Natural Skincare Blog
Ingredient Spotlight: Vegetable Glycerine
Vegetable glycerine is easily one of the most ubiquitous ingredients in skincare (it’s probably already in 90% of the products you use), yet it is simultaneously one of the most overlooked. That’s probably because it has so many other applications in both healthcare and industrial settings, but glycerine is actually a very powerful humectant that may actually hydrate skin better than the current skincare darling, Hyaluronic Acid.
What Is The Skin’s Moisture Barrier?
The moisture barrier goes by many (many, many) names, including the lipid barrier, the water barrier, the skin water barrier, the acid mantle (which really refers to the acidic outermost layer of the stratum corneum), the barrier function or just the stratum corneum. To be honest, for a very long time I thought these all referred to different things, but after quite a bit of research it just seems like everyone decided to pick their own name but they all refer to the same skin function or a part of the same function.
Is My Skin Dry or Dehydrated?
Yes, there is definitely a difference between dry skin and dehydrated skin, even though they share many of the same symptoms. Dry and dehydrated skin can both be dull in appearance, itchy and tight feeling, but the underlying reasons for these symptoms are slightly different and as such the treatment of each should also be slightly different.
Ingredient Spotlight: Shea Butter
Shea butter is a vegetable fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. It is considered edible and is used in food preparation in some African countries, although most in the west will be more familiar with the myriad hair and skincare uses of shea butter.
What The *Fark* Are Free-Radicals? (And Why Should I Care?)
Skincare advertising is notorious for its use of buzzwords and over-hyped ingredients, as well as a tendency to sell a solution to a ‘problem’ that was created to invent a solution.
Such is the case with free radicals, which according to advertising are very bad and you need to protect yourself from them, but most of us don’t really don’t know why they’re so bad for us, let alone what they actually are.
7 Reasons to Switch to Natural Bar Soap
Bar soap seems to be making a bit of a resurgence in the public consciousness at the moment. While this is probably in part due to a global increase in handwashing over the last two years, there are in fact a number of very valid reasons to ditch the body wash and give natural bar soap a try.
Ingredient Spotlight: Organic Canola Oil
While not often used in natural soap, organic canola oil from Quebecois supplier La goutte d’or is the secret to the vibrant colour of Grey Cat Apothecary’s Mellow Yellow extra gentle unscented natural soap.
What is “natural" skincare, anyways?
The biggest problem with trying to define ‘natural skincare’ is that there currently aren’t clear definitions for what natural skincare or natural cosmetics are in North America. Although legislation to introduce clear definitions was introduced to the US Congress in late 2021, it has yet to be made law.
In Canada, meanwhile…