MAKING YOUR OWN SAFE COSMETICS

EVERYDAY SKIN CARE Ask ten women if they wash their faces with soap, and at least seven of them will probably answer, "No way!" They say that after washing with soap, their skins feel tight and shiny. Some of them are allergic to soap, so they purchase and use a variety of cleansing creams and facial rinses to get rid of the daily dirt. They are missing two important facts. The first is the basic difference between commercially processed soap and the kind you make in your own kitchen. The second is the process of pH balancing. Homemade soap is usually based on vegetable oils rather than animal fat. It contains lots of natural glycerine, formed by the reaction caused when lye (potassium hydroxide) meets oils. This glycerine is prized for its skin-smoothing and soothing qualities, and should not be confused with the manufactured glycerine you use to make bubble mix, as this is a petroleum by-product. Natural vegetable glycerine treats your skin kindly. Because you know exactly what goes into your soap, you can 'customise' it to avoid ingredients that cause allergies, and you can super-fat it to make it extra rich and luxurious. Just one problem - making soap is addictive and you won't be able to stop after the first batch! It also leaves your skin feeling cleaner than anything else you may have put on it. Here are some simple rules for cleaning your face: 1. Remove heavy makeup. Plain yogurt works beautifully as a cleansing cream, and is absolutely safe. 2. Use a clean cotton facecloth (no nylon scrubbies, please), homemade soap and plenty of warm water. Give your face and throat a good, brisk scrub. Don't just pat at it, but get rid of oil traces and dead skin. Be firm with your face! Use a soapy loofah if extra exfoliation is needed. Rinse thoroughly and dry. 3. Now for a very important step. Even the best soap is slightly alkaline, so pH balance your skin with witch hazel or kombucha tea, sprayed or dabbed on. Allow it to dry naturally. 4. With distilled water or hydrosol in a spray bottle, mist your face and apply a natural cream while skin is still wet. Always apply cream by stroking UPWARDS, except for the areas around your eyes. Just pat in gently here, as this skin is fragile. That's it. Do this twice a day and your skin will be very happy. It works for men, too.

BALANCING ACT: Understanding pH.    pH stands for Potential of Hydrogen. It is the scale of measurement for acidity or alkalinity in any substance, including our bodies, and is determined by the number of hydrogen ions per cubic decimeter. You may be thinking, 'Who really cares?' but those wee hydrogen items can have a profound effect on your health.    A neutral pH balance is about 7.4 on the scale. a reading of 1 is highly acidic, while 14 is profoundly alkaline. However, interpreting the scale is not what you would expect, as each whole number differs by a factor of ten from the one next to it. In other words, 8 is ten times more alkaline than 7, while 10 is a thousand times (ten x ten x ten) more alkaline than 7. Conversely, 2 is ten times more acidic than 3, and 3 is a hundred times more acidic than 5. This gives more definition to those numbers on th pH scale.    To complicate matters further, we have a different 'desirable' pH in different parts of our bodies. Most internal parts are better with an alkaline pH, but skin has something called an ACID MANTLE to protect it from exposure. Healthy skin has an acid value of between 4.5 and 5.9, but functions reasonably well within a range of 4 to 6. If the acid mantle is damaged, skin becomes vulnerable to bacteria and infection as well as to damage from weather and pollutants.    Simply rinsing your hands in water causes an increase in skin alkalinity, but washing with the commercially produced detergent bars that masquerade as soap can increase the alkaline reading by three full points (or a thousand times). Au revoir acid mantle! The acid mantle may repair itself within a couple of hours, but this is stressful. So what to do?    Obviously you have to wash properly, but be careful to use gentle, hand-made soap, and to revitalise and re-acidify your skin by misting with diluted witchhazel, rosewater or lavender hydrosol. Follow this by an application of acidic cream or lotion, applied while the skin is still damp, and you will have safe and happy skin. This is important for men as well. The poor things have to subject their faces to the shaving process every day and their skin needs care too.

SKIN CARE FOR BABIES: Prime Targets.    Oh Baby! You are a prime target for the marketing strategies of cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies. Let's hope you have a Mom and Dad who will read the labels before they buy those tempting products designed just for you. Better still, perhaps they will take the time to make some trustworthy oils, lotions, shampoos and soaps that will not harm either your skin or your future.    I have just been looking through my copy of 'The Safe Shopper's Bible,' by Epstein and Steinman. This is a great guide for anyone who wants to avoid exposure to harmful chemicals contained in household products, cosmetics and food. It only includes the most commonly used products, but of these I looked up Johnson's Baby Shampoo (contains fragrance that can cause contact dermatitis and an ingredient called quaternium-15 that can break down to form formaldehyde), Dove Soap (fragrance and butylated hydroxytuolene, a possible carcinogen) and Kid Care Little Mermaid Mild Formula Bubble Bath (fragrance, quaternium-15, dietholamine and FD&C Yellow #6 - both suspected carcinogens). Theses ingredients are only potential dangers, but why risk them for our precious babies?    You can make safe baby oil from a tablespoon of marigold petals or elderberry flowers, soaked in grapeseed oil for a few days. Strain of the petals and use just the way it is, or soak squares of clean used cotton in it and keep in a lidded jar for non-alcoholic baby wipes. I have recipes for baby creams in 'Kitchen Cosmetics' along with baby powder made from rice flour and pulverized rose petals. Unperfumed homemade soap or a castor oil shampoo bar will clean your darling with no side effects, and a fragrance-free environment will help to protect him or her from allergies or other nasties.    Even essential oils, which can be so beneficial for older children and for all the rest of us, are better avoided in the first few months of a baby's life, and also during pregnancy. An aromatherapist explained to me that young babies do not process intense smells properly during the early period of their lives, and it can be very confusing for them to be subjected to this type of stimulation. You will read conflicting theories about this, as some aromatherapists maintain that oils are safe if diluted sufficiently. But my feelings are that, since essential oils have a direct and instant channel to the limbic portion of the brain, we should not take chances with the thought processes of our wee ones.    The main thing to remember when creating products for baby is to keep them pure, plain and simple.