Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Black Skin Care Product - Knowing What To Choose


Each year, millions of dollars are spent on black skin care product. Everyone uses them on a daily basis and probably never think twice about what is in them. We take for granted that items such as deodorant, eye shadow, body lotions and any other black skin care product are good for us. But are they really? Do you know what's in that bottle of shampoo? Could there be something in your skin cream that is hazardous to your health?

Commercial deodorants, hair spray, nail polish, perfumes, hand and body lotions all have what are called phthalates. This chemical has been known to create birth defects and has shown up in higher than normal levels in pregnant women. Some may say to basically using treatments with phthalates, but the problem is that not all treatments list them on their labels.

One would also think that by walking into a health food store and simply getting "all natural" cosmetics would easily fix the problem. The bottom line is this is a lot more difficult than you would imagine. Much of this is due to companies wanting to cash in on the movement towards "all natural" products. Just because a product says there are one or two natural ingredients in it, such as lavender or aloe, does not a safe product make. Get in the habit of reading labels, take a close look at what is going into the product you are buying and don't take the advertisement's word for it that all the ingredients are safe.

Finding black skin care cosmetics, such as eye makeup, blush, foundation, lipstick or any other black skin care product is much more difficult to find than hand and body lotions. Again, read the labels. There are a few companies out there that do make an honest attempt to keep their products as natural as possible. Some of these companies are Origins, Aveda, and Clarins. A search on the web of any one of these companies will bring up more information on the companies themselves, as well as manufacturers of all natural cosmetics.

One final note to consider is that as with any black skin care product or any cosmetics for that mater, natural cosmetics can cause allergies when they come in contact with the skin. Always try a test patch on your skin before you fully use the product. If you know you are already allergic to a specific ingredient, avoid purchasing that product. Some of the ingredients attributed to allergic reactions are jojoba oil, tea tree oil, and lavender. There have also been cases reported with vitamin E and aloe causing allergic reactions in people. Knowledge is power, do your research.

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