More Than a Pretty Face
Want to look great in your shorts and tank top? Pretty skin isn’t just for your face. Your neck, arms, legs, shoulders and back will benefit from giving them a little exfoliation love too.
Safe versus Unsafe Skin Exfoliants
When you exfoliate your skin, you should use a gentle product that slides over the surface of the skin, never tearing, scratching or exfoliating more than just the thinnest surface layer.
Products that contain ground fruit pits or nut shells are unsafe. They can damage your skin by tearing, scraping, scratching the surface, or by their little bits clogging pores.
Products with exfoliation beads sound nice, but the beads are not biodegradable and go into our water systems. Some of them are made of plastics that end up leaching chemicals into the product.
Play it safe. Look for a quality product with poppy seeds or other such ingredient that glides over the surface of your skin without damaging it.
How exfoliation helps
Exfoliation removes the dead skin cells that make skin look dull and unhealthy. Our skin replaces cells every day. By using an exfoliant, we are removing dead skin cells and speeding up the process, as well as stimulating circulation in the area. By the way, you can also stimulate blood circulation by gently massaging your skin. Exfoliation also helps remove blackheads and other undesirable effects of clogged pores.
By improving the circulation, we are bringing more nutrients to the skin. These nutrients feed the skin, which make for radiant skin. And as an extra bonus, improving how well you absorb your toner and moisturizer.
Be careful
Don’t be too vigorous with body brushes or loofah sponges to avoid irritated skin. It’s often not the scrub itself that irritates the skin, but what we use when exfoliating, or the frequency we exfoliate. It’s not necessary to exfoliate more than one to two times per month. Natural body scrubs often work fine without extra “tools of the trade” – simply using a clean wash cloth or your hands will do the job nicely!
Last, but Not Least
Don’t forget to tone and moisturize after exfoliating. You may even notice that you’ll need less of your favorite toner and moisturizer once the dead cells have been removed. It will likely absorb deeper and leave your skin feeling great!
Special Offer for Namaste Nutritionist Fans
SongCroft Naturals is offering a special gift of 10% off of their exfoliant, suitably named Exfoliate! This all natural product is free of added fragrance or synthetic ingredients. The formula contains a special combination of herbs that stimulate circulation and organic poppy seeds that glide over the skin, removing dead skin cells without damage. If you would like to purchase a bottle of Exfoliate, you can visit SongCroft Naturals and use this coupon code: “Namaste Nutritionist”
Written by Marilene Richardson, Founder of Songcroft Naturals.
Check out the podcast episode, where I interviewed Marilene on the “Top 10 Toxic Ingredients in Your Personal Care Products”.
Back in the late 1980s, Marilene studied as an esthetician at the Paul Mitchell Academy and learned about the importance of healthy skin and body care products. Her awareness of the toxicity of some of the chemicals used in personal care products became personal when she became ill and extremely chemically sensitive.
SongCroft Naturals was born when Marilene’s passions came together—-herbalism, healthy living, the desire to help others, organic farming and creating amazing products at affordable prices. Her goal is support your needs for healthy personal care products.
SongCroft Naturals is a family-owned personal care product company. SongCroft Naturals is committed to truth-in-labeling, organic sustainable and fair-trade agriculture and they refuse to use any synthetic ingredients. Their products are free of phthalates, formaldehydes, ureas, and parabens. They believe in making the products affordable as we believe access to healthy products is linked to our national healthcare issues. They never test on animals-ever.
