September: Skin Care Awareness Month

National Skin Care Awareness Month is always celebrated during the month of September. Even though spreading skin care knowledge is something we strive to do on a regular basis, we spend this month really reflecting and learning the best ways to take the best care of your skin, re-evaluating skin care needs, and making others aware of the overall importance of skin care. This is a great month for all skin care enthusiasts to spend some extra energy on sharing ideas and skills to help improve the lifestyle of others by example and education. Because let’s admit, we all act nicer when our skin looks good! 

Starflower Essentials believes that skin care goes beyond the application of product to one’s skin. It also encompasses a holistic philosophy surrounding the care of overall well-being. We believe that anything ingested will affect all aspects of health, including the skin. The old adage “you are what you eat” is never truer than it is with your skin. 

All Starflower Essentials Organic Skin Care products are natural, but they are so much more than natural. They are food-grade, organic, and biodynamically grown skin nutrition products. Did you know that there is no actual definition of natural according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)? And contrary to popular belief, the FDA does not regulate the sale of skin care and cosmetic products before they are sold. Many skin care products use the word natural on their label, but the ingredients that are natural and useful to your skin always appear lower on the ingredient label (there's less of them) than the fillers and inexpensive chemicals and oils that make these products less costly - and less effective.

There is also a profound difference between organic food-grade and conventional cosmetic-grade products. Many cosmetic-grade ingredients undergo vitality-stripping processes like high-temperature refining, bleaching, decolorization, standardization, and other processes that disturb natural molecular structure. This kind of processing results in a devitalized substance that is not optimal for the skin. Instead, the substances are less expensive and have a longer shelf life -- essential features when mass-market saturation is the driving force behind their manufacture.

Organically grown plants and plant oils, processed for food consumption, are holistic by nature, and their minimal processing allows their substance integrity (literally, "the heart of the matter") to remain intact and vital. In Starflower’s organic skincare products you will find only rare extracts and oils of organically/biodynamically grown and/or wild-crafted medicinal plants, plant waxes, flower waters, aloe vera, rare essential oils, and a myriad of other special ingredients at the heart of our handcrafted skin care formulas. Plus, producing in small, frequent batches assures the highest potency and freshness. Your skin knows and shows the difference!

We’d like to leave you with the following tips to help assist you in your journey to achieving your best skin:

• Nourish your skin right - remember, the most vital skin care in the world is organic, biodynamic, and food-grade.
• Take time to relax - if you’re under a great amount of stress, your skin will be too. Stressed-out skin will lose its liveliness and be less able to regenerate itself.
• Self examine - check up on your skin regularly to keep track of any changes or concerns that might require a dermatologist’s opinion.
• Visit a specialist - whether you’ve never done so or have regular visits, you can benefit from a professional check-up where they can inform you of anything abnormal that may have gone unnoticed.
• Stay hydrated - this may sound like it goes without saying, but many of us are guilty of not drinking enough water in order to keep our skin nourished and hydrated from the inside out (adding lemon will provide you with antioxidants and vitamin C to help keep your skin glowing).
• Know your skin type - if you have yet to determine exactly what skin type you fall under, doing so will help you better determine the best types of products to suit your skin and avoid the risk of doing more harm than good over time.
• Sun protection - it’s a product that’s not just for summer, but rather a year-round one. Do this if you don’t want premature aging, wrinkles, or sun spots showing up. 
• Keep them clean - your phone and pillowcase should be washed often to reduce the amount of dirt and oil being transferred to your skin.
• Beauty sleep - When it comes to your beauty routine, sleep may be the closest thing there is to a fountain of youth. Your body repairs itself and recovers while you snooze, and that leads to a long list of benefits for your looks. Try intermittent fasting by eating no later than 6 pm to give your body the time it needs to digest your food before bedtime.
• Sweat it out - by getting the heart rate up and improving blood circulation, can help deliver valuable oxygen and nutrients to the skin which keep the skin healthy, promote collagen production, and promote new skin cells that keep the skin looking glowing and is also helpful for anti-aging.

Those who don’t make the time to take care of their skin will sooner or later have to make time for corrective treatments. In ten, twenty, thirty years from now, your skin will show the results of how it is treated today, so treat it kindly and with respect. It’s better late than never to look after yourself,  to eat healthily, get plenty of rest, exercise regularly, and look after your skin. You’d be amazed at how quickly your skin and body can rejuvenate given the right environment.