Be Bold: Natural Beauty

Spring is in full effect, and as a sun deprived New Yorker, I have been daydreaming about the summer days at the beach where the sand, salt water, fresh air and sunlight worked wonders for the appearance. Growing up in Florida, I logged in some serious beach time. Aside from satisfying the need for Vitamin D, the natural healing and beautifying effects of nature are abundant, not to mention cost effective. I have become increasingly more of a believer in nature’s power to deliver what we need as opposed buying products from a lab that continuously whips up new chemicals, concoctions and beauty potions. Most of the drug store or luxury brand products come at a high cost and promise to be the fountain of youth and transformation. The claims made by sellers of beauty products are similar to the promised miracle work of diet pills: they are too good to be true. Being the dedicated health student that I am, I have set out on a quest to find the best beauty products, skin and hair care remedies that are natural. I’ve always been a girly girl and have long been obsessed with beauty products and new fixes to dry skin, hair, or nails. Prior to the past couple of years, when I became committed to the concept of “healthy and natural living,” I loved testing out different lotions, body washes, shampoos, and makeup. I was product obsessed. My standards have changed, however, and now there is another consideration for products I use. I have progressively shifted away from most of the conventional beauty products and changed to more natural and basic remedies. I immediately noticed that as I limited my exposure to chemicals in food, I became increasingly sensitive to chemicals in products. My perfumes started to give me headaches and make me feel sick to my stomach, the scents in lotions and shampoos I once loved, started to seem overpowering. After researching the benefits of natural beauty care, I now seek out any information I can find on both natural, “old school” remedies, and companies that produce products based on natural ingredients. Here are a couple of links for you to try Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, wholeliving.com, thedailygreen.com. Just like with food, using natural beauty products is a win-win-win. Not only are the natural products much healthier for you-bear in mind that your skin is your largest organ and is permeable: chemicals you are slathering all over it are in fact absorbing into your bloodstream- but they are also better for the environment. To boot, you can utilize some foods as beauty products so they serve double duty. I recently went digging around in my pantry after reading about the moisturizing effects of safflower oil and decided to give it a try. For years, I had been using baby oil in my shower thinking it was pure since it made for the most sensitive of consumers, which is unfortunately not the case.) Once I realized that it contains fragrance, I began to search for a good alternative natural oil. As opposed to coconut oil which made me smell a little funky, the safflower was more oily, less creamy and doesn’t smell at all. I don’t mean it is unscented like those lotions that say “unscented” but actually do have a smell. It is odorless, or at least undetectable to my very sensitive nose. And, it is awesome to use in cooking as well because it is very tolerant to heat so you can make double use for it. In many cases, the natural remedies are less expensive.