It’s time. I’ve run out of my toxic night lotion (aka Dove) and toxic day lotion (aka Oil Of Olay) so it’s time to switch back to natural products.
And even though I’m really excited [because I love trying new products], I’ve also been procrastinating a little on my new purchases because there’s a lot of research involved in finding the prefect lotion.
Today I visited The Big Carrot in Toronto and browsed the huge range of organic and natural skin care products they have in store.
I was kind of lost a little and overwhelmed with what to choose. And of course I was stupidly more attracted to the pretty packages than anything else.
Eventually (and maybe out of frustration), I decided that I just hadn’t done enough research yet so took the easy way out and bought two sample sizes of Dr. Hauschka face cream to trial and see how they go. …Okay, the truth is I was staring dumbly at the Dr. Hauschka line when a staff member asked if I needed help, I guess because they’d noticed I’d been walking up and down the aisle for a good 15 minutes looking confused. So as usual I bought a trial size of the first thing a sales rep recommended.
Yes, I’m very easy to sell to AND an impulse buyer.
The Dr. Hauschka brand
Dr. Hauschka has been around for a long time now. It’s a well known (but expensive) German brand of natural skin care products.
What I love most about this brand is how Dr. Hauschka approaches skin care. This is a little excerpt from one of the product leaflets I bought today -
Dr.Hauschka Skin Care preparations is designed to bring harmony, balance and rhythm to the skin. Rather than masking or covering up skin conditions, our products work with the skin, treating it as an integral part of the human being.
And of course the products don’t contain any toxic ingredients and are not tested on animals.
These teeny tiny samples that I bought both fit easily into the palm of my hand, so at just over CA$6 each they weren’t cheap. I do however like the ‘try a little before you buy a lot’ concept, especially because I’ve been well known in the past for buying products and discarding them after a weeks use because they’re not up to scratch.
For the record - my hand isn’t freakishly huge like it looks in that photo, the products really are very small.
I wish I had my MacBook in the store with me so I could have looked the products up on MUA for reviews while I was there. Then I would have checked the first few ingredients for comedogenicity (meaning will they clog pores). But I didn’t, so this is what I discovered when I got home -
Product 1 - Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream Light
This product has had great reviews on MUA, with 85% of reviewers saying they’d buy it again with some even calling it their HG-moisturizer (phew).
There is one reviewer that said it broke her out after 8 weeks so, hmm …I’m a little worried about that.
As for the ingredients, well ..most of them are just too natural to even be listed on any comedogenicity lists. Any skin care ingredient that’s not listed on an official comedogenicity list I don’t bother researching further because little snippets of information you read on the net about whether or not an ingredient clogs your pores is usually not accurate.
So, it’s up to trusting the majority of the reviewers and hoping my skin isn’t like that one reviewer that broke out badly from it. Maybe it’s good I just bought the trial size …
Product 2 - Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream
This is like the Rose Day Cream Light, but thicker and richer, and more suitable for winter months. I’m heading off to Europe on the way home to Australia soon so I’ll need a moisturizer that can handle the European late Autumn months.
This lotion received similar reviews to its light sister, so most acne-prone skin reviewers loved it with that one that said it broke them out terribly.
There is no such things as the perfect product that works for everyone, so I guess this is just another example of that.
I guess I’ll just give them a go and see how my skin responds. Wish me luck!
Fran Kerr is the founding editor of High on Health. To cure your acne, sign up to Fran's FREE acne cure mini-course or download her latest how to guide, Eat Away Your Acne.
18 responses ↓
Hi Fran,
How long did you wait before switching products? And jogging your memory a bit whats the best cleanser you’ve ever used so far?
Thank you.
Hi Fran,
Check out Nadarra - http://www.nadarra.com/
The products are 100% natural. I have both the exfoliating face cleanser and moisturizer and love them. The moisturizer is non-greasy and smells great. You can purchase online (I received my package the next day) or in a few stores in Toronto.
Response to Kevin:
Kevin,
Look up a product called Cor Silver Soap by Plank Designs. I just bought it and I am amazed with what it has done for my skin. You can buy the sample size on Amazon.com for 10-12 dollars, but the normal size is 100 dollars. I know that sounds like a lot, but it is actually a deal seeing as how this bar of soap last 8-9 months. I don’t know how they got it to last so long, but my bar I have been using for a month looks pretty much the same as when it first came in the mail. But seriously look up this soap and read up about it. I have never seen any product work so fast and so well on my skin before. When you look it up, you will pretty much hear the exact same thing I have said. And the best part is that it’s all natural!! Hope this works for you!!
Dante
Hi Dante,
The price will take some tweaking of my parents, lol,but I think I can tweak them enough.But before I get it are you absolutely sure that it deserves to be put up on a pedestal? I would hate to get it and it does nothing.My face doesnt react that well to soaps cause I while back when Fran made the video on Cetaphil I was so impressed by what she said that I got the cleanser in the bottle and the cleanser as the soap.The cleanser in the bottle is greatThe cetaphil soap however gave me one of the worst breakouts of my life and only in Late July has it finally disappeared and I used the soap when fran made that vid which is a couple of months now.I would probably hold off on it now cause my skin is starting to recover so I dont want to introduce anything new just yet.But thanks for the recommendation and I will definitely check it out.
Kevin.
Kevin- The chemical products worked well with my skin but I want to use natural products again, so I waited until I’d used them all up until I switched. It’s also been a good 3 months at least since I’ve had any acne so that was a good amount of time to wait for my skin to finish healing then get healthy. If you follow your intuition I think you know when it’s okay to switch products
The best cleanser I’ve used by far is Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple, but it’s not natural. So I need to find a new natural cleanser soon too.
Kevin,
What I suggest doing is buying the sample size first. It is only ten bucks on amazon. You may even want to buy two of the samples. . . Even though Cor is in the shape of a bar, it is not regular soap, it is meant to be used on the face. I love this soap, and with in three days of using it I saw results. In the beginning of the summer I took a trip to CO, and I experienced the WORST break out of my life due to the dryness and the altitude. Before this trip my skin was pretty much clear to. But when I got back I immediately bought Cor Silver Soap and I think it was the best money I ever spent. Before using it I did not have any cysts, but still some pretty large pimples, and with in three days they went down and my whole face did not seem so red and inflamed. About convincing your parents to buy it for you; if you have bought products like Proactive you know how utterly useless they are and expensive. I think Proactive is somewhere around 60 dollars and it only last you about a month?! When you break it down Cor only cost you like 12 dollars a month, because it last so damn long. That is how I got my parents to buy it for me XD.
Hey add me on AIM if you have it, I am “ADOBEdante”. BTW I am not some creepy perve.
-Dante
Hi Dante,
I checked it up and on Amazon there were about 3 people who said it broke them out.But the rest were good reviews but since my parents don’t like ordering stuff through the net I am gonna have to look elsewhere for it.Have nay ideas? I saw it on amzon for $125 which means the price probably went up but that is a sign that its good cause consumers are demanding more.Another thing, in all the reviews I read it said that the soap was very much like Neutrogena’s soap in the sense that it melts easily when exposed to moisture ,So how did you get yours to last for so many months.But I’m very eager to try this product once I can find it.
Kevin.
P.S I dont have an AIM, sorry.
Hey fran I use a Ren cleanser which claims to have 100 % natural ingrediants. It’s the best cleanser i have ever used.
Fran if you like Dr. Hashuka product line or some natural line like Korres best to check out Sephora in Toronto they give these samples for FREE. THe samples that you bought at Big Carrot can actually be FREE at Sephora and you do not need to buy anything there, just go in and look around and ask for some samples!!
Hi Fran. Why not go back to Miessence for an organic cleanser? I just bought some and am not sure that I really need it, so I might return it. Currently, I gently wash with warm water. This seems to do enough for me, psychologically, anyway.
I am hesitant to use cleansers because I don’t want to throw off the balance of oil production, and kick my skin into over-production, thus becoming dependent on a cleanser. If I wore make-up, then that would be something else — maybe I’ll use it when I wear sunscreen.
Mike- Miessence didn’t break me out but I found it just okay. Their line for acne prone skin is also for oily skin, so it’s a little too drying for me.
Washing your face with water only is great. I do that sometimes too, but even better if you can get away with it all the time!
I have tried basically every cleanser they have at the health food store and drugstore and department store and the only one that has not turned me red or broken me out or dried my skin out is Johnson & Johnson head to toe baby wash(the yellow one). Its cheap and smells good. I know its not natural but its the only thing I have tried thats not bad for me. I’m a sucker for pretty packaging and hearing other people say it’s good but I think you really have to search and look at every ingredient in something that your are going to use. And for us guys out there that have to shave our faces every day make sure to use a brand new razor blade every week and wash your face befopre you shave. And don’t use face products with I call them “cold oils” like peppermint and menthol they may smell good but they dry out you skin and make you red.
Have you heard of Juice Beauty? It’s an organic skincare brand, I hope you try it - if you do make a review please =)
I often check new products on this website:
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php
its a database of cosmetic products which have all been tested and rated according to safety.
I tried Dr Hauschka - but the whole line freaked my skin out really bad! Hopefully it will work for you!
Fran, with the MiEssence range you can mix and match so if you find your skin is drying I would suggest using a product like the Rejuvenessence Serum or Ambrosia which will provide ultra rejuvenation, healing properties and provide the moisture back into the skin.
Please email me if you would like some more information or guidance.
Would have to know which of the purifying range you were using determine why it was drying your skin - as it shouldnt.
Hi Fran, hope you’re doing well.
About a month ago I started using the Suki skincare range. It’s fairly pricey, but I’m extremely impressed with the products so far: http://www.sukipure.com
I believe it’s stocked at Whole Foods in Canada, so if you have one of those local to you, you can nip in and take a look. I *think* they have a decent returns policy too if it turns out you don’t like something.
Suki also does two mini-kits (one for dry/normal skin and one for oily/combination) which are an inexpensive way to try the range. I would never have shelled out for the full-size versions if I hadn’t been able to try this first.
If I could only recommend one product in the range, it would be the lemongrass cleanser. Everybody raves about it and I can understand why. It’s a very gentle exfoliating cleanser and does a wonderful job of removing excess oil without encouraging the skin to produce more.
I’ve also recently started using a microfibre cloth to wipe away cleanser and in the week that I’ve been using it, I’ve only had two tiny pimples. I did a post about it on my blog today if you’re interested. I’m quite amazed at how this cheap little cloth seems to be doing so much good for my skin.
[...] you read the blog article I wrote the day I bought the Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream Light, then you’ll know that it was kind of an impulse [...]
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