Here are some very useful essential oils when it comes to de-stress. Feel free to mix and match the oils from the same functionary group:

Anti-depressant oils: basil, clary sage, geranium,  jasmine, lavender, melissa, sweet orange, petit grain, rose, rosemary, sandalwood, ylang ylang.

Blood pressure normalizing: clary sage, lavender, lemon, marjoram, melissa, peppermint, vetiver, ylang ylang.

Sedative oils: bergamot, chamomile, clary sage, frankincense, geranium, jasmine, lavender, marjoram, sweet orange,melissa, petit grain, rose, rosemary, ylang ylang.

Mood boosting oils: bergamot, chamomile, clary sage, frankincense, lemon, melissa, sweet orange, rose, rosemary, sandalwood.

Anti-anxiety oils: basil, melissa, peppermint, rosemary, vetiver.

Please note that many essential oils cannot be used in pregnancy.

Many people who are allergic to certain ingredients, including sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, develop rashes and redness that can look like acne, so here’s a bit of newest research on this ingredient.

According to Environmental Working Group and their famous Skin Deep database of ingredients, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate has low toxicity rating – mainly because this ingredient has never been tested for safety in humans or in animal studies. Common skin reactions to sodium hydroxymethylglycinate usually include redness, stinging, burning sensation, and aggravation of existing skin conditions such as acne or eczema.

What’s more disturbing, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate now is gaining “popularity” among greenwashers in organic cosmetic trade, who claim that this chemical is natural and even organic because it was once an amino acid, glycine. Well, then plastics are organic, too, because they were once prehistoric forests (you certainly know that crude oil is basically rotten trees, don’t you?) Just as coconut oil undergoes complex chain of chemical reactions involving harsh chemicals to become a “coconut-derived” detergent, so does glycine becomes completely transformed with such toxic chemicals as formaldehyde, to become sodium hydroxymethylglycinate.

Here’s what recent research says about sodium hydroxymethylglycinate coming from such a respected body as Department of Medicine at University of California in San Diego, USA:

Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate is a preservative used in many commercially available products, including shampoos, conditioners, soaps, moisturizers, body sprays, baby wipes, room sprays, cleaning agents, and pesticides. It is in a class of chemicals known as formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. Notably, members of this class have been associated with allergic contact dermatitis, possibly due to the agents themselves, the formaldehyde they release, or both. Studies on sodium hydroxymethylglycinate in animals have demonstrated potential for sensitization and dermatitis, and formaldehyde-allergic patients have been reported to improve when products containing SHMG are avoided. Patients and providers need to be aware of this preservative. So if you are looking for an organic solution for your allergy-prone, acne-prone skin, then a product with sodium hydroxymethylglycinate should definitely be avoided.

Source: Russell K, Jacob SE. Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate. Dermatitis. 2010 Apr;21(2):109-10.

Nevertheless, sodium hydroxymethylglycinate is currently found in the following so-called “natural” products (this list is not exhaustive):

• Jurlique Soothing Herbal Recovery Gel
• Jurlique Lavender Hydrating Mist
• Jurlique Moisture Replenishing Day Cream
• REN Matte Balancing Fluid
• REN Frankincense Revitalising Night Cream
• REN Vita-Mineral Radiant Day Cream
• REN Revivo-Lift H11 Intensive Night Serum
• Natural Magic Eco-Herbal Skin Care Pure Pearl Cream
• Sircuit Cosmeceuticals dreamweaver Night Time Skin Repair
• Eucerin Q10 Anti-Wrinkle Sensitive Skin Creme
• Alchemilla Rehydrating Night Balm (and other products)
• Zia Natural Skincare Deep Moisture Repair Serum
• Be Natural Organics Liposome Hydration Creme

As all of Petite Marie Organics products are formulated to solve skin problems, we only use non-chemical natural preservatives and avoid potentially toxic ingredients such as parabens, parabens and sodium hydroxymethylglycinate.

The reason behind the weight gain could be in female hormones. After a few days of sleep restriction, the hormones that control appetite cause people to become hungrier, so women who slept less might eat more. “But in fact they ate less,” Dr. Patel said. “That suggests that appetite and diet are not accounting for the weight gain in women who sleep less.” The research also didn’t find any differences in physical activity that could explain why women who slept less weighed more.

At the moment, the verdict is that sleeping less affects person’s basal metabolic rate, or the number of calories you burn when you rest. Another contributor to weight regulation that has recently been discovered is called non-exercise associated thermogenesis, or NEAT, which refers to involuntary activity, such as fidgeting or standing instead of sitting. It may be that if you sleep less, you move around less, too, and therefore burn up fewer calories.

There is another culprit. Many failsafe emulsifiers available on raw ingredient market today are marked as vegetarian or vegan, but they are not entirely natural. In fact, most popular emulsifiers are loaded with petrochemicals which makes then unsuitable for green beauty products. For example, emulsifying wax NF may be vegan but it is made of cetearyl alcohol, polysorbate 60 (a petrochemical), PEG-150 stearate (another petrochemical), and steareth-20 (yet another petrochemical). There’s absolutely no reason to use this blend of synthetic chemicals in your natural beauty products!

Another emulsifier to avoid is borax (sodium borate.) A recent research shows it may be carcinogenic, and evidence based research confirms that it is very irritating and allergenic. It also dries out delicate, mature skin, and is not recommended for use on children.

Making your own facial creams, lotions, and cream cleansers is the best way to avoid animal by-products and petrochemicals in your beauty creations. The best vegetable emulsifiers are derived from coconut or palm oils without use of petrochemicals. Some of the safe emulsifiers are soy lecithin, sucrose laurate,  cetearyl glucoside, and sorbitan olivate.

The following emulsifiers must be clearly marked as vegetarian, vegan, or plant-derived:

glyceryl monostearate/stearate (may be derived from animal tallow)

sorbitan stearate (may be derived from animal tallow)

cetyl alcohol (may be derived from spermaceti)

This technique is commonly referred to as a double boiler, Bain Marie, Bain de Marie and even au Bain Marie.

A double boiler is simply a pot placed on top of another pot with boiling water in it, over a heat source. You can buy the pots already assembled or you can find two fitting pots in your kitchen. The pots should be cast iron, glass, or enameled steel. Never use aluminum or Teflon-coated pots and pans as they will leach carcinogenic compounds in your skincare.

Simple double-boiling technique:

1. Arrange two saucepans or a large saucepan and a Pyrex bowl (even a steel coffee pot would do), so that one fits loosely into another.

2. Fill the large pan with water so that the level of the water is approximately 3 inches below the rim of the smaller pan.

3. Place the wax or the butter into the smaller bowl.

4. As the water in the large bowl boils over medium heat, handle the large bowl with great care so that the water doesn’t get into the melting ingredients.

5. Remove the double boiler from the heat source once the wax has turned into a liquid.

Other method of melting your waxes or butters is microwaving. While I do not recommend cooking your food in a microwave, it is a viable shortcut to quickly melt an ingredient for cosmetic use. Just make sure to microwave in a glass container, never in plastic, and to stand really far back from the device while it’s working. Stir the liquid well to dissolve any hot spots.

Tip: to prevent grains from forming in your balms and butters, after heating and melting, cover your product and place it in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.

The greenest way to obtain good quality oil from seeds, nuts, and fruits is cold pressing during which plants are crushed and pressed. Another, more sophisticated and costly method is supercritical CO2 extraction which produces more concentrated and pure extracts than cold pressing. This method is used to extract oils from delicate, rare plants.

Among the less preferred methods of oil extraction are solvent extraction which involves use of environmentally unfriendly petrochemical solvents and hot pressing during which many vitamins and antioxidants are rendered useless after being exposed to high temperatures.

For long time oil has been a skin foe rather than ally. We would avoid anything that resembled oil believing that anything that has oil in it would clog pores and cause pimples. We would prefer so-called “oil-free” chemical brews or mineral oils which for some mysterious reason seemed to be harmless. However, when you get used to natural oils, you will be surprised to notice that most oils penetrate easier than lotions and leave no greasy residue. Some oils are better suited to oily skin, some are great for body care, and others are indispensable for hair and nail care. Here’s a quick guide to choosing the most suitable oils for your beauty needs:

FOR BODY CARE: olive, canola, grape seed, rice bran, evening primrose, wheat germ oils

These super-nutritious oils are rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that strengthen the lipid barrier in the skin and prevent moisture loss. In chapter 4 you will learn how to prepare a simple herbal body infusion to moisturize your body head to toe. All oils are rich in natural vitamin E which acts as an antioxidant and helps smooth out scars and stretch marks.

FOR MASSAGE: grape seed, olive, sesame, peanut, sunflower, canola oils

These oils glide easily over the skin and create a warming effect because they do not evaporate off the skin surface like lotions do thus creating a “greenhouse” effect. Just a few drops of oil is enough to warm up or relax the muscles and tone up the skin. In chapter 3 you will learn how to create a lifting facial massage oil, and after reading chapter 4 you will be able to make an anti-cellulite massage oil for problem areas.

FOR HAIR NOURISHMENT: coconut, sweet almond, jojoba, avocado, argan oils

Cold-pressed nut oils are rich in vitamins A, D, E, B group, as well as lecithin and palmitic acid. They can be used for weekly warm hair packs and daily care for dry, frizzy locks. For more recipes, turn to chapter 5.

FOR HAIR GROWTH: linseed (flaxseed), burdock, sesame oils

These vitamin-rich oils will not make your hair greasy but instead will help establish healthy sebum production in the scalp and nourish hair follicles. Stronger follicles begin providing the hair shaft with more nutrients, so the hair becomes stronger and shinier. For best results, these oils must be warmed up before use. In chapter 5 you will learn more recipes how to prepare warm hair treatments for dry, damaged hair.

FOR FACE MOISTURIZING: peach kernel, apricot kernel, jojoba, grape seed, pomegranate seed, black currant seed, acai, thistle oils

These lightweight oils penetrate quickly without oily residue. If you have dry skin you can use lightweight facial oil blends or pure oils twice daily, in the morning under the sun protecting product and in the evening alone.

You can also use facial oils for massage and to enrich your existing moisturizers. Most facial oils can be used around eyes but not too close to the lash line. Exception to this rule is castor oil which may help improve lash and eyebrow growth. Simple recipes in chapter 3 will explain how to prepare antiseptic oil blends for oily skin with acne and energizing oil blends for dry, tired skin.

No matter which oil you choose for your cosmetic products, please keep in mind that vegetable oils must be stored in dark cool places. Thin, liquid oils such as jojoba, thistle, evening primrose, and rosehip must be refrigerated to prolong their shelf life. Fatty, heavy oils can be stored for up to four years, while lightweight liquid oils will keep fresh for two years.

Originally, I wanted to create a rich cleansing cream, but the recipe got tastier and tastier, so I ended up with something delicious enough to put on top of a muffin.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons semolina

2 tablespoons fine brown sugar

1 cup organic orange water

1/2 ounce coconut oil

1 tablespoon vegetable glycerin

10 drops natural vanilla extract

5 drops carrot seed oil (optional)

1,000 IU vitamin E

METHOD

Carefully heat the orange water in a stainless steel saucepan until hot but not boiling and set aside. Using a double-boiler method (see chapter 2) melt coconut oil and glycerin until liquid. Pour the hot orange water into the melted oils, beating with a fork until fluffy and uniform. When the mixture cools down to being pleasantly warm to touch add sugar and semolina. When the mixture is almost cool, adding vanilla extract, carrot seed oils and vitamin E. Blend thoroughly, transfer into a jar, and resist the urge to eat.

APPLICATION

Massage 1/2 teaspoon gently into dry skin using circular motions. Rinse off with warm water and repeat if necessary.

Most often, the worse the formulation is, the harder the box is to read. To discourage curious customers from prying into cosmetic secrets, they print ingredient lists in all-cap dense letters with very small spaces between lines, so the whole area looks like one grayish square filled with chemical jabber. Often the lavish design masks the most noxious ingredients. Some of them may be hiding under natural-sounding names or abbreviations. Cocamide DEA may sound natural, but in fact it is coconut oil diethanolamine, and we already know that diethanolamine, along with triethanolamine, may be contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals.

When properly written, the labels can provide you with a lot of useful information. In theUnited States and Canada, any chemical above 1 percent by weight in the formula is required to be listed in order of concentration. The general rule of thumb is, the higher amount of an ingredient the product contains, the higher position it will occupy in the ingredients list. So pay attention to which ingredient is listed first.

Good cleansers and toners start with water, followed by glycerin at the beginning of the list; toners may begin with water, witch hazel, or alcohol right in the first line. For example, a mediocre toner would list a propylene glycol second in the list of ingredients; a good one will contain floral water, witch hazel, or glycerin. A heavy moisturizer will list mineral oil or petrolatum as its second ingredient, right after water. Such moisturizers will contain many pore-clogging ingredients and therefore will not be suitable for acne sufferers. However, a moisturizer that lists mineral oil somewhere in the middle of the fine print would be less likely to cause breakouts, but nevertheless is less suitable for oily skin than a moisturizer with no mineral oil at all, such as a lotion based on olive oil.

Most often, preservatives, fragrances, and colors are listed at the end of the list. However, I have seen formulations that listed triethanolamine and paraben preservatives right in the first line, which means that this particular product contained a lot of very questionable substances. But even if there’s less than 1 percent of an ingredient contained in the bottle or jar, it doesn’t mean that it cannot get any job done. Peptides, enzymes, vitamins, and alpha hydroxy acids are all used in smaller than 1 percent concentrations.

When you think about it, even 1 percent is quite a bit of a chemical. If you imagine 1 percent of a 100 ml bottle, that’s 1 ml of a substance, about the size of a tester fragrance vial. Imagine how a guy in a white lab coat takes an ampoule of something that causes cancer in rats and pours it into your antioxidant body lotion, or worse yet, baby bath. The situation is cartoonish, but you get the idea. Does it look pretty or healthy? It certainly doesn’t look good to me.

So resist the urge to scan just the first few lines and keep reading. Start from the end of the list – this way, you can spot harmful substances sooner.

Sometimes ingredients lists are not easy to locate—or they are not there at all. In that case, contact the company directly by phone or e-mail. Most companies respond to customer queries about their ingredients, so don’t be afraid to contact them if you are unsure about a chemical or it’s not listed in any online database.

There are thousands of safe synthetic ingredients that can be used in skin care products. If you want to learn more about each particular ingredient, you can go online to Wikipedia or check the safety of a suspicious chemical at the Environmental Working Group website (www.ewg.org) where they have a very comprehensive searchable database of most existing chemicals used in personal care products.

When you learn the trick of scanning the ingredients list for toxic chemicals and ingredients that can damage your skin, you will never purchase a beauty product just because it looks pretty or elegant, thus falling prey to tricky advertisers and talented product designers. Once you’ve learned to read the ingredients label and identify marketing scams, you’ll be able to avoid wasting money, and be able to take perfectly good care of your skin and hair.

__________

This article has been adapted from The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Gabriel (HCI, 2009).

Sensitive skin is easily irritable and very susceptible to various aggressive  factors, such as ultraviolet radiations, cold, wind, detergents, make-up removal  products and other cosmetics. The sensitive skin is a hyperactive type of skin  which overreacts to stimuli which would have been tolerated normally. When  sensitive skin gets into contact with such a stimulus, it causes a strong  sensation of discomfort. Sensitive skin has low tolerance or no tolerance at all  to usual cosmetics or hygiene products. Therefore, special care has to be  provided using products which treat and prevent possible negative reactions such  as: burning sensations, blemishes and irritation.

Both almond oil and jojoba oil have molecular composition that is very similar to those of  the natural skin oils. Therefore, both oils can be used to soothe and nourish all skin  types, and since these oils are free from additives or preservatives, they work very well for sensitive skin.

Natural oils can be used on their own, in  combination with other essential oils, or in mixtures based on the two of them.  If mixed, the two oils increase each other’s therapeutic effect and they usually  come in combinations of 75% almond oil and 25% jojoba oil. When added to the  almond oil, jojoba oil has an antioxidant effect and helps regulating the sebum  production in the skin.

When mixed, they can be used in skin treatments and skin care, make-up  removal (even for waterproof products) and even massage oils and aromatherapy  oils for relaxation. Both oils are easily absorbed into the skin, leaving a  silky texture.

Almond oil has skin moisturizing properties. The oil also calms skin  inflammations, dermatitis, irritations, itches and other skin conditions. Almond  oil is used in massage oils because of its relaxing properties and can also be  used around the eyes and the mouth to help prevent or soften wrinkles.

Almond oil has a very relaxing aroma as well. If you happen to be allergic to  peanuts, take into consideration that you might also have allergies to almonds.  It is best to consult your doctor before using almond oil.

Jojoba oil is actually a wax in liquid form, not an oil. It is the substance  which resembles the most the natural skin sebum. Therefore, it works great in  balancing sebum production at the level of the skin and is very good for acne  and oily skin.

Jojoba oil has high antioxidant properties, so it won’t need any chemical  preservatives. It can be used externally on all skin types, even for young  children. Jojoba oil can treat psoriasis, eczema and dry scalp.

_______________________

This article has been adapted from this helpful resource: Skincare Guide

After a quick count of ingredients contained in a typical cleanser, toner, moisturizer, eye cream, facial scrub, body wash, body lotion, and a sunscreen, I came up with more than two hundred different chemicals that we diligently apply to our skin daily. This is not counting hundreds of synthetic fragrance ingredients in your favorite eau de toilette! As you leave your home, you will inhale car emissions, pesticides, radon, volatile organic compounds, persistent organic pollutants, tobacco smoke, dust, and microscopic droplets of grease. You will eat food that contains artificial preservatives, flavors, and colors, and you will drink water that has subpar purity standards, adding to the already brewing cocktail of chemicals that enter your system nonstop.

In 2006, a consumer advocacy group, Environmental Working Group, with the support of the Breast Cancer Fund, Breast Cancer Action, and the National Environmental Trust, released a study of the listed ingredients for 7,500 bestselling beauty products. Here are some of the findings:

• The Cosmetic Ingredient Review Board, a panel that oversees cosmetic safety, has never analyzed about 90 percent of cosmetic ingredients for health impacts.
• More than seventy popular hair dye products contain ingredients derived from coal tar, a known carcinogen.

Nearly 55 percent of products contain “penetration enhancers” that increase the ability of chemicals to enter the bloodstream.

Our skin eats anything that we put on its surface. When you use beauty products loaded with chemical ingredients, you are feeding your skin “junk food.” I bet you already know that junk food, with all its flavor enhancers, preservatives, synthetic fillers and highly processed ingredients, is not good for our bodies. If you try eat healthfully, why use “junk beauty”?

__________

This article has been adapted from The Green Beauty Guide: Your Essential Resource to Organic and Natural Skincare, Haircare, Makeup and Fragrances by Julie Gabriel (Health Communications, 2009).