Skin Care Q & A: Why Is Protection from Chemicals So Important?

• Core Facts

Skin care treatment in ages past was primarily focused on emollients – creams and lotions that soften, smooth and soothe. A hundred years ago, that may have been enough. But a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. Find out what your skin care priorities should be in modern times and why it’s different for us than our grandmothers.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, a celebrated Greek physician named Galen invented cold cream. He steeped rose buds in olive oil to give the oil a pleasant scent, combined the oil with white wax (some say it was beeswax), four parts olive oil to one part wax, and added water until he had the right consistency, In France, this and similar formulas are still known as Galen’s Wax (cérat de Galien), and form the basis of modern cold cream.

Galen’s motivation in developing this skin care product was not simply to make the skin more beautiful. He was protecting people from the ingredients of the cosmetics used to get the then popular chalky look. In those days, that white complexion was achieved with with white lead and mercury. These metals were killing people left and right and those lucky enough to survive, according to Galen, quickly “turn old and withered and have wrinkled faces like an ape,” even when young.

While we wouldn’t think of using mercury in a skin care treatment these days, there are plenty of chemicals we have to contend with in our skin care and household products, and in our air and water. And though the current chemicals may not cause 20-year-olds to turn old and withered and have wrinkled faces like an ape, they are causing dry skin, eczema and a number of other skin conditions.

Doesn’t sound too serious? Think again. When the skin is dry it forms tiny cracks through which the chemicals we contact in every day life can be absorbed into the body and effectively poison us. When you consider that we’re also eating, drinking and breathing thousands of chemicals every day, you can understand why people in modern industrial environments, especially the U.S., are sicker than they’ve ever been despite the advances of modern medicine.

The solution? Skin care that blocks chemicals. Thousands of doctors now recommend a shielding lotion. A good shielding lotion bonds with the outer layer of the skin to form a new protective layer that keeps chemicals out and natural moisture in. With the outer layer intact, the skin can heal itself. And protect the rest of the body.

Natural skin care products that don’t contain harmful chemicals help but if you really want protection, you also need a shielding lotion to keep out the chemicals that can’t be avoided.

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