Wednesday, December 12, 2007

10 natural remedies for spots and acne

1 Don’t eat rubbish!
The skin is an organ of elimination so if your diet is high in mucus producing things like salt, sugar, alcohol, poor quality fats (good oils we need), additives, dairy products caffeine, etc. your skin will need to work overtime to clear all your internal mucus.

2 Drink lots of water
This can be hot, warm or cold. Making sure that you are well hydrated helps the kidneys and the bowel eliminate toxicity so your skin doesn’t need to work so hard. It also stops your skin from becoming dehydrated and flaky.

3 Eat lots of fibre
Eating foods such as whole grains and vegetables that are high in fibre encourages the bowel to work well. If the bowel is working efficiently then toxicity is able to leave the body. However if your diet is lacking in fibre the bowel will be sluggish and other routes of elimination, such as the skin, will become over worked.

4 Eat less bread
For some people cutting out or reducing bread can make a huge difference to their bowel and therefore to their skin. Bread is high in gluten which tends to clog the bowel and make us feel sluggish and bloated. Spots across the forehead can indicate that the bowel is congested.

5 Get your lymphatic system working well
Gets your lymph moving to clear toxicity and improve your skin. The lymph doesn’t have its own pump so it depends upon the movement of our muscles and circulation. Anything that causes the skin to flush will help.

Try working up a little bit of a sweat every day or body brushing with a dry brush before showering. This not only encourages the movement of the lymph it also removes dead skin cells and keeps the skin clear. Or try turning the water from warm to cool a few times at the end of your daily shower.

6 Keep your hands away from your face
Picking and squeezing spots only makes them worse and can cause scarring but touching your face at any time is generally not a good idea. Dirt from your hands can easily be transferred to your skin and cause spots. If you get patches of spots in particular areas it may be because you are touching your face more than you realise.

Sitting at a desk you might rest your head in your hands or touch your chin when you’re thinking. This is often the case with students and school children or anyone who works at a keyboard. Cleansing your face after work, school or college can help as well as making a conscious effort not to touch your face unless you need to.

7 Use natural skin care
Good quality natural skin care is made with plant oils which have molecules that are small enough to be absorbed into the skin. Other products are made with petrochemicals that sit on the surface of the skin and block the pores which can lead to spots and blackheads.

However other unnecessary chemicals may be absorbed in to your body so stick to products that are free from toxic ingredients like parabens, SLS, triclosan and synthetic fragrance.

8 Protect your skin’s acid mantle
Our skin has a fine protective covering which is known as the acid mantle. If you use cleansers that leave your skin feeling tight and uncomfortable then the acid mantle has been damaged. The skin will either over produce sebum, which can lead to spots and blemishes, or will become too dry.

Many manufacturers will claim that their product is pH balanced to work in harmony with the acid mantle but let your skin decide. If after using it, your skin feels taut and dry then it’s damaging the acid mantle and is best avoided.

9 If your skin’s oily - give it some oil!
This seems like a very strange concept but it works. If we use harsh cleansers that strip our skin of its natural oils (see no 8) it will simply produce more. By using a treatment oil as a moisturiser your skin will feel comfortable and will start to produce only the oil that it needs.

10 Use naturally antibacterial skin care
There are certain natural plant oils that are known to fight the bacteria that cause spots and there is one oil in particular which we have found to be quite extraordinary. Manuka essential oil is a little known oil from New Zealand.

Its properties are similar to Tea Tree but it is clinically proven to be much more effective against bacteria and less drying to the skin. It often comes combined with Manuka Honey which helps skin to heal without becoming dry and therefore greatly reduces the chances of a scar forming.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Bags of Change

A big eco cheer for Bags of Change who have just scooped the 2007 Green England Awards for Best Green Company and came runner up in the Best Newcomer category too.

Well done to Hugh, Faith and the team!!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

bags of change

A couple of years ago we started the Willow Trading "do you need a bag for that?" campaign. Actually "campaign" is really too strong a term for it. That implies some sort of organisation. It was really just a case of us deciding to ask every customer whether they needed a bag or not, rather than just giving one automatically.

I would say that since we started doing this the number of carrier bags we use (that's paper bags, we've never used plastic) has dropped by about 60%.

Most people when asked, will have a think and then realise that they can easily use their hand bag, ruck sac, bottom of a pram, another carrier bag or even their pocket.

Obviously it's easy in a shop like Willow Trading where the products are small and people aren't coming in to shop for their weekly groceries.

But we are seeing an increase in the number of people who come prepared with their own shopping bag and I have seen signs in both Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer to the same effect. Maybe it is a campaign after all!

Rather than taxing plastic carrier bags we should just encourage shop owners to stop handing out bags willy nilly. Which, of course, is only going to save them money.

I'm sure the practice of giving everyone a bag started as a form of customer service but I don't think any of our customers feel that we're being rude when we ask them if they need a bag. They are very welcome to one if they do. (We'll even gift wrap with a smile).

There are so many attractive shopping bags around now (and shopping trolleys for that matter, courtesy of Habitat and Ikea) that we don't need to look like our grannies going for the messages!

This is where Bags of Change come in. If you buy one of their rather funky hemp bags (just £14.85) you'll automatically get discounts when you use it to shop in any of the stores and restaurants that are participating in their scheme.

For example if you shop with a Bags of Change bag at Willow Trading you get 10% off any of our organic products that carry the Soil Association logo. Not bad eh? It's like getting a reward for having having a really cool bag!

You can buy the bags from the participating stores - such as ours - or directly from the Bags of Change web site. Once you've registered with them online they'll send you a regular newsletter so you'll always know where to get the best discounts on local, organic or fair trade products.

It's a brilliant yet simple idea and I think it's going to go from strength to strength.