As with body washes and shampoos there are so many creams and potions for your skin on the market that it’s difficult to decide what to buy or try next. Advertising claims that you will look younger or have fresher looking skin, but in reality does the average person notice much difference?
Although this area is more aimed at female consumers some elements are also applicable to men. The truth is that as much as what you put on your body what you put in your body is more important. Eat well with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and drink 2ltrs of water a day and this will keep your skin fresh and hydrated and reduce your need for moisturisers, cleansers and toners.
There are lots of products that are just plain wasteful on the market. Face wipes that can cleanse tone and moisturise in one are increasingly popular, but end up on landfill or even worse flushed down the toilet when washing your face with plain old soap and water and adding a small amount of face balm to dry areas would work just as well and be just as quick.
Convenience living is leading to so many waste beauty products with face creams and wipes being the worse culprits. Do we really need so many creams for so many things, one for dry areas, one for spotty areas, a cream to look younger, a cream to make you less shiny, base creams, foundations, compact powder, eye shadows, body creams for aging skin, body creams for cellulite, skin tightening creams, and all these to cover what would without these products is most likely to be firm, healthy and natural looking skin.
What woman hasn’t found that a few days without makeup and her skin is cleaner and fresher looking with spots having gone and looking far more radiant? We are trained by advertising from a very young age to aspire to be thinner, prettier and more feminine and this advertising claims that all these lotions and potions will do this for us. Well, the fact is it doesn’t and although most women want some assistance from cosmetics and creams, the number of creams we purchase and the cost to us and the environment is really not worth the end result.
The first way to change the amount we buy of these products is to take a good look at your current supplies. There are probably many creams there that you haven’t used yet that you were given or purchased on special offer. So, firstly work your way through these products, use them up and do not but any more until these have all gone. Don’t waste money adding a new lipstick one shade different to three others you have in your makeup bag. Work your way through your supplies and decide exactly what you can’t be without and what you can easily remove from your beauty regime.
Once you are ready to buy new items shop around, look for natural or organic products that will be better for you and the environment (this includes looking at packaging, see if it is recyclable and that it doesn’t have four layers of wrap for a very small tube of cream in non-recyclable plastics).
For makeup create a bag of essentials, having four or five special items of make up will make applying it far more enjoyable than rummaging through a large box of which only a few items ever get used. Try to avoid using pore clogging foundations and powders, maybe just a little mascara and natural lip balm instead of a full face of makeup for the day, that way when you dress up your makeup at night the change is more noticeable and fabulous.
Reducing the amount you use and picking products that contain fewer chemicals will noticeably improve your skin without the need for all the creams you previously relied on.
For more information on this and other low cost environmentally friendly alternatives try reading John Harrison’s Low Cost Living or visit the site dev.www.lowcostliving.co.uk.
Leave a Reply