Memory Matters

Archive for March, 2009

Aloe vera plants, particularly aloe barbadensis miller plants, have been used for centuries to help burns, cuts, and other skin ailments. Perhaps your grandparents always had one of these unique, cactus-like plants nearby, just in case of an emergency. If someone got a cut or burn, they would break an aloe leaf apart to extract gel from inside the leaf. The aloe gel inside the leaf is used as a natural healing salve.

Commercial aloe products include everything from creams to lotions to nutritional supplements in pill or drink form. The products often combine aloe gel with other ingredients to enhance the gel’s natural healing components. For example, an aloe-based Hawaiian product, called AhVahleen, combines aloe with some natural extracts taken from organic honey and a Hawaiian Kalo herbal plant. Aloe gel, especially when combined with other natural ingredients, can greatly enhance the skin and its ability to replenish skin cells. As skin cells die, new skin cells must replace the old to promote healthy skin. This also slows the aging process and helps keep the skin moist and beautiful. Aloe creams and gels on the market can help enhance this process.

The advent of skin care and bath/body products for men is a relatively new phenomenon, and most men aren’t equipped to decipher the array of product choices and uses to understand how they can actually benefit from a regular skin care routine. To complicate matters, many of the commercial products for men are made with ingredients that can aggravate their skin issues and even make them worse! Men’s skin is actually 20%-30% thicker than women’s due to excess collagen and elastin, and their facial hair glands produce more oil, so a lot of men suffer from oily skin. The key difference is that a man’s skincare needs revolve around a daily shaving routine which poses its own set of unique requirements. The act of shaving alone can be abrasive to the skin because it removes the top layers of dead skin cells, leaving the skin very sensitive (razor burn).

Cleansing is essential to controlling oily skin by balancing your skin’s ability to regulate sebum production and preventing pores from becoming clogged. Ironically, many cleansers are made with harsh detergents that strip the skin of all its oil, leaving it feeling dry and dull which in turn, causes your oil glands to work harder to compensate for the loss of natural oils. We recommend combining equal amounts of our castile-based Gentle Cleansing Body Wash and Nourishing Hand & Body Lotion. For sensitive or irritated skin try the Soothe blend which contains chamomile and lavender. For a minty fresh and clean feeling try Refresh. If bar soaps are your preference, use one that is glycerin-based or a super-fatted soap made with a rich moisturizer like shea or cocoa butter.