The Skin, “The first introduction to you”! An immediate impression from the first sight of you starts from your skin. Looking from your face and to exposed parts of your body, we all care about our skin. The big truth about it all is, people are constantly judged on their appearances, taken seriously based on how they present themselves. As a result, the beauty market is flooded with all kinds of skin enhancing products.
Looking at many of the skin and even facial products, you will find ingredients like: dimethicone, fragrances, varying alcohols, octisalate, peg based and hydrogenated ingredients in skin care products. Some of these ingredients prevent you from having beautiful, smooth skin and leaves you prone to acne, and several skin ailments. Take for instance, dimethicone. Dimethicone is a silicone oil that is non-biodegradable. It forms a protective layer on your skin, almost like a film layer. This allows the entrapment of impurities and bacteria on your skin leaving you prone to acne, black heads and breakouts.
“Fragrances”, can contain toxic chemicals without being disclosed. Many contain phthalates, which can be added to people products for scent enhancement. Do you know that phthalates are plasticizer, typically a kind of additives or solvents added to promote flexibility and durability of a product.
They are typically used in vinyl flooring, lubricating oils, and in plastic clothings. They are various types of phthalates. Some are used as dissolving agents, as a result, you’ll see them in nail polish, and they are used in some personal care products. They are known to be reproductive toxins for both men and women. Some studies have shown high levels of phthalate in young women of reproductive ages.
Women go through a lot to take care of their skin. There are promises of plumping, stretching, tighten, all from highly toxic chemical producers. Eventually, it never ends well, we became prisoners to the frequent use of these toxic products.
All of a sudden, you are pregnant, and the sensitivity alarm to the kind of product you put on your skin starts to ring. We begin to worry, will this product affect my baby? will I have stretch marks ? Can my body bounce back to how it once was?
The great news is several studies have shown that certain plant based products can have anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties. Some plants even have over 100 active natural ingredients which boost skin elasticity and firmness.
Natural plant based products have so many great properties. Science tries to emulate the qualities of these plants by creating a synthetic version of it. Nevertheless, synthetic versions can never carry all the properties associated with a natural sourced plant, all at once! Many of these synthesized and chemical products are very bad for the skin. Infact, the breakdown of the components on some of these facial and general skin care products contain mineral oils, paraben, fragrance, silicone oil, petrolatum and many more pore blocking synthetic chemicals. Not all synthetic chemicals are created equal. Many are known to cause devastating damages on the skin and overall health leading to long term battles in an attempt to rectify the issues. Such chemicals block the pores, thereby allowing buildup of toxic impurities. This causes the skin to react in the form of rashes, pimples, acnes , irritations, and in some cases severe breakout.
Several plant based oils provide therapeutic, medicinal, invigorating, healing and restorative benefits among many more attributes. Several skin issues range from stretch marks to acne, eczema, psoriasis, fungus, rashes, redness, scarring, stretch marks, droopy skin, wrinkles and several more dermal issues.
For many years, science has evolved by tending to emulate the properties of these natural plants. Giving rise to the emergence of several synthetic versions of the natural oils. They are less expensive and in some cases perform comparable to the natural oils. However, many of these synthesized and chemical products are very bad for the skin.
Using “cleaner” green alternatives free of pesticides or chemicals will give your skin a healthy road to the perfect skin. Stretch mark oils which are from natural plant and of premium quality contain ingredients like Tamanu oil, rosehip oil, coconut oil, borage oil, baobab oil and marula oil help engage skin rejuvenation. A dynamic blend to fade stretch marks and restore skin cells
Below are the 4 best oil for stretch marks:
- Rosehip Oil - Anti-aging properties: Some of the organic natural oils used in stretch mark oils have anti-aging properties. Rose hip has a rich abundance of vitamin C, carotenoids, polyphenol and various flavonoid. Infact, from a research study, a total of 34 healthy people with wrinkles were subjected to a randomized clinical study. The outcome revealed a significant improvement on wrinkles, skin moisture and elasticity only after 8 weeks of use (L Phetcharat et). Rosehip is known to have strong anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.[1] .In fact, studies show that the natural vitamin A & vitamin E helps support & maintain skin cells, protect the skin from damage and burns while serving as an anti-aging ingredient.
- Tamanu Oil- Natural scar removals: Tamanu oil has been used for thousands of years in the polynesian, african and asian cultures. It has excellent antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, antiviral , anti-fungicide, and anti-septic properties [2,4].Tamanu oil applied to blisters is stated to promote the regeneration of new tissue and accelerate the formation of healthy skin. It is also stated to boost anti-aging activities. The general composition of Tamanu oil consists of over 90% neutral lipid, >6 % of triacylglycerol and > 1% of phospholipids. This makes it an oil very rich in fatty acid [2, 3]. Tamanu Oil is also known as "Calophyllum inophyllum". It takes about 200lbs of tamanu fruit to make about 10 lbs of tamanu oil and is a very labor intensive process for a small amount of oil.(4)
- Baobab Oil- Excellent Moisturizers: Baobab oil is another excellent oil rich in anti-oxidant. It is known to contain 7-10 times more vitamin C content than oranges as well as a nice enriching blend of amino acid, minerals and fatty acid. Research shows that the combination of natural vitamin C and E is far superior than alone[5]. It is also known to have anti-viral, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. Hence, it is often called the superfruit.[6]
- Marula Oil- This is another oil that helps boost skin elasticity while providing moisturizing effect. It is known to have anti-aging activities while been rich in anti-oxidant, natural vitamins and fatty acid.
References
1. Phetcharat L, Wongsuphasawat K, Winther K. " The effectiveness of a standardized rosehip powder, containing seeds and shells of Rosa canina, on cell longevity,skin wrinkles, moistures and elasticity. 19 Nov 2015.
2. Kilham C. "Tamanu Oil: A tropical topical remedy", pg 26-31. Herbalgram 2004.
3. Dweck A.C & Meadows T 2002. Tamanu (Calophyllum inophyllum)- The African, Asian, Polynesian and pacific Pancea. International journal of cosmetic science, 24(6),341-348
4. Li Yz, Li Zi,Hua Hm, LI Zg,Liu Ms. Studies on flavonoids from stems and leaves of Calophyllum inophyllum. School of traditional chinese Materia Medica, Shenyang pharmaceutical university, Shenyang 110016, China. Citation 16, Reference 12,10, [8,13] ,Friday,J.B.,& Okano,D. (2006).Callophyllum inophyllum (Kamani) species profiles for pacific island Agroforestry, 2(1),1-17.
5. Friday,J.B.,& Okano,D. (2006).Callophyllum inophyllum (Kamani) species profiles for pacific island Agroforestry, 2(1),1-17. Phetcharat L, Wongsuphasawat K, Winther K. " The effectiveness of a standardized rosehip powder, containing seeds and shells of Rosa canina, on cell longevity,skin wrinkles, moistures and elasticity. 19 Nov 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4655903/pdf/cia-10-1849.pdf
6. Kamatou G.P.P, Vermaak I, Viljoen A.M, "An updated review pf adasonia digitata: A commercially important African tree". South African Journal of Botany 77 (2011) pg 908-919.