From hippie natural care back to “chemicals” for my skin & body

I was a hardcore seriously “no chemical” sort of beauty hippie at one time.

I washed my hair with water and baking soda (that didn’t last long) and did apple cider vinegar rinses.

I even tried to coconut oil myself in place of moisturizer, and tried every “natural” remedy I could think of including tea tree oil for my skin.

In the end? I’m back to “chemicals”. Why?

They just work.

WAIT, WHAT? WERE YOU NOT A STRICT HIPPIE?

Readers in the past tried to tell me many times over about how these chemicals are really not that bad but I think the most convincing piece of information was not just some “oh they’re useful”, or “oh even WATER is a chemical” set of arguments, it was that there are things you can do with chemicals and science that nature cannot substitute for especially if you’re trying to trick nature.

That is to say, if you want to try and reverse signs of aging or have less wrinkles or force your skin to go into collagen production overdrive, this is not “natural” in and of itself — nature is that you age, have spots and wrinkles.

To try and trick this natural aging process you need unnatural items to do this — Niacinamide in a serum, or any other kind of special goo that will seep into your pores and actually be useful instead of sitting on top of your skin.

(This is why I stopped wasting money on facial masques. They cannot do much except give you a break in having to lie there and breathe with this Freddy Kruger-like thing on your face for 15 minutes).

LOOK AT VITAMIN C….

Saying that rubbing a slice of an orange or pomegranates on your skin is the same as a formulated Vitamin C serum meant to penetrate your pores and brighten your skin is just nonsense.

You need to stabilize that vitamin C and then have it be delivered to your skin — this is done by science not by pouring orange or pomegranate juice on your face.

I also see a lot of benefits in things like lasers — if the sun can ruin your skin, it stands to reason that other rays of light can erase those damaging effects. That isn’t necessarily a “chemical” but it isn’t very natural either.

How natural is it to fake light rays.. and yet, after I do LED light facials (no matter how pricey), my skin does feel tighter and firmer the day after which is pretty amazing.

Not only would the orange irritate your skin due to the essential oils and acidity, it would be sticky and a waste of a good orange.

NOT EVERYTHING GETS A PASS FROM ME

Now I’m not saying ALL chemicals are good.

There is a lot of fear mongering out there about how parabens are terrible and how chemical sunscreen is worse than physical mineral sunscreen but in the end while I am skeptical that any of that is true, I am going to err on the safe side and avoid those ingredients.

I won’t be spreading any white lead, or any “possible carcinogens” on my face because there is a LITTLE evidence that says it does do more harm than good, and frankly, I’d like to not take chances.

…BUT I AM FAR MORE PRO-CHEM THAN I WAS BEFORE

I really don’t hate this stuff.

I understand the need and use for chemicals better now than I did when I was younger and everything was so black & white in terms of beauty.

I still think there are some areas I have to be careful about — inhaling in chemical sunscreen in a form of a spray seems to be something that sticks to your lungs and causes cancer, so I’ll be spreading on my sun protection the manual way with lotions and creams.

If that helps me have wrinkle-free, smooth, naturally-kept skin that doesn’t require any Botox, fillers or anything that is truly minor surgery and a little scary to me (I haven’t even gone in for Lasik for my eyes, that is how nervous I am about all kinds of surgical procedures), then I am willing to give it a shot.

Long story short — to trick nature, you need to use unnatural items and that comes in the form of chemicals.

What’s your take on this?