You Asked for It - Product Conversions!
People ask me for organic based alternatives to their favorite department store products or “product conversions” so often, I just have to post a few.
Keihl’s Lip Balm #1 = Jurlique Lip Care Balm
Swap out the nasty petroleum for castor seed oil, beeswax, shea butter and jojoba seed oil and you’ve got the perfect year round lip healer!
La Mer Creme de la Mer = Patyka Biokaliftin Creme Visage Reparatrice
Though it claims no “miracle broth” of Sea Algae extract in it’s ingredients, the Patyka Creme has been known to deliver the same results without the mineral oil, petrolatum and frightening octosyllabic chemicals.
Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser = Organic Apoteke Buttermilk Cleanser
The classic dermatologist reccomended facial cleanser for ultra-sensitive and irritated skin is no more than some water, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, alcohol, Propylene Glycol, and three different parabens. The preservative seems overkill in this simple solution doesn’t it? Why not opt for an extremely gentle natural alternative like Organic Apoteke’s Buttermilk Cleanser instead?
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick = Nvey Eco Organic Lipstick
If there is one thing you have got to give up now it’s toxic lipstick! I grew up with Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick, not knowing that what (my mother and) I were putting on our lips was nothing but pretty poison. You wear it, you ingest it and it’s full of known neurotoxins and carcinogens. Opt for the rich, hydrating natural based Nvey Eco Organic Lipstick instead!
Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizer = Ila Face Oil
For many years, the driest of skins have relied on the Clinique classic for all day dryness relief. Take a look at the ingredients and you’ll find that it’s basically artificially colored vaseline. Slathering your skin with mineral oil everyday will certainly make your skin feel less dry but it won’t do anything to rebalance or actually restore hydration to your skin. This is the type of product that if you go one day without it, you shrivel up and flake because it’s not healing your skin at all, just coating and clogging it. Instead, try using a restorative blend of natural oils like ila face oil. It’s not heavy enough to give you the feeling that petroleum products do right away but over time, the wild grown argan oil and organic rosehip seed oil along with healing vitamin E could actually rebalance your skins own natural moisture levels.
Do you have a product you’re trying to give up but can’t find a safer alternative that works? Challenge ME to find it for you and I’ll post your results here on our blog!
Skin Care 101: How to Wash Your Face
Did you know that how you wash your face is as important as what you wash it with? Did you ever find that with conventional chemical based skin cleansers, they work great and then after a few weeks, your skin starts to feel drier or oilier every time? That’s because typically, the chemicals used to give you a great squeaky clean foam or that baby soft feel or that wonderful fragrance, are actually wreaking havoc on your skins natural ph balance and ability to self-renew. With organic and natural based cleansers, you can use less product and get better, lasting results without the yo-yo, as long as you know how to get the best of them.
There a two basic types of facial cleansers: Milk or Lotion cleansers and Foaming Cleansers. Both are available for all skin types but you may find that cleansing lotions work better for dry skin and foaming cleansers work better for oily skin. Cleansing lotions usually double as great makeup removers while foaming cleansers are perfect post-workout.
Lotion Cleansers
I often hear people say their skin doesn’t feel clean when they use cleansing lotions. Often it is because they are not meant to be used the same way you use conventional cleansers that you rub, scrub and rinse with. By following these tips may get you much better results. With a lotion cleanser, the first thing you want to do is moisten the face with warm water, loosening the dirt and oils in your skin. You may pat a wet washcloth to the face if you’re not in the shower. Next, you would pump the cleanser into your hand and apply evenly, directly to the skin. This is the part where we usually mess up. DO NOT rub your face with cleanser! This action could potentially only cause dirt and oils to be shoved into your pores, so to speak, rather than lifted from them.
Instead, press your palms, not fingers, to your face and roll them back and forth and then lift and repeat. You’re trying to create a suction action that will actually draw dirt out of your pores and onto the surface of your skin to be rinsed away. You don’t want to rush this process. Take your time as the natural, active oils and nutrients in the cleanser rebalance your skin. With any type of facial cleanser, washing it off too soon is the most common mistake and can leave your skin unbalanced.
If you are wearing eye makeup or a lot of face makeup, you may skip the pre-moistening step. Apply the cleanser directly to the face and use a warm, soft washcloth to wipe the makeup off. Then proceed with regular cleansing.
Foaming Cleansers
Think of foaming cleansers as concentrates. The most common mistake is applying them directly to the skin, foaming them up and then washing them off. By applying the concentrated cleanser without foaming first, you may be using too much product. This process can leave your skin unbalanced, overdry or unclean. With most foaming cleansers, instead of rubbing your face with them to build up a lather, you should rub them between your hands with water first and then gently rub the foam to your face. Rub only enough to evenly distribute the cleanser and then begin to pat and roll, creating suction. This process should take at least 30 seconds. Don’t rush it! Rinse thoroughly. If your skin feels tight or dry after using a foaming cleanser, it is posible that the product is not right for you but you may need to rinse longer or you may have used too much product.
As with any new skin care product, it can take some getting used to and not seeing results right away can be frustrating. If you are trying natural based cleansers for the first time, when you don’t get the same feeling you’re used to right away, you might think about going back to conventional products but remember, that feeling never seems to last does it? By being patient with the process, and using these tips, you may end up finding an effective, healthy cleanser that you can use for years to come and continue to get great results like I have!
Check Us Out on Today!
Marisa Belger, Todayshow.com’s Greenday correspondent did a fun, info filled interview with our founder, Spirit Demerson. Click Here to check it out!
Secret Ingredient: Marsh Mallow
Not the fun campfire stuff, this Marsh Mallow or Althea officinalis is a plant that contains a high percentage of natural mucilage; giving extracts of a marshmallow root a thick, syrup-like consistency. It is this humectant quality that gives marshmallow its intensive hydrating and softening properties that rebalance dryness on the skin. Biodynamiclly grown Marsh Mallow extract is found in many Jurlique products.
Can You Afford Organic Skin Care? Why Organic Beauty Costs So Much
You are already used to paying a little more for organic food. You know that it’s more nutritious and isn’t exposed to any mystery pesticides or hormones we don’t want in our bodies. You may have also heard that 60% of what you put on your skin is absorbed into the bloodstream. Some of us may just like the IDEA of a rosemary oil running through our veins better than the idea of a toxic paraben and for some of us it just seems like they are constantly finding new links between these commonly used chemicals and cancer, alzheimers, autism, birth defects & other illnesses and want to just avoid them all together. Whatever your reason for going “green”, you have probably noticed that in general, organic skin care doesn’t cost a little more than conventional, it costs a lot more.
Do you get what you pay for?
I did learn a bit about cosmetic chemistry in cosmetology school but it wasn’t until I started making my own body lotion that I truly understood what a delicate balancing act it is. It all started when a favorite lotion of mine was discontinued. I looked up the ingredients and started to wonder if I could recreate it myself using organic ingredients with the same properties as the ingredients in the original formula. Well, over the course of a few months experimentation I finally ended up with a pretty good formula. Friends suggested I sell it. The only problem - it cost me about $30 a bottle in raw materials to make. That wasn’t including my time or equipment. Surely a skin care manufacturer could get some of those costs down but ultimately the retail price for an 8oz. bottle of lotion like the rich, organic, skin nurturing formula I made, would be at least $40. In comparison, an 18 oz bottle of St. Ives body lotion is around $5.00.
Some of the cost has to do with demand. We’ve seen the price of organic produce come way down over the last couple years and with our growing interest in organic personal care, an organic skin care or cosmetics company is born everyday. Over time, this will drive raw material prices down. But a lot of it has to do with the scarcity and quality of the delicate natural ingredients. It takes hundreds of pounds of roses, evening primrose, or borage seed to make one ounce of deeply skin hydrating oil. St. Ives and thousands of other brands use cheap, hormone disrupting preservatives and skin clogging mineral oil, petrolatum and silicone; ingredients that ultimately leave your skin even worse off. As a buyer, I want to be able to offer something for every budget, especially for those of you just starting out, taking steps in a more natural direction. Prices shouldn’t be prohibitive but quality and beauty should not be lacking either. I buy for a store that specifically represents luxury lines which means highest quality ingredients with less fillers that work better, faster and longer than anything else. With that in mind, a $5.00 body lotion just isn’t possible.
Wait! The good news is, in my experience, ounce for ounce, organic products outlast conventional ones. You may actually go through a 16 oz. bottle of St Ives in the same amount of time you would go through an 8 oz. bottle of Jurlique lotion. You would notice you were used to slathering stuff on that is formulated to evaporate and coat the skin when you first use something that was formulated to truly heal and hydrate the skin. The same goes for a soap, lip balm, eye cream, you name it. Organic counterparts are more likely to contain more effective ingredients, be easier to apply, are less likely to cause skin dependency, are less likely to exaporate, and you will notice that creams and lotions especially are lower volume because they are not pumped up with fillers that do nothing for your skin. I can moisturize my entire 5′10″ body with about a pump and a half of Jurlique body lotion whereas it takes me about 5 pumps of a conventional brand and I don’t have to worry about how much of the stuff-I-can’t-pronounce is getting into my bloodstream. So remember, sometimes organic costs more cash but the real cost of cheaper conventional products may be hidden.
$$$ What’s Your Beauty Budget?
In hard financial times, I have always taken comfort in life’s little luxuries. My go-to is a nice, long bath soak with a stack of magazines and a glass of wine. It costs a fraction of what a spa visit does but can be equally de-stressing and pampering. I may have to skip the $85 Brazilian waxes when I have to save some cash but I will always have the tub. Some of us would never give up a weekly manicure, others wont leave the house without mascara. The Presidential candidates were asked what part of their spending they would give up in light of this economic crisis and it seems like they both had a hard time answering! Is there one product or treatment that you will not be cutting out no matter what? What will be the first cut in your beauty budget?? Salon Blowouts? high end moisturizers? I look forward to hearing your answers!
Skin Care Q & A: Can I combine skin care from different lines & ranges?
People ask all of the time if it’s ok to use a cleanser from one line and a moisturizer from another. My answer is: I don’t recommend it. Skin care companies develop product lines to work together and the performance of one product can be affected by another. While this may sound like an unfounded excuse to get you to be brand loyal, there is some truth to it. I recently tried using my old toner after washing my face with my new cleanser, which I usually use with my new toner. I noticed that because the new cleanser is more astringent, their toner is more hydrating while the reverse was true for the old line. Both lines when used exclusively, performed very well but in combination, left my skin too dry. Your skin may also be getting overdosed on certain ingredients when you use products that are not designed to balance each other. Some ranges use more oils in their cleansers than others. If you are getting too much oil between one cleanser and another moisturizer, your skin may become congested. The same is true for some drying or peeling ingredients.
So what do you do if you want to try using a new product without going all out and buying the whole line? In a perfect world you might consider giving your skin a 24-48 hour break in between switching to another line and then at that time, trying samples of the whole range. When that is not possible, I suggest trying the product independently first. If you are trying a cleanser, skip the toner and the moisturizer for a day to get a feel for the balance. Then incorporate what you feel your skin needs. Keep an eye on stronger ingredients, making sure not to “OD” on them. Remember that it takes skin about two weeks to fully adapt to the pH of new skin care products and regimens. An initial breakout or inflammation is sometimes normal. Two weeks is a long time to get through but sometimes it is necessary and all the more reason to use products that don’t counteract each other.
Check Out Our Guide to Organic Face Serums and Get 10% Off Any Serum!
Face Serum. You’ve been hearing about them everywhere but you’re probably still wondering; Do I really need an extra step in my skin care routine? How are they different from moisturuzers? How do I know which one is right for my skin? We’ve compiled a guide to everything you need to know about our pure, organic face serums! Click Here to check it out now! Find out which one is right for you and get 10% off at spiritbeautylounge.com with the coupon code: SERUM10. Offer Valid until 10/29/08.
Nothing Sacred
The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep cosmetic safety database is a great place to start before buying any new beauty products. With 7,145 ingredients and 27,528 products (and counting) documented, you can find what is often shocking information about the toxicity of almost any beauty product on the market. My favorite feature of their site is that you can manually enter product data that has not yet been added and instantly get the EWG calculation of its potential hazard on a scale of 1 to 10. I entered the ingredient list from my fancy, imported, $40 shampoo, Louise Galvin Sacred Locks Hair Cleanser. Boasting “free from SLS, synthetic perfume, propylene glycol, phthalates, silicones & parabens”, I figured my “Sacred Locks” should spit out a squeaky clean “low hazard” report card but was suspicious enough of the less pronounceable ingredients to run it through. My shampoo scored a disappointing 4(moderate hazard). By comparison, Pantene Pro-V shampoo comes up 7 (high), while Burt’s Bees Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo scored a harmless 1! Check out the site and be sure to sign their petition asking Congress to get cosmetics companies to disclose all ingredients and to prohibit the use of the most toxic ingredients in products intended specifically for children.
American Apparel expands "Sustainable Edition" organic line
American Apparel’s organic fine jersey short sleeve tees now come in 8 yummy colors. I’m not sure about the eco-friendliness of their dyes but at $15 a tee,these make a great sweatshop-free gym & weekend shirt. My wardrobe staple, their long 2×1 Rib U-Neck Tanks and most of their other items are still not available in organic cotton but I hope that changes by the time I go to re-stock later this year!