Why Organic Skincare?
Many of today’s beauty products are made up of varying mixtures of synthetically produced chemicals. Individual ingredients vary in their ability to penetrate the skin, some are absorbed in tiny amounts while some can reach the blood vessels below the skin and be transported around the body. While one product may contain very small amounts of some of these ingredients, it is the cumulative effect of applying various products regularly that causes concern.
Over the past few years there have been certain cosmetic ingredients that have been highlighted in the media due to their links with health scares which has led some people to choosing organic as a safer alternative.
people who suffer from sensitive skin or conditions such as eczema or Psoriases say that organic products work better for them.
Parents are increasingly choosing organic products for their babies and children as their bodies are still developing and are more susceptible to chemicals in non-organic products and more likely to develop allergic reactions to ingredients such as fragrances.
How the Skin Works
The skin is the largest organ of the body. It is about two one-hundredths of an inch thick.
The Epidermis is the outer layer. This contains between twelve and fifteen layers of cells but, as we age, they diminish to nine or ten layers. Only the very bottom layers of cells divide and replace themselves. They slowly rise to the skin's surface and, as they rise, the cells lose their nuclei and die.
The Dermis is the inner layer, which contains blood vessels and cells known as fibroblasts. These cells produce collagen, elastin, the mortar that holds your skin together.
This outer layer-known as the stratum corneum-is sloughed off in tiny pieces during everyday activity, which in turn makes the bottom layer start making new skin cells, a natural cycle. This exfoliation cycle takes approx two to four weeks; if your skin is injured, the process goes into overdrive to make new skin to replace the damaged. This replacement cycle slows with age, as the cells become sluggish, less apt to divide, and less hydrated. The cycle is also affected by a number of other factors, such as diet, hormones, sun exposure, smoking, and physical exercise.
What is skin pH?
pH is the measurement of acidity. But what does that mean in the context of your skin?
Your skin needs a certain amount of oil to stay waterproof and resist infections. Too little can lead to dry skin and the premature development of wrinkles; too much can lead to oily skin and acne. The oil in your skin is called sebum and it’s produced by the sebaceous glands, tiny ducts that lie next to the hair follicles.
How pH is measured
PH is measured from 1-14, with 1 being highly acidic and 14 being highly alkaline, and a pH of 7 is neutral.
Your stomach acid has a ph of one or two to be able to digest food.
Your skin is fairly acidic, the optimal pH of human skin is 5,5 and you can measure it with a piece of litmus paper.
Age & Your Skin
As you age, the collagen in the dermis of your skin gradually loses water, causing the skin to lose its elasticity and flexibility, also decreasing activity of the oil producing sebaceous glands and the water producing sweat glands.
These factors, along with the loss of fat in the sub-cutanous layer results in the formation of wrinkles and blemishes. It’s a process that’s aggravated by damage from the sun, smoking and other external factors.
“Correct cleansing is vitally important, to help protect the acid mantle, our natural threshold between outer and inner.”
The History of Massage
Massage therapy is one of the oldest forms of medical treatment. Used world wide first recorded in China during the second century BC. In India, the traditional healing system of Ayurvedic medicine also prescribed massage for a variety of medical conditions. Physicians in Greece and Rome used massage as a primary method of treating pain.
The impulse to rub something that hurts is quite a natural response
Massage was widely used for many medical conditions until scientific breakthroughs in medicine and pharmacology changed the foundation of western medicine, drugs became the cure for ailments.
Massage faded out of “vogue” in the western world even though there has always been an awareness of its inherent healing and therapeutic value.
Not until the 20th century did the therapeutic benefits of massage really begin to be recognised, again in the western world, and become very much more mainstream. We are beginning to listen to our bodies and accept the many benefits of therapeutic touch. Many eastern countries have used massage as a preventative system of medication, but in the western world we see treatment as a last minute cure, but this view is changing.
At The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami school of medicine, doctors have researched the many benefits of massage therapy on a variety of conditions such as stress, depression, anxiety, pain and auto-immune disorders, with quite astonishing results.
The history of relaxation is an interesting one. There is reference to relaxing and resting within the Bible. Many of the Eastern religions promote meditative practices to still the mind and relax the body. Some of the more modern relaxation techniques were developed in the 1920s and 30s.
The Benefits of massage
Massage is a holistic practice because it affects the whole body, research has proved this www.miami.edu/touch-research/.
- Diminish pain
- Decrease auto-immune problems
- Enhances immune function
- Reduces stress hormones
- Increases relaxation
- Increases circulation
- Improves muscle flexibility
- Improves the range of movement of a joint
- Improves sleep pattern
- Enhances alertness and performance
- Improves focus and concentration
- Massage Affects Emotions
- Reduces aggression
- Improves mood
- Reduces anxiety
- Helps with depression
- improved self esteem
