Chemical Free Beauty?
Question: I don’t want any chemicals on my skin. Can you recommend some products?
Mimi: Do you put water on your skin? The chemical formula for water is H2O. Everything is chemical. So toss out your concern.
If you want to avoid products made in a lab rather than by nature, you will have a hard time buying them. You can make your own products at home. Please go to www.INTERNATIONALdayspa.com to read past columns like “Egg on Your Face” about recipes for homemade “natural” beauty products.
The active ingredients in homemade products are much lower than in commercially prepared cosmetics. If you want to elicit a change in your skin, you will want commercially prepared products. However if you just want to maintain clean, naturally nice skin, homemade works well.
One problem with homemade is that it needs to be made up freshly just before use. It has no “shelf life.” For example: you can use Knox unflavored gelatin for hair styling gel. Follow the directions on the box—they are different from Jello. Add ½ again the amount of water. It works well. But even refrigerating the goop doesn’t prevent mold. Plus it costs more than a big jar of styling gel from the 99 cents store.
When studies were first done on Alpha Hydroxy Acids for the beauty industry, beauty practices from history were studied.
What was in Cleopatra’s milk bath that kept her skin lovely? What was in Grandma’s buttermilk and oats facial mask that lightened her skin? Lactic Acid.
Why did the ladies of the French court put sour wine on their skin to prevent wrinkles? The tartaric acid acted as a rapid exfoliant.
Sugar contains glycolic acid. Apples contain malic acid. Wine contains tartaric acid. Milk has lactic acid.
When you buy a bottle of AHA lotion, it does not contain milk, sugar, sour wine, or apples. The formulas have been replicated in a lab. You buy a test tube version of the active ingredient.
As I have written in previous columns, you can put lemon juice on your skin to lighten it. It is drying, but effective. But it must be made up fresh each time. It is more convenient to use a commercial vitamin C product that contains “test tube” vitamin C and moisturizers.
Stay tuned for discussions on laurel sulfates, parabens, and other chemicals. If you have questions on particular ingredients, please write to me.
Mimi Barre is the owner of International Day Spa, 325 Cajon St., Redlands.
Send your skin care questions to her at MimiB@INTLdayspa.com. She and her estheticians are available for personal consultations. (909) 793-9080. Past columns of Ask Mimi are on the web at www.INTERNATIONALdayspa.com.
