“Ripped off” is the favorite phrase of the season it seems! I have been trying all summer to get to my coveted patch of greenery to partake in my fav summer sport of outdoor cinema watching. But it seems that due to the adverse weather condition we have been subjected to I have still not frolicked on my rug on a balmy summer evening even once! It truly has been a wash out!

Despite this, the hands of time are still ticking and we have now officially arrived in Autumn. Whilst I am still meeting every weekend with some friends to take part in regular sun dances to coax him out of his clouds I have to admit that it is time for a change! A change of skin care! Now that I mention it how bad can it be – a time to luxuriate in new products is never a hindrance!

We are not in the midst of winter yet so we have time to slowly change our beauty routines… It’s too soon for seriously rich moisturizers and decadent cleansers (Im still hoping for that Indian Summer!) but we do have to look to the future and keep these products in mind. I promise I will write at the turn of the season to advise on Wintery products to keep skin fresh.

But for now we can all look at antioxidants, replenishers and protectors. Despite the distinct lack of a summer we are all feeling we have still had the sun beating on our backs and a higher humidity than in the colder months. So we have to acknowledge this with our Autumn skincare.

Autum is a good time for a deep cleansing to get rid of the dirt, sunscreen and sebum that has built up in the warmer months. We can do this with a soap and alcohol free purifying cleanser such as D&M’s Clearing Cleanser (RRP $35.95) which deeply cleanses and balances the skins without stripping natural oils. Combine this with a granular exfoliant to rid skin of dead skin cells for a true deep cleansing experience.

Secondly look at investing in a lightweight antioxidant serum. This will help fight free radicals that build up after copious amounts of sun baking, carefree evenings in the sun drinking beer and from being outdoors in more polluted environments or indoors in air conditioning. Jasmine has a miracle antioxidant serum (RRP $89.95) that contains a supercalafragelistic formula of concentrated herbal oils blended with precious organic oils helps to create a high potency Anti-Ageing Serum that helps to reduce and slow the signs of ageing.

Finally look at protecting the skin with a light weight moisturizer that forms a barrier between the environment and the skin. There is still high UV rays in the atmosphere and since it’s not quite cold yet we are bound to be spending more days outside while we can. A moisturizer like this will help protect you until the winter months, which are hopefully still some months off if all my sun dances can work their magic!

Ever been frustrated with the array of varying opinions dished out from beauty therapists? Visit three different salons and they will each give you different advice.  Why? Because there is no black, white or even grey when it comes to skin care – but it is simple! You only use the products that make your skin feel 110% percent! The rest is just opinion.

There are so many different skin care rages available today and while this may seem confusing it also means that there is no reason why your skin should look anything but fabulous! The trick is finding the one for you! No we are not talking about speed dating, but we are talking about finding your perfect match. And like searching night and day for Mr Wright, finding the best lotions to suit means knowing your skin

When buying your new creams buy only what is good for your skin type and condition. Please do not be fooled by your best mate who bought this fabulous cleanser/serum/moisturizer! Her skin is as different as your fingerprint. You simply must know your skin, stick to what is good for it and not get sucked in by well meaning advice.

I am however a big fan of experimentation! Purely in the realms of skin care of course! As said before there are tonnes of products saturating the market at the moment – a lot of them are simply divine. If the product you are using doesn’t make all your skin care complaints fall away then use it up and throw it out! There shall be no excuses! Don’t get stuck on one brand unless your skin is glowing!

Don’t feel you need to blow the budget of course! Most of the expensive ranges are just throwing your well earned cash at the marketing hype for their next product anyway. There are thousands of good products out there that won’t break the bank. Of course some of the expensive ones are wonderful but spending money on them means less cash for experimenting!

So keeping it simple…

Know your skin – buy only for your skin type and condition and do not get lured in by marketing hype!

Experiment, experiment, experiment! Play around until your skin glows with goodness!

Don’t feel you need to buy the most luxury lotion – chances are you are simply buying in to the marketing image!

Recently I embarked on a journey that I never thought I would take! The journey of a life without sugar! I have an incredibly sweet tooth. I love chocolate the most, cake almost as much, and will not turn down anything sugar coated. I have even been know to devour the honey pot in order to satisfy my regular sugar craving! In fact the awareness that I was constantly craving sugar led me down the path of a quest for a sugar-free life. Surely the persistant nagging to shove something chocolatey down my throat is not a good sign.

Correct! Scientifically speaking no less, I am one of the many who has an addiction. Yes, an addiction! It has finally been proven that sugar is a drug. Im sorry to burst the candy coated bubble that we are all riding but left, right and centre, we are being fed one of the most addictive drugs on the market – and it is in the majority of things we consume.

Since taking my journey I have felt brilliant – full of energy,  no longer shrouded in a mental cloudiness, can think stright, have improved memory and concentration and never get uncomfortable bloating! However, the reason i chose to flaunt this information with you is in the hope that you too will consider giving up the good stuff! Because apart from all of this I want you to know about the impact that sugar is having on your skin. It actually causing your skin to age faster!

“The prominent dermatologist Dr. Frederic Brandt has linked sugar intake to the body’s production of molecules called Advanced Glycation End products or, fittingly enough, AGEs.  AGEs are proteins with an outer layer of sugar, and the more you indulge in the sweets and carbs, the more AGEs you will have. The number of AGEs you have, in turn, will dictate how much damage there will be to your elastin and collagen, the connective tissues which keep your skin firm and wrinkle free. ” (Buzzle.com)

If you want the best skin you can have I suggest seriously considering giving up sugar, not least for the fact that you will feel 100 times better for it! Read this extract from Sweet Poison, which is a brilliant book that has helped me on my quest! Its well written, funny and full of facts on how bad sugar is for you. More importantly it helps you give up your substance addiction! Read the extract … http://sweetpoison.com.au/wordpress/?page_id=196

This is one of the best skin care tips you will get – break your sugar addiction! Now repeat after me: “Hello, my name is ____ and I am a sugar addict”.

Cradle cap is a condition that occurs in new born and young babies and can be defined by crusts and/or flakey skin on the babies scalp. These symptoms might also be found on the babies ears and eyebrows and sometimes even under their armpits or in other creases.

Although the condition looks very uncomfortable it does not, as far as we know, cause your baby any discomfort. As Cradle Cap can sometimes last for anywhere up to a year and is very noticeable it can be rather distressing for parents leaving them wondering what they are doing wrong. Don’t worry! This condition is absolutely not caused by anything you are doing. Although the experts are out on the cause of Cradle Cap we do know it is not caused by poor hygiene or allergies. You are not alone – this condition affects many babies and will eventually go away.

In the mean time you can help by nourishing the scalp with a natural oil product that will help loosen and remove the dry crusty skin that builds up on the babies head. The Babies Only skin care product To Cap It Off Cradle Cap Remedy is a wonderful nurturing blend that includes Organic Virgin Olive Oil. This ingredient is an age old remedy, which is full of antioxidants to help nourish baby’s skin and soften the crusts that build up. Please do not let anyone tell you that a mineral oil scented with fragrances, or plain, will help treat your baby’s condition – it may actually worsen it by suffocating the skin and further drying the scalp or affected area.

Simply apply your chosen natural oil blend to the scalp and brush through the hair. This should help to dislodge any dry skin. Make sure you don’t pick at the crusts as this can lead to bleeding. It is better to shampoo the excess oil off as some theories believe that Cradle Cap is a result of the baby’s sebaceous glands producing too much oil due to a hormonal change within the body. If this is the case excess oil left on the affected area will not help the condition.

As a therapist I am very aware that the main concern for most clients is to reverse the signs of aging. Whilst we can’t reverse time I am happy to say that by learning a few basics about the skin it is extremely possible to delay and minimize the effects of it!

The Effects of Aging can be characterized by sagging skin, jowls, thin and crepy texture, dropping eyelids, loss of tone and elasticity, dryness and wrinkles. Now I know they say that the trick is to grow old gracefully but lets face it…if we could minimize all of these signs we would probably be a whole lot happier.

The Reasons Why Skin Ages can be split in two – your genes and environmental factors.

Environmental factors can be completely avoided (see below), which is good news if you come to this article early on in life but not so good if you have already spent your teenage years sunbaking every summer, buringn the candles at both ends and eating fast food!

Genetic factors are the ones that are built in to your DNA, which is why they say if your mum looks fab chances are you will too! Without going tin to too much detial we can explain a few examples of what happens as we get older. Due to gravity, and an enzyme that builds up in older skin, collagen and elastin production slows and so you will notice a loss of tone and elasticity, sagging and wrinkles.The skin also looses its ability to shed skin as quickly and can take up to 6 weeks to do so. Your skin will feel and appear dryer and thinner. Thinner skin receieves less nutrients and looses the ability to remove waste products resulting in a build up of free radicals, which, as we know, are damaging and dulling to the skin.

But don’t let this information depress you – instead, fight back! Arm youself with this knowledge and utilise all the products that are available thanks to the wonderful research and development that goes on behind the closed doors of good quality cosmetic companies today!

Invest in a good serum that will help, tone and replenish hydration thereby minimizing wrinkles.

Use an AHA/BHA exfoliant which eats away dead skin cells, penetrating below the first layer of the skin to unblock the glue that holds dead skin cells together.

Protect your skin with a moisturiser that fights free radicals. And of course continue to avoid environmental ageing factors -  plenty of sleep, regular exercise, reduced stress levels, dont smoke, drink alcohol in moderation, drink lots of water and don’t sunbake. You can also invest in some supplements. There are excellent choices available such as

Vitamin A – helps to fight free radicals

Vitamin C – helps boost the levels of collagen, helping to reduce wrinkle

Alpha Lipoic Acid – helps recyle the other wrinkle fighting supplements you are already taking and can prevent wrinkles from occuring.

Our winner hands down for Organic anti aging skin care (it rivals most mainstream brands to be honest!) is La Mav. Packed with a library of essential ingredients this is Austrlia’s first Organic Anti aging range. The products produce outstanding results and are certified by Australia’s largest Certification body the Organic Food Chain. Coming form a scientific background of research and development the founder of La Mav was propelled to create products that that provided the same results as conventional products but without the inclusion of any chemicals. The results are truely impressive.

If you know what you are looking for skin care is the best way to complement your healthy lifestyle and fight back against the aging process. Fab ingredients include

Shea Butter – cell renewal properties, nourishing

Rose Hip Oil - repairs, renews and rejuvenates wrinkles and dry skin

Avacado Oil – Excellent skin hyrator

Borage Oil – stimulating, nourishing, soothing and hydrating

Raspberry Oil – brightening, anti oxidant, sun care

Hempseed oil – a rich source of Omega 3

With all this information to hand and with the luck of living in a time where honest products are helping our skin (and the world) we should be a generations of Peter Pans – sans surgery of course!

If we have straight hair we want curly, if we have curly we want straight. Owners of long and sleek want short and choppy and forever we will secretly lust after our best friends new hair do! Its a girls Birth Right to envy someone else’s tresses! But the one thing we all desire is healthy glossy locks!

So many hair care products exist on the market today promising to primp and preen your locks into dream hair! But lurking beneath the wonders of advertising slogans lie evil chemicals that dry your hair, make it brittle and cause allergies in your scalp and skin. A common ingredient in conventional conditioners is Lauramide DEA. It strips away important amino acids like serine, histamine and other hair and skin proteins, leaving hair dry and unmanageable and creating the need to use more conditioner.

Organic hair care brands on the other hand make it their business to stay away from these hazardous ingredients, leaving you with soft, managable and glossy hair. Once again Thank You to the Organic world for looking after us!

The best organic hair care products we have found are:

• Mukti wins hands down with their Bontanique Shampoo and Conditioner. This very French sounding concotion fills your bathroom with smells of Chamomile, Lavender and Mandarin and thanks to the blend of certified organic Avocado, Macademia and Safflower will leave your hair truly shiny and nourished! Yum!

• Hollistic Hair. OOOOOOOH so good! Smells like showering in a garden of flowers with the essence of Lavender and Palma Rosa. Leaves hair ridiculously soft!

• Also try pure Coconut or Jojoba Oil on the ends of your hair after washing for a deep conditioning treatment.

As with any cosmetics, make sure you read the ingredients list before you buy to ensure the Organic brands are what they say they are. So often we are duped into buying products that we think are natural and safe when really they are big pretenders! So read the ingredients and stay clear from the following chemicals in hair care:
Lauramide DEA
Parabens
Sodium Laurel Sulfates
Alcohol
Synthetic fragrances

A unsuspecting friend of mine who i am slowly educating in the world of organics recently bought an After Sun for her over exposed sun burnt skin (naughty girl!). She called me up in a panic! Her sun burnt skin had suddenly broken out in hives and was feeling itchy and dry! Now we all know sun baking is my pet hate – but she assured me that this burn had been getting worse until it eventually developed these bumps! I asked her what after sun she was using? “I took a special trip to the Organic Health Food shop Laura”, she explained “I bought an organic looking clear Aloe Vera After Sun Gel. The front of the bottle even promises 99% Certified Organic!”

I was skeptical – how many times have we read this “Promise” only to turn around to the ingredient list where we see a whole host of chemical nasties listed. I asked her to read the ingredients list to me. Low and behold here on this supposedly Organic After Sun Gel we discover the second, third and fourth ingredients are the dreaded PEG’s! These common toxic lurkers are listed in a host of skin care products such as Mousse, Hair Dye, Baby Bath Wash, Depilatory Cream/Hair Remover, Baby Lotion, Moisturizer, Deodorant and Makeup to name a few! Now they show up on After Sun!

PEG is the acronym for polyethylene glycol and are polymers of the same molecule. That means that many of the same molecules are bonded together. What is polyethylene glycol used for? Think of your favorite beaded necklace – that’s what they would look like if you saw them up close. We normally see the PEG ingredient with a number after it – for example PEG-33 – so for this you could imagine a beaded necklace containing 33 beads. The more beads the PEG has the more molecular weight it has. And each weight has its on function. Extremely high PEG’s are used in the medical industry. PEG-3350 is used to clean out the bowels before surgery or other procedures! But with regards to skin care we normally see PEG’s in weight from 1 – 150.

You will see on your ingredients list that most PEG’s are attached to another chemical. So in my friends case the ingredient reads PEG-33 Dimethicone, which means that the polyethylene glycol has an approximate molecular weight of 33 and is attached chemically to Dimethicone. Dimethicone is a silicone derived emollient used for its soft velvety texture in products that contain it. Unfortunately it also stops the skin from breathing like wrapping your skin in glad wrap! Far from ideal when your skin is sun burnt and desperately needs a bit of Tender Loving Care! Instead we slather on a suffocating ingredient and stop it from breathing completely

Now comes the shocking bit for my poor friend and her 99% Organic Aloe Vera After Sun Gel from the Organic shop! PEG is also known to cause allergic reactions on skin with sun exposure. So let me get this straight… my friends gets sun burnt (we will refrain from giving her a hard time about this now) and pops down to the local organic shop , buys some Aloe Vera gel in a bid to rescue and hydrate her sore and sensitive skin. She even checks that her chosen Aloe Vera gel is organic. With each application of her gel she believes her sun burn is being healed but little known to her the Dimethicone is suffocating the very skin that needs to breath and regenerate and the PEGS are quietly causing an allergic reaction on her sun exposed skin until Bam! She comes to me with pimples on her chest and shoulders where sunburn once sat and cant figure out why it happened when she thought she had chosen the best product on the market!

My Organic Angels … We absolutely can not believe what packaging is telling us! we have to be consumer savvy and do some research! as a rule stay clear of PEGS! it is true they are a good humectants – helping to draw moisture to the skins surface – but they are a chemical! there are many natural humectants out there such as …… lets use these instead of PEGS that can cause allergies and are normally attached to another nasty chemical!

As for my sun burnt friend – at least she figured out where all her nasty pimples are coming from and she has certainly learnt to read the ingredients listing! Don’t trust what they tell you on the front! Read the labels my organic friends!

Just cause it says 99% organic does not mean 99% of the bottle is actually aloe vera!

Ladies be warned, drinking from plastic bottles – especially those left in cars, heat or sunlight can be hazardous to our health.

Plastic is essentially a porous material, which means that some of the chemicals leach into the liquid it contains. Worryingly when heat reacts with the chemicals in the plastic of the bottle Dioxin is released into the water. Dioxin is highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies and is considered by some scientists to be the most toxic substance known to man – possibly equal only to plutonium – and increasingly found in breast cancer tissue. This is a huge wakeup call for all of us who reuse our plastic water bottles in particular when we keep them in a heated car. The advice is dont do it! You are creating the perfect environment for Dioxin to enter your body.

We should also take great care not to use plastic containers or wrap in a microwave. Recently Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He advises not to heat food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. Fujimoto said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastic releases dioxin into the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. Results are exactly the same without the health risks.

Make the change to reusable, safe stainless steal bottles for you and your family. Stainless Steel will not leach and is a much better option for the environment -limiting the amount of plastic bottles we send to the land fill!

Ever feel like the back of your skincare product is written in Japanese? They are confusing to say the least! Scary really when you think how bad these chemicals are for your whole body health. Each year we absorb almost 5lb of chemicals in makeup alone! Now think about how much we absorb from the rest of our skin care.

The following ingredients are commonly found in most mainstream cosmetics and skincare products but are hugely damaging to our health. Next time you attempt to read those crazy coded labels you can make sure you stay away from these ones at least.. its a good start!

Parabens
Parabens are used in a huge percentage of everyday products such as toothpaste, shampoo, moisturizers and body washes. Parabens mimic the hormone Estrogen so have a serious negative affect on the reproductive system. One study found that exposure to a particular Paraben have adverse reactions to the secretion of testosterone and the function of the male reproductive system in newborn male mammals. If that is not enough it is also linked to cancer.

Talc
Talc is used in a variety of products such as baby powder, makeup and deodorant. For 30 years scientists have scrutinized talc particles and found dangerous similarities to asbestos (A natural material made up of tiny fibers which can lodge in the lungs and lead to cancer. The EPA has banned or severely restricted its use in manufacturing and construction). Talc particles have been shown to cause tumors in ovaries and have been present in the lungs of cancer victims.
Talc is still used in products as because the oleophilic (oil-loving, hydrophobic) nature of the mineral helps to absorb natural oils, the slippery nature presents a pleasant feel and most importantly it is cheap and readily affordable.

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Commonly used in many soaps, shampoos, detergents, toothpastes and other products that we expect to foam. There are 150 different names by which Sodium Lauryl Sulfates (SLS) and their esters (SLES) known. These cheap fillers are massively irritating and drying on the skin and have been linked to health problems such as PMS and Menopausal symptoms to dropping male fertility and increasing female cancers such as breast cancer, where oestrogen levels are known to be involved.

Artificial Fragrance
According to research data on contact dermatitis obtained by the National Environmental Research Institute (Denmark), fragrances are one of the major causes of allergic contact dermatitis from use of cosmetics. Avoiding artificial fragrances is a good idea if you’re worried about low-level exposure to toxic chemicals, says the Environmental Working Group. Dr. Gregory Boardman, an environmental engineering professor at Virginia Tech, agrees that some ingredients could be toxic at some level. “But for the majority of things we encounter,” he says, “it’s not much of an issue. “For most of us, the biggest problem with fragrances is whether we’re going to be allergic to them.”

Alcohol
Extremely drying! There are several types of alcohol that appear in cosmetics and skin care products, and most of them are extremely irritating and drying to the skin. If you have any problems with acne, wrinkles, dry skin, or oily skin, it’s best to avoid skin care products that contain SD Alcohol, Alcohol, or Alcohol Denat as one of the first 5 or so ingredients. Cetyl Alcohol and Stearyl Alcohol are not of concern.

Mineral Oil and Petroleum
Mineral oil and petroleum are the basic ingredients in many cosmetics such as foundations, cleansers, and moisturizers often contain mineral oil. By locking moisture against the skin, mineral oil sits on the skin’s surface and can potentially block pores. This may cause the appearance of pimples because the skin cannot properly ‘breathe’.

Cosmetic companies may claim they are distributing chemical-free cosmetics but these claims are highly unreliable. Where we may once have put our trust in these big name brands we are but are slowly learning that so called ‘organi’c and natural products may not actually be what they say they are. Big companies continue to use high risk ingredients such as Parabens, Talcs, Fragrances and SLS’ which are all incredibly hazardous promoting cancer and fertility problems with every application. There is now research blacklisting a new ingredient whose effects remain poorly research and understood. This new technolgoy is calle d nanotechnology and is widely used but goes unnoticed as it does not need to be labeled and can not be seen. In fact its popularity relies upon is invisibility.

Nanotechnolgy is used by companies such as L’Oreal, The Body shop, Dr Brandt, Sircuit, Zelens and SunSense in their cosmetics and sun care products. These tiny particles are slightly smaller than a white blood cell and substantially smaller than the width of a human hair. The cosmetic industry is embracing this new technology for its aesthetically pleasing appearance…transparent! Larger particles such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide have been commonly used as an efficient sun block for years but the result is that not-so-glamorous painted white face appearance such as the strips you see on cricketers! Now, using this nanotechnology, these same substances not only absorb the sun’s rays but become more visually pleasing as they completely disappear on the skin. You can imagine the demand for these products is far greater than the demand for the old chalky white creams. In cosmetics they actually diminish the appearance of wrinkle so are fantastic ingredients for the anti aging products

While these nanoparticles may make our skin look better, the health risks are unknown. Recent research shows that nanoparticles of titanium dioxide, one of the most commonly used cosmetic ingredients, can move across the placenta of pregnant mice, resulting in damage to the developing embryos, brain damage and reduced sperm and production in male offspring. Test tube studies have shown that nanoparticles commonly used in cosmetics and sunscreens can damage DNA and cause serious cellular damages. To further boost the argument against this technolgy a steel company called BlueScope Steel found that when workers wearing nano sunscreens left hand prints on colourbond roofs these sections of the roofs aged 100 times more rapidly than surrounding areas.Obviously this completely contradicts the purposes of sunscreen – to stop aging from sun damage.

Nano-cosmetics have so far fallen by the wayside of public scrutiny and debate and due to lack of regulation many of the large companies are not required to label nanotechnology in their products. However some companies are now openly comited to nano-free products.

To stay safe this summer look for the nano-free products  and stay away from these brands of suncare – they failed to respond to a survey that questioned their use of nanotechnology.

Ambre Solaire
Australian Surfer
Avon
Bi-Lo House Brand
Chemart
Chemworld
Clarins
Clinque
Dr Brant
Dr Hauschka
Dr Lewinn
Elizabeth Arden
Ella Bache
Estee Lauder
Innoxa
Jurlique
L’Oreal
Neutrogena
Nivea
Olay
Skinceuticals
Soltan
SunSense
Tropicare
Ultraceuticals

This summer protect your family – Buy ‘Nano-free”!