It isn’t hard to find skin care products containing natural ingredients, or even those claiming to be 100% natural. However, natural ingredients are hard to pin down, as there is no FDA regulation for such a term when it comes to skin care. Generally, we recognize natural ingredients as those that are extracted directly from their source in nature, as opposed to synthetic creations thereof. I thought it would be helpful to point out a few natural ingredients often recommended by professionals, and fill you in on my experiences with them.

First up: Vitamin C. Sorry, but your mom was right; Vitamin C is necessary to your vitality, including the preservation of healthy skin. And guess what? There’s even a way to demonstrate its effectiveness. Using my Sircuit Skin Sircuit Weapon Vitamin C Serum and an apple cut in half (one side treated with the serum and the other left “naked” to be exposed to oxidization), these are the results after sitting for about one hour:

As you can see, the side treated with Vitamin C product stays preserved, while the side left to fend for itself immediately begins to show signs of aging. Now, let’s imagine that the apple is your skin. Need I say more?

I’m also loving my new Plantogen facial spa therapy products right now. Their Skin Brightening Moisturizer contains a healthy dose of “kakadu plum.” What is that, you ask? While it grows exclusively in Australian wetlands, the kakadu plum has been found to have the highest concentration of Vitamin C in any known fruit. Seriously! So, I’m alternating my use of this and Sircuit Weapon, just to be sure that my skin gets the Vitamin C it needs.
 
Next, please: Herbal extracts. Bilberry oil, black currant oil, tea tree oil…aside from their exotic names, they each have their own unique selling points, such as antioxidant or anti-inflammatory properties; some even offer a combination of benefits. The only way to know how the herbal extracts in your skin care products work is to go ahead and look them up!  Since the entire Plantogen Skin Brightening Line contains licorice root, I did my research and discovered that licorice root is known for its soothing properties. In fact, it’s often used for this purpose in holistic medicine.

Anything else? While Vitamin C and herbals are not the only natural ingredients worth trying out, they are time-tested for their effectiveness; in other words, they aren’t “ingredient of the month” fads.  Other Vitamins, such as Vitamin A and Vitamin E, are also known for their potency in skin care; Vitamin E is used to block ultra-violet rays and pollution, while Vitamin A is an ideal complement to your acne-fighting regimen.

And even in the winter months, when skin tends to be drier, these ingredients can be essential. For example, I recently turned to Natural Healing Oil by Nature’s Pharma to take care of my little one’s stubborn skin chapping above the lip. (The petroleum stick wasn’t cutting it, if you know what I mean.) 

The cool thing about this product is that it contains all of the aforementioned components: Vitamins A, C, and E, in addition to numerous herbal extract oils. I figured, how could you go wrong with that? And I was right (as usual!) – after a few days of application, her beet-red skin was back to its soft, peachy hue. Check out her before and afters above (she was so excited to do this!).

Not bad, right? I’m loving this natural thing so much now, I may have to bring my Birkenstocks out of hiding. OK, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I will, however, devote myself to trying out additional natural ingredients as I discover them.

If you’ve had a good – or not so good – experience with any, I’d love to hear about it! 

~ Brook