Hello and welcome to all our new subscribers since the last issue. Even though the end of February is already here and spring is only a few weeks away, the lingering cold and continuing winter weather conditions throughout most of the country (as I discovered on my recent trip to Florida) can be very tough on your skin - especially your face, lips, and hands.

There are a number of things you can do during the winter months to keep the toll on your skin manageable including simple things like increasing your intake of fluids (preferably purified water and herbal teas), antioxidants (Vitamins A, C & E), and essential fatty acids (Omega 3s); avoiding conventional soaps and cleansers and petroleum-based moisturizers; and using body oils instead of lotions and creams as your primary moisturizer.

This week's article focuses on two phenomenal plant oils for natural skin care that are good enough to apply to your skin as well as to eat! In fact, incorporating these two oils into your regular diet and skin care regimens (either alone or as primary ingredients in your products) will give your skin the extra boost it needs to not only survive, but to thrive in even the most challenging of winter environments.

Yours in health and prosperity,

Donya

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Inside-Out: Heal Dry Skin with Natural Skin Care Oils Good Enough to Eat!

Many of the plant-based culinary oils you use in the kitchen can play a dual role in promoting and maintaining skin health not just in the dead of winter, but also throughout the year. Vegetable and nut oils like coconut, high-oleic safflower or sunflower, extra virgin olive, almond, or avocado are not only healthful when consumed internally, but can also be highly effective at hydrating, moisturizing, and protecting your skin when applied topically. Each of these oils is commonly found in natural skin care products where their unique characteristics and benefits are often combined to enhance or augment a product's effectiveness. For the best possible results, I always recommend products that use these oils as their primary base because you can realize their immediate benefits without exposing yourself or the environment to the harmful toxins found in products made with petroleum or synthetic ingredients.

Keep in mind that the oils that most closely resemble your skin's natural oil (sebum) are the ones that will produce the best results for your skin and your overall health. They also tend to be more stable, with a considerably longer shelf life than most other oils.

Sebum, your body's natural oil, is secreted by your oil glands (sebaceous glands), which are typically located at the root of every hair as well as other places throughout the body. This oil is very important to skin health. It softens and lubricates the skin and hair and prevents the skin from drying and cracking. It also has anti-microbial properties that protect the skin from infection and damage.

Many factors (living in dry or windy climates or higher altitudes for example) can lead to excessively dry skin, where the sebum you secrete is simply not enough to do the job and additional moisturizers are needed. By the same token, overactive sebaceous glands that lead to excessively oily (and acne-prone) skin can sometimes be a sign of an oil deficiency in the body. As counter-intuitive as that may sound, if your body isn't getting enough Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) from food or supplementation, it can respond by over-producing and secreting sebum to counteract the potential harm or damage to your skin that can come from this deficiency.

All fats and oils (including sebum) are composed of molecules called fatty acids. There are two ways of classifying these fatty acids. The first is based on saturated fat vs. unsaturated fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated). The other is a system of classification based on molecular size or the length of the carbon chain within each fatty acid. If I can get technical here for a minute . . . fatty acids often consist of long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached. So oils can have short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), or long-chain fatty acids (LCFA). Sebum contains medium chain fatty acids, in the form of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), so oils that consist of MCFAs are those that most closely resemble sebum.

The two oils that are richest in antioxidants and most closely resemble your sebum are Virgin Coconut and EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), which is what makes them such excellent skincare ingredients, and the main ones to look for in high quality natural lotions, creams and cleansers. Here's a brief summary of each:

Coconut Oil: A Fat Like No Other

Coconut oil has wonderful antioxidant properties that protect the skin from free radical damage. In addition to its highly moisturizing properties, it also helps keep connective tissues strong and supple so that the skin doesn't sag and wrinkle. In some cases it can even restore damaged or diseased skin. While coconut oil applied directly to the skin doesn't have any immediate antimicrobial action, when bacteria, which are always present on the skin, turn the coconut's triglycerides into free fatty acids (just as it does with sebum) the result is an increase in the number of antimicrobial fatty acids on the skin, which provide protection from infection. By using a coconut oil-based cream, lotion or just pure coconut oil you can quickly help re-establish the skin's natural antimicrobial and acid barrier.

At one time, coconut oil was mistakenly believed to be unhealthy because of its high saturated fat content (a whopping 92%), but we now know that the fat in coconut oil is a unique one - different from most other fats - that possesses many healthful properties. As a saturated fat consisting primarily of medium chain fatty acids (also known as medium-chain triglycerides or MCTs) coconut oil is more easily metabolized, and not easily oxidized so it doesn't cause harmful free radical damage like polyunsaturated vegetable oils often can. This is true whether the oil is ingested or applied topically.

Because coconut oil can help reduce chronic skin inflammation within days and be soothing and healing to wounds, blood blisters, rashes, etc., it's also an excellent ingredient to use in healing salves and ointments.

Olive Oil: Mother Nature's Biggest Beauty Secret

Among all the natural lipids, olive oil has the most similar chemical composition to sebum, which gives it a strong affinity to human skin. Completely safe and easily absorbed, it has exceptional penetrating ability, and is high in well-documented antioxidant properties including tocopherols (vitamin E), beta-carotene (vitamin A), phytosterols, flavonoids (including quercetin and squalene), and phenolic compounds.

There's as much as 5 mg of antioxidant polyphenols in every 10 grams of olive oil, and 1.6 mg or 2.3 IU (International Units) of Vitamin E per tablespoon. This potent combination of antioxidants works to neutralize free radicals (unstable molecules created by exposure to things like cigarette smoke, pollution, alcohol, radiation, and oxidation of trans fats) and repair cell membranes - including sun damaged skin.

In addition, olive oil has the natural ability to target the skin cells in the top layer of your epidermis and can stimulate the synthesis of collagen and elastin - encouraging firmer and healthier skin. The rich emollients in olive oil allow just a little to go a long way.

Most commercial skin care products in the United States today are made from polyunsaturated oils, which oxidize and turn rancid very quickly causing free radical damage in the skin. So choose your oils wisely.

For optimal safety and efficacy, the oils you use on your skin, whether they are main ingredients in your products or applied alone, should be certified organic, raw, and unprocessed, or subject to minimal processing as the latter can destroy much of the oil's nutritive value and increase the likelihood of rancidity. This applies whether the oils are for internal consumption, topical application, or both.

Copyright 2010 Dropwise Essentials

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Donya Fahmy, is a green business owner and the creator of Dropwise Essentials' spa-quality aromatherapy body products that help you safely relieve stress, increase vitality, improve confidence, or simply manage your emotional state any time or place without popping a pill. For more free tips and valuable information visit www.dropwise.com and subscribe to the Dropwise Health & Beauty News Ezine or blog feed.

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Dropwise Essentials is a San Francisco-based manufacturer of pure aromatherapy and organic plant-based personal care products that give people a safe and effective way to relieve stress, increase vitality, improve confidence, or manage their emotional state any time or place without popping a pill. Our products are:

• Free of synthetic chemicals and petroleum ingredients
• Made with high quality certified organic oils and pure essential oils sourced from around the world
• Packaged in re-usable or recyclable materials
• Hand-made locally in northern California

Dropwise Essentials was founded by Donya Fahmy, a writer, producer, and consultant whose avid interest in the curative powers of aromatherapy and herbs ultimately led her to design and create the seven products and seventeen unique essential oil blends that make up the current Dropwise product line. She has studied aromatherapy with Carol Schiller --a successful author of several aromatherapy books-- and with Dr. Daniel Penoel --a renowned expert in the field of medical aromatherapy.

Dropwise Essentials is a proud member of the Indie Beauty Network (formerly the Handmade Beauty Network), the Green America Business Network (formerly Co-op America), Green Product Alliance, Natural Ingredient Resource Center, and a Friend of PETA. We were among the first companies to join the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics by signing their Compact for Safe Cosmetics --which simply formalizes our existing commitment to formulate products free of known or potentially toxic ingredients.