Natural & Natural Beauty ~ What do they mean?

The word, "natural", is ubiquitous; everywhere all the time. You can't escape it. In referencing the products you use ON your skin, that is the focal point of my first blog.

The beauty industry starts teaching us as little kids that being beautiful comes in a jar, package, tube, bottle that is squirted, sprayed, brushed, patted, smeared, dotted, lined, blown and plastered to your body. Without the above, the industry inferes that you aren't beautiful and kids being impressionable, believe it as gospel; hey the lives of models and super stars is "glamorous" isn't it? They have money, they are richer than imagination can conceive, so the way they look even though it costs mega amounts of money and is applied by a professional make-up artist every day sometimes multiple times per day, is the definition of BEAUTIFUL. Right?

Well it certainly isn't natural! Strip down a female movie star to just her skin and she's just like you and me; uneven skin tone, thin short lashes, pale pink normal sized lips, freckles, zits, blemishes, dark circles under eyes, forested eyebrows, dull skin, wrinkles, lines and sagging skin. That's the definition of natural. Right?

Somewhere between Kim Kardasian and the above "natural" image, there is a truly beautiful natural middle way - the homemade small production  natural beauty products way.

It's all in the definition:
The Free Online Dictionary defines natural as:
1. Present in or produced by nature: a natural pearl

6. Not altered, treated, or disguised: natural coloring; natural produce

Ezine Articles defines natural beauty as:

Looking great without enhancements

Ah Ha!!  Enhancements ... now that's a word!  One that is a personal perception or opinion. I mean seriously, Ms Kardashian uses enhancements, but so do I (lip gloss, mascara, kohl liner pencil - done). 

This Ezine Article goes on to state, and I quote:

"So what about those enhancers? Are they only made from nature? This is usually the case. Many natural products are priced beyond the capability of some people's finances. Therefore, many people wanting natural products get what they can at the best price and fill in the gaps as best as possible with other products."

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/745523

I beg to differ:  Those of us world wide who are single person or small business homemade body product creators, do everything we can to offer EVERYONE affordable natural beauty products that go so far as to be organic vegan and so pure you can eat them, or at least darn near!  Articles like this one in Ezine tend to put off someone seeking a more natural or all natural regime of beauty "enhancements" because they feel "if I'm gonna pay a lot of money PLUS shipping for a face cream, I might as well just go to the store and buy a name brand machine manufactured cream even though 98% of the ingredients I can't pronounce ...."  And they will. Ergo the muli-billion dollar beauty industry that has nothing to do with what me and thousands of other homemade body product crafters do.  We can't compete with that and we don't try to; but we provide what that industry can't or won't: ultra pure uber awesome wholesomely natural beauty products that come in jars, packages, tubes, bottles that are squirted, sprayed, brushed, patted, smeared, dotted, lined, blown and plastered to your body.

Just like with mass produced products, homemade products have one thing in common: labels. You have to read the labels.  If you compare a mass produced product label with a homemade product label, I betcha you can pronounce 98% of the homemade product ingredients!  Just so you know, we are goverened by the FDA also; our labels must conform to stringent criteria in order to be "legal" right down to the exact placement of everything that goes on the front name label.  It gets pretty tediuous I don't know of many home crafters who LOVE making labels!!

Here's an example of a label for one of my new products, Body Pudding, Black Raspberry Vanilla pictured below:

Distilled water, sunflower oil, soya oil, vegetable glycerin, stearic acid, cetyl alcohol, emulsifying wax, palmitic acid, tocopherol (vitamin E), potassium sorbate, meadowfoam oil, jojoba oil, yogurt, aloe vera, vitamin C, citric acid, Germall Plus, Black Raspberry Vanilla Fragrance Oil

And here are the ingredients for Olay Luscious Embrace Hand & Body Lotion:

WATER, GLYCERIN, PETROLATUM, ISOPROPYL ISOSTEARATE, CAPRYLIC/CAPRIC TRIGLYCERIDE, ORCHIS MORIO FLOWER EXTRACT, SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS (JOJOBA) BUTTER, DIMETHICONE, FRAGRANCE, STEARYL ALCOHOL, CETYL ALCOHOL, POLYETHYLENE, SODIUM ACRYLATES COPOLYMER, ALUMINUM STARCH OCTENYLSUCCINATE, BEHENYL ALCOHOL, BENZYL ALCOHOL, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, ETHYLPARABEN, METHYLPARABEN, DIMETHICONOL, PROPYLPARABEN, CETEARYL GLUCOSIDE, STEARIC ACID, CETEARYL ALCOHOL, PEG-100 STEARATE, DISODIUM EDTA, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, RED 33, GREEN 3

If you ever want to know what a particular ingredient is, look here:

http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/index.php

Just type in the ingredient in the Search Box and hit GO ...

Everything we do, everything we buy, all the supplies and ingredients, the botanicals, herbs, butters, oils, essential oils AND fragrance oils, organic colorants (typically from powdered foods, spices, herbs) every aspect of research, every single creation is done with - hopefully - meticulous care and knowledge. I know it's also done by me with singular Pride and Love and Joy. Not to mention the books I've read, the trails and failures, and online research as well as discussing everything with my peers.  It is a daily love affair.

Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing what we do for the amount of money it costs us to do it, with the hopes and prayers of our creations being sought out and found, purchased and enjoyed by You ....

Natural Enhancements ~ Body Pudding for Ultra Thirsty Skin

 

Wanna purchase? Sure ya do ... go to:

www.etsy.com/blissbodyandbath

Send me a convo and say 'hey read your Blog ..." you just might get a discount!!!!! Woot!!

Wanna chat it up, leave comments, offer feedback, follow me nicely ... okie dokie!

Just keep it fun, keep it positive, keep it simple!