The Nature of Clear Skin: Fighting Acne without Chemicals

I've received a lot of emails asking me what The Nature of Beauty offers for fighting acne. Now, I want to preface the rest of this post by making it clear that I am not a dermatologist. I've gotten to know many of them during the course of my lifetime, due to the pizza party that took place on my face from age 12 to about age 22. Oh, and then there was a zit reunion while I was pregnant; nothing like dealing with acne and wrinkles and rapid expansion all at the same time to make a girl feel beautiful! Anyway, my point is that I am intimately familiar with all forms of acne treatment. So while not a dermatologist, I can certainly feel your pain and have always been highly motivated to learn about the latest and greatest in acne treatment.

Lately, I've adaopted a fairly critical stance when it comes to the treatment-oriented medical model used in North America today. Specifically, we have been sucked into a treatment approach, where the goal is to fight the symptoms (in this case, acne), rather than prevent them from happening in the first place. This, my friends, is the basic tenant of the biodynamic approach to skin care. With regard to achieving a clear complexion, the goal of biodynamic treatment is to restore balance, to get to the root cause of the acne, thereby eliminating the need to fight it. It's like repairing the hole in the bottom of the boat, rather than getting progressively larger buckets to scoop out the water.

I have also read up on natural ingredients like Usnea barbata, white willow, sage, rosemary and peppermint, with antibacterial and other properties that both prevent and help eliminate those unsightly little beasts. Now, while I don't have acneic skin anymore (and it's about time, seriously), I do get the occasional stray zit and so the last time one popped up, I decided to try the Logona blemish stick. Admittedly, I kept my expectations low, figuring this would be one of those instances in which chemicals really did work better than anything nature could provide.

Not so I say!! The stick works great! I gave it to a co-worker and she had the same experience, my husband gave it to one of his co-workers and she was also pleased with the results. She then started using the blemish cream, and thought that was pretty fab as well.

Are you ready to try the natural approach to a clear complexion? Here's what I have for you:

Option one:

Organoderm Facial Cleanser. Because it's awesome and is ideal for all skin types. And it's awesome.

Suki Exfoliate Foaming Cleanser: Exfoliating is the best way to get rid of dirt and other nasties that will clog pores and cause zits.

Logona Clear Skin Blemish Stick: With sage, rosemary and peppermint. For those little buggers that show up no matter what you do.

Logona Clear Skin Moisture Fluid: Containing several antibacterial ingredients, this will fight acne-causing bacteria all day and all night, when applied after cleansing.

Option two:

The suki balancing line of products, which contain white willow salicins - a naturally occuring, very powerful salicylic acid - echinacea and other natural ingredients chosen for their soothing and healing properties. Use the exfoliate foaming cleanser, alternating with a gentle cleanser like Organoderm. Follow with suki balancing toner, and suki pure facial moisture - balancing. In addition, suki's transformative cleansing clay does an excellent job giving the skin a deep cleanse, using white willow salicins, and perfect as a cleanser, mask and spot treatment. To see if this approach works for you, you may want to consider purchasing the mini kit (which also works really well as a gift for your babysitter, sister, girlfriend....on second thought, no, don't get that for your girlfriend unless she specifically asks for something like that).

Option three:

Living Nature's balancing line of skin care is created to do exactly that: balance the skin. With soothing and healing manuka honey and acne fighting tea tree oil, the ingredients in their balancing line are selected specifically because they have demonstrated the ability in nature to restore pH balance and reduce inflammation. For deep cleansing, you will also want to consider the deep cleansing mask as well as the vitalising exfoliant - both of these products will remove dead skin cells and other culprits behind blackheads, pimples, and irritation.

Of course, conditions inside the both can also lead to acne, like hormones and so forth, so please consult your doctor if these excellent skin care regimens fail to produce results. But PLEASE do your skin a favor and consider giving up the harsh, chemical-based acne fighting treatments you've been using up 'til now. They do more harm than good in most cases, stressing out your pores and causing your oil glands to crank up production, creating more imbalance which then causes you to use more product....and, well, you can see where this goes.

I'd love to hear your feedback about these and any other natural remedies for clear skin!

Casual Conversations about Chemicals

This morning I was watching the Today Show while lifting weights, and suddenly there was a woman talking about the chemicals in our every day cleaning products and other household items that could be making us sick. It was kind of surreal - I had never heard a story like this discussed on a mainstream show with such casualness. Usually they house it within a "Green" segment or series, to let everyone know that the story is told through an eco-biased lens. But here it was, just a mainstream story on a mainstream show. I loved it!! I cheered!! I considered how soon I needed to buy a new, chemical-free mattress!! I'm sharing the story with you!!

Click here to view the story on the Today Show website.

The soothing power of Aloe Vera

This past week, I came down with the Queen Mother of all chest colds. I had laryngitis and could barely squeak out my name for 5 days. Considering that talking is more or less what I do for a living - and this was a particularly critical, verbally demanding week - I was gargling, slurping, spraying, and steaming every homeopathic remedy I could think of. Had someone offered, I probably would have given eye of newt a try. Anyway, I took this plague as an opportunity to try Santaverde Aloeslim tea. No, this tea is not necessarily recommended for the litany of -itises from which I was suffering, but hey, tea is tea and it felt really good.

Aloeslim works as a detoxifying tea, cleansing and purifying by getting rid of excess water and the various toxins that build up in our system and interfere with its normal functioning. I served it at my recent live event at Tillie's Bean Coffee shop in Minneapolis, to mixed reviews. Some customers loved the smell but not so much the taste, and some did not care of the strong aloe scent but loved the taste. Personally, I think it smells better than it tastes, but considering I don't really love tea, I thought it smelled and tasted pretty good.

As far as my experiment in homepathic treatments for a tenacious cold virus that felt like 5 lbs of burning playdough lodged into my chest...I caved two days ago and am now taking the exotic cocktail of antibiotics, Nyquil and Sudafed. A girl's gotta sleep, you know? But I plan to continue with the Aloeslim to see if it has any effect on the little Buddha Belly that has silently appeared where my flat little tummy used to be. I'll keep you updated.

Hat's Off to Sprig.com for Promoting Breast Cancer Prevention

It may seem like a simple issue of semantics, but it's not. Without thinking twice about the subtext of the "Race for the Cure" message, we've adopted it as the mantra for boobies everywhere. Breast cancer rates are climbing steadily, and the latest estimate is that about 10% of breast cancer cases can be attributed to genetics. That means the rest is a combination of biology and environment. In case math isn't your strong suit, we're talking about 90% of all breast cancer cases having nothing to do with the DNA you were born with.

So why, oh why, aren't we talking about Racing for the Prevention of Breast Cancer? Have we really become so complacent that we will accept these statistics without demanding an answer to why we're all getting cancer, resigned to finding a cure and not demanding to know why we're getting it in the first place?

Today Sprig.com published a concise article today that lays out the research on the chemicals in our environment that have the ability to cause breast cancer. Please take a moment to read this straightforward piece. Then ask your friends and family members to read it. You may not be able to eliminate your odds of getting breast cancer, but you may be able to reduce your risk. So won't you please try?

Long live the boobies!!!

Click here for the full article on Sprig.com.

What I'm Wearing Today

As you may have noticed, we carry a LOT of Logona products. It's all but impossible for me to try them all out myself, but I'm also not one to give up without trying. So this week I've been experimenting with my Logona stock, and wow is my job a difficult one. Turns out, this is good stuff, and I've been enjoying my little one-person study quite a bit. Here is what I'm decked out in today:

Hair care - Logona Lemon Balm Shampoo. Mmmmm....lemony. Reminds me of suki's exfoliate foaming cleanser. Oh, right, that's not Logona. Well, nobody's perfect. Conditioner was Logona's Wheat Protein Conditioner. This works great for my thick hair, but my mom says her thin hair didn't respond as well, so purchase accordingly. For some hold, I sprayed in a bit of the Bamboo Blow Dry Styling spray, which totally did the trick.

Skin care - Skin Mint Foaming Cleanser. Mmmm....minty. This stuff feels so nice in the morning, refreshing and invogorating. Then the Age Protection Nurturing Day Cream because I'm getting old. I followed all of that with a tiny dab of Age Protection Eye Gel, just because it feels good on my sleep deprived eyes.

On to Makeup - Again, because I'm no spring chicken, I applied Age Protection Foundation No. 2, which I have to recommend to anyone, regardless of chicken status. Creamy, but without the shiny finish of other creamy foundations I've tried. Then a dusting of Logona Loose Powder, followed with some Peach Blush. My eyes are dolled up with Logona's eye shadow duo in cacao + rose, with the brown eyeliner and black mascara. The eye shadow is beautiful and blends really nicely. Stayed on all day, too, perhaps because I first covered my eye lids with suki triple cream eye definer in bamboo (I know, I know, not Logona, whatever). Finished it all off with the lipstick in pink 02 and pink gloss. I realize I've said this before, but that is good gloss! Feels just like the nasty-packed crap I used to eat.

While I think the experiment was not supposed to be indefinite, I can't imagine I'll stop using many of these products any time soon. It's not just the colors, the quality is clearly top-notch. My experience with Logona makeup is similar to previous encounters with Estee Lauder, to give you a reference point.

Veering Off Topic For A Moment

As you all know, next Tuesday is Election Day. With each passing day, we become assaulted with ad after ad, attacking one politician's character and another's patriotism, this one's emotional stability and that one's support for our troops. If you're like me, it all becomes an intolerable wave of negative energy with no added value when it comes to helping me choose my candidate. What has helped, though, is Minnesota Public Radio's Select-A-Candidate tool. Even if you don't live in Minnesota, there is a Presidential Candidate option. This is an amazing little creation. You answer a series of questions about your views on the various issues. You have no idea which candidate supports which position until you're all done. After you have answered all of the questions (and the answers are quite complex and really force you to think through the topics), the tool spits out your results based on which candidates's views your responses most aligned with. It gives additional information as well to help you get a better sense of what each candidate has said about each topic, and when and where they said it, so you can research it for yourself if you want to go straight to the source.

Please, if you are still on the fence, don't listen to the fear-mongering cries of socialism and terrorist ties, or the claims of imminent heart attacks and psychological frailty. No candidate is all good and no candidate is all evil. But one likely has views and policies that align more closely with yours, and when you think about it, that really is what matters most.

So educate yourself and vote November 4th! It's not just your right - it's your responsibility!

A great contest on Fig + Sage

Before you have babies, it's easy to think breastfeeding is going to be a snap. After all, breastfeeding is the single most important factor in human survival over the millenia, right, so how complicated can it be? Then you have babies, and you realize that breastfeeding is really, really hard. I won't go into details, but my experience with my eldest was nothing short of hell on earth for the first 10 weeks (don't tell her I said that - besides, the 18 months that followed made those first couple well worth it). So thank God there are companies out there giving moms a little relief. The lovely women behind Fig+Sage are giving away a Breastfeeding Support Kit to make one mother's breastfeeding experience a little easier.

Check out their blog for more information.