The Women Warriors

[Lilly]

What are you putting on your skin?

An interesting article on what you should and should NOT put on your skin. There are quite a few synthetic ingredients we're told are good to load on your skin, but are they any good? And if not (since this is a rather leading question), then what IS good for the skin? This article is especially beneficial to anyone living in a cold, northern climate.

http://products.mercola.com/natural-body-butter/

Ever wonder why so many skin care products you buy — even at the health food store — have ingredients on their labels that you can’t even read or pronounce?


In my view, if you can’t read or pronounce the ingredient, there is a high likelihood it should not be in your lotion or other skin care product.

Obviously, you really want to avoid using anything potentially toxic on your skin!

Because this is such a common problem, I’ve been searching for a product that you could be confident was made of real, recognizable, natural and organic ingredients. So you could enhance your health from the ‘outside in’, as well as the ‘inside out’.

Quality skin care is not a replacement for good internal health — it is a part of your entire package of wellbeing.

One of the first strategies you can use to improve your skin health is to make sure you are getting enough high quality omega-3 fats. This is such a reliable indicator that I frequently am able to tell someone’s omega-3 needs just by shaking their hand.

If their hand is not smooth as a baby’s behind, it’s usually a strong indication that they need some more high quality animal-based omega-3 fats — like krill oil.

So if you struggle with dry skin, make sure you are taking enough of these omega-3 fats. In the colder dry winter months, you may even need to increase your dose.

Your skin grows from the inside out, so your overall nutritional levels really matter. That said however, caring for your skin is not just an inside job — it’s an outside job too.

The 'Outside' Job of Skin Care

Your skin is much more than an outer surface for the world to see — it’s the largest organ of your body!


Do something extraordinary for your youthful looks today.

Plus, it has a number of amazing responsibilities that you probably don’t think about on a daily basis:

Protects your internal organs from injury and infection.
Helps detoxify wastes through perspiration.
Provides an important line of immune defense against infections — your healthy skin creates a barrier to viruses and bacteria.
Protects you against extreme changes in temperature, through its thermoregulatory effect of controlling heat flow between you and your environment.
Produces and stores vitamin D, which is important to your immune system.
Rich in receptors, it allows you to sense conditions around you — like hard/soft and hot/cold — and send information to your brain so you can react to it for self-preservation.
Protects your body from sunburns.
Protects you from dehydration.
The loss of any of these functions will compromise your best health — and can accelerate signs of normal aging.

Put simply, your skin plays a major role in your health.

It functions as an organ that can absorb and excrete both nutrients and toxins through its pores. The condition of your skin is a powerful reflection of just how healthy you are on the inside.

Because your skin has the ability to absorb whatever you put on it, careful choices are critical. You want to give your skin the same thoughtful care you give your internal organs. In a moment, I’ll tell you about some things that help support the health of your skin.

But first, let’s take a quick look at some of the ingredients in today’s skin care products that can compromise the health of your skin (or even more of your body functions).

What if Looks Really Could Kill?
We believe containers when they show a “danger” warning, or a “skull and crossbones” to warn of toxins in a product. And we respond by not applying them to our skin or eating them!


Potential toxins used in the name of beauty – not a fair trade…
Yet many skin care products use ingredients with unrecognizable and unpronounceable names.

Personally, I rarely put anything consciously on my skin that I wouldn’t be willing to put in my mouth.

It is well-proven that when you apply these chemicals to your skin, they enter your bloodstream and become integrated into your body tissues, In fact, it is probably safer to eat these ingredients than to rub them on your skin (although I strongly recommend you don’t do either!).

However, if you do happen to eat these chemicals, your digestive system can produce specific enzymes to break down these toxins and excrete them… something that doesn’t readily occur when you absorb them through the skin.

Potentially harmful ingredients continue to be used. Why? Because they are cheap, readily available, and easily diluted.

Does Your Skin Care Product Contain These Chemicals?
Why don’t you run and get a bottle of any of the skin moisturizers that you are currently using. You might find that your personal care products contain one or probably more of many possibly dangerous ingredients.

Here are a few of the most common suspicious ingredients:

Mineral Oil, Paraffin, and Petrolatum – Petroleum products that coat the skin like plastic, clogging pores and creating a build-up of toxins, which in turn accumulate and can lead to dermatologic issues. Slows cellular development, which can cause you to show earlier signs of aging. Suspected cause of cancer. Disruptive of hormonal activity. By the way, when there’s an oil spill in the ocean, don’t they rush to clean it up – fast? Why put that stuff on your skin?
Parabens – Widely used as preservatives in the cosmetic industry (including moisturizers). An estimated 13,200 cosmetic and skin care products contain parabens. Studies implicate their connection with cancer. They have hormone-disrupting qualities – mimicking estrogen – and interfere with the body’s endocrine system.
Phenol carbolic acid– Found in many lotions and skin creams. Can cause circulatory collapse, paralysis, convulsions, coma and even death from respiratory failure.
Propylene glycol – Used as a moisturizer in cosmetics and as a carrier in fragrance oils. Shown to cause dermatitis, kidney or liver abnormalities, and may inhibit skin cell growth or cause skin irritation.
Acrylamide– Found in many hand and face creams. Linked to mammary tumors in lab research.
Sodium laurel or lauryl sulfate (SLS), also known as sodium laureth sulfate (SLES)– Found in car washes, engine degreasers, garage floor cleaners… and in over 90% of personal care products! SLS breaks down the skin’s moisture barrier, easily penetrates the skin, and allows other chemicals to easily penetrate. Combined with other chemicals, SLS becomes a “nitrosamine”, a potent class of carcinogen. It can also cause hair loss. SLES is sometimes disguised with the labeling “comes from coconut” or “coconut-derived”.
Toluene – Poison! Danger! Harmful or fatal if swallowed! Harmful if inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Made from petroleum or coal tar, and found in most synthetic fragrances. Chronic exposure linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage, and may affect a developing fetus. Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) contains toluene. Other names may include benzoic and benzyl.
Dioxane– Found in compounds known as PEG, Polysorbates, Laureth, ethoxylated alcohols. Common in a wide range of personal care products. The compounds are usually contaminated with high concentrations of highly volatile 1,4-dioxane, easily absorbed through the skin.

Dioxane’s carcinogenicity was first reported in 1965 and later confirmed in studies including one from the National Cancer Institute in 1978. Nasal passages and liver are the most vulnerable. Dioxane is easily removed during the manufacturing process by “vacuum stripping”. Warning: It is a synthetic derivative of coconut. Watch for hidden language on labels, such as “comes from coconut”.
So, do you want to put these chemicals on your skin? Hopefully not...

You’d be better served by switching to skin care products made of plant names you recognize, can pronounce, and could even eat (if you had to).

[b]Discover Seven Secrets for Ageless Skin — Who Wouldn’t Want to Embrace These?
You might be so used to products that contain these potential toxins that you’ve never even considered the alternatives.

Or perhaps you’ve been frustrated in your attempt to find better options. Many people wonder what ingredients they should look for in personal care products.

My team and I wanted to be able to provide you with a world-class health-promoting option. So we searched for ingredients that enhance instead of compromise your health.

I’m happy to tell you that we succeeded in our search, with new Natural Body Butter.

Its seven wonderful ingredients can contribute to your healthy lifestyle while still enhancing your beauty… because I know you are equally passionate about experiencing optimal overall health and looking young and vibrant.


Aloe vera — treasured for centuries for its 75 nutrients.
You really can have it both ways, with Natural Body Butter’s 7 ingredients:

Organic Aloe Vera Juice
Did you know that aloe vera juice is one of the most nutrition-packed and biologically-alive liquids on the entire planet? Hardly any natural plant can beat its many benefits to your body.

Aloe contains more than seventy-five nutrients that act synergistically and create an awesome force for your health. Further, its average pH is a “balancing” 4.55.

It is truly a wondrous ‘gold mine’ of phyto-nutrients.
Aloe vera is a desert plant that’s been treasured for centuries for its ability to enhance health. Records show that Cleopatra used it to protect her skin from the sun and stay young-looking, too.

Now you can do the same, and receive all these benefits:

Soothing. Aloe vera enhances fibroblast function. Fibroblasts are remarkable little cells responsible for collagen formation. They also assist in the soothing of minor burns, cuts, scrapes and skin irritations.
Immune support and function. Aloe vera provides natural support for the immune system. Since your skin is the first exterior line of defense and your immune system works around the clock protecting you, aloe vera’s natural immune enhancers give you an arsenal from which to draw.
Helps produce collagen and elastin. Your skin replenishes itself every 21 to 28 days. Aloe vera adds a rich supply of building materials to produce and maintain healthy skin to support a youthful appearance! A daily dose of aloe vera could be just what your skin is thirsting for.
Minerals. Minerals found in aloe vera include calcium, sodium, iron, potassium, chromium, magnesium, manganese, copper, and zinc. What a powerful storehouse! Since your skin absorbs anything you apply to it, using products with naturally occurring vitamins and minerals can contribute to your overall health.
Vitamins. Aloe vera includes vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C and E, folic acid and niacin. Your body simply cannot store some of these vitamins. Using aloe vera contributes to building your defense system against oxidative stress!
Amino acid body-building blocks. Amino acids are your body’s own building blocks. Eight are essential and cannot be produced by your body, but are found in the aloe plant. Aloe vera comes closer than any other known plant to the duplication of essential amino acids.
With all these benefits from aloe vera, you may think that we couldn’t improve on it. But I wanted you to be able to have the synergistic benefit of seven of the best and most potent natural ingredients available. So aloe isn’t the only thing I offer in our inaugural skin care product.

You’ve heard me talk about the importance of coconut oil a number of times.

So coconut oil had to be one of the key ingredients of our Natural Body Butter product. Just in case you’re new to my site, allow me to recap the great value of coconut oil – because it really is something that can enhance your life and health.

Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
Virgin coconut oil is an ideal way to rejuvenate your skin.


Virgin coconut oil helps you fight the signs of aging.
It protects against formation of damaging free radicals, and is also used to protect skin from blemishes, signs of aging or overexposure to sunlight. Coconut oil also keeps the skin’s connective tissues strong and supple.

Coconut oil offers a youthful appearance to your skin by removing the outer layer of dead skin cells, making the skin smoother.

It can even penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin and strengthen the underlying tissues. It can be a factor in healing and repairing age-damaged skin — unlike most lotions.

Naturally, you want to choose a high-quality organic coconut oil free of chemicals, and without bleach or hydrogenation (which can irritate your skin), to experience its maximum benefits.

As great as coconut oil and aloe vera are, I didn’t stop there either, to bring you the best skin care product possible. Jojoba oil has some spectacular benefits, so I had to be sure you could benefit from it, too.

Organic Jojoba Oil
Jojoba oil is one of nature’s most useful products.

Jojoba oil technically isn’t oil, but is a pure and luxurious liquid wax ester from cold-pressed seeds of the Simmondsia chinensis and S. californica desert shrubs native to the Sonora Desert in the southwestern U.S. Native Americans applied ground seeds of jojoba to scratches to speed healing and minimize scarring.


Jojoba oil is a long-chain wax ester, not a triglyceride – making it very similar to the sebum your skin produces (via the sebaceous oil gland).

Sebum’s job is to retain moisture and keep skin smooth and elastic.

Unfortunately, from about the age of twenty, your skin’s production of sebum decreases significantly. Remarkably, jojoba’s naturally silky, odorless, non-allergic liquid mixes completely and rapidly with your natural sebum and follows its pathways deep into your skin.

The liquid wax esters in jojoba assist the sebum by maintaining skin moisture and elasticity. Jojoba oil forms a thin non-greasy lipid layer that holds water in your skin – contrary to common ‘oil in water’ formulations, which evaporate once they’re on your skin’s surface.


Claimed by many as ‘nature’s wrinkle fighter’ – and as ‘the cosmetic oil of the century’.
Meanwhile, it penetrates and stabilizes your intercellular skin structure, leaving your skin soft and supple. On oily skin, it penetrates deep and fast to merge with skin sebum, tricking the skin to regulate the production of sebum.

Since it penetrates so deeply, it helps protect, while allowing your skin’s natural maintenance and healing system to do its job — without having to battle dryness.

Further, jojoba contains nutrients that get absorbed into the body, such as vitamin E, B-complex, and the minerals silicon, chromium, copper, and zinc. It also contains a lot of iodine. Its antioxidant properties prevent rancidity and give it a very long shelf life.

For these reasons, jojoba oil is becoming recognized as the ‘cosmetic oil of the century’, and ‘nature’s wrinkle fighter’.

But wait! There’s even more. Read on for more great health benefits found in Natural Body Butter, this new combination of wholesome ingredients for amazing skin care.
Monolaurin
Fatty acids from coconut’s medium-chain saturated fat are called lauric acid – which is converted into highly beneficial monolaurin in your body. (The only other truly abundant source of lauric acid is in human breast milk.)

Monolaurin is considered by many experts to provide antimicrobial properties that support your healthy immune system. Other studies suggest that monolaurin can stop messages sent between problem-posing cells, disrupting their ability to function.

Organic Shea Butter
Shea butter is an all-natural vitamin A cream from the tropics of Africa. It is a superior active moisturizer, also creating moisture similar to that produced by the sebaceous glands in the skin. For centuries, it has been highly regarded for its tonic effects on the skin.

Unrefined and organic shea butter contains an abundance of health-promoting ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, proteins and a unique fatty acid profile.

Unlike petroleum-based moisturizers, shea butter actually restores your skin's own natural elasticity. It enables your skin to absorb moisture from the air, and therefore becomes softer and stays moisturized for longer.

Shea butter is high in unsaponifiables (a type of fat), containing 7-12%. By comparison, avocado oil, a well-known skin conditioner, contains only 2-6%. This high level of unsaponifiables is a property that makes shea butter extremely valuable as a skin conditioner.

Because of its many amazing properties, shea butter has been so highly regarded that its tree of origin acquired the name ‘karite tree’ – or ‘Tree of Life’.

Organic Mango Butter
Organic mango butter — an ideal moisturizer for all skin types.
Mango butter is extracted from the seed kernels of the lush and juicy tropical mango fruit, which is believed to have been cultivated for at least 4,000 years.

It is a soft solid resembling cocoa butter in color and texture and has a slight, sweet scent. One of its most common uses is as a base ingredient for skin care products and soaps – effectively replacing paraffin-based (petroleum based) emollients.

Mango butter’s high unsaponifiable contents provide emollient properties, high oxidative ability, and regenerative activity. It also lends protection against the sun’s UV rays.

Mango butter has been shown to soften, sooth, moisturize and protect your skin, and to maintain flexibility and control age-related damage to skin cells. It is considered by many to be an ideal moisturizer for all skin types.

Natural Palm Oil
Palm oil is considered by some to be nature's gift to the world.

Consumed for more than 5,000 years, its nutritional value, health benefits and value as a natural resource continue to be discovered even today.


Join the thousands who regard natural palm oil to be nature’s gift to the world.
Palm oil is nutrient-dense and contains many potent antioxidants, including beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, and tocotrienols, an extremely potent form of vitamin E.

Vitamin E is the major lipid soluble antioxidant in your skin. The potent antioxidant tocotrienols have even more beneficial actions on your skin – your first line of defense against free radicals generated by your environment.

Minimally processed palm oil, like that used in Natural Body Butter, contains other phyto-nutrients, including phytosterols, squalene, CoQ10, and mixed carotenoids, offering a host of natural and wholesome phyto-nutrients. Palm oil boasts the most significant amounts of tocotrienols available.

You’d be better served by switching to skin care products made of plant names you recognize, can pronounce, and could even eat (if you had to).

more... http://products.mercola.com/natural-body-butter/[/b]
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