Natural Skin Care

As a woman and mother this topic is of importance to me. I have always tried to take good care of my skin. I've tried numerous products. I would get occassional breakouts throughout my life, but usually it would heal fairly quickly. Around November I had started to experience a terrible amount of acne.

I simply couldn't figure out what the problem was with all of the raw foods that I was eating, and the water that I was drinking. I was still fairly sure that it was something on the inside casuing the irritation on the outside. Determined to find out what it was I did some eliminating. At first I couldn't imagine what I would eliminate.

One ingredient that I was consuming quite a bit of was grapeseed oil. I was using the oil for mild sauteeing, and I was at the time purchasing the grapeseed Veganaise (a vegan mayo). I decided to remove it from my diet, and the acne seemed to die down for a short time. Eventually the acne came back full force though.

I had started doing research as to why I would be having these breakouts at 30 years of age. I was very frustrated. I had learned that acne can be a result of a candida infection. Candida is a yeast. We all have yeast in our intestines. The problem specifically is with Candida albicans, which are a species of yeast in the body if infected that can cause illness in the body. I will talk more in depth about yeast, Candida, a healthy gut,and so on in another post.

I didn't completely determine if I have a candida issue. I'm leaning towards the side that I do. I have a few of the symptoms. I still believed though I was doing things wrong on the outside as far as skin care. I had been experimenting with different things inside my home to cleanse and hydrate my skin. Apparently I had not become successful yet.

Around this time a well-respected raw foodist, Annmarie Gianni had just come out with her own skin care line. I was super excited to say the least. Only the highest quality ingredients are used. Almost everything is organic, and it is so safe that you could eat them. The only glitch for me was the price. Let me just say that I broke down and decided to atleast purchase the facial/body moisturizer. It's a coconut oil base, and I highly recommend it. You can purchase that through the Renegade Health Store banner on my blog.

Something interesting that I had learned from Annmarie was that the skin on our faces has an acid mantle. So the pH is naturally very acidic. When we use things to cleanse our faces that are not pH balanced, we disrupt the acid mantle, or skin layers, and that causes all sorts of issues, dry patches, over oily skin, excema, and acne.

Prior to this I had been using a homemade scrub of vitamin E oil and baking soda. I was also cleansing with Dr. Bonners Magic Soap. Compared to the very popular, and expensive chemically laden product that I had been using for only $2.99 a bar that lasted a really long time, I was thrilled. I had come to find out that using soap on your face is a no no. I had always heard this, but never knew why.

I had never used soap to wash my face before. Soap apparently is very alkaline. That alkalinity totally throws off the acidic levels. So I had upset the pH balance in my skin, hence the terrible acne.

I still really was convinced that there had to be an effective, and fairly inexpensive way to cleanse my skin. After a lot of searching, I found a site by Natasha St. Michael. Natasha is the owner of the website Raw Radiant Health. Natasha is a raw food and health coach. She specifically has section on her website about acne.

You can imagine how intrigued I was so I had to check it out. She shows what she uses to keep her skin healthy and clean. It was so simple that I could've done cart wheels. She of course advocates a raw diet. The more raw veggies and fruits, the healthy our bodies are from the inside out, and that comes through the largest organ on our bodies, the skin.

After that she says to of course drink lots of water. Most people do not drink the right amount of water for their bodies. Just so you know here's an easy way to know how much to drink. Take your weight, cut the number in half, drink that amount in ounces. for instance, if you weight 120lbs, then you'll drink a minimum of 60oz per day. that changes along with what else you eat, caffiene intake, sugar intake, and exercise.

Next what she recommends, which I do is washing my face with honey. I do this twice a day. I used Trader Joes raw creamed honey. It's $3.99 per container. You only need a little bit. I spread it all over my face. I let it sit on there while I brush my teeth in the morning and at night. Honey has great natural antibacterial properties in it. Isn't our creator awesome?!!! My skin is so soft, and my pores have gotten smaller.

During the day I moisturize with Annmarie's coconut moisturizer. Now at night Natasha recommends using aloe for moisture and healing. She recommends using the larger aloe leaves. You can purchase these at Whole Foods or at most larger Mexican grocery stores. Just snip a small piece off, squeeze some aloe gel out, and massage it onto your face, after it dries, you can go to sleep :)

I can attest to the fact that using all of these things have done wonderful things for my complexion. I will post Natasha's instructional videos at the bottom of the page in case you'd actually like to see what she does. If you're interested in all of Annmarie's skin care products just click on the Renegade Health banner on the side of my blog.

Click on the links for the videos :)

Aloe Moisturizer

Honey Face Wash