Growing up in the age of the health conscious, I didn't realize how oblivious I was to the vast array of products available to handle everything from dry skin to wrinkles.
I never gave it much thought really, as it always seemed perfectly normal to me to see aisles and aisles of creams and ointments and lotions.
I never gave much thought to what was in those products or if they really worked.
I do now though! I was out shopping with my grandmother the other day.
We walked through the beauty aisles and she instantly started talking about the good old days.
Back when people knew how to take care of their skin without the help of billion dollar marketing.
She said that these dry skin cream companies are all out to make a buck and then she proved it.
She grabbed one jar randomly from the shelf.
We started looking at the ingredients, it was filled with perfumes, mineral oil and preservatives to make the product last longer.
We were hard pressed to find a single product that actually contained only healthy, natural products that were not mixed in with synthetics and fragrances.
This prompted a curiosity in me that needed to be explored.
I went online and started doing some research.
Grandma was right! There are some products out there that actually have things like avocado oil and grapeseed oil, things that are actually good for your skin, but not many! I was even more shocked to learn that mineral oil is actually bad for your dry skin! It doesn't penetrate the layers of skin and therefore has no healing or long term moisturizing effects.
I guess the answer is to actually pay attention to what is in the products that you buy.
Grandma says to stick to nature, and for a 74 year old woman who easily looks 50 she knows what she is talking about!