The best anti aging tip has to be to stay healthy, and using fragrance free natural anti aging products is a great start. Why?

The best anti aging tips come in many forms and today we like to give you an anti aging tip that may be one of the most important that you’ll ever get. It’s as much a general health tip, however keeping healthy is about the best tip you’ll ever get to keeping age at bay and looking your best.

Our tip is this. Whenever you’re looking to buy anti aging and skin care products look for natural antiaging products that do not contain fragrances.

Why would we suggest that you source natural anti aging and skin care products that do not contain fragrances? Because there is clear evidence that fragrances, (along with a whole host of other chemical ingredients found in hundreds or even thousands of mainstream anti aging products) can be dangerous to your health.

How in the world could fragrances be dangerous? Surely a fragrance is just something that helps us smell good, and they probably come from rose petals or something like that. Sadly nothing could be further from the truth.

Fragrances are just chemicals that smell nice and most are chemicals created in a laboratory. Like many chemicals they can be dangerous to our health, and there is very little research to tell us whether any particular fragrance is dangerous or not. Not only that but the particular chemical name is usually not listed on the label because companies manufacturing anti ageing products are allowed to call these chemicals by generic terms such as “fragrance”.

The skin care and anti aging companies are allowed to avoid labeling their ingredients correctly because the make-up of their fragrances is considered to be a trade secret and they don’t wish to give away their secrets.

And even products which are labeled as “unscented” can contain fragrances because these are what is known as “masking fragrances” there to cover up the smell of other chemicals.

Here’s just a few of the known or suspected risks of chemical fragrances in our anti aging skin care products and cosmetics as well as a wide range of other personal and beauty care products. After reading this you’ll see why our best antiaging tip is to use natural skin care products and natural anti aging products which do not contain fragrances.

1 It is known that chemical fragrances are among the top 5 allergens that can produce allergic reactions in people including asthma.

2 According to the EU’s Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products and Non-food Products somewhere around one in 50 people may become hypersensitive to fragrances which can lead to a lifetime of allergic reactions including immune system damage. Many of the chemical fragrances used in products in the US are banned in Europe.

3 In 1986 the U.S. National Academy of Sciences identified certain ingredients of fragrances as a neurotoxin which can cause brain damage.

One of the most common chemical fragrances is synthetic musks. Studies have found that people who use high levels of products containing fragrances often have high levels of synthetic musks detected in their bodies. A relatively new study has even found synthetic musk in the umbilical cord blood of newborn American babies suggesting that this has got there whilst the mothers were still carrying their babies. Some experts consider that synthetic musks can disrupt the actions of human hormones.

Perhaps now you can see why we are suggesting that the best natural anti aging tip we can give you is to use natural skin care products and natural anti aging products that do not contain fragrances. Fragrances are merely there to make you smell good. Great anti aging skin care is not about smelling good. It’s about good overall health and it’s about using the best natural anti aging products available that do not contain synthetic chemicals such as fragrances which may put your health at risk.

Ageing gracefully and looking good above all is about being healthy. If your body is healthy you will radiate health and look good. If you’re unhealthy it’s hard to look your best. The very best anti ageing tip is to stay healthy right into old age, and a good way to increase your chances of doing this is to avoid anti aging products containing synthetic chemicals such as fragrances and much more.

There are companies that recognize the problems inherent in so many modern and mainstream skin care products and anti aging products and which seek to manufacture high quality natural skin care products which are extremely effective to use and which do not contain chemical ingredients found in so many mainstream products which put the health of ourselves and our children at risk.

In our view the best of these is Xtend Life which manufactures an extremely high quality range of natural skin care products that do not contain fragrances for the reasons outlined above. They have a demonstrated corporate commitment to producing safe and highly effective skin care and anti aging products that are affordable. Read the rest of this entry

Or why you need a natural moisturizer.

Sodium lauryl sulphate. You may have heard of it. Sodium lauryl sulphate is commonly found in many soaps and shampoos and it is now becoming much more well-known that it’s not good to find sodium lauryl sulphate, or what is sometimes called SLS, in these products. But it’s not so well known that SLS is also found in moisturizers.

Sodium lauryl sulphate is used by mechanics to degrease engines. It has a powerful effect against grease and oils and for this reason, as well as cleaning engines, it is also commonly found in soaps and shampoos. And now moisturizers. And what you’re about to read may start to convince you that if you don’t already use a natural moisturizer then now might be a good time to consider using a natural face moisturizer.

A study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology studied the effect of using moisturizer on mice. The intention of the researchers was actually to see if caffeine caused skin cancer in mice, however they made an interesting discovery.

A number of moisturizers, all of which contained sodium lauryl sulphate as well as mineral oil, were applied to the skin of the mice 5 times a day for 17 weeks. The mice were given a dose of UV radiation to stimulate the effects of sunlight.

It was discovered, to the surprise of the scientists, that these moisturizers used in the experiment increase the rate of skin cancer in mice, and specifically that they “increased the total number of histologically characterized tumors by 69%”.

As this was not what was being investigated in the study the scientists were very interested to find that a range of commonly available moisturizers (Dermabase, Dermovan, Eucerin, and Vanicream) caused skin cancer in mice.

The scientists decided to run another test. This time they used a moisturizer with no mineral oil and no sodium lauryl sulphate. This time they found that the moisturizer had no effect of causing skin cancer in the mice.

Perhaps now you’re beginning to see why we are suggesting to you that using a natural facial moisturizer may not be such a bad idea after all.

There is a big movement worldwide to avoiding personal products using sodium lauryl sulphate as an ingredient. If you search the Cosmetic Safety Database you will see that sodium lauryl sulphate is linked to cancer as well as to a whole range of other health concerns including irritation to the skin.

And whilst most consumers are now becoming aware that sodium lauryl sulphate is an active ingredient in a wide range of soaps and shampoos it is not so well known that it is also an ingredient in many moisturizers. In fact the Cosmetic Safety Database listed it as an ingredient in 48 different moisturizers.

The Cosmetic Safety Database give a hazard score to different products according to their perceived level of health risk. This score ranges from 1 (low health risk) to 10 (high health risk). There are moisturizers listed in the Cosmetic Safety Database with a health risk score of 10. (The Skin Success Normal).

Now you may be even more interested in junking the moisturiser that you use now and looking for a good anti aging natural moisturizer that uses ingredients that do not offer any health risks to the user. However there is more.

In volume 2, number 7, in 1983, a report in the Journal of the American College Of Toxicology tells us more about the health risks of sodium lauryl sulphate. It was observed that SLS penetrated the skin very effectively.

Results show that a 10 percent concentration of SLS caused damage to the eyes of rabbits. Skin irritation was found in doses of .5 percent to 10 percent and severe skin irritation was observed at 10 percent to 30 percent. At 15 percent, when animal tested, labored breathing was observed, diarrhea and 20 percent of animals died.

Hopefully you see our point. There are powerful reasons when searching for anti aging products such as anti aging moisturizers to select products such as natural moisturizers that do not contain sodium lauryl sulphate or any of the other chemical ingredients that we talk about here on our website.

Lets examine some of the ingredients you might like to find in a high quality natural face moisturizer.

There’s a wide range of natural oils found in fruits and nuts which are known to have excellent moisturizing properties. Common oils like avocado oil, macadamia oil and olive oil have excellent moisturizing properties and of course all these oils are completely safe. In fact they have been eaten quite safely by generations of people.

Avocado oil deeply penetrates your skin and has been used for centuries for its moisturizing properties. It is rich in a range of essential as well as many important fats. It has been shown to help reduce age spots and to soften the skin. It is particularly effective on dry skin and helps rejuvenate damage skin. It also helps increase the amount of collagen in the skin.

Macadamia oil is also easily absorbed into the skin and has been shown to help protect the skin cells from ageing. It is a wonderful natural moisturizer.

And there are of course many many more natural ingredients which can be used in anti aging skin care products which are safe and highly effective and produce wonderful anti aging products.

The obvious question to ask is why are ingredients such as mineral oil and sodium lauryl sulphate found in products such as moisturizers when there are so much more effective, and safe, natural alternatives? The answer is very simple. Mineral oil and sodium lauryl sulphate are incredibly cheap whereas natural oils such as avocado oil and macadamia oil are expensive.

So if we’ve convinced you about the benefits of a natural moisturizer, what do you do? Well of course you could just source ingredients such as macadamia oil and avocado oil and mix these together to produce your own natural moisturizer. This is certainly likely to produce a moisturizer which is much more effective than those you find on the shelves of your store and which has no health implications.

However there are companies which have spent many years formulating natural skin care products which use these types of ingredients, and which result in excellent, and safe, natural anti aging products, and these excellent products will produce a much better result at promoting better overall skin health.

In fact the company that produces what we consider to be the best natural anti aging products in the world does not even make a moisturizer. This is because the natural ingredients which moisturize so successfully are found in all their products and therefore there is no need to make a dedicated natural moisturizer, because all their products improve skin health and moisture levels very successfully.

We consider these products to be the best natural anti aging products available. They are made from all safe and natural ingredients, are extremely effective and are backed up by a money back guarantee.

Hopefully today you’ve learn’t more about the risks of sodium lauryl sulphate and moisturizers which contain it. Read the rest of this entry

Why should even the best anti aging products be avoided, (and what alternatives are there)?

There’s so many anti aging products around, it’s very difficult to choose between them. So many people search for the best anti aging products not understanding that so many skin care products on the market contain ingredients that should be avoided.

The advertising is seductive. Gorgeous models, wonderful scenery and beautiful music. Those creams and moisturizers just have to be good.

But the first thing to consider when looking for the best anti aging products is not how well they work, but how safe they are.

Safe? What has safety got to do with the best anti ageing products? Well actually quite a lot because so many of the big name skin care brands that you see on the market today contain ingredients which are potentially harmful to your health and to your skin.

We have focused on some of these ingredients in such products as anti aging creams and anti aging moisturizers and you can see these stories listed on the right. Today we want to talk about Propylene Glycol.

Propylene Glycol is found in a wide range of anti aging products. If you search at the Cosmetic Safety Database you will see that it is listed as being an ingredient in 945 moisturizers, 1118 facial treatments, 546 facial cleansers and 690 general anti aging products.

Whether or not the advertising says it is the best anti aging product on the market if it contains Propylene Glycol then it should be avoided. Here’s why.

If you visit the page on Propylene Glycol at the Cosmetic Safety Database you’ll see that it is linked to cancer, developmental and reproductive toxicity, allergies and immunotoxicity, irritation of the skin, eyes or lungs, persistence and bioaccumulation, organ system toxicity as well as some other worries of slightly lesser concern including neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption and more.

Scary?

Maybe now you’re beginning to see why any anti ageing products, including those advertised as the best anti aging products on the market, should be avoided if they have Propylene Glycol as an ingredient.

And Propylene Glycol is only the beginning. You’ll see that we talk about many other dangerous ingredients in skin care products on this website.

Propylene Glycol is used in anti freeze. There might be some in your cars radiator right now. The EPA actually requires people who work with Propylene Glycol to wear protective gloves as well as goggles and protective clothing if they are working with it and it is likely to come into contact with their skin.

How in the world could a substance such as Propylene Glycol be used in so many personal products (and this includes many other cosmetics, bath products and deodorants) when there is even the slightest risk to your health?

The answer is simple. The big name skin care companies put it there because it’s cheap, and because they can. The FDA is not required to satisfy itself that any ingredient in skin care or anti aging products is safe for consumers to apply to their skin.

The skin care industry is self regulating. In other words the manufacturers decide what goes into their products. And we know from so many previous examples that big business doesn’t care all that much about the safety of their products as long as there is a profit to be made. Just look at the tobacco industry.

So if you’re a woman who is starting to notice the first signs of skin ageing then what do you do? The good news is that not all manufacturers of anti aging products such as anti aging creams and anti aging moisturizers are lacking in ethics. There are manufacturers with a powerful commitment to product safety and an equal commitment to product quality.

These manufacturers make the best anti aging products. These are generally small companies that seek to compete with the big players in a huge marketplace. They have an evidenced commitment to product safety, for example by signing the compact of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics demonstrating their commitment to using only known safe ingredients in their products.

One company in particular makes what we consider to be the worlds best anti aging products that are made from all natural ingredients known to be safe and which are particularly effective. When it started it’s product research it’s brief to it’s researchers was that they wanted products made from ingredients that are “safe enough to eat”.

One of the reasons the big players use so many of these chemical ingredients in their products is that they are extremely cheap. There are excellent natural ingredients sourced from plants which are well known to be highly effective at anti aging skin care. But they are invariably much more expensive.

This one small company chooses to make its products from these ingredients. The products are safe and highly effective. But of course the obvious conclusion is that they are way more expensive than the big name brands.

Under normal circumstances they would be however this company chooses to market it’s products with no marketing budget. They don’t advertise on TV, in the women’s magazines or anywhere that costs big time. Chances are you’ve never even heard of them.

For this reason the product is competitively priced, in fact very competitively priced, with the big brand names. This is because a large proportion of the cost of the big name anti ageing products is television advertising and magazine advertising. By removing this cost this small company can market it’s ultra high quality anti aging creams at a price that might surprise you.

So if you’re asking yourself what is the best anti aging product then remember, the most important consideration is the safety of the ingredients used in the product. Many of the big name products contain chemical ingredients you don’t want to be putting on your skin. Read the rest of this entry