Popular Herbs Used in Skin Care and Their Benefits

Popular Herbs Used in Skin Care and Their Benefits: Chamomile, Aloe Vera, Lavender and Rosemary

Today skin care and cosmetics are increasingly going natural. You may have heard that herbs and oils are commonly used in skin care and cosmetics; but, you may not know why or what purpose they serve. why, and what do the do? Four very common and popular herbs that are used in the form of oil or gels are chamomile, Aloe Vera, lavender, and rosemary. All provide unique benefits for the skin and body.

The benefits of chamomile for the skin and body range from calming effects to healing. Recent and on-going research has identified chamomile’s specific benefits as anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-allergenic. Chamomile is most often recognized as an herbal tea; however, chamomile is present in many skin care products. Chamomile’s active ingredients extracted from the flower are essential oils and flavonoids. Essential oils help to calm and relax irritated skin. Essential oils have also been found to be beneficial to treat and sooth acne prone skin. Flavonoids – or plant metabolites- are rich in anti oxidants that help the body repair and heal damaged skin, as well as fight free radicals, which create damage to bodily cells. Chamomile has few side effects and is effective and beneficial to the skin topically or if ingested.

Aloe Vera contains numerous, minerals, vitamin, enzymes, and natural sugars that help with inflammation. Aloe Vera is commonly known for its healing properties, which explains its popular use in skin care. Aloe Vera aids in the healing of skin burns and cuts and moisturizes and softens skin. Aloe Vera is used in skin care products to help with dry sensitive skin as the plant has unique healing and soothing properties. Taken internally, Aloe Vera has been found to regulate digestion, which in turn builds healthy skin from the inside out. Aloe Vera is available as a gel, spray, lotion, juice, cream and in the form of a capsule. Aloe Vera is most commonly found in soaps, cleansers, skin care gels or creams.

Lavender has many uses in skin care that include aiding skin repair, stimulating cell growth, reducing inflammation, preventing scarring and pigmentation, regulating oil production, and reducing pain. Lavender also works as antiseptic or antibacterial agent and is considered an essential oil. Due to its extensive benefits to the skin, lavender is often found in soaps, cleaners, or facial masks formulated to treat acne prone skin.

Rosemary can be used as an essential oil just like chamomile and lavender. Rosemary and lavender are actually found in the same herbal family. Rosemary tones the skin, helping to even out skin tone and texture, while reliving dryness. Rosemary strengthens capillaries and is good to use on aging skin. Rosemary is found in skin care cleansers, soaps, face masks, toners and creams.

There are many other herbs used in skin care and cosmetics today-most in the form of essential oils or extracts- and all can have different or positive effects on the skin and body. Herbs and oils have been used to heal for many centuries and now are being utilized for safe, natural ways to treat skin conditions and maintain a healthy complexion.

by Tiffany Oney

Why Natural Facial Soaps are Best for You

Our skin is the largest organ of the body and protects the rest of our organs from outside elements and harm. We have all been taught to take care of our skin not only to look good, but also to be healthy.

The benefits of eating organic, whole foods have been getting a lot of press in recent years. If you want beautiful skin, a healthy inside will reflect a healthy outside. Today, natural and organic skin care is the fastest growing area in the skin care and beauty industry.

Why natural? Some facial soaps and cleansers have been known to contain many chemicals such as parabens, to preserve their shelf life. Parabens are actually harmful to the skin, and overall health. Organic skin care products are all natural and do not contain any chemicals or preservatives. “Natural skin care” can and might contain some chemical constituents, but strives to be as natural as possible. The key ingredients used to make these soaps contain few if any toxins or chemicals.

You may then ask, “Do natural or organic skin care cleansers or soaps expire more quickly than others?” The answer is no. In order to extend the product’s shelf life, manufacturers recommend you use something sanitary–such as a spatula–to remove products from containers and always close containers directly after use. It is widely agreed upon that once skin care products of any kind are opened and exposed to air, they should be used or thrown out after 6 months.

When natural facial soaps and cleansers are used to treat skin disorders such as eczema and acne, they are much less likely to cause irritation to sensitive skin. Choosing natural is a beneficial and safe way to take care of your skin and overall health. Today there are many organic and natural soaps and cleansers to choose from, including cleansers, toners, moisturizers, make-up and even anti-aging serums. Some organic soap ingredients you may already have at home are: essential oils like ginger and tea tree, natural plant oils such as grape seed and almond oil, and herbs such as lavender and green tea. You can use these in your bath or make fabulous natural, facial treatments. The internet or your local library has hundreds of great recipes to choose.

Organic fruits such as papaya, apples, citrus and cucumbers are proven to have a healthy effect on the skin, due to the absence of toxic pesticides. As you can imagine, there are many great organic and natural soaps and cleansers available for retail, if you’re not interested in making your own home remedies. However, “natural” doesn’t always mean organic and labels can be deceiving; do some research on ingredients that seem skeptical.

The intent of this article is to help you be aware what you are putting on your skin and what harmful ingredients may be looming in your favorite skin care products. Now that you know more about natural, organic skin care follow the below home recipe for a great glow!

Make sure that your at home ingredients are certified organic.

Moisturizing Avocado Mask:

1 avocado, 1 teaspoon of apple vinegar, 1 egg white, 3 teaspoons of olive oil. Peel and mash avocado. Separate and beat egg white, add to mashed avocado along with other ingredients. Apply to face and wash off after 20 minutes.

Skin Cleansers Aid Sensitive Skin

Skin cleansers may be an important adjunct to the regimen of those who use cosmetics, have sensitive or compromised skin, or utilize topical therapies. Cleansers emulsify dirt, oil and microorganisms on the skin surface so that they can be easily removed. During cleansing, there is a complex interaction between the cleanser, the moisture skin barrier, and skin pH. Cleansing, with water, soap or a liquid cleanser, will affect the moisture skin barrier. Soap will bring about the greatest changes to the barrier and increase skin pH. Liquid facial cleansers are gentler, effecting less disruption of the barrier, with minimal change to skin pH, and can provide people with a cleanser that is a combination of surfactant classes, moisturizers and acidic pH in order to minimize disruption to the skin barrier.

Skin cleansers are surface-active substances (i.e., emulsifiers/detergents/surfactants/soaps) that lower the surface tension on the skin and remove dirt, sebum, microorganisms and exfoliated corneum cells in an emulsified form. The ideal cleanser should do this without irritating, damaging or disrupting the skin and the moisture skin barrier. Water alone removes approximately 65% of oil and dirt from the skin, but is less effective at removing oils of cosmetic import and some environmental insults. Soaps are the oldest surfactants, and are chemically defined as the alkali salt of fatty acids with a pH of 9.5-10. Synthetic detergents vary in composition and surfactant types (i.e., anionic, amphoteric, cationic, non-ionic, and silicone) and pH. In modern usage, the term “soap” generally refers to any cleansing agent regardless of chemistry.1

Skin cleansers consist of the following:
• Water
• Surfactants (to emulsify the debris)
• Moisturizers (to hydrate the skin and maintain the skin barrier)
• Binders (to stabilize the formulation)
• Lather enhancers (found in some products)
• Fillers (generally used to harden bar soaps and cleansers)
• Preservatives (to prevent the growth of microorganisms)
• Fragrance (generally used to mask the odour of surfactants)
• Dyes or pigments (found in some products)

Skin cleansing may disrupt or disturb the moisture skin barrier, affect the skin surface pH, and irritate the skin. The moisture skin barrier protects against transepidermal water loss, chemical insult and xenobiotic penetration while preserving water to moisturize and maintain the smoothness and flexibility of the skin. A compromised barrier has been correlated with psoriasis, ichthyoses, and atopic dermatitis.2 Moisturizers, both emollients and humectants, within cleansers can maintain skin hydration as well as maintaining and restoring barrier function.3 Emollients impair evaporation of skin moisture by forming a film on the skin surface to impede water loss. Humectants attract and bind water, drawing it up from the dermis into the epidermis. The acid mantle of the skin plays an integral role in skin barrier function as well as regulating bacterial flora.4 Studies have shown that skin barrier regeneration/repair proceeds more slowly at neutral pH (7.2) than at physiological pH 5.5.5 Cleansers may also cause irritant or allergic contact dermatitis and this effect is enhanced if the skin barrier is compromised.

Conclusion

The choice of facial cleanser is important for people with normal skin, as well as for those people with sensitive skin and skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis, acne vulgaris. Liquid facial cleansers are the best choice for facial cleansing as they have an acidic pH, moisturizers and high rinsibility. Within the liquid cleanser category, the least irritating cleanser will contain non-ionic/silicone-based surfactants combined with moisturizers, as they will cause the least disruption to the moisture skin barrier and the normal skin flora.

B. L. Kuehl, PhD1 , K. S. Fyfe, H BBA2, N. H. Shear, MD, FRCPC3

1Scientific Insights Consulting Group, Mississauga, Ontario Canada
2GlaxoSmithKline, Consumer Healthcare, Oakville, Ontario Canada
3Departments of Medicine (Divisions of Dermatology and Clinical Pharmacology), and Pharmacology, University of Toronto Medical School; and Division of Dermatology, Sunnybrook & Women’s College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Removing Blackheads and Comedones

Eliminate blackheads and whiteheads

Blackheads are tiny, dark spots caused by a small plug in the opening of a follicle (pore) on the skin. Blackheads are also called open comedomes. A blackhead is a type of acne vulgaris. It is caused by excess oils that have accumulated in the sebaceous gland ’s duct. Blackheads are typically caused by excessive oil and makeup, which can facilitate the multiplication of the bacterium propionibacterium acnes, the predominant anaerobe of the normal skin flora. The substance found in these bumps mostly consists of keratin and modified sebum (an oily secretion of the sebaceous gland ), which darkens (resembling dirt) as it oxidizes.

If you suffer from blackheads or whiteheads and need to know which products are best. Look for non-comedogenic products - they are less likely to cause blackheads (called open comedones) or whiteheads (closed comedones). Most brands of make-up are non-comedogenic, which means they won’t clog your pores. If your skin is prone to acne or
especially sensitive, try to find products that are non-comedogenic, oil-free (water-based), hypoallergenic (unlikely to cause an allergic reaction) and fragrance free. It may be helpful to remove make-up before exercise, as the products can travel across the face through sweat and clog your pores. However, since no product is non-comedogenic for everybody, it’s a good idea to first test any new product on a small area of your own skin.

Blackheads are the slightly different sibling of pimples, and like pimples, squeezing them can be damaging. Composed of the same oil, or sebum, that contributes to the production of pimples, blackheads result from a building up of this oil in pores. The difference in appearance than that of a pimple is the result of the blackhead’s exposure to the air.
The oxidation (or darkening)  of the the oil causes the trademark black color of these blemishes.

While blackheads are more easily obscured by makeup, they can seem less offensive to the sufferer, and as a result, less damaging to squeeze. But squeezing is not good for blackheads. It can leave a permanent scar on skin and also leaves your skin open to infection. Comedones (blackheads and whiteheads) are caused by the densely packed skin cells. Comedones, commonly appear on the face and shoulders, but they may also develop on the trunk, arms, legs,
and buttocks. They are most common in teenagers but can occur at any age, even in infants.

Treatment for whiteheads and blackheads depends on the severity of the condition. Treatment may include lotions or gels placed on blemishes or sometimes entire areas of skin, such as the chest or back (topical medications). Oral medications, such as antibiotics, may be prescribed.

Causes of Blackheads

Blackheads are caused when excess skin oil, sebum and congesting toxins are expelled through your skin from the blood and lymph fluid that supplies your skin with nutrients. These congesting toxins combined with skin oil and sebum clogs your pores causing blackheads, whiteheads, and full blown acne. Dirt also plays a big role in developing skin blackheads. The dirt stored on the face or other parts of body help the bacteria to develop.

Symptoms of Blackheads

Blackheads and whiteheads are a combination of oils, sebum and cellular fragments that form firm to hard plugs within hair follicles. Blackheads are open to the skin’s surface and become darkened at the surface by exposure to oxygen (oxidation). They are called open comedones (or comedo, singular). Whiteheads are closed from the skin’s surface by
cellular debris at the follicle opening. Because they are closed from oxygen they do not oxidize or turn brown. They form a light or yellow-white lump and are called milia (or milium, singular). When bacteria is added to these plugs, the condition can lead to acne.

Treatment of of Blackheads

Mild cases of acne can be self-treated with over-the-counter topicals (applied to the skin) creams typically with benzoyl peroxide. Zinc Oxide is also a safe natural alternative to reduce infections. There are also a variety of different medications that your family physician might prescribe that come as creams, ointments, and pills. Some of the stronger medications for acne are not to be used if you are pregnant, so make sure you tell your doctor if this is a possibility. Most acne medications work by reducing the next “crop” of acne, so don’t get discouraged if the treatment does not work right away.

Home Remedy for Blackheads
1. In 3-4 cup boiled water, add 2 tsp of soda bicarbonate. Steam a towel with this. Thereafter, place the towel gently on your face. Do it for about 5-6 times. Make a paste by mixing 1 tsp curd and 1 tsp rice flour.  Apply the paste on the affected area. After some time, wash your face with cold water.

2. Take about 1 tsp of juice extracted from fresh coriander leaves and add ½ tsp of turmeric powder in it. Apply this mixture while going to bed. Wash your face the next morning with cold water.

3. Take a pinch of soft portion of glycerin soap and mix with a pinch of table salt. Apply this mixture on the blackheads. Do it for about a week and see the magical results.

4. Salicylic acid, glycolic acid, benzyl peroxide, etc. can be counter-productive to softening and dissolving blackheads and whiteheads as they can dehydrate dry, normal and combination skin

5. Make a paste by mixing 1 tsp limejuice and 1 tsp of finely powdered cinnamon. Apply it on the affected area before going to bed. Wash it off in the morning.
When looking over other strategies on how to remove blackheads, you want to make sure that you are not using your fingernails to squeeze. Your fingernails could be loaded with all kinds of bacteria, which could cause infections. If you do decide to squeeze, make sure you are properly cleaning and sterilizing your hands or using a tissue, to reduce the risk of infection.

Exercise caution. Squeezing a blackhead too much or too soon may lead to the rupturing of a blood vessel. Even though this is a rare occurrence, it can still happen. If you find this happening to you, do not continue to squeeze the blackhead because you may make it worse.

Mild Cleanser Basics

Why Cleanse the Skin?

Skin cleansing is necessary for skin health, hygiene and well being. Without effective cleansing, your skin’s surface can accumulate debris, sweat, air pollution, excess oil and bacteria. Cleaning the skin also helps to reduce the growth of microorganisms and reduce infection.

Washing with water alone will rinse some of the dirt and debris away, alone it’s not quite enough. Plain tap water will only remove about 65 percent of the oil and dirt on your skin, and will not effectively remove makeup. Skin cleansers, however, work as emulsifiers and help remove dirt, excess sebum (natural skin oils), bacteria, cosmetics and exfoliated surface skin cells.

Cleansers are especially important for those who use cosmetics, have sensitive or irritated skin, or use topical skin treatments.

Where Dirt and Debris Collect

When we cleanse our skin, we’re targeting the outermost layer of the skin called the epidermis. This outermost layer of the epidermis is composed of a tough protein-fat structure that produces a protective outer film, the skin moisture barrier. Part of the function of the epidermis is to waterproof the skin. While this film shields skin cells from the environment, it also traps and holds dust, pollutants, smoke, bacteria, cell debris, sweat and cosmetics.

Washing the embedded dirt off of your skin also removes some of this outer protective film and can irritate your skin, although mild cleansers have been developed to restore and maintain this protective covering.

Cleansing History

Today many people use the term “soap” to refer to any cleaning agent regardless of its chemistry.

Traditionally soap is a simple combination of fats, oils and salt with a history stretching back to the ancient Romans. In fact, the word “detergent” is derived from “to wipe off” in Latin.

Soaps as we know them were first used about 600 BC by the Phoenicians who combined goat fat, water and potassium carbonate ash to form a solid soap. More recently, in 1878, Harley Procter developed a new type of soap in collaboration with his cousin, James Gamble. They whipped air into a solution and created Ivory Soap, a product still sold today.

Cleanser Ingredients

Skin cleansers are formulated for a wide variety of needs and take many forms, from basic bar soaps to foaming liquid cleansers and antibacterial washes.

Surfactants (surface-acting agents) are the major ingredients in most cleansers, making up 30 to 70 per cent of the product. New synthetic cleansers with silicone surfactants are less irritating to the skin.

Most cleansers contain a combination of some of these ingredients:

• Water
• Surfactants (to emulsify dirt and debris)
• Moisturizers (to hydrate and maintain the skin barrier)
• Binders (to stabilize the cleanser’s ingredients)
• Lathering agents
• Fillers (used to harden bar soaps and cleansers)
• Preservatives (to prevent growth of microorganisms)
• Fragrance (usually to mask the odour of surfactants)
• Dyes or pigments