May 10th, 2016 • Posted by Pamela Groebner • Permalink
Have you tried any DIY skin care treatments? Olive oil, coconut oil, lemon and “the burning face mask” are just a few.
I am going to give you some facts so you can make an educated decision on what you should or should not use on your skin. Although many ingredients in the kitchen might be safe to use with cooking, oils like olive oil and coconut oil can be comedogenic (pore clogging), lemon can burn the skin and cinnamon can cause irritation, according to Dermatologist Zoe Diana Draelos, M.D. She advises to proceed with caution. These are fads and some people do it, Draelos told Skin Inc. Magazine “if you want to do it, that’s fine but I think the take home message is be sure you do it in a safe way.” Cooking Oils Olive oil is comedogenic and causes blackheads, and whiteheads.
So if you have acne-prone skin, a lot of the skin care DIY “natural” recipes that people make in their kitchen could trigger a reaction. They’ll put in vegetable-type oils (in the recipe) and a lot of those type oils can cause acne. So you really need to stay away from those oils, says Draelos. Coconut Oil Although it is all the craze lately this ingredient can be comedogenic too. You’d want to stay away from that one as well. Baking Soda and Peroxide Peroxide can sting, burn and damage the tissue of a wound. That’s the reason why dermatology doesn’t use peroxide on wounds anymore because it actually cauterizes the healing tissue. So if you have an acne lesion, a peroxide -backing soda preparation can re-injure the skin and create a brown spot or an acne lesion or at worse, it could create a scar. Baking soda can be very irritating to the skin as well. It is a bicarbonate of soda, and when you mix it with water, it foams. So if you have very sensitive skin you can end up with an irritant contact dermatitis, says Draelos. Lemon Juice Lemon juice has a very high concentration of Vitamin C, which is ascorbic acid, and is has a very low PH, which can burn on the skin if you’re not careful. Cinnamon and Nutmeg Cinnamon can also be very irritating to skin, according to the doctor, and although it and nutmeg are antioxidant spices, they don’t perform and antioxidant function on top of the skin. Tea Tree Oil Tea tree oil is a potent allergen and can cause a contact dermatitis. So you really want to be careful. You don’t want to put it on your face, and it is also toxic so you really want to be careful not to put it around your mouth. The toxicity is concentration dependent, but it’s not something that you want to put around your lip. Contamination A lot of natural ingredients that people mix together in DIY skin treatment recipes are foods, so when you mix together a combination of foodstuffs, bacteria can grow. Draelos said after you mix up the concoction, you should use it and toss it or refrigerate it because natural products made in a kitchen don’t contain preservatives like commercially made products. Contamination is a real problem and they can get contaminated with staph and strep bacteria and those will cause horrible facial cellulitus, Draelos warns. Although you may think preservatives are bad, they do play a very important role in products, to remain stable and non-contaminated for a period of time until it is completely used up. Burning Face Mask Just the name of this makes me think it isn’t something I should use! This is a concoction of cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, and lemon. The directions instruct you to rinse the concoction off after 10 minute, if you feel a burn. If your skin is burning, you’re not benefiting, you’re damaging, that’s why there is pain. You’ve heard the old saying no pain, no gain but that’s not the way it is with the skin. The external layer of skin has no feeling to it…. but once you have pain, you know you’re down to the dermis. So when you’re down to the dermis - that’s where the nerve endings are and the lower part of the epidermis – then you know that the product is injuring living tissue and creating a wound, says Draelos. Safe and Effective Ingredients One of the most valuable ingredients according to Draelos, that can go into homemade concoctions is glycerin because glycerin helps hold water. “One of the oldest, simplest moisturizers that was marketed for years is glycerin and rose water,” said Draelos. You can make a moisturizer out of glycerin and rose water to make it smell nice. Then you can add some mineral oil to it or something like that. But again you have to be careful.” Honey can also make a nice mask since it’s thick and stops water loss. It’s messy but there’s nothing honey could really damage on the skin’s surface. You can also use fine granulated sugar mixed with honey over the face for a mild exfoliation. “Manufactured products are so carefully thought out, and they’re really much better,” said Draelos. “You can mash up bananas and make a mask out of that because the bananas can retard moisture loss, but really it’s much better to apply a facial moisturizer.” In Conclusion Before tying skin care DIY using kitchen ingredients, ask yourself, what benefit will I get from this particular preparation? Sometimes recipes from bloggers say mix this together and put it on your skin because it’s good for you. You have to ask, good for what? You also have to research the source of the information and realize that there aren’t any requirements to be a blogger and to blog about skin care online. Here at Radiance Spa we are licensed Aestheticians and we are constantly furthering our education and learning about products and ingredients and we are here to educate you and answer your questions about your skin care. We carry top of the line products which contain natural ingredients like essential oils, fruit and herbs at different price points that accommodate most budgets.
Information in this blog credited to Skin, Inc Magazine and Dr. Zoe Diana Draelos, MD a research and clinical board-certified dermatologist and a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology.