Shea Butter Benefits for Baby’s Skin

One of the many things that mothers and fathers do consistently for their baby is tend to their skin. They want to have the most protective lotions and creams, and the best quality products. There are products for diaper rash, regular rashes, to help calm your baby, and keep his or her skin healthy and soft. Many mothers and fathers are turning to natural products to put on their baby. Recent studies include frightening results for parents and others alike. Many of our products that we use everyday are pumped full of chemicals, preservatives and toxins that are damaging to health. It has prompted people to turn to something different.

Shea Butter that is all natural and unrefined is one of the best things you can put on your baby’s sensitive skin. It has healing properties and is amazing for many things. Here are just a few things that it is good for.

Diaper Rash - Shea Butter is great for treating and preventing diaper rash. For irritated and red skin that’s caused by diaper rash, it can be smoothed on for relief and comfort. To prevent diaper rash, all a parent has to do is smooth it on just like they would their old diaper rash cream. It creates an effective layer that will keep wetness off of your baby’s skin, and prevent diaper rash.

Calming - Shea Butter which has had a great essential oil, like Lavender, is great for soothing your cranky baby. After a warm bath, it can be rubbed on your baby, and the Lavender will sooth him or her and promote a good night’s sleep. The Shea Butter will protect baby’s delicate skin while the calming Lavender does it’s work.

Lip Balm - Shea Butter can be rubbed right on baby’s lips to keep them from becoming cracked if he or she has chapped lips. Often times, this can result from teething and constant moisture around the mouth. It contains latex, which provides a natural barrier against moisture while it soothes dry, chapped lips.

Protection against Sun - Shea Butter contains Cinnamic acid, which naturally protects baby’s skin against the sun. While it’s not a replacement for sunscreen, applying Shea Butter can help protect your baby’s sensitive skin. This is great for normal inside days when you wouldn’t apply sunscreen. UV rays can still reach your baby in the shade, on an overcast day, and even indoors with the windows open.

Baths - You can add Shea Butter to a warm bath to soothe your baby’s skin. Just heat the Shea Butter a bit until it’s melted and add it to the running water. Make sure that there are no ‘hot spots’ before you place your baby in the bath water. This is great for helping maintain your baby’s soft and healthy skin.

There are many things you can do with Shea Butter to help your baby’s sensitive skin. You can do some great things for his or her skin, and your own peace of mind. You know that you are not placing anything harmful on your baby, and that is a valuable thing to know.

Facts and Myths About Sun Care Protection

Sun protection has become a way of life for individuals, who are intent on keeping their skin healthy, and avoiding wrinkles and leathery skin. Getting sunburn repeatedly can increase your chance of getting skin cancer. Melanoma in children has been increasing each year! So it is important for us all to take a practical approach and properly use natural sunscreen and develop healthy skin care habits. Surprisingly, not everyone knows how to apply sunscreen. Only a small percent of the population uses sunscreen protection and only half of those people apply sunscreen correctly. In addition, regardless of the SPF or what the label says, sunscreens must be reapplied every 80 minutes or less. Sunscreen users mistakenly believe that high Sun Protection Factor (SPF) sunscreen products will protect them all day with one application, when in fact; all sunscreens must be reapplied regularly.

Two Sunscreen Myths

Myth: Sunscreen provides total sun block.

Truth: No sunscreen blocks 100 percent of Ultra Violet (UV) rays. SPF 15 can protect against 93 percent. SPF 30 protects against 97 percent. SPF 50-60 shuts out 98 percent. The higher the SPF the more harsh chemicals are in the product.

Myth: An SPF 60+ sunscreen provides double the protection of an SPF 30 sunscreen.
Truth: This is exactly why the FDA is putting a cap on high SPFs. SPF 30 provides skin with 97% protection, where as SPF 60 provides skin with 98-98.6% protection. There is less than 1.6% difference in protection factor. A SPF 60+ needs more chemicals to achieve a higher SPF, potentially putting more toxins in your body.

The real confusion to consumers has been what a product can do and can’t do. There are a number of sunscreen products are available on the market today. The trick is to become educated! Do you believe that just because sunscreens are labeled “sweat proof” or “waterproof” that they are? Currently, the FDA is banning the word “waterproof.” Now the term, “water/sweat/perspiration resistant” is accurate, however; this only means the sunscreen offers SPF protection after 40 minutes of water exposure. The term, “very water resistant” gives 80 minutes of protection. So to be safe, use this basic rule of thumb: re-apply, re-apply, and re-apply! For people who don’t have a lot of time, especially parents, a trend today has been to use aerosol sunscreens because they find them easier to apply. However, people may not be effectively protecting their skin! While being applied, aerosol sunscreens can lose much of their protection during the transfer from the bottle onto the skin. This is because not all of the molecules land on your body.

The Basics Of Healthy Baby Skin Care

After the early months of babyhood have passed the skin of most children has a more than adequate layer of fatty ‘padding’ which gives it a beautiful smooth appearance, often described as having the quality of ‘purity’. All the functions are very active, and because the stratum corneum is functioning effectively the skin is very well hydrated. Indeed, by and large children’s skin is the healthiest we ever see.

A child’s skin shows little or no damage from sunlight. Children have more leisure time than they will ever enjoy again, however, and many of them play outside whenever they can, often spending most of the summer out of doors. There is often massive exposure to the sun during childhood, which will have long-term consequences.

The care of the skin of small children is almost entirely in the hands of parents or other carers. Nevertheless it is never too soon for them to begin to learn about skin care. The skin does not need moisturising unless there is atopy or eczema, or after prolonged exposure to sun or sea, but regular protection against the sun should begin now.

Products for babies and young children are usually highly fragranced. That sweet, recognizable aroma you could smell a mile away is nothing more than added fragrance, which we know can cause irritation. Moreover, baby products almost always have a pretty yellow or pink tint, which is contrived by coloring agents, another group of problematic skin-care ingredients for sensitive skin. If baby products were really gentler than those that adults put on their skin, they would be fragrance free and contain no coloring agents. Sadly, few of those existed just a decade ago. But now there are many clean, healthy skin care products lines to choose from.

Cosmetics and hair-care companies know that mothers have an impulsive emotional pull toward scents that trigger the image of their babies. That subconscious pull is difficult for a marketer to ignore, given the way women gravitate to the fragrance generated by other perfume-laden products. In other words, hair and skin-care companies don’t have much motivation to take these problematic ingredients out. That means you, the mother and consumer, as an advocate for your child, need to pay attention to this issue and choose fragrance-free and color-free products whenever you can!

Defining “Natural” skin care

As you walk through today’s health and natural food grocery stores you will find an extensive selection of “natural” skin and body care products. These products will range from toothpaste and deodorant to cosmetics, lotion, and hair care. It seems that many of the companies providing these products are striving to promote their products as “natural” since today’s consumers seem to have a preference towards any product labeled “natural”. This definitely makes sense because really who would walk up and purchase a bottle that says “loaded with silicone derivatives” or “extra carcinogens”.

Now you’re thinking no one in there right mind would do this right. I mean who goes to the store and actually tries to buy a skin care product that will cause their body damage. Actually most people these days do exactly that, unknowingly of course as they aren’t aware of the toxic ingredients in the product of their choice. What people need to start realizing is that not every company that throws the word natural on their product really cares about the ingredients being truly natural. If you do a little research on the ingredients in skin care the information is alarming as you find that many skin care products contain carcinogens and other toxic ingredients. Check out a website called skin deep for more information on what is in your skin care.

Aren’t skin care products supposed to be helping your body not hurting it? Yes, they are but unfortunately that isn’t the case with all of the products available. This is where certified organic skin and body care products come in. When they are certified organic they have to meet strict requirements by the certifying body and are very safe for the consumer. Certified organic skin care products are made up of ingredients you can actually read and understand such as avocado oil and safflower oil not six syllable words that don’t mean a thing to you. This way you actually know what you are feeding your skin rather than just hoping it works because the company that made it claims it will.

When you go to purchase a “natural” product be sure to research the company producing it. Find out what their stand is on ingredients such as silicone derivatives and the like are. See if there focus is on a toxin free line of skin care or just one that smells good etc. There are wonderful certified organic skin care products available so don’t settle for some supposedly natural junk when you can have the best available for your skin.

Paba, Benzophenone, Parabens, Padimate-O

So what exactly do you need to avoid when choosing a sunscreen? Here are some unsavory, even toxic, ingredients you will want to stay away from if you can:

PABA: This is not widely used anymore, but just in case. Many people are very sensitive to this ingredient and can end up with red, itchy skin.

Benzophenone (benzophenone-3), homosalate, and octy-methoxycinnamate (octinoxate): These chemicals are bad news because they have shown estrogenic activity in lab tests. Oxybenzone is aderivative of benzophenone and it is linked to allergies, hormone disruption, and cell damage. According to the CDC 97% of Americans are contaminated with this widely-used sunscreen ingredient.

Parabens (butyl-, ethyl-, methyl-, and propyl-): Parabens are common in sunscreens so avoiding them may prove difficult. They are preservatives that have estrogenic qualities. They have produced abnormal hormonal effects following on laboratory rodents, particularly male, resulting in decreased testosterone levels and other abnormalities. They have also been found to accumulate in the breast tissue of women with breast cancer.

Padimate-O and Parsol 1789 (Avobenzone): While on the surface of the skin these chemicals appear to prevent UV damage but when absorbed into the skin they can actually damage DNA. There is evidence that the sun’s light may cause these chemicals to become reactive and cause free-radical damage when they’re absorbed. I find it alarming that pediatricians often recommend these very ingredients.

In general if you want to know which sunscreens are usually loaded with the bad stuff….oh just the easy to find ones like Coppertone, Banana Boat, Avon, Nivea, Neutrogena, The Body Shop, etc. Also even some of the ones that appear to be more natural like Kiss My Face or Aveeno have some pretty dirty sunscreens.

Sun Care For Your Baby 101

As humans, we are naturally meant to be in the sun. That been said, babies have very sensitive skin so it is kind to protect her skin with sunscreen but also to be cautious not to allow too much exposure. It’s also ideal to choose a “physical” or “chemical-free” sunscreen made with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide — look for one of those ingredients on the label.

Unlike chemical sunscreens, which may cause irritation or allergic reactions because the skin absorbs the active ingredients, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide sit on top of the skin, forming a barrier against the sun’s rays. There’s no evidence chemical sunscreens are dangerous or toxic, but we just don’t know enough yet about how young children react to the ingredients. Also, sunscreens with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide start protecting as soon as you put them on, whereas chemical products need to be slathered on 30 minutes in advance so the skin has time to absorb them. Also make sure any sunscreen you use is labeled “PABA-free.” PABA was once widely used in sunscreens but now has been linked with skin irritation.

You may have heard you should look for a “broad-spectrum” product that protects against both UVA and UVB rays. Any sunscreen that contains the physical blocker zinc oxide or titanium dioxide will do this.

The sun protection factor (SPF) should be at least 15, but you generally don’t need to go above 30: Higher than that and you’re getting smaller and smaller amounts of added protection — which, in a chemical sunscreen, means a higher dose of unwanted chemicals. It’s fine to use a “children’s” sunscreen, but don’t go out of your way to buy one of these, since they’re usually no different from the adult versions.