Natural Skin Care Blog

There’s lots of buzz just now about how sun screens may be causing skin cancer. Statistics reported recently show that the incidence of skin cancer has increased with increased use of products with SPFs.

Could it possibly be that it isn’t the product that’s at fault? How about “user error”?

In other words, users slap on a chosen SPF product and think they are now immune from all those UV rays for however long they chose to play around in the sun.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for any length of time know that there is a distinction between “sun screen” and “sun shield”.

A screen does just that — it screens out some stuff while letting other stuff pass through. A sun screen is no different. Even the highest SPF allows some dangerous rays through. These are absorbed.

SPF on the label indicates certain chemicals in the product; the number following indicates the amount of protection that particular chemical formula can be expected to provide. It also indicates, indirectly, the period of time that the formula will remain effective at screening out the sun. The higher the number, the more effective the screening and for a longer period.

A shield protects. Shields were once used to deflect the enemy’s spears and are used today by riot squads to deflect rocks and bottles.

A sun shield deflects UV rays. They literally bounce off protected skin rather than being “filtered” and absorbed.

You must still exercise good judgment about how long you remain in the sun before renewing whatever product you choose to use against the sun’s rays.

A skin care product containing a sun shield will not have an SPF number because it contains none of the chemicals needed to rate for an SPF number. These are natural skin care products.

The effective ingredients are not only harmless to skin cells but also protect them against other environmental threats. Look for titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide in a cream or lotion. This will give you the best protection possible against skin cancer.

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“My make-up expires? Are you talking about how long it stays looking fresh on my face?”

That’s certainly one way of looking at it. We could call that “face life”, couldn’t we? That’s an entirely different topic.

What I want to call your attention to in this post is the shelf life of cosmetics.

I know, I know. The print is so fine you can’t even read the instructions for use – or anything else printed on the label or the packaging. So how on earth are you ever going to find an expiration date?

Two word answer: You aren’t.

The fact that the law does not require an expiration date does not mean there isn’t one.

Bacteria, molds and other stuff start to take over when the preservatives (mandated by government regulation) lose their effectiveness.

You’ll know from reading these posts that I keep squawking about how sensitive the area around your eye is and how careful you must be when selecting products to use there.

It will come as no surprise, then, to learn that mascara and eyeliner can be positively dangerous once bacteria get into them. Extremely unpleasant infections have been documented. (And you thought Pink Eye was bad…)

According to the Food and Drug Administration, mascara and eyeliner are safe for 2-3 months only. When you first open one of these, write the date down somewhere and note in your calendar another date 2-3 months ahead.

When the second date arrives, THROW THE MASCARA OUT! (Yes, even if there’s still lots of it left…)

Your make-up expires when it becomes subject to bacterial activity. Please be careful.

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Yes, I’ve seen them, too … the ads that claim you can get rid of blackheads in 72 hours or even minutes.

There are products that offer to scrub them off, burn them away with chemical mixtures — even dig them out of your pores.

There is a basic flaw here. These remedies, in addition to being extremely harsh, are all external applications.

The reason this approach is flawed is that the blackhead you see on the surface of your face didn’t just land there and start clogging your pores.

Cell biologists know cells like nobody else. They study how cells grow and how problems develop. What have they found out?

Here is a scenario for the development of a blackhead.

A bacterium gets into an oil gland. It soon becomes a horde of bacteria, then an infection.

The infected waste is pushed up through the cell to the skin surface.

Upon reaching your face, this material is exposed to air.

Free radicals in the air get to work (the same way they do on a cut apple).

This is oxidation. The exposed material turns darker and becomes visible.

You see a new blackhead.

When you remove the dark top by scrubbing or chemically destroying it, you don’t see the blackhead anymore. You could say you got rid of it, in a way.

You got rid of the part of the blackhead you could see –

What you can’t see is that the problem is still there, working its way up from below.

Your blackheads have not gone away.

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“Axle grease! On my face?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it… What an idea!”

Not so fast… Didn’t your grandmother (maybe your mother?) say you didn’t need any of those expensive creams and lotions to care for your skin? Nothing, they said, works better than petroleum jelly.

Now, don’t be too hard on them. They didn’t have much to choose from. Many of the so-called beauty products of their day were simply nice-smelling “goop in a jar.”

And because in those days other “beauty products” sometimes contained suspect chemicals, Great Aunt Maude was much better off using her petroleum jelly.

But you don’t have that excuse. You can select from an endless array of skin care products produced under strict regulations designed to ensure that your choice is safe to use.

Not necessarily effective, but certainly safe.

Why did I say “axle grease”?

Because petroleum jelly is the “white grease” taken off early in the refining of petroleum. After that, the rest goes on to fuel your vehicles and lubricate their moving parts.

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Adult acne plagues almost half the US population aged 25-45. And you thought acne was for teenagers…

It’s a distressing skin ailment. You hate it. You’ve tried “everything”. It seems to go away for a while, then it comes back.

Cheer up! There is something you can do – several things, in fact.

Start here: toss out most of what you’ve been told about how acne occurs.

Forget Today’s Miracle Product– you know, the one you must rush to buy… right now. “Hurry! Our Special Introductory Offer ends soon.”

Your skin is paying no attention to the pronouncements of the beauty industry’s gorgeous spokesmodels or the razzle-dazzle of their highly-paid marketing teams.

Unfortunately, there is no One Cause for acne — which means there’s no one way to clear your skin of this nuisance. A tendency toward skin problems may be written into your DNA, your genetic code.

Is it likely you can really “Get rid of acne in three days” as the ads suggest?

The solution to the adult acne problem is in your cells and skin cells don’t work that fast.

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How much of your lip balm do you eat?
 You take a drink. 
You eat a sandwich.
 Now where’s your lip balm?
Is it still protecting your lips? 
Or have you added it to your diet?

Do you see lip balm on the nutrition pyramid?
Do you find it in one of the major food groups?

What exactly have you eaten?
All you know for sure is it has a “delicious berry flavor!”.

Do you just grab a tube with a nice-sounding name that promises to “soothe your lips and prevent drying”?
Apply generously, cap the tube and think no more about it?

Usually it’s not very long before a dry, papery feeling returns.
Why isn’t your lip balm still working?

Well… You ate it, didn’t you?
You eat whatever is on your lips, even when you don’t intend to.
Maybe you should find out exactly what you are eating.

Some astonishing ingredients I discovered in a recent web search include fat burners — really! The pitch is that the stuff goes directly through your lips and into your blood stream where it miraculously causes the fat stored in your tissues to vanish! The inventor claims “It’s a low cost dietary product.”
You might find beeswax, petrolatum, camphor, menthol, octnoxate, avobenzone…

Some of top-selling brands contain ingredients that make their lip balm useful for lubricating tools, shining shoes, removing chewing gum from hair…

And you thought it was just to keep your lips smooth.

Ever check the ingredient list – all the way through?

You’re the one eating this lip balm, remember…

Another helping of petroleum jelly, anyone?

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