I recently have talked to some other women who have been friends of mine for years. They live in a part of the country that has been hit very hard by the downed economy and are looking to scrimp and save anywhere they can. One friend in particular has started to by certain makeup and beauty products at 99 cent stores and off of clearance racks lately.
She has been using these discount beauty products for about six months now, and was horrified to see what it has done to her skin. It began with simple dryness, so she moved on to some other cheap brand names. The new ones she was buying had the opposite effect and left her skin oily and prone to breakouts, (She has had clear skin her entire life).
All this reached a breaking point one day when she took a long hard look at herself in the mirror. Inspecting every inch of her face, she saw extensive damage and got a sinking feeling in her stomach. She called me to explain her worry, to which I calmed her down quickly and got her breathing again.
What had happened was that the makeup and beauty products were older (not quite past the use buy date, but not new by any means), and nearly everything was imported from China. We did a little digging into the ingredients listed on some of the products and found a wealth of information on the ingredients. Most was from certain health websites stating side effects that can arise from too much exposure to one certain chemical. Other listings said another ingredient was banned in several countries (legal in US and Mexico) as studies had shown that it was a carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemical.
My friend immediately discontinued the use of any makeup whatsoever, and instead spent her small monthly makeup budget on cleansing and repairing products for her face and skin. She has a natural beauty and really does not need to wear makeup, but had habitually worn makeup most of her life.
Now, she has decided to go "au naturale" for good, using only natural and organic skin care products. After about three months (half the time it took to do the damage), her skin has a new healthy luster to it, and she even feels healthier as well.
The lesson to this story is to remind women that they all hold a natural beauty to them, and perhaps instead of spending the money to cover up a few imperfections for a small amount of time, by stepping-up and spending the money on a few trusted and all-natural repairing products, we can focus on long-term restoration of natural beauty.
