Natural Skin Care

[Eurasian Mélange]

I searched for a similar thread and could not find one, so I decided to make a new thread all about 100% natural skin care and natural remedies (with no chemicals whatsoever) for skin problems.

I have read that unrefined shea butter is very good for natural skin care. I have read from various sources that it can help with the following: fading scars, burns, rashes, spots, hyper-pigmentation, chapped lips and stretch marks. I have yet to try it and verify anything, but I may be getting some unrefined shea butter as a present.

I've already made quite a number of posts about spearmint tea helping to reduce acne. It is not 100% cleared up, but I have had a drastic improvement and it appears to be permanent.

People have recommended vitamin E oil to me before for hyper-pigmentation, but I found it did not make much of a difference. Then again, I was trying it at a time when I had loads of acne and they left more hyper-pigmentation scars, so if it was working the new blotches prevented me from noticing a difference.

I have also taken evening primrose oil capsules for PMS and period pain and I can say it has worked very well! Normally I get such nasty hot flushes that I become an insomniac during that time of the month and have to endure a lot of pain and spontaneous depression, but the EPO got rid of all of that or lessened it enough that I was no longer so stressed.

I have also tried tea tree oil face washes and it did make me feel a lot cleaner and reduced the number of spots, but not as much as the spearmint tea I drank every day.

What natural products have you tried for the purpose of improving skin problems? What skin problem did you use it for? What were your results?

 

[Suburban Snob]

Can you expand on the spearmint tea clearing skin? I've never heard of something like that. I'd be really interested to know more! Thank you!

 

[Miwi]

I use Akamuti African Black soap and Distilled Organic Rosewater. It's 100% natural and organic.
http://www.akamuti.co.uk/
I also use simple clay instead of mask. Clay is great for oily skin! And OCM is not bad neither.
I suggest you to drink nettle tea. It cleanses the blood and you can use it for a toner too.

 

[ruthie]

I used to always make a honey and aspirin facial scrub. Fairly natural. At least the honey portion of it.

&I like to utilize hot tea bags as a toner (after I finish steeping my tea, that is).

 

[Eurasian Mélange]

Can you expand on the spearmint tea clearing skin? I've never heard of something like that. I'd be really interested to know more! Thank you!

Some researchers found that men from a certain country (can't remember which country) were complaining of lower sex drives. They discovered the men were all drinking spearmint tea and decided to do some experiments on this tea. They tested it on hirsute women who were hairy due to excess androgen. The women drank tea twice a day. The hair was reduced. The scientists found the spearmint tea attached itself to the androgen, making it inactive. Spots are also caused by excess androgen, so I drank one cup a day and have been doing so for perhaps half a year now. I stopped maybe a month ago and have never gone back to having the number of spots I used to suffer from. Please keep in mind it may work in different degrees for everyone, though. If your spots are caused by something other than androgen it probably wouldn't work, but I think it is worth a try!

Also, I should give people a WARNING before they try spearmint tea: it is recommended you do not use it if you are pregnant, have hiatal hernia, or are having an acute gallstone attack.

Isa - Is the soap only for washing, or does it do something else?

I have tried cucumber and cold teabags on my eyes for dark circles and although it did make my eyes feel a lot better (they were stinging and 'tired' feeling before) it did not make much of a difference to the circles. Then again, I was often waking up at 4 a.m. to commute to university and not getting home until 11 p.m. because of evening classes. Maybe I should try it again now that I can sleep more like a normal person. Does anyone have any idea how long I should try cucumbers for there to be a difference? Or is there something better I could be trying?

 

[Miwi]

The soap is for washing, but not only the face. You can use it also for your hair and body. I haven't tried it yet, but some girls say it's pretty good.

 

[shop7th]

great idea for a thread!
and thanks for the tip about the spearmint tea!

 

[Eurasian Mélange]

A while ago I bought a moisturiser (for body and face) that is made from cocoa butter, aloe vera and vitamin E. It is very good for helping injuries heal quicker and it helps a little to make spots go away faster (you only need a very small amount). It also works very well as after-sun lotion (that is actually what it was sold as).

Another good remedy for period pains is blue and black cohosh. You can purchase them in pill form. One is stronger than the other, but I do not remember which. It is recommended you try the weaker one first.

Isa - Thanks for the information on the soap! I'll give it a try one day, but I still have a big box of soap bars to use before I can buy it.

 

[Eurasian Mélange]

Here are some places where you can purchase natural skin care products.

Most of these (might even be all of them) are based in Canada and the UK. I couldn't seem to find many based in the US.

I haven't checked if they are all 100% natural, but I'm sure it wouldn't take you long to check on the sites if you are interested.

Agoo Agii

Marie Chantal

Martina Gebhardt Natural Skin Care

Nadarra

Pevonia Botanica

Pure Skin Care

Pur Natural Skin Care

Rainforest Organics

Trevarno

Zenmed

 

[satin chic]

I use apple cider vinegar mixed with green or white tea (1/2) as a toner for my face - gives me a rosy glow and helped clear my skin.

When I have small scratches on my hands (I have cat, so that's quite often ), I apply a mixture of shea butter (any The Body Shop body butter I have at the moment) and the liquid of vitamin E capsules on my hands and massage it in. That seems so help as well.

 

[J.M.L]

Baking soda for exfoliant

 

[Miwi]

Has anyone heard of Aubrey Organic?

I got free samples today: Blue Green Algae Moisturizer (SPF 15) for combination/oily skin, Vegecol with aloe Moisturizing Cream for sensitive skin and GPB Balancing shampoo.
I need very good moisturizing cream, because my skin is sooo dry these days (I suppose it's because of Diacneal).

 

[CoconutWater]

Here are some that have worked for me:

I wash my face every night with oil - I use a mix of jojoba, olive, and grapeseed oils (mostly jojoba). Doing this decreased the oil that appears on my face all day the next day! I usually rinse the oil off with either a clean handtowel soaked in hot water or with a cotton pad with soap (I just bought Bioderma Crealine h20 cleanser I read about on the Model Skin Care thread=D).

If my skin is starting to freak out acne-wise, it helps to put some hot water and a few drops of tea tree oil and lime in a saucer and soak it up with a clean hand towel and pat it over your skin.

My favorite facial mask is a few drops of lime juice, a 1/2 spoon of honey and a 1/2 spoon of yogurt. It is moisturizing and makes my skin soft and smooth and helps to clear up any spots I may have.

In the shower I use soap with laurel oil. It is made of olive oil and laurel oil and it has helped tremendously with "bacne" and it does not dry out my skin. You can find it all over ebay and at some middle easter and indian stores. History puts this type of soap from Alep, Syria, so sometimes it is called Aleppo Soap or Savon d'Alep (or something like that, lol)

Castor oil is supposed to help your eyelashes and eyebrows grow in thicker if you use nightly - I never tried this so I can't vouch.

Coconut milk is a fantastic pre-shampooing treatment for softening your hair.

A quick exfoliator can be whipped up by crushing a few aspirin and mixing it with water, honey, yogurt, whatever. Aspirin has (or is?) salicylic acid. OK, I sneaked on chemical in this post, lol.

You can search for different essential oils and see what they solve at this site:
http://www.huiles-et-sens.com/language/en/
(they also have an option for German or French)

 

[Belle Princesse]

I try to use natural-ish products, but the things I swear by that are 100% natural are grapeseed and avocado oil to cleanse, shea butter for the body, coconut oil for the hair and body, plus a coconut, olive, grapseed and sweet almond oil blend for by body. HTH, I also like black soap.

 

[Eurasian Mélange]

Castor oil is supposed to help your eyelashes and eyebrows grow in thicker if you use nightly - I never tried this so I can't vouch.

I have also read that castor oil is great for healthy hands, particularly for cuticles and nails.

 

[LetThemEatCake]

Baking soda for exfoliant

I've used this before as a last resort if I was out of my good expensive exfoliant. Doesnt work as well obviously but I'm biased and feel cheap not using anything with luxury on my face.

Has anyone tried Eminence? They're probably the most natural line I can think of.
www.eminenceorganics.com

 

[Eurasian Mélange]

Does anybody know of any more tried-and-tested natural remedies for the following?

- Hyper-pigmentation
- Capillaries/rosacea (I swear it came from having billions of runny noses during childhood)
- Dark under-eye circles

The hyper-pigmentation is my biggest issue. I've managed to find a product that made the colour of my hyper-pigmentation spots more even and completely got rid of others, but now it appears to have reached a stage where it will go no further. I decided to post it in natural remedies because I don't want to get a load of hydroquinone and skin-bleaching recommendations. With my racial make-up it's more likely to damage me or make things worse.

I've already tried vitamin E, cocoa butter, shea butter and African black soap for the hyper-pigmentation. Vitamin E and cocoa butter was used for the longest time period (at least a year daily).

 

[Couturierdiva]

Most of the things I do have been mentioned.

Castor oil for eyelashes

Olive oil, grapeseed oil or coconut oil (can mix together if you like) on the skin at night.

Take vitamins

Drink water

I've never had acne, and have always had nice skin.

Also, don't get too stressed. Exercise is great for blood flow and energy

Eat healthy foods!

 

[Miwi]

At the moment I'm totally into 100% Pure, I bought Organic Cranberry Facial Cleansing Foam and I think I'll buy Pineapple Enzyme Facial Peel as well.

I also like Suki , Transformative Clay is amazing, not to mention Lemongrass Cleanser and White Willow Balancing Toner (but I only had samples).

 

[TheGlassAngel]

I use Burt's Bees a lot. I like these:

Orange Essence Facial Cleanser - It gets a bit sticky sometimes so if you have overly oily skin (One of my friends has oily skin and it made her skin blotchy), I wouldn't recommend it but if your skin gets dry during winter, it's a good cleanser for you. It also melts off your make-up so win It also smells really good so try not to eat it. (Not that anything will happen, no chemicals )

Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream - Also good! It goes on all tingling. If you have a little bit of redness, it takes care of it right away. The smell wakes you up on exhausting mornings.

Aloe and Linden Flower Aftersun Soother - I use this sometimes as a moisturizer at night but I used it after I got sunburned during a trip to the beach and it worked very well.

I also have the Willowbark scrub but I found it a bit too harsh for me so it's sitting on my shelf. Their tinted lipbalms are also very good (I'm running out of adjectives here ), the Rhubarb color is really pretty!