Facial Skin Care Products
By: Dr. Loretta Lanphier, ND, CN, HHP, CH
The skin on your face is on the frontlines of toxic and environmental exposure every day. It must battle pollution, ultraviolet rays, wind, dust, debris, and the onslaught of harmful chemicals found in most skin care products. Your facial skin is also the most fragile skin on the body. Thus, many products have been specifically designed for facial skin care. There are so many choices, that it can be difficult to find the best ones for your particular needs. Here is a brief tutorial on the most common varieties of facial skin products available.
A Word about Facial Skin
The first step to finding the most appropriate facial care products for your situation is to determine your skin type. Facial skin is typically classified as either normal, oily, dry, sensitive, or combination.
If you've never had difficulties with oily or dry skin, it's probable that you have "normal" skin. The pores of normal skin are small, and the skin tone is generally even.
Oily skin is characterized by medium to large pores that are easily susceptible to blockage and blemishes. Oily skin is often greasy, and is thicker and firmer than normal skin.
Dry skin feels taut and itchy, especially in the winter. It is thinner than normal skin and may be rough to the touch as well.
Folks with sensitive skin are usually well aware of it. Sensitive skin is very prone to rashes and breakouts from many potential irritants including the sun, temperature extremes, perfumes, shaving products, and certain soaps. If you have sensitive skin, avoid products with dyes, perfumes, or harsh chemical ingredients.
Combination skin has both oily and dry areas. Usually this type of skin exhibits an oily "T-Zone" (forehead, nose, and chin) with dry patches on the cheeks and near the eyes. In some cases, this pattern may be reversed.
Facial Skin Care Products
Facial Cleansers: Standard soaps can be very drying to facial skin. It is best to use a gentle, natural facial cleanser or natural glycerin soap that is specifically designed for the face (and for your skin type too).
Skin Toners: Skin toners offer extra cleansing and help balance the pH of your face as well. However, many of these products can be quite drying, so if you have dry or sensitive skin, skip using a toner or use a non-drying all-natural skin toner such as Hydra-Tone™.
Anti-Aging Creams: Facial skin care creams made with antioxidants (particularly vitamins C and E), vitamin A or alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs), are commonly used to help reduce the visibility of wrinkles and to restore vibrancy to the skin. These products may make a number of claims regarding their efficacy and the speed of results. Use caution when considering a facial skin care product that makes grandiose claims or bills itself as a miracle cure for aging. Seek out all-natural anti-aging creams that do not contains chemicals.
Eye Creams: Eye creams are specifically made to care for the fragile skin under and near your eyes. They help to plump and tighten skin in these areas, and to reduce fine lines and wrinkles that develop around the eyes.
Moisturizers: Moisturizers help to hydrate your skin and reduce the long-term effects of aging over the years.
Sunscreen: Even in small amounts, ultraviolet rays from the sun can be very damaging to facial skin. Protect your face by applying natural sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 15 every day.
AHAs: Alpha Hydroxy Acids, or fruit acids, work wonders at improving the texture of your skin and reducing the visibility of fine lines. These products work by sloughing off (exfoliating) dead skin cells to open up and cleanse the pores. This improves overall skin health, and is especially great for oily skin, acne, and other blemishes. Different products use different concentrations and types of AHA, and pH levels may vary as well.
Exfoliators: The purpose of these facial skin care products is to remove dead skin cells. They use a variety of ingredients to accomplish this including nuts, seeds, alpha hydroxy acids, and microcrystals to gently remove dead skin cells and revive new healthy skin underneath. Use them sparingly, and they will help dry skin too.
Sunless Tanners: As the name implies, sunless tanners are used to tan the skin without sunbathing. Use caution with these products, as they vary greatly in quality and degree of safety. Some of them use dangerous chemicals that you do not want your skin or body exposed to.
About the Author
Loretta Lanphier, ND, CN, HHP, CH is a Doctor of Naturopath, Clinical Nutritionist, Holistic Health Practitioner and Clinical Herbalist in Houston, TX and Founder / CEO of Oasis Advanced Wellness. Under her leadership, OAW is known and respected as one of the leading companies in providing safe, clean and hi-tech natural health and wellness solutions for whole body wellness. Because of the need for high-end natural and organic skin care products, Dr. Lanphier has developed Lanique Botanicals, an all-natural skin care line which promotes natural health and anti-aging solutions for the skin. All Lanique Botanicals and OAW developed products are free of toxic ingredients, heavy metals, irradiation, excipients and preservatives and are certified organic, organic, wild crafted or of the highest purity and quality that we can obtain while still providing the utmost degree of active ingredients. All product batches are laboratory tested to ensure that you are getting exactly what the label states. We will never knowingly compromise health in order to provide a cheaper product or to get a product out quickly. Lanphier is Editor and contributor to the worldwide Free E-newsletter Advanced Health & Wellness. Please visit us at Oasis Advanced Wellness, the PMS-Progesterone-Menopause Resource Center, the Acne Resource Center, the Glyconutrient Resource Center, the Allergy-Asthma-Sinus Relief Resource Center and www.oasisserene.com
