Natural beauty, How to hydrate your face skin Part 2, the face creams

It is essential to be conscious of what you are applying on your face. We go further in this world and we focus our attention on how to correct hydrate facial skin. In a previous post, we’ve seen that it is possible to use plant based oils in order to nourish the skin and give it essential fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants. But there are also creams, that are an emulsion of a fat part, constituted by butters and oils, and an aqueous part, that can be water or floral waters. In the creams, therefore, we have already the aqueous part that makes the cream light and allows a correct absorption of the oily substances, for this reason the skin should not be damp before cream application. If you are not a do-it-yourself person and don’t like to prepare your cosmetics then you should buy the creams in shops, but in this case be careful that the content of the cream has to be constituted by a good percentage of butters and plant based oils. In fact, several creams substitute the plant based oil with mineral oils that have a chemical origin (Paraffinum liquidum, petrolatum, microcristallimicrocrystalline wax), give consistency but not benefits, on the contrary, they just give the impression of making the skin smooth but, below this layer, they tend to suffocate the skin. They create a film indeed that doesn’t let the skin breathe, clog the pores and accelerate aging. The aspect of the skin deteriorates and for this reason, you think that you have to apply more product, however the situation is only getting worse. If present, the plat based oils are often in the last places of the list of ingredients on the pack (INCI), this means that the presence of the ingredient is very small. In addition to this, the purchased cream may contain silicones, that don’t bring any benefit on the skin and have a negative ecologic influence (Dimetichone, ciclopenasiloxane), plastics and high irritating products (PEG, PPG, EDTA and BHT) but also ingredients potentially able to release formaldehyde (Quaternium-15, Quaternium-18, Polyquatrnium-10, Diazolidinyl Urea). Yes, maybe you will spend a bit time reading the ingredients of the cream but then you will be sure that you are using cosmetics that aren’t irritating, toxic or comedogenic to your skin. Or you can prepare your perfect facial cream. At the beginning it will be a bit challenging because you should make an emulsion, like mayo, but finally the results make all your efforts worthwhile. In fact, only in this case you have the control on the ingredients and you can choose the oils and butters that are most suitable for your needs. Amazing on the skin is the shea butter, avoid instead the cocoa butter because it is comedogenic, it is good for lip not for face! Among the oils you can choose jojoba oil, argan, grapeseed or raspberry oils, the last is also able to protect the skin from UV rays. For what concerns the aqueous part you can use aloe gel, that soothes and protects, a flower water or an herbal tea such as malva, chamomile but also simple water previously boiled and then let cool down. You can add essential oils to give scent to your cosmetics but it is better to avoid citrus fruit essential oils because they make the skin sensitive. As for the emulsifiers, you can use lecithin and beeswax, that in small quantity is well tolerated and nourishes the skin. But don’t exceed with beeswax because in high quantity it results comedogenic. Have a look to our Video Blog section and you’ll find a nice recipe to prepare a diy facial cream.