Your skin is your body's largest organ, and it is through the skin that we have direct physical contact with our world.It is the primary protective organ of our body and it protects us from light and chemicals, from extremes of temperature and from invasion by micro-organisms. Some of the protective functions are maintained through complex ecological processes, like protection against infection. Not only does the skin itself secrete antimicrobial substances, it also harbours a friendly natural community of bacteria. These resident bacteria protect the skin against invasion of unfriendly micro-organisms by maintaining an environment unfavourable to them. One of the potential problems of applying synthetic, chemical rich lotions, cremes and cleanses is that in some cases they actually destroy the skins natural bacteria and thus disrupting this delicate balance.

The skin is also in many ways responsible for the maintenance of a stable and harmonious internal environment. On the one hand the skin protects us against the loss of water, salts and organic substances from inside the body, on the other hand it is one of the four main organs responsible for the excretion of waste products and water.

As the skin is responsible for the excretion of approximately a quarter of the body's waste products, any dysfunction of the skin in this field will put stress on the other three eliminative organs, namely the kidneys, the lungs and the bowels, as they will have to deal with the extra burden. Thus a problem in the eliminative capacity of the skin can lead to secondary problems in the other organs, and difficulties in those organs can conversely lead to difficulties with the skin.

We have tried many different natural beauty products over the years as we became more informed of the effects "conventional" beauty products were having on our bodies, and in some cases on the animals that they have been tested on. Everyone is unique, therefore everyone's skin is different. This means that what may work for one person may have a very different end result for another. Keep checking back here as we develop this part of the site and add in some more pages of product reviews and thoughts.

Thanks to the wonderful book "The New Holistic Herbal" by David Hoffman for some of the great information contained on this page. 

Purchase "Holistic Herbal: A Safe and Practical Guide to Making and Using Herbal Remedies" from New Zealand / America by clicking on the link for your area.