Your top 9 organic skincare questions, answered
We receive many queries about organic skincare here at Heavenly Organics Skin Care, and so we thought it would be useful to answer some of the most commonly asked questions.
From how to get rid of aging skin to tips on naturally moisturising your face, read on for answers to 9 of essential questions about natural, organic skincare.
What is organic skincare?
This should be a simple question to answer. At Heavenly Organics it simply means skincare that contains only organic ingredients.
Yet to have a product certified as organic with some official bodies, skincare need not necessarily contain 100% organic ingredients.
The Soil Association requires a minimum 95% organic ingredients in order to be able to state a product is organic. Products can contain a minimum of just 70% organic ingredients to be able to carry the Soil Association logo.
With us, if our products state “Organic”, then they are 100% organic. If our products state Organic & Natural, they will also contain ingredients such as salts or clays, which cannot be called organic due to their naturally occurring state.
We never use synthetic ingredients or preservatives. So our advice is to always read the ingredients labels carefully.
What does natural skincare mean?
Natural skincare should mean skincare products that are made purely from natural ingredients.
However, some ingredients can originate from a natural source yet are so highly processed that the end product is not so natural.
This isn’t always the case with ‘natural skincare’ products but again, our advice is to scrutinise the labels.
At Heavenly Organics, using truly pure, organic and natural ingredients is what we’re all about. The natural ingredients we use are nature’s delights such as salts and clays. Whilst these are subjected to a degree of processing, it is relatively minimal.
How can I hydrate my face naturally?
As with most things, hydration starts from within. Drinking plenty of good quality water (not water straight from the tap; either filtered or spring water is ideal) and eating lots of organic vegetables will help maintain good skin hydration.
We all know that alcohol dehydrates the body, yet a vast amount of skincare products contain alcohol, mainly due to its ability to preserve products. Yet it still dehydrates!
So we recommend avoiding facial moisturisers that contain alcohol. See our answers below to what we advise for moisturising and hydrating our faces. We meet many people who have indeed been advised to avoid skincare containing alcohol.
What is a good natural moisturiser for your face?
Moisturisers abundant in vitamin E come highly recommended by us. Our facial oil primary ingredients are sunflower seed and jojoba oil which are naturally full of antioxidant vitamin E.
These oils are deeply moisturising yet also very light and delicate on the skin too; ideal for everyday use.
For a richer moisturiser we also make Eye & Face Creams that contain sunflower seed and jojoba oils as well as luscious shea butter, which has a natural SPF factor of between 4-6. Along with its deeply moisturising and anti-inflammatory properties, it also aids collagen production.
How do you get rid of ageing skin?
As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure!
You will see many adverts on television for products that ‘reduce the appearance of wrinkles’. Note the word ‘appearance’. They’re not claiming to banish wrinkles forever, just make it APPEAR like they are. But clever marketing strategies will happily lead you to believe that they will indeed get rid of wrinkles.
Using skincare rich in antioxidant vitamin E will help keep the skin youthful, but ageing is a natural process and as we age our skin naturally loses some of its collagen – which causes fine lines and wrinkles.
We believe we should embrace it because, in the words of the famous quotation, “do not regret growing old. It is a privilege denied to many”.
Many skincare brands would love you to believe that is it entirely possible to reverse the ageing process.
Whilst aging skin loses some of its collagen and therefore elasticity causing fine lines and wrinkles, extensive over- exposure to sun will accelerate the ageing process, not to mention the increased risk of skin cancer.
So of course, we recommend ensuring that you don’t allow your skin to get burnt – but that you also try to get a certain amount of exposure to the sun to keep your vitamin D levels nicely topped up. It’s a fine balance!
In this time of social media and all things filtered, there appears to us to be a culture of self-loathing for how we look in our own natural state. We say LOVE yourself for who you are and the skin you’re in!
Does coconut oil help with wrinkles?
To our knowledge, there is no scientific evidence to date to show that coconut oil will help with wrinkles. Furthermore, coconut oil is highly comedogenic, which means that it is pore clogging.
For this reason we advise against using it on the face as it could lead to breakouts. We offer a range of body moisturisers which we feel are far superior to coconut oil.
How can I moisturise my face overnight?
Overnight, whilst we sleep, our cells are regenerating and repairing in our entire body.
Keeping your body hydrated with good quality water is key to skin cell hydration but we can also do our bit to care for our skin topically.
Our Eye and Face Creams are wonderfully rich and ideal for use overnight to aid our body’s natural process. We only use the best, organic ingredients that are packed full of healing and skin nourishing ingredients.
Vitamin E is king for skin health and the three main ingredients in our Eye & Face Creams, namely shea butter, jojoba oil and sunflower seed oil, are brimming with it. Only a pea sized amount of our rich and soothing cream is needed too so it’s value for money.
What is the best natural moisturiser for ageing skin?
Vitamin E rich moisturisers are naturally anti-ageing. Our moisturisers all contain ingredients rich in vitamin E from our range of facial and body oils to our creams and butters for the face and body.
Keeping our bodies hydrated and eating well is also imperative. We also recommend exfoliating the skin once or twice a week (more often is not necessary and it is possible to over-exfoliate the skin) to slough off the dead skin cells and allow the skin to breathe and perform its function of protecting our internal organs and skeleton and regulating our body’s temperature. Once the skin is exfoliated it will also enable the body to be moisturised more effectively.
What oil is best for skin tightening?
Our answer depends on what one’s definition of loose skin is!
Some people have issues with stretch marks and scarring and for this we would recommend our organic body butter. It contains shea butter which penetrates deeply into the dermal layers of the skin to aid healing with excellent results. It is also wonderful for preventing pregnancy stretch marks.
For pore tightening, exfoliating is recommended whilst lavender and rose geranium essential oils are excellent for skin tightening too.
We hope we’ve answered your organic skincare questions in this article, but if you’d like further information, please don’t hesitate to send us a message!