Excessively dry skin can be a serious, but not insurmountable, problem.

Do you suffer from excessively dry skin? If so you’re not alone. Dry skin is a problem that is affecting millions of women, and one of the most irritating skin problems.

Xerosis is the technical name for excessive skin dryness. Xerosis can become evident on different areas of the body, commonly on the scalp, the thighs and the abdomen and the arms and legs. Whilst not commonly encountered on the face it is also possible there as well.

Excessively dry skin can be both unsightly and irritating, and can lead to peeling of the skin, flaking, itching, redness and even cracks which open up in the skin. It can even lead to illness because cracks in the skin can allow for the entry of various nasties like infection.

The skin can feel “tight” as well as dehydrated.

Skin produces it’s own oils. The oils produced by the skin are called sebum, and these are produced in the sebaceous glands. Well moisturized skin is skin with an adequate supply of natural oils.

If your sebaceous glands do not produce sufficient oil the skin can become dehydrated, leading to dryness. This can also be exacerbated by various other contributing factors such as specific skin conditions including dermatitis and psoriasis as well as environmental conditions such as overexposure to the sun or the wind. Internal environmental conditions such as excessive heating or air-conditioning can contribute.

And specific medical conditions such as diabetes can also be a risk factor.

It is also quite possible to suffer excessively dry skin as a result of the use of various skin care products and cosmetics which contain chemical and petrochemical ingredients ingredients which of themselves can irritate the skin and lead to excessive dryness.

Poor diet can also contribute.

There are some simple things that you can do to help address problems of excessively dry skin, though if the problem is serious you should always consult your doctor first.

Several easy things to do which may help are to avoid excessively hot showers which can strip some of the oils from skin and to avoid harsh soaps which can do the same. There are some wonderful soaps available made from all natural ingredients which may, of themselves, offer some relief.

And if you live somewhere hot and rely on air-conditioning a lot of the time then make sure there is a humidifier in the room to keep humidity higher.

It’s quite possible to get excellent skin care products which help care for dry skin. However you have to be careful when buying skin care products because these can be the source of the problem rather than the solution.

In fact, contrary to what you might expect, many skin care products contain chemical and petrochemical ingredients which can actually cause skin problems rather than resolve them.

Some common ingredients found in many skin care products, and others, are known to irritate the skin, and to put users at risk of various other health problems. Sodium laurel sulfate is an example of one such ingredient which is found in some skin care products as well as other personal products such as shampoos and conditioners. Studies on sodium laurel sulfate have shown skin irritation in laboratory animals with very low doses of sodium laurel sulfate.

If you suffer from excessively dry skin you need to be extremely careful when choosing your skin care products. In our view high quality natural skin care products that do not use chemical and petrochemical ingredients such as sodium laurel sulfate are well worth investigating.

It has been known for many years that there are excellent natural substances that are very effective at promoting skin hydration, and which are entirely safe to use on the skin. Avocado oil, macadamia nut oil and Shea butter are 3 examples of such natural ingredients however there are many more.

Of course these ingredients can be used by any skin care product manufacturer in their products, however the reality is the majority choose not to, not because they are ineffective, in fact they are highly effective, but they are much more expensive than the chemical alternatives.

Fortunately some small niche skin care companies, one in particular, are prepared to manufacture high quality natural skin care products utilising such ingredients in their products, and the results are some extremely high quality in care products which can be extremely useful in combating dry skin problems. The Age Defense Body Lotion from Xtend Life is probably one of the best things you can do to tackle your problem of excessive skin dryness.

Ultimately the goal of any skin care product is to enhance skin moisture levels, to increase the stores of collagen and elastin in the skin and to increase overall skin health. Do this and any skin type, including excessively dry skin, will respond positively. Read the rest of this entry

Why would anti aging skin products be dangerous?

“Over the last 100 years, the rate of cancer in the U.S. has sky-rocketed from 1 out of 800 people diagnosed, to 1 out of 3 today. Are you Wondering WHY?”

Do you know who said that? Ralph Nader said it and you’ll find it quoted the forward the book “The Safe Shopper’s Bible”.

Here’s another quote from the book: “Not a single cosmetic company warns consumers of the presence of carcinogens in its products – despite the fact that several common cosmetic ingredients or their contaminants are carcinogenic themselves or are carcinogenic precursors.”

The sad fact is that cosmetics, as well as a wide range range of personal, beauty, skin care, bath and anti aging skin products contain ingredients that may both be damaging to your health and damaging to your skin as well.

This has been the case for a long time. Unfortunately the FDA is not required to satisfy itself that any of these types of products, including for our purposes anti aging skin products, are either safe for the public to use or for that matter that they work as advertised. The result of this is that there is a wide range of ingredients found in many anti aging skin products, cosmetics and much more that so many people in our country, including you, may well have used on their skin today.

It’s not just a small range of obscure products. Many of the names that are household names in the anti aging skincare industry are suspect. You know the ones. The big expensive ads on television with a highly paid movie star who probably has never used the products. Those are the ones that you will probably find contain ingredients that, if you knew exactly what they were, you wouldn’t want to put on your skin.

Even those advertised as the best anti aging skin products in the world can be just as suspect.

Here’s a couple of the ingredients that you may find in anti ageing skin care products on the shelves of your local store. Many of them are petrochemical products, meaning that they are a byproduct of the distillation of crude oil. In other words many of these products come from oil. And you have to ask whether you really want to put them on your skin. But you shouldn’t find any of these in top quality anti aging skin products.

1. Mineral Oil.

Mineral oil is a petrochemical product and is found very commonly in our personal, beauty and skin care products. Baby oil is pure mineral oil, often with a fragrance added (and many fragrances can also be suspect too). If you’re in doubt just look on the label of the next bottle of baby oil that you see.

Mineral oil is found in many anti aging skincare products. It is intended to be used as a moisturizer however mineral oil does not have moisturizing properties. What it does is to cover the skin in a thin film of oil and the intention is that this will stop moisture loss from the skin, and to some extent it does. However mineral oil does not actively moisturize your skin.

Mineral oil is considered to be a carcinogen. You might be familiar with Material Safety Data Sheets. A Material Safety Data Sheet lists all important information regarding individual chemicals that should be known by any one who may come into contact with them. A Material Safety Data Sheet on mineral oil states that “mineral oils are suspected carcinogens of the skin and scrotum, larynx, lung and alimentary tracts” and “may cause eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation” and “pre-existing skin disorders may be aggravated by exposure”.

2. Propylene glycol.

This too is a petrochemical product and is intended to moisturize the skin whilst having no moisturising properties at all. A Material Safety Data Sheet on Propylene Glycol states that it “causes irritation – avoid contact with the eyes, skin and clothing” and “wash thoroughly after handling” and recommends the use of goggles and gloves when using this product.

That’s just two ingredients that you will commonly find in so many anti ageing skin care products. And you may not even know that they are there because they go by a range of different names, many of which you won’t know, and they usually on the label in the smallest font possible to make it as hard to read as possible.

It is our intention, over time, to alert you to a whole range of these types of ingredients that you will find in so many common and well-known skin care products. To list them all now would make for an extremely long read, so come back often to find out more.

The obvious question is why do these companies use these ingredients in their products? The answer has to do with cost. Many of these ingredients are extremely cheap to buy. You’d expect that companies would strive to make the very best anti aging products that it’s possible to make, however that seems rarely to be the case. Rather what they do is to seek to make the cheapest anti aging products it’s possible to make and to spend as many of their available dollars as possible on marketing rather than product quality.

That’s why you see so many of those extremely expensive television ads. If they spend that much money on advertising and also used expensive ingredients in their products their products wouldn’t be cost competitive.

That’s the dirty truth of the anti aging skin care industry. The reality is that the products are made down to a cost rather than up to a quality and the result is that, because they can, they include a range of very suspect, cheap, ingredients.

The next obvious question is this. If you want the best anti aging skin products how do you find them? Are there any good anti aging products or are they all as bad as each other?

Whilst it seems that there are few ethics in business (and not just the skin care industry) that doesn’t mean that you should tar all skin care companies with the same brush. There are small companies which strive to make extremely high quality products and which succeed. There are excellent natural anti aging skin products available that work extremely well and which do not have any suspect ingredients.

However you should be aware that even products promoted as “natural” anti aging skin care products are not necessarily free of suspect ingredients. It’s a case of buyer beware and we hope we can help there.

In our research we have found one small niche anti aging skin company that makes excellent natural skin care products which do not contain harmful ingredients and which work well. This company is called Xtend Life.

Over time we shall talk more about the sorts of ingredients that you should be avoiding in your anti aging products, the sorts of ingredients you should actively look for and how to source the best natural anti aging skin products in the world. Whilst we can’t cover at all right now if you’re keen to get started than visit the website of Xtend Life and have a look at their products. You won’t be disappointed. Read the rest of this entry