Archive for the ‘alcohol free’ Category

Organic Acne Treatment : Choosing the best organic face cream

Monday, June 7th, 2010

I met with a friend over the weekend  who has battled with acne for over a decade. He had always maintained that he was acne prone due to his oily skin and hence used harsh cleansing and alcohol laced moisturisers to help dry up the oil. I had believed his skin to be quite dry and therefore producing excess oil to counter the severe dehydration.

Over the years I met many people with a similar problem.  This only stressed the importance of using the correct organic moisturiser or face cream for your skin type.

How to know if your skin is dehydrated even though you have acne?

If your skin occasionally feels tight especially after cleansing. Your skin can also feel quite sensitive. Your skin also may feel tight after cleansing but have get oily and shiny after a few hours – this is the skins compensatory mechanism that aggravates the break outs.

What organic moisturiser should you use for dry skin that is acne prone?

Rejuvenating Face Cream

You need to use a nourishing organic moisturiser or organic face cream. Seems strange in  light of the acne. However when skins dehydrated the negative feedback system kicks in to produce oil. If you nourish and hydrate your skin efficiently, your skin rebalances itself and produces less oil, hence fewer clogged pores and breakouts.  Give a moisturiser like the Rejuvenating Face Cream a try.

Organic moisturiser or organic face cream for Oily Skin

If your skin is genuinely oily, you still  need to ensure that you do not use a product that dehydrates the skin, as this just encourages it to produce more oil. What you need is an alcohol free, gel like moisturiser as these have a high water content, which will keep skin well hydrated. The skin then does not have to produce excess oil to compensate. Stay away from alcohol and SLS based cleansers and moisturisers. Also use a moisturiser that contains ingredients like neem (Melia azadirachta leaf extract) which has antibacterial and antifungal properties. Make sure that the product is designed to balance sebum production and contains sebum balancing ingredients such as arginine.

Active Face Hydrating Gel

Active Face Hydrating Gel

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Posted in Facial Skin Care, Natural Skin Care, Organic Acne Treatment, Organic Face Cream, Organic Moisturizer, alcohol free | 16 Comments »

Rejuvenating Starter Kit containing Organic Eye Cream on Sale at www.amazon.co.uk

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Organic Apoteke’s rejuvenating starter kit contains all you need to get your skin glowing. An organic cotton toiletry bag holds the following 6 products.

  • Buttermilk Cleanser 15ml
  • Balancing Rose Toner 15ml
  • Rejuvenating Face Cream 15ml
  • Rasayana Rejuvenating Serum 5ml
  • Organic Eye Cream 5ml
  • Organic Rejuvenating Face Mask 5ml
Rejuvenating Starter Kit

Rejuvenating Starter Kit

This great kit gives you Organic Apoteke’s complete rejuvenating regime. Whether you are new to Organic Apoteke and would like to try the products or are an ardent fan and need smaller sizes to take on holiday. This kit is perfect for you. The kit gives you enough product for about 3 weeks. Each of these products have wonderful anti-aging benefits. However when used in combination optimal results are seen.

www.amazon.co.uk is launching the Organic Apoteke range by offering the Rejuvenating Starter Kit at £19.95.  It normally retails at £29.95. Click here to benefit from this offer.

PS: This kit also makes a wonderful gift. Whether you are looking for fantastic stocking stuffer on the cheap or that perfect beach bag cosmetic kit, this is perfect.

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Posted in 100% Organic, Dry Skin, Neck Wrinkles, Organic Anti Aging Eye Care, Organic Eye Cream, alcohol free, anti-aging | 9 Comments »

Natural Skin Care: Alcohol Free Products

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

There are many questions and much uncertainty regarding alcohol in skincare. I am going to try and answer as many of these questions as possible over the next few weeks, however please feel free to comment and ask more questions. Shall we make it our aim to get to the bottom of the alcohol question??

What is an alcohol?

An alcohol is a compound where a hydroxyl group (-OH) is bound to a carbon atom or carbohydrate like sugar. The hydroxyl group makes the alcohol more polar. That means it gives the alcohol an electric charge.  This hydroxyl group also enables alcohol to easily attract water.

Why alcohol is harmful to the skin?

Alcohol draws water out of skin cells. Image from Organic Apoteke

Alcohols in skincare products draws water out from skin cells. Hence alcohol dehydrates skin cells. These cells which are normally plump due to being filled with water (almost 80 % of the cell is water) are tightly packed together to form a protective barrier. The skin is an organic which has many functions of which the following two are the most vital:

  1. Preventing moisture loss from the body and also preventing too much of water from entering the body, like when we take a shower. Can you imagine what would happen if we absorbed all that water?
  2. Preventing bacteria and environmental toxins from entering the body.

However when the alcohol draws out water from the skin cells they shrink, think of a grape that is dried to become a raisin. When the cells shrink spaces around the cells gets larger. Environmental toxins and bacterial that normally will not be able to enter the skin can do so now due to the spaces being larger.

Close up of Dehydrated cells, showing the spaces between the cells that enable toxins to enter. Picture from Organic Apoteke

Recent studies suggest that a large number of people with chemical sensitivities are actually allergic to alcohol. Furthermore alcohol in compromising the skins integrity, exposes the deeper layers of the skin to environmental toxins, that may otherwise be unable to penetrate into the skin. Hence alcohol is also a sensitising agent.

Alcohol also stimulates melanocytes which can result in hyper pigmentation of the skin and increased age spots.

All alcohols, organic grain, alcohol denat as well as fatty alcohols such as cetyl, ceteryl, stearyl, benlzyl and phenoxyethanol have the hydroxyl group and have the ability to dehydrate the skin. Obviously the larger amount of alcohol in the product, the more dehydrating the product.

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Posted in 100% Organic, Dry Skin, Uncategorized, alcohol free, anti-aging | 12 Comments »

Natural Skincare: Tips for Sensitive Skin

Monday, November 30th, 2009

1. Avoid products that contain alcohol and Synthetic Fragrances. Look at product labels or contact the company directly to ensure products are alcohol free and also free of all synthetic colors and fragrances.
2. Check all product ingredients. If you have a specific allergy to an ingredient, ensure that it is not in a product. You can view our ingredients in our ingredient glossary.
3. Patch test all products when using them for the first time. Conduct a patch test as follows. Apply product onto the inner wrist in the manner that you are recommended to use the regime. Wait 24 hours observing the area. If you have no un-expected response – please refer to product details for the expected response; test the same regime on the temple. Wait 24 hours. If you have no un-expected response – use products as recommended.
4. Please note that with a sensitivity reaction – every time you use a product this reaction gets worse. With products that stimulate microcirculation, every time you use the product the beauty blush decreases.

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Posted in Natural Beauty Tips, Natural Skin Care, Organic Apoteke Product Information, alcohol free, anti-aging | 1 Comment »

Organic Skincare can be Alcohol Free

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

I recently read a very interesting article on vivawoman.net entitled “Why can’t organic skincare be alcohol free?”  There were many comments and questions about whether some alcohols were milder and safer than others. I take it to mean that this topic is of interest. So I hope to explain this. 

Organic plant & grain alcohols versus alcohol denat or ethyl alcohol

I have one question. When you drink too much organic wine, is the hangover different from when you drink non-organic wine? Most will answer no. The reason being is that the chemical composition is exactly the same for both types of alcohol. The organic may have no pesticide residues etc. but it still dehydrates you, still causes the same release of liver enzymes. It has the same effect as non-organic alcohol. This is exactly the same for the skin. All alcohol is drying.

Plant derived fatty alcohols explained

Fatty alcohols like ceteryl, cetyl, stearyl, benzyl and phenoxyethanol differ from the alcohols above only by having a fat component as well. Manufacturers will often tell you that these alcohols are derived from plant sources and some may even claim that these are derived from organic sources implying that they are safer. The origin may be natural and/or organic, but the chemicals that are used to convert that natural material into these alcohols do not meet organic standards. What’s the point in taking an organic material and treating it with chemicals?  The end result is similar to the synthetic ingredients that are used by mainstream cosmetic companies.

100% Alcohol Free organic skincare is available

Why tolerate this when it is possible to have organic skincare using no alcohol at all? Organic Apoteke has spent many years researching this and have developed products that are free of grain alcohols, synthetic alcohols as well as all the fatty alcohols. This must prove that it can be done. Products such as these are mild, non drying and great for sensitive skin.

A question for us consumers

Why are we debating about which alcohol is safer? We are just playing into the hands of the cosmetics manufacturers half truths. Why do this when there are truly alcohol free organic skincare products available.

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Posted in 100% Organic, Dry Skin, Facial Skin Care, Natural Beauty Tips, alcohol free | 2 Comments »