Why Natural Body Care?
One of the reasons many people start learning about herbs, is their desire to use more natural body care products. For many years, we suffered from dry skin, rashes, rough patches, flaking, itching..the list goes on and on. Little did we know, many of the chemical laden products we slathered on to combat the problem, WERE the problem!
If you have sensitivity to a chemical or class of chemicals, foaming agents, perfumes, dyes or pore clogging oils, then you are creating a never ending problem, by irritating your skin with the very products you are using to try to relive the problem, no matter what company you switch to. That is, unless you look for products that use the purest, most simple recipes possible. Setting aside the organic vs conventional issue for a moment, the simple fact is, we don’t really know what that long list of ingredients actually is, in our foaming bath wash.
Switching to natural body care is a wonderful way to remove many of the toxic ingredients that we are being exposed to every day. Even if you exchange one mass marketed product, for a single natural product, the change in your skin’s health can be substantial.
So, What Is The Problem
The problem lies that many mass marketing companies are aware of the growing trend towards using natural products. In fact, it would be difficult to find a large company that hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon, calling their product *natural*, or adding an *organic* ingredient to the recipe. This may be following the letter of the law, but most certainly is not following the spirit of which the Organic laws were put into place.
Making Your Own Natural Body Care Products
The easiest way to being using more natural body care products, is to make them yourself. Once you break down what ingredients you actually need, it is quite simple. Use gentle oils and non petroleum based waxes for the base to your lotions and soaps, salves and body butters. Know that these items will work to keep in the moisture that your skin holds, helping to reduce irritation and redness due to dry skin. Add herbs or herb based ingredients that are specific to the issue you have. Start with as few ingredients as possible and avoid adding fragrance or coloring to the mix. The natural scent of beeswax and the aroma from the herbs, is lovely on its own.
When making your own natural products, there are some basic things to remember. Most important, you will be creating a natural product that has a shelf life. Sometimes that life is a mere couple of days, for a fragile item like an herbal floral water or skin toner. For the most part, make smaller sized batches of your item, if they are to include water, teas or moisture of any kind. These things can create a perfect environment for growing bacteria if left at room temperature. If you have a fresh herbal cream, keep it in the refrigerator and plan on using it within a week or two.
Another issue is the idea of a preservative. Although there are many things that people claim are natural preservatives (personally, I like Vitamin E and Honey), these things are not meant to preserve indefinitely, like a chemical or cocktail of chemicals might. If you make a natural body care product, use common sense and use it up, use clean hands or a clean utensil to scoop the product out of the container, and use sterile containers to store your items in. This may seem like extra work, but once you become used to the new routine, it takes only a moment to reach for your face toner out of the refrigerator.
For more on making your own herbal care products, see:
