I use a lot of all-natural things as a part of my “beauty care” routine, including that wonderfood coconut oil, but this article from Food Matters has some great tips and things I’d never considered or heard of before….
By Sarah Wilson and Maria Hannaford
I have a troubled past with makeup. When I worked in magazines I was beholden to the beauty industry, forced to get excited about skin whiteners and lash extenders. It wore me down, one blush stroke at a time. Then, a few years later, I wore too much of the gunky stuff while working in TV and literally poisoned myself. When I got unwell I realised I had to do something about this and swerved to chemical-free beauty and makeup products.
But there’s also the eco argument that’s worth considering in all this. Not all chemical-free products are ecologically sound. Not all organic products are chemical-free. It’s like food shopping: a knotted ball of competing messages.
I asked Maria Hannaford, from Econest to give her take unnatural beauty tips ‘n tricks. Melbourne-based Maria works for an environmental organisation that’s all about sustainable living and eating.
Maria’s personal philosophy is that “If she can’t eat it, she won’t put it on her skin, and if the product has more ingredients than I have fingers on one hand, it’s bye bye.”
Top 10 Sustainable, 100% Natural and Very Basic Beauty Tricks
1. Befriend Plant Oil
You can replace all manner of beauty products – moisturiser, body cream, hair conditioner, shaving cream, deep cleanser – with just one or two plant oils. Choose from coconut oil (my personal favourite), macadamia oil, olive oil, sweet almond, jojoba or argan oil. A lot of argan oils on the market actually contain only a very small amount of argan oil, and aren’t produced sustainably.
Just make sure whichever oil you use is organic and cold-pressed. Extraction processes using heat destroy all nutrients, essential fatty acids and vitamins and turn oils rancid, causing them to form free-radicals which damage and age your skin.
2. Make Your Face A Cuppa
Make a strong tea using pretty much any herb in your backyard and apply it as a skin toner. Lemongrass and lemon balm calm acne and even out skin tone, chamomile soothes sensitive skin and reduces redness, rosemary protects against the sun’s UV-rays and the damaging effects of pollution and lavender is uplifting, cooling and slightly antiseptic. Oily skin is tamed with a tea made with marigold petals (easily grown in the garden). I make up a tea and store it in a glass spray bottle in the fridge for up to a week. You can also use dried herbs, such as dried culinary lavender, but they need to be brewed for longer.
3. Highlight Your Hair Naturally
Lighten hair using a strong chamomile tea in the final rinse after shampooing.
To enhance dark hair, use rosemary (boiled as a strong tea). Using these natural ingredients will add shine, softness and volume as well as enhance your colour.
4. Fight Blemishes With Essential Oils
I’m one of the unfortunate few women who still get a pimple or two even in their 30s. It’s hormonal, or something. I simply dab a tiny amount of pure lavender essential oil directly onto the offending spot. The oil, which is naturally antibacterial, dries spots out a treat and also reduces redness.
5. Don’t Wear Perfume
Oh how the perfume industry gives me conniptions. A loophole in legislation allows perfume manufacturers to list only a few of the many chemicals they may be using, the true formula officially protected as a ‘trade secret’.
What we do know is that fragrances contain phthalates, which can mimic some of the body’s hormones and cause reproductive and neurological damage. I mix a small amount of essential oil with a base oil such as sweet almond, and rub this onto my wrists.
6. Go Au Naturale
Don’t wear makeup (at least not on a daily basis). A little extreme it may sound, but I remember sitting around with my 78-year old grandma and her friends one day whilst they divulged the secret to their luminous skin – ‘makeup hath not toucheth their face’. Not in their teens, not in their 20s, not in their 30s. Why not? Firstly there was no social norm to wear makeup, secondly they didn’t think it made sense to cover their skin in chemicals! They believed wearing makeup blocks pores and prematurely ages skin. Which makes sense. Granted, the social pressure to wear makeup in their tiny Greek village is pretty low, but that’s not the point. I rarely wear makeup these days, only on very special occasions. It doubles as my little salute to feminism.
7. Get Yourself Some Liquid Castile Soap
Castile soap is traditionally made of saponified olive oil, but these days most contain a few different types of plant oils. Still, mine contains only five ingredients.
It’s ultra handy in the home as it replaces a number of products – I use it as a shampoo as well as a dishwashing liquid.
Diluted, it can also be used as a spray n’ wipe. I personally use one that doesn’t contain any palm oil.
8. Once A Week, De-gunk With Bicarb Soda
Any shampoo, including Castile soap, can leave soap residue on your hair, so once a week wash your hair with a thick paste of bicarb (baking) soda, and rinse with apple cider vinegar for extra shine.
9. Eat Your Skin Conditioner
Healthy, youthful and conditioned skin requires healthy fats, so forget about low-fat foods. I eat plenty of olive oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, avocados and nuts (activated, of course) everyday.
Also know that fruit like pomegranates and blueberries are rich in antioxidants and promote skin elasticity and vitality.
10. Choose A Natural Toothpaste
My favorite is Phytoshield: all natural plant extracts, not overboard on the number of ingredients, no unnecessary foaming agents (consequently doesn’t foam up very much), and it tastes delicious.
It’s worth hunting around for products made in your local area – farmers’ markets generally have at least one or two producers selling their hand-made soaps and creams. That way you can ask them directly about the ingredients they use etc.
You can view the EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database here: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
Do you have any of your own natural beauty tips? Leave a comment so that others might benefit from your experience.
Source Link: http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/2012/07/13-lush-eco-beauty-tric
FYI, you can get coconut oil and many of the other things listed in the tips above at Vitacost.com, one of my favorite on-line places. If you shop at Vitacost, be sure to sign up for a free acct. at eBates.com beforehand, if you don’t already have one.That way you can use the eBates portal to shop at Vitacost and earn cash back on your purchases. Plus, if you are new to Vitacost and spend a certain amount (I believe it’s $25), you will get a $10 coupon to use; eBates also gives a gift card or some other “prize” when you place your first order of $25 or more. How does it get any better than that?!
And be sure to read my posts on coconut oil, if you haven’t already, as well as posts on castile soap and natural toothpastes.
Salud!
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