The truth about skin
care
My names Alex
Nicolaou, I’m a devoted skincare lover, I have tried every product under the
sun, my story began when I was a young lad, I was always in love with the idea
of putting a cream on my skin, or doing a face mask, then serums were
introduced and I felt like I was in heaven! All these liquid miracles were
making my brain hurt, then I became a little bit more clever, and started to
realise that you could use “natural” products on your skin, so I always tried
to pick products that said “natural” on them. Did I once ever turn the box over
to see the ingredient list? Know of course not, I just assumed like most of us
that it was 100% natural.
Then disaster stroke…
I’ve always been a joker, entertainer, a mad hatter as my mum put it and I
always wanted to be in front of a camera singing, acting and dancing. My
bedroom was my stage, not until I looked in the mirror and realised my skin
wasn’t so clear any more, I could see I had little red spots.
“Mum, what’s this on
my face?” I asked my mum
“Oh ermm, they’re
called spots, its what you get sometimes, don’t worry about it.” She said with
a little worry in her voice.
I was 16 when my face
erupted in spots, my mum took me to the doctors and low and behold, I was
diagnosed with Acne, I was put on antibiotic’s – didn’t work, tropical
treatments – didn’t work, if anything my acne was getting worse.
My stage was gone, my
hair was longer to cover the spots, my head was down and my eyes where hurting
from tears.
I was holding a product in my hand,
“natural face wash”, I turned it around and started to read the ingredients…my
mind was all over the place, where dose it say anything natural? What dose this
mean? ACID?? ALCHOLO?? This didn’t sound natural; I looked in the mirror and
couldn’t stand to look at my poor skin. Annoyed that I had been lied to by all
theses products, I thought were going to help my skin, all the tropical ones
from the doctors just burned and irritated my skin even more, and all the shop
brought ones just burned and irritated my skin as well.
I was nearly turning
17 when, I was still determined not to let this Acne get the better off me, I
went to school, I held my head up high and I vowed I will get through this and
achieve the clear skin I used to have, A very haunted memory I have of acne,
was when I was walking across the foot ball pitch at school and I heard all the
boys shout, as I looked up a ball hit the side of my face, laughter everywhere,
I remember looking up again and putting the inside of my hoody on the side of
my face, as I pulled it away it was covered in blood, the ball have burst all
the spots on my cheek, I ran to the toilet to have a look, it looked like my
face had been burnt! I was so upset but I still went to auditions,
unfortunately I never booked any jobs, I still went out with my friends but
never got with anyone, I still got bullied but never took any notice.
“Hey pizza face,”
“That’s gross man.”
“Don’t touch me I
defiantly don’t want what you have! ewww”
My confidence was shattered, my stage
was still dark, but I always knew a light will shine my way, my mum came up to
me one day and said you’ve been referred to a dermatologist, your appointment
is next week. I was so excited about this, after some research I knew about a
tablet called Roaccutane, I knew I would be put on it cause my acne was so
severe,
Next week came, and I
was sitting in front of a dermatologist. After a long chat she said
“Were going to put
you on Roaccutane”
I was over the moon,
then she said
“The side effects are
potentially fatale”
I was still excited; I just wanted this
of my face. I asked her, if it was the products I had been using that gave me
spots, she said
“No, It’s to do with
the oils in your skin, the sebum levels are so high that dirt gets trapped and
you form a lot of spots”
After this news I was
confused and baffled still by products, so I started my course of Roaccutane,
it’s a harsh drug, I needed to take it a the same time every morning and night
with food for 6 months, and I needed to have blood testes every 2 weeks, I hate
needles. The dermatologist told me not to use anything on my skin at all apart
from lip balms, as Roccautane dries out all the oils and lubricants in your
skin. I didn’t use anything on my skin at all, I just washed my face with HIBA
scrub, which is a medical wash and left it to be dry and itchy. I was lucky
whilst taking this drug as I didn’t get any of the dangerous side effects like,
suicidal thought or depression, the only side effect I got was a bad back.
I was addicted to
checking the progress every week, I even filmed my progression from start to
finish, I look back at it now from time to time just to remind my self of what
I had. I used to always think; no one is ever going to compliment my skin
again.
My Nan introduced me
to a 100% naturally organic sea weed mask, I was obsessed there and then by
that phrase, “100% naturally organic” I loved the idea of using something that
nature had made, I then realised, lets check the ingredients, see how natural
this is? One ingredient stated *seaweed kelp 100% organic”, I nearly cried, it
had been about 2 weeks since I started Roaccutane, my skin was looking slightly
better, although I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, making me think it
was better then it really was, well one night I locked myself in the bath room,
and followed the instructions of the seaweed mask, I even used bottled water as
I didn’t want any of the chemicals in the tap water to harm this seaweed, I put
the mask on and lay in bath for about 30mins, when I washed it off I was so
shocked by the calm state of my skin, this defiantly was no trick of the mind,
the redness had calmed down so much, granted it hadn’t cleared my skin, but I
didn’t expect it to. After that all I wanted to use was organic skincare.
7 months later, now
nearly 18 my skin was cleared from spots, I was off the treatment, my hair was
cut and the light for my stage was slowly getting brighter, people at school
had stopped chanting words, cause they couldn’t I didn’t have spots!! They were
actually saying my skin looks great? I didn’t like the whole two-faced side of
everyone; it was clearly all about vanity. I was feeling so much better. My
confidence was starting to get back to what it used to be and then the fun
stuff started to happen. Every day after school I would come home and Google
skincare, I came across loads of companies that claimed to be natural and
organic, I then landed a job in Harrods, (you know us budding actors) we all
start of working in beauty, funny that. Anyway I discovered brands like Eve
Lom, Sisley, La Mer, Declore, Clinique and many more, I literally tried
everything, all the hero products, I was thrilled that I was actually aloud to
use products again on my skin, I still had some red marks and pot holes from
the acne, I was giving a cream, called Differn gel from the doctors to help
with scaring and it sure did, but I wanted the natural products and the plant
extracts and seaweeds to really help my skin, like that mask.
I remember the first
time I saw La Mer, Cream of the sea, (seaweed!) I nearly cried again! (Very
emotional). I asked how much. £500!!!! I couldn’t believe it! I wanted it, my
friend got me one on his discount, it cost me £35 pounds for the smaller size,
I was hooked, the whole story behind it, the fact that it had seaweed in it, I
was in love, I loved the texture the feel of it on my skin, I used it all up.
The only thing is, is that I kept on getting theses odd spots here and there, I
was so scared I was going to get acne back. Then I did my research on La Mer,….
“HOAX” the biggest cream scandal ever… I was so confused and then I remembered,
Alex check the ingredients! I was so up set to find out that what I was putting
on my skin was not what La Mer was selling, granted it had the algae kelp extract
and a few other “natural” ingredients, it was also heavily masked by mineral
oils, paraffin’s, preservatives and all sorts of other unnecessary ingredients.
3 years on, after
trying everything else on my skin, every brand, every hero product, and most of
them, not all but 95% of them carrie the same ingredients, parabans, pegs,
mineral oil, phthalates, PABA, petrolatum, paraffin’s, DEA, petrochemicals,
artificial colorants, fragrances, perfumes, preservatives c12-15 alkyl
benzonate, methylisothiazolinone, silicone, sodium’s, alcohols the list goes on
and on. Why use theses unnecessary ingredients I asked myself? Cause its very
cheap? WHAT RUBBISH!!!
I started to work for
Space NK, I was once again in heaven, I trained my mind on every product in
store, well mostly skin care, and out of the say 80 brands we stock I would
only use a hand full of a products. Its one of the best jobs I’ve had, working
along side skin care, after being so fascinated by it and going through such a
ordeal with acne, I just wanted to help people get the skin they’ve always
wanted naturally, I started doing my research on ingredients and what’s bad and
what’s good, I compared the most natural products with their ingredients and
researched every single one, what they do for the product and if they are
really as natural as they say they are, now when I buy skincare I make sure I
read every single ingredient and know exactly what I’m putting on my skin,
cause what we don’t realise is that 80% of the product actually absorbs into
our skin, and using products with chemicals actually enhances the absorption,
so your actually absorbing chemicals!!! Funny how companies leave that FACT
out!!
I went on a mission
down London one weekend, to do some market research, I’m about to tell you the
truth on what I discovered and how upset this made me, I wanted to do my
research for a future plan of mine, so I started with the high end shops like
John Lewis, House of Frasher, Debenhams, liberties and independent stores like
Organic Pharmacy, Loocitaine, Molton Brown and Khiels. All I can say is I
applauded “The organic pharmacy”, they win every medal going but I seriously
advice all the others to take a leaf out of their book and start to train their
staff properly. 90% of the employs, didn’t know a thing or too about proper
skin care, all they know is what that “certain product” dose and its “key”
ingredients, but forgetting the fundamental process of customer care and
knowledge, Clinque - 1 out of the 7 employees I spoke to was slightly helpful,
but that’s cause she was a polite person anyway, still they didn’t no the depth
of the brand just the basics, I asked them polite questions about some of the
products and asked dose it contain certain ingredients, to which most of then
just stared at me and said
“I don’t know if you want to find out
just check the back of the product”
So I did, now knowing that a certain
product contained sodium hyaluronate, I asked the employee.
“Dose this contain
hyaluronic Acid?”
To which she replied.
“Why you asking me theses questions? Are
you doing some kind of write up?”
I was so shocked by
this, I was simply seeing if she knew if the product contained such ingredient.
I finally figured out that most of the mass produced brands, hire people and
teach them just the basic knowledge of “their” skin care, for that certain
brand, or just the basic knowledge of what a certain product dose for you. But
they haven’t been taught the fundamentals of ingredients and skin care. They
are taught to SELL SELL SELL! There fore we, as the customer are there to
BELIEVE everything they say.!!! NOT!!! The proof is in the pudding!
Yes we can all argue
the case of, I don’t really care what I put on my skin, but if you knew what a
chemical did and knew that theses products we buy into, because it says its
going to plump your skin up and make you look ten years younger, are normally
packed full of harsh chemicals with a low content of the “active” ingredient.
Its time to wake up and smell the lies, the cheap imported lies. Let me tell
you all something, a product produced in bulk has to contain certain chemicals,
just so it can have a shelf life of 3 years! Yes you will achieve a fix to your
skin. But that’s it! A fix nothing else, theses companies are very clever! They
make your skin addicted so you come back and buy more, because of the “fix”!
Naturally organic products are the real deal! They work they make your skin
look alive! Here I have compiled a
list of just some of the most common chemicals used in 90% of the skincare in
your bathrooms now.
All below ingredients are hidden carcinogens, they are
highy potent, and linked to cancer.
- 1,4-Dioxane. In Ethoxylated
Alcohols, including PEGs, Oleths, Polysorbates, Nonoxynol.
Arsenic and Lead. In
Coal Tar Dyes, Polyvinyl Acetate, PEGs (polyethylene glycols).
DDT and related
Pesticides. In Lanolin, Quarterniums.
Diethanolamine (DEA). In DEA Cocamide/
Lauramide condensates, Quaterniums.
Ethylene Oxide. In Ethoxylated Alcohols,
including PEGs, Oleths, Polysorbates, Nonoxynol.
Formaldehyde. In
Polyoxymethylene Urea. – A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent
directly involved in causing cancer.
This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the
disruption of cellular metabolic
processes.
All below ingredients are direct
caecinogens – directly cause cancer.
Benzil Acetate
Butyl Benzyphthalate
Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA)
Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT)
“Coal Tar Dyes” (and lakes) D & C Red 2, 3, 4, 8,
10, 17, 19 & 33, Green 5, Orange 17, FD & C Blue 1, 2 & 4, Green 3,
Red 4 & 40, Yellow 5 & 6
Crystalline Silica
Diaminophenol
Diethanolamine (DEA)
Doictyl Adipate
Disperse Blue 1, Disperse Yellow 3 (clourants)
Fluoride
Formaldehyde
Glutaral
Hydroquinone
Methylene Chloride
Methylisothiazolinone and Methylchloroisothiazolinone
– (can cause chemical burns, most only be used in wash off shower gels)
Nitrophenylenediamine
p-Phenylenediamine (following oxidation)
Phenyl-p-phenylenediamine
Saccharin
Talc (only in loose form, particularly around
genitalia)
Formaldehyde Precursors
Formaldehyde is highly
toxic, neurotoxic, genotoxic and carcinogenic. Formaldehyde precursors react
with other chemicals in the product to release formaldehyde (used to preserve
dead bodies).
2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,2-Diol
Diazolidonyl
Urea
DMDM-Hydantoin
Imidazolidinyl Urea
Metheneamine
Quaternium-15
Sodium
Hydroxymethylglycinate
Endocrine (Hormonal)
Disruptors
Parabens (methyl, ethyl,
propyl, butyl also known as hydroxy methyl benzoates). Three university studies
have shown that parabens get absorbed into the blood-stream and disrupt the
hormonal system. They may be associated with breast cancer.
Benzophenone
Butyl Benzyl Phthalate
Butylated
Hydroxyanisole (BHA)
Butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane (B-MDM)
Dibutyl
Phthalate
Diethyl Phthalate
Homosalate (HMS)
Methyl-benzylidene Camphor
(4-MDC)
Octyl-dimethyl-PABA (OD-PABA)
Octyl-methoxycinnamate (OMC)
Resorcinol
Acetone - a chemical component found in
fragrances, termed a hazardous waste.
AHAs (Alpha-hydroxy-acids) - chemical
antiaging exfoliant that burns away the top layer of skin.
Alcohol denat- used
as a solvent & preservative.
Bentonites -
BHT - a carcinogenic synthetic
preservative & antioxidant which release formaldehyde.
Benzaldehyde - a chemical
perfume found in skin & hair preparations.
Benzyl acetate - a chemical
component found in perfume, a known pollutant & carcinogenic. Benzyl
alcohol - found in perfume, soaps & shampoo it is a respiratory tract
irritant.
Benzophenones - chemical fixatives which slow the rate of perfume
evapouration.
Carbomer - A synthetic gelling agent which also increases shelf
life.
Collagen - animal derived insoluble protiens which suffocates the skin.
Cetearyl/cetyl alcohol - isn't actually an alcohol but a thickner &
emulsifier.
DIA (Diethanolamine) - readily absorbed chemical which reacts with
preservatives to form highly carcinogenic substances, called nitosamines.
EDTA
(ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid) - a toxic preservative.
Ethanol - Listed
as 'hazardous waste' it is found in many perfumed products.
Formuldehyde
- a poisonous colourless gas used as a preservative. Carcinogenic &
neurotoxic.
Nitosamines - these are not intentionally added to cosmetics, but
form when certain chemical ingredients are blended together, particularly
'amines' family. (eg. Diethanolamines)
Propylene glycol - a cosmetic form of
petroleum oil, used in antifreeze. A preservative, fixative, solvent &
surfacant.
SLES (Sodium laureth sulphate) The alcohol form of SLS see below.
*
SLS (Sodium lauryl sulphate) A rapidly absorbed detergent which is reatined
in th body's organs.*
*Both SLES & SLS are potentially carcinogenic if they
react with other chemical ingredients.
Talc - (magnesium silicate) is often
contaminated with asbestos.
Isopropyl_myristate – can cause acne, or
make skin very irritated and sore
*Information was taken from “the organic pharmacy”
website.
Now that’s all quite
scary stuff, but this is the truth behind our skin care, the products we are
just buying into because they “claim” to do such a thing, when if we turned to
nature and treat our skin with 100% organic natural products we will see the
results of naturally glowing dewy rich skin, that is energised and alive. Now
obviously there is more ingredients that you could be unsure of just simply
Google them and see what they do, wikipeidia is fantastic for this. Just always
return to this list if you’re unsure.
Now, my journey
started when I was 16 now 22, I have found the skincare I will use, google is a
massive tool for searching for little independent brands that are organic and
natural. But the brands I praise are
“my own brand under-development” “the organic pharmacy”, “Tata Harper”
,“Nude”, “Essential Care” and ‘’Live Native” theses products are the best on
the market right now, my skin has been transformed due to them, now if this
article has helped you in any way then please, go out there and change your
whole skin care routine, allow theses products to be loved, if you start to
break out that’s because you skin has been addicted to chemical products, just
keep using and you’ll soon see the results.
Also watch out for my
own label that I’m developing, follow my twitter on @alexnicolaou for any
updates, here’s my ebay username, where I will be selling my skin care in due
course – alex.j.n2008 also my personal email for any bookings.
Alex.j.n@hotmail.co.uk
Thank you for reading
and please let nature take over your skin.
Alex Nicolaou :D
