Here's an email I got from a customer:

"Dear MuLondon,

I have recently had twin boys who are absolutely adorable, but poor old mum is looking worse for wear and in need of some urgent TLC, my skin is looking rather dull. I was wondering if you could offer me any advice and information to try that will help to replenish my skin. I really would love to have a facial but at the moment I really haven't the time with the two little ones. I am 29 years old with a normal/dry skin type.

Kind Regards, Vicky"

As there are many of us with not enough time for a facial,here's what you can do instead:

If you feel your skin is dull, I suggest you spend some time outside every day, at least 15 minutes, to get some sun, which is effective even on a cloudy winter day. Also make sure that you get enough essential fatty acids. They can be found in evening primrose oil, hemp seed oil and flax seed oil, for example. These are long-term solutions that will definitely pay off over time, by giving your skin a wondeful lustre appearance.
 
For an instant fix, you could also do a simple facial at home - just boil some water in a pot, add a spoonful of herbs (chamomile, peppermint or rose, for example) or 2-3 drops essential oil, put your head over the pot and cover with a towel for 5-10 minutes. This will clean you face, open up the pores and clean the impurities from your skin.

Afterwards, scrub your face with ground oat flakes and wash with soap.

Apply a moisturiser - my Marigold, Frankincense and Myrrh cream or my Organic Rose Moisturiser are great for dull, lifeless skin.

All my natural, organic moisturisers are packed with pure shea butter and golden jojoba oil. They are concentrated, great for dry & sensitive skin and ideal for daily all-over body use - including face, hands and feet. Give yourself a 5-minute facial massage using one of them.

If you do not have access to a moisturiser, you can use pure virgin olive oil or jojoba oil. There you go - simple facial for next to nothing, and you do not even have to leave the home.
 
I hope this helps!
Best regards
Boris, MuLondon.com

PS: Let me know if you have any tips for home-made facials!

Hi,

Let me answer a couple of very interesting questions that some of you have asked recently.

 Question: I think a citrus based face moisturizer would be awesome...would energize you in the morning!

Answer: The problem with some natural citrus oils is that they can be phototoxic - i.e., when exposed to the sun, they can react with your skin, making it burn more easily. All citrus oils also oxidise and deteriorate quite easily, and would need stabilising.

As all my products are 100% free from all artificial additives, this presents a slight problem, but I'm working on it, naturally. There are a couple of citrus oils that can be suitable, and I'm experimenting with those. Also, there will probably be a citrus face and hands wash coming soon.

More on citrus oils and their phototoxicity here:

http://www.westcoastaromatherapy.com/index.cfm?page=176

 Question: Have you ever considered making an almond face lotion? I love the smell of almonds and they are supposedly very good for your skin when mixed with honey or milk.

Answer: Natural almond oil oxidises relatively easily, and people that do not tolerate nuts can react to it.

As I formulate my products without any harsh stabilisers, this presents a slight problem. That is why I have decided to use only highly-stable oils for now, like shea butter, jojoba and coconut.

Regarding honey or milk - these are animal products, and I only use vegetable ingredients. There are, however, some great alternatives to these that you will see in my new products soon.

 Question: Every product sounds so nice, I am hoping to see something with Lilly of the Valley soon :)

Answer: There is no natural Lilly of the Valley fragrance. All fragrances currently on the market that are Lilly of the Valley are artificial (i.e. chemicals) or blends of natural oils designed to somewhat mimic the original fragrance. If the product does not state anything, you can be sure that it contains the chemical sort, which usually contains endocrine disruptors.

As you know, MuLondon products are free from all added man-made chemicals. The other option of using a natural blend of oils to mimic the original fragrance is something I will look into. Many thanks for suggesting this!

About endocrine disruptors:

http://www.thecanaryreport.org/2009/05/08/the-endocrine-system-and-endocrine-disruptors/

Read more about Lilly of the Valley on this very interesting blog post here:

http://laureninjapan.blogspot.com/2006/10/perfume-school-101.html

That's it for now!

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Thank you all once again for taking the time to leave your feedback - that is much appreciated!

If you would like to ask me any questions, please use the contact form here »
 

Despite empirical and historical evidence, scientists are sometimes not happy until they have proven something in a lab. Well, now they have and we can all rejoice.

Swedish company AAK has confirmed the moisturising power of shea butter. Unlike active ingredients, emollients (substances that soften and soothe the skin) are not usually tested for efficacy.

AAK’s researchers stimulated daily washing by treating the skin of volunteers with ethanol causing an increase in trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL).

The TEWL rapidly recovered after the application of Shea Butter and after two hours returned to basement levels. After three and four hours the barrier properties of the skin were improved on pre-treatment levels.

AAK also investigated the moisture levels deeper in the skin using a corneometer, finding consistent increase over four hours.

Original story:

http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Formulation-Science/Moisturising-power-of-shea-butter-highlighted-by-scientific-studies/

Rural women have been gathering and processing shea butter in West Africa since at least the mid-fourteenth century. It is an edible fat, extracted from nuts of the shea tree. Shea butter is also a known anti-inflammatory agent and is very effective in the management of sinusitis and relief of nasal congestion.

MuLondon moisturisers are based on pure, certified organic shea butter that comes from a community project in Ghana.

Cosmetics Design Europe reports today that chemicals in consumer products are partly responsible for deteriorating reproductive health in men.

Professor Richard Sharpe, of the Medical Research Council believes exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals plays a role in the worsening state of men’s reproductive health.

The origins of these reproductive problems – collectively called Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome – can be traced to development in the womb.

Sharpe said: “Because it is the summation of effect of hormone disrupting chemicals that is critical, and the number of such chemicals that humans are exposed to is considerable, this provides the strongest possible incentive to minimise human exposure to all relevant hormone disruptors, especially women planning pregnancy, as it is obvious that the higher the exposure the greater the risk”.

Original story:

http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Formulation-Science/Scientist-links-chemical-cocktail-to-birth-defects-and-infertility/

Cosmetics Design Europe reports on some interesting findings by France’s body for competition and fraud control (DGCCRF). 

"...DGCCRF, in partnership with the French authority on the safety of health products (Affsaps), investigated the chemical makeup of products, and how this compared to their labels, as well as investigating the levels of microbial contamination.

Out of 28 products, 12 advertised themselves as preservative free, and the other 16 as free from parabens and/or phenoxyethanol. The preservatives used in the latter group were the salts of benzoic or sorbic acid, and dehydroacetic acid.

Regarding this practice, the DGCCRF stated that flagging up the absence of certain preservatives when the product contains others is a way of voluntarily giving incomplete information to the consumer.

This could be seen as misleading the consumer about the actual formulation of the product, it claimed.

In addition, chemical analysis of the products flagged up a number of products that contained traces of preserving compounds that were not marked on the label..."

Unfortunately, "paraben-free" sometimes means just that - free from parabens. But you might get benzoic or sorbic acid. Or even diazolidinyl urea and phenoxyethanol. How about some formaldehyde? I was shocked to see products containing the latter on the shelves on many high-street stores.

When you get a MuLondon product, you can be sure that it does not contain ANY man-made preservative mentioned above. Our unique water-free process enables us to naturally keep our products fresh and safe using gentle natural herbal extracts and essential oils - all completely preservative-free! No parabens, no formaldehyde (perish the thought!), no benzoic acid or phenoxyethanol.

Fisher's Contact Dermatitis (Robert L. Rietschel, Joseph F. Fowler, Alexander A. Fisher) claims that:

"...the parabens and sorbic acid are the most common causes of contact dermatitis".

Why would you want to put that on your skin?