Pura Vida Journey

Why I'm so glad you asked. What is in a good skincare is vital but what is not in it can be just as telling. Since cleanser is the first step in a good skincare routine, let's start there. So if you flip your cleanser over and take a gander at the ingredients, you're most likely going to see things like parabens, alcohol, propylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate (or some other sulfate) and fragrances, just to name a few. So let's break that down. If you've read any of my previous posts, you'll see I've addressed parabens and phthalates (which are found in fragrances). So let's focus on some of the other ingredients.  Alcohol: having issues with oily skin? Solvent alcohols like isopropyl or denatured alcohols are the wrong answer and in general are horrible for skin as they dry it out then forcing your skin to overproduce oil and compounding the problem. If you're already feeling like an oil slick, stay away from alcohol. Propylene glycol:...

The Background  I didn't know it at the time, but I grew up with health conscious parents that tried to make wise decisions in regards to the foods we ate. Having 5 siblings, we didn't have a lot of money for things like the Twinkies and fruit roll-ups we would see in other kids' lunches. McDonalds was a splurge usually reserved for a birthday meal. Even though I totally know better, I'm still a sucker for those pancakes. When we had pancakes at home, they were buckwheat! I'm sure a lot of this started when I was about 3 years old and had an illness that months of doctor appointments and a stay in the hospital couldn't explain. But we found a Naturopath that was able to do testing and point us in the right direction with a strict diet and supporting supplementation that sent us in a new direction for life. So while I wasn't necessarily raised with a perception of what toxins were, I had a pretty good perception of what a decent diet looked like.  A part ...