It pays to take care of your skin, because after all you only have one set of it and it has to last you a lifetime. Of course it will age over that time, even though the body is constantly renewing the skin and that aging process will change the appearance of skin over time. To keep skin looking healthy, and as young as possible, many people opt to use skin care products and may even undergo a series of skin improvement treatments.

It is an approach that does make a lot of sense in that we humans are really just part of nature, so we are at heart fed and watered by our cousins in the plant and animal kingdoms. There is also the idea that there is a wealth of cosmetics that have been known to mankind all over the world and throughout history, and that the successful ones have stayed with us whereas the, shall we say, less successful ones have not (such as the perfectly natural lead make up that also probably killed thousands of our Roman and Elizabethan ancestors).

Horror stories aside, it is fair to say that nature has given us more than a dressing table’s worth of cosmetics, from moisturisers to dyes, balms to cleansers. All that has changed is that nowadays they are packaged and ready to use, rather than being the reward for a day’s walk through the jungle (although some boyfriends and husbands might still identify with that part of it). Natural skin care is also synonymous with organic skin care, a brand of the cosmetics industry that derives its ingredients from stringently natural plant extracts, right down to the fertilisers they are grown with, if they are indeed commercially farmed. The words natural and organic are often used interchangeably.

Typically, naturally derived cosmetics also come with a story. The history of the cosmetic product will be told in detail, along with the way it was discovered by western travellers and how it transformed their lives, or how the womenfolk of the tribe never seemed to age. Such tales are a fun part of the mythology behind the products and should be treated as such. The womenfolk probably did not sit next to a computer screen eight hours a day in between pollution-heavy commutes, either; but those details are often not mentioned. And besides, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. If a product does what it says it does, who cares if the marketing department has gone to town a little to paint such a romantic picture?

In the overall scheme of things, appearing in the shops might be a tiny part of the story of the magnificent, often seemingly miraculous beauty products that nature has given us. They may have been the staple of people in some global community for millennia, and will probably remain there even if the taste for natural cosmetics fades from western tastes. But on current trends, that doesn’t seem likely to happen any time soon.

Author Bio: Pam writes about skin care products and treatments to help people understand natural skin care products and ways of looking good for longer.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
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