I taught two great ?Make Your Own All Natural, Organic Skincare Products? classes yesterday in one of my favorite neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Chestnut Hill. I love teaching these classes and hearing my students? questions and feedback, and on my way home from yesterday?s class I found myself reflecting on how I got started making my own skincare products in the first place.
By now I’m sure you know I have an affinity towards holistic skincare, which I define as ?caring from the skin from the inside out with proper nutrition, hydration, and a healthy lifestyle; as well as from the outside in with high quality, natural skincare products.? There are many small steps you can take to care for the skin in this way, and I truly believe that you need the inside out, outside in approach to give your skin the best possible and most sustainable results.
Check out this video to learn more–again they didn’t give me a great choice of thumbnail images, but check out my pretty new office back wall!
This is something I have experienced personally, through my own experience with how cleaning up my diet and trashing my old chemical-ridden products (and replaced them with healthier ones) cleared my own acne (which was long standing and quite severe Stage 3 and 4 pustular and cystic acne). I’ve also experienced this in my work with clients?many of my clients have experienced significant improvements in acne, rosacea, psoriasis, and eczema after making similar changes in their own diets, lifestyles, and replacing their products.
I’d like to share with you a past post I wrote about Apothecary vs. Conventional Skincare.?
In this post, I expressed frustration at how many of the natural skincare recipes and books you see use perishable food ingredients which means you either have to find an effective way to preserve them (this is difficult to do with food ingredients using natural preservatives), or keep them constantly refrigerated, which is not convenient. I also was a little ticked off by claims made that these natural products are ?better than Botox? and had other magical qualities. So I decided to make it my mission to find out if shelf-stable natural ingredients could really be effective enough to replace the expensive spa-quality ones I had come to depend on.
Time for an update.
I’ve been making my own skincare products now for almost two years, and have been using my own products exclusively for almost that entire time. At first I was a little nervous, because I had made the dietary and lifestyle changes, but I was still using really high quality, natural, spa-quality skincare products for acne. I was afraid that the acne would return if I switched to my own products which contain natural plant oils like argan and jojoba, essential oils, and other natural ingredients like shea butter and beeswax.
These oils are not considered to be comedogenic (pore clogging) and most of them have their own antimicrobial properties?so theoretically they should not cause the acne to return?but since my products have a much thicker consistency than the lighter weight lotions and gels typically indicated for acneic skin, I was still skeptical. But I realized that I had to use my own products successfully before I could recommend them or teach others to make them. So I took a leap of faith?I decided to trust my knowledge of ingredients, trust that I was using the highest quality natural ingredients I had access to (I get all my ingredients from natural suppliers like?Mountain Rose Herbs), and also trust in my body?s own innate ability to heal itself and return to its state of balance.
I was expecting there to be a breakout as my skin adjusted?
?but this surprisingly did not happen. Through my own ingredient research I learned that the skin recognizes all of the ingredients I was using and knows exactly what to do with them?it turns out this was true. So now I very rarely get hormone-related breakouts, or I might get a small blemish if I eat too much of the foods/substances I’ve identified as my acne triggers (for me it is sugar, gluten, and dairy)?but other than that I now enjoy skin that is clear, hydrated, and youthful. I still get carded sometimes when I buy a bottle of wine and many people who initially meet me think I am years younger than I am.
The best part is that I know exactly what went into the products. I know the condition of where they were made (my kitchen), I know the source and quality of the ingredients I use, and I have the special secret ingredient that is ONLY available in hand-crafted products and homecooked food: good old Vitamin L. Of course Chef Joe would say that the best part is that my monthly skincare budget is a tiny fraction of the car payment-sized budget it used to be.
So I can safely and confidently say that my apothecary products rock.
I have gotten such amazing feedback from students who have learned my recipes at my skincare classes and from clients who have tried my products as part of their holistic skincare and health coaching programs. It feels really good to know that I’ve found a way to help them truly practice and benefit from holistic skincare as much as I have.
It?s also really flattering that clients think my products are good enough to be in stores or to be sold online. That could happen?at some point waaaay down the line. But for now I am really enjoying keeping the products exclusive to my students and private clients. I don’t make any fancy claims that my products turn back the hands of time or that they will work magic for everybody?everyone?s skin is different?but I can confidently say that they are really good and I feel no need to ever use anything else. I might take breaks to try products for my Product Spotlights from time to time, but my skin is always relieved when I finish testing other products and return to regular use of my Holistically Haute? Apothecary products.
By the way?both my 90 Day Reset and Recharge and 6 Month Full Circle programs include my hand-crafted apothecary products?check them out!
8/11/14 Edited to add:?I no longer teach my Make Your Own All-Natural, Organic Skincare classes in the Philadelphia area. Instead, I’ve created a comprehensive 6-week online course called Create Your Skincare which teaches everything you need to know to design custom products for luminous skin–using all-natural and organic ingredients of course. Learn more and register HERE!
