You Shouldn't Be Having Dry, Tight Skin After Your Shower.

We've all experienced that dry, tight feeling on our skin after a shower and we've come to associate it with being clean. Your skin is NOT clean, its dry. Skin feeling dry after a shower probably means your shower gel contains parabens and sulphates. These have been known to dehydrate skin. Parabens are a variety of commonly used preservatives in personal care products and sulphates help make cleaning agents frothy. While the jury is still out on whether they are harmful to health, there is little doubt they can be harsh on skin.

Parabens and sulphates often strip skin of oils. While this may seem like a good idea, that oily layer (good oils) is necessary for skin hydration and health. Within that thin oily layer resides many good bacteria. They protect skin against external bacteria and forms part of its protective layer.

Due to this protective layer being removed (resulting in that dry, tight feeling after a shower) many of us apply moisturiser to rehydrate skin. That stops skin from temporarily feeling dry but that protective layer is missing and skin's pH becomes imbalanced. All this serves to weaken skin over time, making it more susceptible to wrinkles, age spots, scarring and ineffective healing.

The alternative is to shower in botanical formulas made without parabens, sulphates or fragrances. There are a few on the market and they are excellent choices for sustainable skin health. The shift towards these much better cleansing options have been slow for two reasons. Firstly, they seem more expensive at first glance. However, many organic formulas have low water content. This means you will need less shower gel to have a shower. This is also better for the environment as fewer plastic bottles are used. We've estimated that organic shower gels are only about 8% more expensive per shower and reduce carbon footprint by 30%.

d'Organica's™ research department recently (Jan, 2016) conducted an experiment with 82 participants (mainly women) who use moisturiser after a shower. They found that 68% of participants, after using a chemical-free shower gel (d'Organica™ Revitalising Shower Gel), said that they no longer felt they needed to moisturise after their shower. 18% said they would moisturise anyway out of habit and only 15% said their skin still needed moisturising.

We conclude from this experiment that many commonly used bath gels, overly dry skin and the subsequent use of moisturiser is often unnecessary. It's a cycle of over consumption that we don't need. This can be seen with hair care products too - the amount of conditioner used can be severely reduced if shampoos were less harsh on hair.

Let's review the purpose of using shower gel to begin with  - It is to clean. So, does organic, paraben, sulphate-free shower gels clean skin throughly. Yes! It does. Instead of using abrasion to strip skin of dirt, grime and odour, chemical-free shower gels use ionisation technology. The compounds in the gels attract dirt and odour. It sticks to the shower gel compounds  and it gets washed away when you rinse. It's micro smart chemistry.
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Read our previous blog on our "over consumption of personal care". Become aware that organic formulas are not just a luxury item or a passing phase. With growing numbers of people with skin sensitivities and diseases, knowing what you put on your skin and what you cleanse with is vital for sustainable skin health.

brought to you by www.dorganica.net

Use this to increase skin's immunity against mosquitoes

Moisturising your skin with the right blend of essential oils will build skin's immunity to mosquito bites over time. It will naturally repel flies away from your body and discourage mosquitoes from biting you. Try d'Organica's™ Body Cream on the entire family at www.dorganica.net. SGD$25.00.

Shop for d'Organica's Perfect pH Body Cream here.

Current Scent Marketing Systems Are Not Quite Working. Send in the flowers ...

What's the function of scent marketing? Some companies simply want to scent a space to capture a brand identity. If this is the case, then the common methods of scenting using fragrance oils will suffice. However, there is a growing trend for office and commercial indoor spaces to extract a neurological and environmental change from their scenting systems.

Office spaces are now pumping their a/c system or using portable
units to create air which is powerful enough to kill germs, motivate
staff to be alert and smell fresh and clean. 

The traditional method of using synthetic, fragrance oil systems can't do this. Fragrance oils are an easy and cheap option, which have made them a popular choice for commercial entities. Advance-thinking companies are acknowledging that aromatherapy-based methods of scenting, have ways of increasing the bottom-line which may not seem obvious at first. Here are some reasons which have led HR, sales, operations and housekeeping departments to value essential oil based scenting systems.

Oils burners heated by a candle are
the most common and affordable
 way to diffuse both essential and
fragrance oils in a small space.

Some reasons for the trend heading towards multi-purpose scenting systems

MARKETING
1) To change behavior
Essential oils will change the neurology of customers. For example, it may be used to relax patients at a dentist office or it may be used to make clients feel a sense of trust at the point of sale.
2) To recall a feeling or memory
A new trend is for real estate brokers to scent a home for sale with spice oils, like cinnamon or to create a feeling of warmth and homeliness. Synthetic fragrance oils are unable to create this physiological and psychological change.

FUNCTIONAL

Many offices are now
opting to deodorise their
fresh air straved spaces,
with portable essential
oil diffuser units. Yup! Body
odour is a problem in
male dominated offices.

1) To deodorise their indoor space organically
Essential oils kill odour causing bacteria. Odours may be biological (food, body odour) or non-biological (cigarettes, care fumes). They also add fresh scents to the air.

2) To uplift stale air in a space that is always enclosed.
Essential oils will ionise air. This means adding (-) ions to create fresh air.

3) Kill airborne bacteria due to high incidence of sick days.
Essential oils when diffused into the air, kill almost all bacteria and viruses it comes into contact with.

4) As a pest repellent in spaces where there is food being served.
Certain essential oils are pest repellents. Even if the mist falls onto food or drink, they are completely safe to ingest. Fragrance oils are synthetic and unsafe for consumption.

Many offices are no longer
discounting the high-tech
multi-purpose use of
diffusing essential oils
commercially in their
work spaces. 

Homes, offices and commercial entities, which want to create a client / consumer behavioural change will need to seek systems which are aromatherapy based. It works only one way - using REAL, essential / spice oils.

There are many methods of diffusion - fanning, evaporation, ionizing, spritzing. They all work to some degree, but the best method will depend on the size of the space, your budget, the availability of a power socket and the duration you intend to scent a space. (We will leave this for discussion on another blog post.)

Scenting utilising essential oils can be expensive, require speciality machines and will probably require a consultant to help you set it up properly. It may seems like a hassle in the beginning, but in the long run ...

• It can improve employee health
• There will be fewer negative comments about the scent
• Fewer people will have allergies from it
• It will detox and deodorise as it scents 
• The ionizing effect on the space is priceless

The effect is not tangible on paper. In fact trying to write the experience to you will not do it justice. But, when you feel the difference of a space scented using fragrance oils vs essential oils, you can immediately feel the difference. The difference is so powerfully obvious that you will probably never use fragrance oils again.

fragrance oils  = synthetic oils

essential oils = real botanical compounds

Fragrance Oils

Pros

Cheaper.

• Many machines can diffuse.

Cons

• Synthetic, so may cause headaches.

• No therapeutic benefit.

Essential Oils

Pros

• Anti-bacterial, anti-viral, deodorising effect. 

• Health benefits.

Cons

• Can be more expensive depending onthe choice of oil and diffusion method.

• Can be difficult to diffuse properly; not all machines can diffuse essential oils.

Want to discover the unique scenting system that is able to diffuse REAL essential oils in a commercial capacity. It's more affordable and easier than you think. Packages starting from SGD$960. Visit Thoth™ by The Little Essentials organic solutions company at www.thelittleessentials.com or click on the logo below to find out about our commercial grade machines for homes and offices.

Scenting Machines For Genuine Essential Oils | Commercial aromatherapy solutions

Introduce commercial quality aromatherapy into your home or office with our machines designed to diffuse genuine essential oils. Package starts from SGD$960 including essential oils. Click here for more information on THOTH™ scenting systems.  For enquiries email orders@thelittleessentials.com

Huge Inspiration from Oprah

This video really touched me and I wanted to share it with you. It's changed me and inspired me to take this blog and how I think about things in a different direction ...

Are you waking up everyday and wondering what you're doing with your life, with yourself? Watch this! Oprah has a way of keeping it simple and giving you direction through inspiration; not telling you what you should do ...

You're addicted to your personal care products. Wanna know why? Marketing companies' tricks to get you stuck in the cycle of consumption.

You really don't need that many personal care products. Yet, we seem to have so many. Find out from this quick read diagram on why you're probably trapped in a product consumption cycle.

Shop d'Organica

We need a personal care revolution : The shampoo example

d'Organica™

It's shocking how many ingredients in shampoo and shower gels are chemical compounds which, can be toxic to skin. Let's use the example of a shampoo found in a pharmacy or supermarket. They will cost between SGD$8 - $15 for 250ml - 500ml. The big players being Loreal, Dove, Pantene, Herbal Essences, just to name a few. I completely agree, they are affordable. They have been manufactured to be cost effective, but not necessarily good for long term beauty care.

Lets use Pantene to illustrate this example. Remember their famous ads which demonstrate that after using their shampoo, it will create immediately silky hair. There's a reason for this. One of it's top 5 ingredients is silicone. Silicone is a fantastic ingredient to use in conditioner - on the surface anyway.

When a conditioner with high levels of silicone is applied to hair, it coats hairs with thin layers of silicone, sealing down damaged hair. This reduces the appearance of fly-away hairs and makes hair appear shiny for about a day.

Here's the catch - because it has sealed down the hair with the sticky silicone substance, it also prevents the hair from repairing itself and rehydrating. Any leave-on conditioners and hair oils don't have a chance to penetrate the hair to repair it. This means that over time, your hair will get more and more dry. Brittle hair and split ends will most likely follow.

That's not all it does. Silicone coated hair also reduce the amount of hair colouring that gets absorbed into your hair. Colourist either have to increase peroxide percentage to force the hair colour to take, or you're left with colouring that's not quite as vibrant as it should be.  

Here's the best part - because your hair is now dry, you have started on the cycle of consumption. You need to buy product to hydrate hair, you need to buy product to make it appear shiny and in a further burst of irony, you need to buy product to detox your hair of chemical residue.

There is a solution, but it may not be the one you want to hear - there is no instant fix. The reality is that your hair is now dependent on silicone based conditioner and it's not been in a natural state for some time. When you do shift to a silicone-free hair care system, your hair will either appear oily or dry and for a weak or two. Yes! We're here to tell you the truth.

If you push on after those two weeks, your hair will start becoming naturally hydrated and shiny - believe it because it's true! The hair shaft will secrete the right amount of oil for your hair and your natural hair quality will start reemerging. It's absolutely inspiring how nature works. The reality is, you're designed to be beautiful. Give nature a chance to prove it! Use 100% natural. Use 100% organic.

by Dianne Little
thelittleessentials@gmail.com