Organic Body Care: For Your Health - And For Your Pocketbook

Skin is the largest organ of the human body. It's more than just a protective covering to keep our insides from falling out. It breathes, it eliminates toxins, it absorbs nutrients and converts sunlight into the Vitamin D that we need to maintain health. Our skin also absorbs toxins from environmental pollutants, the products we use on it, and even the clothing we wear and bedding we sleep on.

Why Go Organic?
Paying attention to what we put on our skin is important not only to our health, but to our appearance. Damaging chemicals prematurely age skin, resulting in wrinkles, eye bags and sagging skin. Even the expensive beauty creams that are supposed to prevent or reverse the effects of damaged skin contain, by necessity, preservatives and chemicals that actually exacerbate the problem. A quick look at any ingredients label will tell you that. Pretty neat deal for the companies, isn't it – create an anti-wrinkle product that creates more wrinkles to sell more anti-wrinkle cream... and on it goes.

If you see ingredients such as parabens (methyl, ethyl, butyl and propyl), sulfates or ureas, put that cream down NOW and walk away. Also avoid products containing petrochemical derivatives such as the deceptively named “mineral” oil, propylene glycol, paraffin, or synthetic dyes. You do not want that stuff in your body, which is directly where it goes when you put it on your skin. Your liver, where all those toxins are filtered, will thank you.

Pure, organic oils and herbs have a short shelf-life making them unsuitable for most commercial products. That's why you should be very wary of such products claiming to be all-natural and organic. They may contain some natural, organic ingredients, but without preservatives that extend their shelf life by many months or years, few commercial enterprises will be making it. Since commercial creams and lotions are usually heavily advertised and packaged in fancy, expensively produced containers, they are also unduly expensive, sometimes outrageously so.

Make Your Own Body Care Products

When you realize how easy, inexpensive, fun and gratifying it is to make your own organic body care products, you'll wonder why you ever used the commercial lotions and creams. There is no skin care product you can't make at home from skin healing, moisturizing creams and lotions, to anti-microbial wound care salves, to healthy baby oils, and even aftershave splashes and lotions. Did I mention that it's fun, too?

We'll show you how to make your own organic, herbal body lotion in the next post with more “recipes” coming up soon. The only thing you'll have to worry about is getting hooked on creating wonderful new blends that smell and feel delicious on your skin. Wait, there is one more worry – how you will spend all the money you save by making your own healthy, organic skin care creams, lotions and salves.