan and organic foods plus a healthy lifestyle.

Undoubtedly, organic foods cost a little more than the average. At the same time, think about what vegan and organic nutrition  gives to your health: no pesticides, no chemicals, no preservatives, no GMO (genetically-modified organisms). Over time, the investment is worth the abundant return. Think organic in it’s wholistic offerings: food, clothing, makeup, beauty skin care products and even cookcare.

In my recent trip abroad to Malaysia and Thailand, I was on the look out for things natural and hand made. Very quickly, I found out just how big of a market share our pharmaceutical and beauty subsidiaries have made overseas. Perhaps I am more of an idealist than most, but I was expecting homegrown, local products to be more available than they were. Or simply, I just wasn’t in the right places.

Want to know just how natural and safe is your beauty routine? And want to do something about it? Get on to these websites and find your chic eco zen.

1. Skin Care Ingredients
The Environmental Working Group’s extensive database provides safety ratings on over 46,000 personal care and beauty products. I was mortified about some of the products that I have been using for years!
www.cosmeticsdatabase.com

Despite the fact that using more natural skin treatment products and cosmetics are in general, more safe to use, that doesn’t mean you won’t have an occasional allergy to the cosmetic. Every ingredient(natural and man-made chemicals) has the possibility of someone having an adverse reaction to it. Before you begin to use any new cosmetic or skin care product(whether homemade or not, you should do a test on a small portion of your skin and wait at least 24 hours to find out if there is a reaction or not.

As I have said before, many products that claim to be natural, like natural skin lotion, are really not. Sure they may contain emollients, emulsifiers, and humectants, which can be derived from natural sources, but sometimes they are chemically made(read: not from natural sources).  How do you know the difference? Do your research and read the labels. Here is some information to help you.

Emollients are often found in lotion in skin care products, like natural skin lotion. The difference is that natural emollients are biodegradable and synthetic emollients are not. Natural emollients are found in plant oils (such as avocado or rosehip oils), shea butter, or cocoa butter.

Natural is almost always better than synthetic.  Many health and beauty products have harmful chemicals that we’re unfamiliar with.

Either way, its not such a good idea to use something that you’re not familiar with, yet most of us do.  Here’s where information comes in: It is crucial to know more about natural and handmade products. Here are ten steps to get you started.

1- Read up about natural beauty products. Go to your local library(or bookstore) and browse through books about the natural herbs, vegetables and natural essential oils used commonly in handmade vegan skin care products.

Neem? Unless you are from South or Southern Asia, this unfamiliar sounding name is a mystery. But there is no mystery in the power it has against mosquitos, skin inflammations and even gum disease…just to name a few.

Neem (Azadirachta indica) is an evergreen tree found all across India, Burma (Myanmar) and most of South Asia. Neem oil is most commonly used in medicinal and farming products. Now neem has crossed over to beauty products. There is no mistaking the bitter scent of neem. The triglycerides and large amounts of triterpenoid compounds is what gives neem it’s bitterness. It can best be described as a cross between peanut oil and garlic. Don’t let that deter you though from it’s wonderful benefits!

One of the most important ingredients in most natural beauty products and natural beauty cosmetics is something that we use every day. Its also something that we get virtually for free.  It is often considered a natural resource. I am talking about water (H20). Even though a good portion of our bodies contain water, we still need to replenish it. Water is important to drink (at least eight glasses a day), and its also a key ingredient in a lot of natural beauty products.

So you want to start making your own vegan homemade skin care products, how do you start?  Its not really that hard, just simply do your research on not only actual recipes, but the benefits of certain natural or organic plants. You cannot just take a salad and throw it in the blender and expect to make, let’s say, an exfoiliant scrub. Here are some tips and ideas to get you started in your kitchen beauty lab with homemade skin care products.

Whether your vegan, vegetarian, or thinking about becoming one,  knowledge is power. While vegetarians and vegans are more and more commonplace, it’s not a movement that has gone completely mainstream yet.

Often, it can be hard to find products or information that will help better your health and the environment.  But thanks to the world wide web, you can find a lot of information, publications, stores, and so much more. Listed here is the best of the vegetarian/vegan web of vegetarian friendly websites.

If you’re just discovering the importance of natural true beauty skin care products and cosmetics, you probably have a lot of questions. One of the most important questions to help you get started is to clear up the difference between  natural, organic, and vegan skin care products.  You can walk into a natural food or beauty shop and find an array of products that claim to be natural, organic, or vegan- it seems that people automatically assume these three things are the same thing, but that is not the case. Read on to find out the difference between these labels.

For centuries, natives of India and the Pacific Islands have been noted for their beautifully thick, long hair and glowing skin. What’s their secret?It’s definitely in their diet. It’s definitely on their bodies. It’s definitely the humble coconut.Coconut meat and especially the extra virgin coconut oil are the champions of beauty products.