You will hear all sorts of things when it comes to looking after your skin, take many of them with a grain of salt. If you want to know the truth about natural skincare seek your information from an expert in the field. Most (not all) traditionally trained Beauty Therapists DO NOT understand natural or plant based skincare. I spend a lot of time correcting the information they pass on to their clients. Here are some of the myths that need to be flung in the bin as they really are rubbish!
1. Natural skincare doesn’t do anything. Really!? Natural skincare is made with plant oils and other plant ingredients. A lot of traditional skincare is made with mineral oils. However, mineral oils cannot absorb so all that cream just sits on your skin, indeed keeping it soft and locking water in, but having no nutritional benefit to the skin whatsoever. Plant oils on the other hand actually absorb into the skin so add the nutrients that are naturally held in the oil to the skin to maintain it and protect it against the signs of premature ageing.
2. Natural skincare does not contain active ingredients. What!? The plant ingredients used in natural skincare naturally contain those ‘Active’ ingredients that skincare junkies crave in their anti-ageing treatments. Vitamin A, AHA, antioxidants, squalane can all be found in plants. Where do you think skin specialists found these active ingredients in the first place? Like many industries, it just became cheaper to create them synthetically in a laboratory. You can get as much activity from plant based skincare as you can some cosmeceuticals, if you use the right ingredients. And just remember how absorbent plant ingredients are!
3. Plant oils are not good for oily skin. No No No No! This advice is given because a Therapist may not be familiar with the fact that there is a huge difference between plant oils and mineral oils, as explained in debunk no. 1. Mineral oils should not be used on oily skin as they don’t absorb so will just sit on the skin adding more oil. This does not mean that all oils are not suitable for oily skin though. There are some plant oils that are excellent on oily skin including argan and jojoba. The oil actually absorbs and helps to lock oil and water into the skin. There is a huge difference between plant and mineral oils!
4. Natural skincare is chemical free. No it’s not but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. We need to get away from the idea that chemicals are somehow bad. SOME chemicals are bad, the same as some natural ingredients are bad (you wouldn’t want arsenic in your moisturiser would you?) . The human body is made up of chemicals. We would die without them. Even essential oils have a natural chemical makeup. It’s these chemicals that produce the benefits you experience in your skin. The issue with skincare is that there are some unnecessary chemicals added to products but this does not mean that there are none in natural skincare. They appear naturally and are an integral part of the formulation. Natural does not mean chemical free, chemicals can occur naturally too.
Cheers for reading, get in touch if you want to know more about Holos Skincare.
X Niamh