SKINCARE: PREVENTION VS HEALING


When it comes to skincare, there are often two ways of looking at it: prevention and healing. You can either prevent further damage from happening, or heal existing damage the skin has already sustained. Products can be marketed and formulated for one of these two purposes, and customers have to choose which one is right for them. While technically there’s nothing wrong with this approach, there is a possibility you could find yourself in a situation where you want or need to both prevent damage in your skin and also heal existing damage. The question is: is it possible to do?

Depending on where you look, the answer is yes. Armed with the right information, you can find the skincare products you need to make sure your skin has what it needs from both ends of the spectrum. And two of the best skincare categories to help you do that are raw shea butter and essential oils. Here’s why:

Raw African shea butter is extremely protective for the skin. It guards it against environmental irritants and aging factors while simultaneously delivering a rich array of essential fatty acids that help the skin to function optimally by keeping the skin’s cellular membranes in tip top shape. These essential fatty acids also help to keep the skin smooth and moisturized. Raw shea butter also contains antioxidants like vitamins E and A, both fantastic for neutralizing free radicals that cause wrinkles and fine lines.

Even though essential oils don’t contain essential fatty acids like shea butter, what they do contain are powerful antioxidant and terpene factors that further help to repair and guard the skin from damage. Essential oils are basically concentrated plant essences rich with all the healing goodness contained in the plant. This means that essential oils contain both universal properties, as well as properties distinct to that particular oil because of the plant it’s derived from. For example, both rose and lavender essential oils are fantastic for the skin. Both have anti aging and healing properties; where they are unique is that lavender excels at soothing the skin while rose is adept at providing and protecting cellular hydration.

So, when you’re out and about looking for skincare to heal and protect your skin, look for ingredients like raw shea butter and essential oils. Or, you can easily make your own skincare by mixing them together at home.