Why Natural Organic Skincare Is Better For Your Skin

Natural, Organic Body and Skincare

Shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, liquid soap, hand creams, facial cleansers and moisturiser, lip balms... we all have them in abundance in our homes and use them on a daily basis - but when's the last time you turned the bottle around and read the ingredients list? Even if you did, you probably wouldn't be any the wiser since many of these products consist of a concoction of chemicals, largely by-products of the petrochemical industry, heavily disguised under long complex names. Sadly, many of these chemicals do not have any beneficial effect on the skin and are included for other reasons - as an emulsifier, to bind ingredients together, to improve the texture or to give the product a longer shelf-life.

Whats more, some of these chemicals have been found to have potentially harmful effects on the human body and have been linked to skin irritations, adverse reactions in certain body organs and even cancer.

The problem by now is that so many commonly used skincare products contain these toxic ingredients - even some of those that claim to be 'natural', 'hypo-allergenic' or 'dermatologically-tested' - that it has become a minefield of misunderstanding for the average consumer.

So what is the answer? Firstly familiarise yourself with some of the nastiest chemical ingredients and make sure you don't buy anything containing these. Here are afew to get you started:

Sodium lauryl sulphate - a moderately toxic detergent which can cause skin irritation - found in most shampoos and toothpastes.

Parabens - including methy,propyl, butyl or ethyl - preservatives which are found in many products and can irritate skin, eyes and respiratory tract and are possibly carcinogenic.

Propylene/ butylene glycol - a petroleum-derived solvent linked with respiratory and throat irritation and central nervous system disorders, amongst others.

DEA- diethanolamine - acidity regulator e.g.DEA cocoamide - severely irritating to body tissues and eyes and possibly carcinogenic.

Bearing in mind that nobody really knows, as yet, what effect a daily bombardment by a concoction of these different chemicals may have on the human body over a prolonged period of time, it seems it would make sense to cut out or at least try to reduce your exposure to these toxic toiletries. Buying truly natural, organic products is the only way to ensure that what you are using is 100% safe and trustworthy and always check the ingredients labels. If you are reading such natural components as shea or cocoa butter, olive, sunflower or almond oil, beeswax, distilled flower waters and essential oils then you know you are on the right track! Remember that the purest, most natural products which are high in skin-feeding antioxidants and natural vitamins, often do not contain any preservatives and so will not be found on the shelves of your average shop, but there are plenty of on-line shops selling fresh products and at reasonable prices.

How To Make Organic Melt and Pour Soap

Want to make organic melt and pour soap? Yes, you can buy organic melt and pour soap bases to make your own organic hand made soap. The advantage of making and using organic soap is you know it's good for you and your skin and it doesn't contain any harsh, nasty chemicals.

First, find an organic melt and pour soap base. It should be easy to find a soap supply site selling this on Google. Just type in organic melt and pour soap base. Once you've found your organic melt and pour soap base (check the ingredients it contains first) you can start looking for organic soap fragrances and colors. The site where you found the organic melt and pour soap base may sell them. This way your soap will be truly organic.

Of course, if you just want the soap base to be organic, you don't have to worry about the fragrance and colors being organic and you can use soap suitable ones which will most likely be cheaper.

What kind of molds are you going to use? Do you want to make shaped soap, like hearts or stars, or plain bars of soap?

Once you've decided on your ingredients and have the necessary equipment (including safety equipment) ready, it's time to start making your organic soap.

Of course, it's really important to follow your soap making recipe so you know exactly when to add each ingredient but basically to make melt and pour soap you melt the soap in a suitable double boiler or microwave safe bowl or jug, then add the soap coloring and fragrance. Then you pour it into molds and leave it to set. Then you can unmold it. To unmold your soap, gently pop it out of the mold. If it sticks, try running some water over the base of the mold and then try to pop it out of the mold again. Once it's unmolded you can use it right away!

Once you've made a great bar of organic soap, you may never want to go back to using unorganic soap. So here's to your organic soap making success!

What Are the Benefits of Organic Coffee Soap Vs Your Soap?

What are the benefits of your soap vs Organic Coffee soap?

Did you know that the soap you may be using in the shower is harmful? Harmful ingredients like alcohol, AHA's, aluminum, animal fats, collagen, DEA, dioxin and fluorocarbons are just a few of the things that make up the soap you use everyday. Make sure your soap is made with healthy organic coffee and other natural ingredients.

Is Coffee Soap Good For You?

It is said that the caffeinated soaps are absorbs through your skin during your morning shower. Therefore, I would recommend Organic Soap. One of the benefits is reducing the risk of skin cancer. A study done on groups of hairless mice shows that, after severe exposure to ultraviolet radiation for twenty days, the mice that had caffeine applied to their bodies had less than half the number of tumors on the skin, as opposed to the mice that didn't get caffeine doses. The study showed that caffeine actually killed the abnormal cells that can cause skin cancer.

What else should you know about this soap?

Keep a bar close to your kitchen sink. It will remove odors from your hands. Onions, garlic and even the heat from hot peppers or even fish smells will be removed from your hands. If you don't have coffee soap around use some of the grounds from your morning coffee pot. The soap will help the smells of your garbage disposal disappear as well.

Can Coffee Soap Help with Cellulite?

Caffeine is present in almost all types of diet supplements and cellulite reducing products on the market. The caffeine helps blood flow to the skin and acts like a diuretic. Coffee soap should contain coffee grounds which helps exfoliating and the massaging process. By massaging and rubbing the needed areas this help breaks up the fat cells and decreases the lumps and bumps ever faster.

What else can this soap do?

Using the soap on your face can help get rid of small lines and wrinkles and also if you have rosacea, it helps by constricting the blood vessels thus keeping the flush of the cheeks at ease. If you don't have some coffee soap on hand you can use your morning coffee grinds. However the soap seems to work much better and helps add moisture to the skin with the Natural Glycerin and Organic Goats Milk, and fresh roasted organic coffee beans.

Effective Organic Pest Control

If you have a garden, you will have pests from time to time. Fortunately, there are plenty of entirely natural ways of getting rid of most garden pests.

For example, snails and slugs can be a real nuisance but one totally natural way that you can protect your seedlings from being eaten by them is by spraying a coffee solution on and around those seedlings. This does no harm to the plants (as long as the solution is diluted 10:1 water to coffee) but when a slug or snail crawls across the sprayed area, they absorb the caffeine and died soon afterwards.

There are some insects that help you keep control of the pests such as aphids and caterpillars that will eat your plants. In addition to bees and wasps, other beneficial insects are as follows:

Ladybugs: these common insects eat aphids, mites and potentially harmful white flies. You can attract ladybugs to your garden by planting flowers that are members of the daisy family such as daisies or yarrow, or you can even buy them on the net! Try typing 'Buy Ladybugs' into your favorite browser to find a local supplier.

Lacewings: These are avid devourers of aphids and their larvae also eat aphids and many other types of insect pests as well. Again, these insects can be attracted to your garden with flowers such as yarrow or goldenrod or you can also buy them from garden centres and on the net.

Brachonids and Chalcids: These insects can be attracted to your garden buy carrots, celery, parsley or caraway, and once there, they will happily munched their way through all of the leaf eating caterpillars they can find.

Because many of the most effective bug eating insects are attracted to flowers, it may make some sense to give over a small corner of the garden to growing flowers that attract these insects.

In this way, you bring natural predators that you want to the garden without having to buy them or bring them there in some other odd way.

And in addition to these predator insects that will help you keep your garden pest free, there are many other solutions which you can apply that are 100% natural and safe.

Mix one tablespoon of canola oil with a few drops of liquid soap and spray the mixture on the top and bottom side of plants that might be susceptible to aphids or mites. This solution smothers the insects and kills them, but remember to wash the plants thoroughly before you eat them.

A natural substance called milky spore can be spread across the garden where it lies in wait for beetle grubs that it can infect with a deadly disease that kills them before they become beetles. As this spore is spread across the garden and is said to remain effective for up to 40 years, this is something that you are only ever going to have to do once.

Another solution that will help to get rid of mites and other insects is to mix two tablespoons of hot pepper sauce or cayenne pepper with liquid soap, let it stand overnight and then use it as an insecticidal spray.

If you have problems with earwigs, snails or slugs, spread diatomaceous earth all around the affected areas of your garden and on the plants because the sharp edges of the dead diatoms penetrates the skin of all of these creatures and kills them. The advantage of this particular method is that it never stops working because the pests are killed by a mechanical action rather than by anything that acts in a chemical manner.

Fungal diseases can be treated with a spray made from baking soda in water, whilst a mixture of cooking oil, baking soda and liquid soap helps to deal with both the fungal diseases and insect infestation as well.
But do remember about all of the bug-killing solutions that have been described, whilst they are all extremely effective, they are also indiscriminate and they will kill both the beneficial bugs as well as those that you are really trying to get rid of.

For this reason, you should only use them when you know that you genuinely have a pest problem and they should only be used on the specific areas in your garden where the problems are manifesting themselves.

Organic Pest Control - Pest Control Recipes

Eliminating Pests the Organic Way

We're all looking for ways to live in a more earth-friendly fashion. But when it comes to gardening, it's difficult to learn how to kill or prevent garden pests in a safe way. Organic pest control has made lots of headway, and we're lucky to have many more effective options to resolve this problem.

Remove Them by Hand

Picking off grubs and other insects by hand is a basic way to eliminate your pesky problem. You can also build many types of barrier environments which entrap the insects. Plugging holes is also critical. Snails can be caught hiding in damp places beneath rocks and towards the base of plants with straplike foliage. Simply searching your garden and adjacent areas for probable insect hideaways is one of the most effective forms of organic pest control.

Use Biological Control

Assist predatory insects such as green lacewings and dragonflies to feed on aphids and other pests that attack your plants. You can do this by placing a shallow bowl of water in the garden. Beneficial insects such as dragonflies will hover around water. Bacterial insecticides such as B. thuringiensis could also be used against caterpillars.

If All Else Fails

How to kill or prevent garden pests? Organic pest control procedures can be effective and the ingredients for some of the recipes are located in your kitchen cabinets. If chemical repellents are truly necessary, try to identify the least-toxic and apply using the manufacturers instructions. These include insecticide soaps, horticultural oils, dehydrating dust, etc.

Pest Control Recipes

Against Green Aphids and Mites - Mix 1 tablespoon of liquid soap and a cup of vegetable oil. Dilute a teaspoon of this liquid in a cup of water and spray on aphids and mites.

Against Cockroaches - Dusts of boric acid can be placed on cracks or entry points around your home. Bay leaves on pantry shelves can also help in warding off these critters.

Make sure that the chemicals you use are made specifically for the insects you are targeting.

When learning how to kill or prevent garden pests, there is a world of information on the internet. Organic pest control may seem more labor intensive at first, but once you spend a few hours creating a beneficial environment, you will be happier tending a safe, natural garden where you and your plants can thrive without the dangers of unsafe chemicals and pesticides.