Wednesday, October 29, 2008

A Look at Natural Herbal Skin Care

By Lindelwa Maseko

Herbal skin care has been practiced for thousands of years when only natural products were available. Unfortunately, the advent of the synthetic skin care preparations all but killed the herbal based products. Unfortunately many of these natural formulas where never written down as they were handed down by word of mouth so only a small number remain, there are even people that have never use a herbal product.

There are a number of reasons why we have gradually turned our backs on natural skin care products but probably the biggest is the huge commercial market which herbal preparations could never keep up with. Even herbal skin care products have been commercialized and many commercial herbal skin care products have to be mixed with preservatives in order to increase their shelf-life, hence making them less effective than the fresh ones made at home.

The good news is that in light of a growing interest and trend in all things natural, a small number of people have started producing these products again. There isn't likely to be a revolution against the cheaper mass produced herbal skin care products in the future but just what are these products exactly.

Almost everyone has heard of aloe vera but did you know is an excellent skin moisturizer and can treat sunburn, cuts and other skin problems? If you have ever wondered why tea has other herbal additives like dandelion, chamomile, lime flowers and rosemary then it is because they are cleansers and often work better when they are combined with other herbs.

To protect from infection and help the skin, the herbs lavender, marigold, thyme and fennel can be used, all of which have antiseptic properties. Tea plays an important part in herbal skin care and tea extracts are used for treatment of skin that has been damaged by UV radiation.

You may also be familiar with herbal oil extracts like tea tree, primrose and lavender which are the most popular and used for a variety of reasons. Certain skin conditions can also be helped with oils extracted from plants in herbal skin care preparations.

Obviously the greatest benefit of using natural products is there is hardly ever any reaction to their use, something that the synthetic products cannot claim. While herbal products will probably remain popular as there are so few reactions to them that there will be times when synthetic products will be necessary for certain skin disorders.

It pays to look after your skin whether by herbal or synthetic means as it has a major role in protecting us from the elements and sometimes needs a little help. - 15266

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