The Best Skincare Products
The Good Bad and Ugly

Choosing the best skincare products can be tough, especially when you consider just how many of them there are on the market. Picking the one that will be best for you can be like picking a needle in a hay stack. But there is one way to make the process easier.

When you come right down to it, a natural skin care product is only as good as the ingredients in it, and what those ingredients are designed to do. All beauty products contain ingredients that are designed to do the same things. But they work in different ways, and some of them can actually have negative affects on your skin. So here are some few tips on what to look for, and what to avoid, when trying to choose the best skincare products.

Humectants

All humectants are designed to basically keep you skin moisturized and hydrated. They do this by forming a protective barrier on the surface of your skin, trapping natural oils inside.  However, synthetic humectants (like proplylene glycol) can cause skin irritation, contact dermatitis, and allergic reactions. Natural humectants don't tend to have these negative side effects. And not only do they help hold in natural moisture, they collect even more moisture from the air and using it hydrate the skin even more. So when choosing skin care products, look for those that use natural humectants.

Emolliments

While humectants keep good things (the skin's natural oils) in, emolliments keep bad things out. These ingredients create a barrier that keeps things like harsh winds and pollution from drying out and damaging the skin. However, synthetic emolliments go overboard. Not only do they keep the bad things out, they keep some of the good things out, too, like oxygen and the natural moisture found in the air.

So they keep your skin from breathing, and prevent extra moisture from getting to it. They can also clog your pores, which can lead to all sorts of skin problems, like blackheads. Natural emolliments, on the other hand, manage to keep the bad things out without suffocating your skin. Some of these natural emolliments include jojoba butter, avocado, and cocoa butter.

Surfactants

Found in cleansers, surfactants remove dirt and oil so they can be washed away with water. But some synthetic surfactants are too harsh, stripping away not only dirt and oil, but natural moisture, too. They can also be very drying and irritating. Natural surfactants, on the other hand, do a gentler job of cleansing the skin, without stripping it of its natural oils or drying it out.

Preservatives

While preservatives can make a beauty product last longer, synthetic preservatives have two problems. First, they can cause allergic reactions and contact dermatitis. And, secondly, they usually have no real benefit skin health. But natural preservatives (like tea tree oil and bitter orange extract) not only give beauty products a longer shelf life, they also actually make skin healthier.

When trying to choose the best skincare products, it pays to learn about the different ingredients and what they do. And, in most cases, the natural ingredient is a better choice than a synthetic ingredient that's supposed to do the same thing.

Now that you have discovered some of the good, bad and ugly ingredients, take a look at our home page of this site and see our thorough analysis on finding the best skin care products.

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