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Skin
Care Products
By Dr. Edward F. Group III, DC, Ph.D, ND,
You are never too young or too old to start taking care of
your skin. In fact, skin care and protection should be an
essential part of your health, fitness, and beauty regime.
If you take care of your skin, your skin will take care of
you! But with all of the lotions, creams, and potions on the
market, it can be difficult to know which product will work
for you. Many products claim to remove wrinkles or heal dry
skin. Others claim to contain expensive ingredients that they
say will improve the effects of the product. Here is a guide
to the basic skin care products on the market, and how you
can decipher which product will work best for you.
A Look At The Products
There are several types of skin care products that may make
a useful additional to your daily skin care. These include
cleansers, sunscreens, moisturizers, eye creams, toners, exfoliants,
retinoids, herbals, and skin care supplements.
Cleansers: Cleansers help to remove the
dirt, debris, pollutants and perspiration that accumulate
on your skin throughout the day. They may come in liquid,
foam, or bar form.
Sunscreen: Sunscreen is an essential product
for the care and protection of your skin. While it is true
that some exposure to sunshine is necessary for the body to
synthesize vitamin D, you really only need 10-15 minutes each
day to accomplish this. Excess sun exposure can cause changes
in the skin cells leading to damage. People with fair skin
need to be much more careful than those with darker skin.
But dark skin can become damaged too. Applying a liberal amount
of a natural sunscreen with at least an SPF 15 will prevent
sun damage and lower your risk of developing skin cancer.
Many moisturizers come with sunscreen already included.
Moisturizer: Moisturizers can soothe dry
skin and make wrinkles less noticeable. They come in cream,
lotion, and oil form. Oil based moisturizers are good for
severely dry skin on the body whereas a cream or lotion is
a better choice for the face as it will leave the face feeling
less heavy and greasy. Use a moisturizer right after bathing
to seal moisture into your skin.
Eye Creams: An eye cream can help to improve
the condition of the fragile skin around the eyes. It helps
to hydrate and protect this area and it may even help to minimize
dark circles or temporarily tighten fine lines.
Toners: Skin toners offer a bit of extra
cleansing to skin that tends to be combination or oily. But
if your skin has become dry, avoid using a skin toner. These
skin care products often contain alcohol or acetone, and they
can aggravate dry or sensitive skin.
Exfoliants: Moisturizers and cleansers that
contain exfoliants help to improve the appearance of skin
by sloughing off dead cells on the skin's surface. They may
also help to smooth out the skin's appearance and even out
discoloration from overexposure to sun. Since older skin does
not naturally lose dead skin cells as easily as younger skin
does, an exfoliant may be a good product for skin that appears
rough and sallow with age.
Retinoids: Topical vitamin-A based products
called retinoids have made significant advances in reducing
the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. They help to temporarily
“plump up” the area around a wrinkle and diminish
its visibility. This is not a solution for long term results.
Herbals: Green tea and other herbal antioxidants
can be applied topically or taken orally to fight free radical
damage to the skin and approve its overall appearance.
Supplements: Coenzyme Q10 is a naturally
occurring cellular antioxidant that has shown potential in
the prevention and treatment of several diseases, such as
heart disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and certain
types of cancer. It is also utilized in many moisturizing
products for its wrinkle reducing properties.
Deciphering
The Ingredient Label
You may be wondering why skin care products come with such
a confusing labeling system. The Food and Drug Administration
receives many requests each year to decipher the language
of cosmetic and personal care product labels. But while they
empathize with consumers, there really is no way to change
the labeling and keep the information accurate. The ingredients
need to be listed by their chemical names because that is
essentially what they are. Even though a product may be marketed
by its trade name, this name will provide little clue as to
the identity of its ingredients. But despite the technical
language of the skin care product's label, it is possible
to glean some useful information. Ingredients must be listed
in sequence based on how much is included in the formula.
As a consumer, you can compare similar products by seeing
where a particular ingredient falls in the list. For example,
if you have sensitive skin, you may want to avoid a product
that lists alcohol as its first ingredient, but one with alcohol
as one of the last ingredients may not aggravate your skin.
Of course it is best to avoid alcohol completely.
For more information on natural skin care and make-up go
to http://www.skin-care-support.org.
Dr. Group, the founder/CEO and clinical director for the
Global Healing Center, heads a research and development team
producing advanced, new, natural health protocols and products.
To learn more visit
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