Welcome to the first blog of the new website
Today we are going to cover just how important skin care is to the overall health of your body, and how your body health is important for your skin
To put a bit of a male spin on it – our bodies are the same as a motor vehicle engine – stay with me here
Food (petrol) goes in to power it – food (petrol) gets burnt to provide power – inferior food (crap petrol) leads to running a bit rough, groggy, no pep, no get up and go, stalling.
This leads to clogging up of the fuel lines & spark plugs, and in the case of our bodies, our fuel pump is the heart and when it is not running right, things get blocked and clogged, and our whole system is affected.
Engines have cooling systems – radiators. An engines’ cooling system is a closed electrically controlled system and not generally subjected to external influences. It gets cleaned (flushed) once every few years, and generally gets forgotten about until some part or hose fails.
Our bodies cooling system is exceptionally complex. It consists of the Cardiovascular System which controls the temperature of the body. This is all linked through the heart, arteries and blood vessels and ultimately vented through our skin, and our body temperature changes every minute of every day
When an engine is “pushed” ie towing a heavy trailer – radiator temperatures increase, gearbox temperatures increase, engine temperatures increase, and if any one of those is not ‘quite right’ BANG and the trip home comes to an uncomfortable stop.
It doesn’t take much pushing to change our cardiovascular system. We just need a cold, or flu, throw into the mix that some of us are athletes, or some of us are a little over weight and you get to see how complex our heat management system is. Now into this mix throw drugs for the cold or flu, chemical and solvent laced soaps and cleansers, and not only is our body trying to fight off the cold and flu, but it is also trying to fend off what it thinks are ‘nasties’ trying to corrupt the body. This doesn’t take into account the extreme athletes who compete in some pretty ‘out there’ sports and environments.
Sweat is our bodies coolant, whether it’s because of a fever or physical activity, and when it is flowing freely, we love it, it feels great, the endorphins are flowing, and anything is possible. As our physical effort decreases, the sweat flows slower, and eventually the sweating stops, and some sweat is retained below the surface of the skin. If this is not cleaned properly, then skin redness can develop, rashes grow, skin cracks, infection starts, and the body has a new fight on its hands.
Our bodies change as we grow, and there are some pretty significant changes along the way. Children turn from lovely innocent little cherubs into all knowing teenagers and boys can become a little more smelly than usual (a combination of newly found testosterone and retained perspiration).
We continue to age – throw beauty products at our skin to nourish, moisturise, remove wrinkles, reduce lines, make more beautiful. We also fill the body with alcohol, tobacco, highly sugar laced energy drinks, heck some even use other substances that aren’t so legal – and we expect our body to just trundle along as usual. Just about everybody has seen pictures of the skin and physical appearance of a ‘P’ addict – its not nice – the point here is that some products effects are highly visible, while other products effects are not so visible.
Sugar energy drinks make your teeth fall out! Alcohol abuse fries your liver, tobacco ….. throat, lungs just to start. Too much sugar or an incomplete diet can lead to diabetes…. And so it goes on.
Males fall into a couple of categories – those that look after themselves and actively use hair and skin products (Is SNAG still a thing?), those who play sport and stay fit, and those who perceive a weathered brow and dry cracked hands as a sign of hard graft and achievement.
Women spend most of their lives trying new beauty products, testing the next new diet, throw in the odd baby here and there to really upset the body, and then they reach menopause – then all hell breaks loose – bodies hot, take clothes off, dump the sheets – bodies cold (its 28 degrees C outside) put clothes on – everything is out of control…. Until it finds its equilibrium again, which it does.
In amongst all of this, our body continues to do ITS thing – and we are all different. Some have air-conditioning, some don’t, some have 38 degree heat, some have minus 20 degree work places, some have suits, some have shorts and singlets, some have too many layers to count, some have wheel chairs, some don’t have all their limbs, some exercise, some don’t……. but even with all of this going on, our Cardiovascular system tries to maintain some sort of equilibrium. That’s some performance, from something that we cant see and we can only touch on the outside – our skin.
So is it time to rethink how we treat our skin. With such a complex system driving our body, is it time that we started to help a little instead of hindering it?
A world leading ‘Natural’ soap for sensitive skin has 16 listed ingredients – of which most are artificially created in a lab. Is this the way forward – lab created products?
Air New Zealand now serve lab created meat in burgers inflight. Is this the way forward for a country whose roots are so strongly rural that we were famous for having more sheep than people at one stage.
There is obviously a ‘need’ being created, but don’t hold these artificial products up as “Natural” .
Its like saying that ‘palm kernel’ and ‘palm oil’ are now sustainably grown. Is it really? Was it ever?
1080 is targeted for use against possums (DOC)….. Really?? Kiwi birds are now dying. Deer have been dying for years, fish, eels…. Our waterways are being poisoned by aerial spraying (DOC) to clear willow etc and the blame for the fishery decline is being laid at the feet of the farmer … this is not right! The farmer is not responsible for raw sewage flowing into the Hauraki Gulf at Takapuna, nor is he responsible for the death of a fishery by aerial spraying into the waterways. Farmers know what it takes to keep the frogs in their creek and ponds, and where there are frogs, there are healthy waterways. When was the last time you heard a frog croak???? A long time ago I bet.
We now have a world that has forgotten what natural really means. We have a world that has lost its way. Everything is being driven by the need for bigger corporate returns (greed) at the expense of the employee and the ‘grower’ – the farmer. Still too many people wanting to “add value” or “clip the ticket”
Possum and rabbit control needs to go “Old school” – revenues paid per pelt. It can still be done, and it will be a damn site more effective & cheaper than current measures. And the fur and pelts are used to produce more natural products.
So with all the world going to hell in a hand basket – lets go natural – tear your clothes off if you want – no one will notice, give yourself a little natural love – SIMPLENAKEDSOAP
Its Still plastic free July – hide your chemical shampoo in a plastic bottle in the rubbish bin, hide your chemical conditioner in a plastic bottle in the rubbish bin – we have chemical free shampoo bars so good, that they are now being used in hair salons.
We have an extremely decadent chemical free goats milk and honey (both from our farm) soap that revitalises the skin and nourishes it truly naturally.
For those that can remember the sweaty part of this blog – a very gentle goats milk and charcoal soap will fix that – from teenager right through to ….. well there’s no age limit, and there is no sweat limit.
Our products are palm oil free, sls free, sles free, paraben free, solvent free, and no artificial hardeners like lard, tallow or palm oil – that’s why the skin responds so well to our products.
Those of you who know us well, know that we have some products in plastic bottles, well here’s a reminder that we do bottle swaps on the refills. Yes we are trying to ultimately reduce what goes in the bin.
Once you have been using our products for a while its easy to forget just how bad your skin used to be. Once you help your skin and hair find its balance with simplenakedsoap, its just a matter of staying natural and your body rewards you with an easy to maintain skin and a much healthier looking complexion.
Try it – what have you got to loose
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Marion Jefcoate
April 10, 2020
Great blog – thank you!