To achieve a more radiant skin and beautiful complexion, it is vital to use only the purest skin care products, particularly those made only with raw, living and natural ingredients. In this article, I explain why this is the best external skin care possible, which, together with a healthy diet, right lifestyle and a positive mental attitude, helps the skin to become softer, firmer and achieve an unmistakable glow.

From the outset I'd like to emphasize that becoming more beautiful is available to anyone now, regardless of their present health, condition or age, who is willing to create beauty through changes in the diet, external skin care and mental outlook.

What we put on our skin is just as important as the food we eat. The skin is the body's largest organ and plays a crucial role, not only in the elimination of toxins and in regulating our internal temperature, but also in terms of absorption.

Therefore it is critical to use skin and personal care products that, first of all, are free from toxic chemical ingredients. Some of these ingredients include:

a) Propylene glycol: Found in practically every skin moisturiser, propylene glycol is used as the base ingredient in the manufacture of brake fluid and industrial anti-freeze. It greatly damages and ages the skin. It also causes rashes and dry skin.

b) Lauryl sulphates: These corrosive chemical ingredients used in industry to manufacture garage floor cleaner and engine de-greasing are also one of the main ingredients in practically every major brand of shampoo, bubble bath, face wash, shaving gel & toothpaste. Lauryl sulphates eat away at the mucous lining of the skin, are highly irritant to the eyes and cause urinary tract infections.

c) Parabens: synthetic chemicals which have been linked with breast cancer. They are used as preservatives in many shampoos and personal care products.

Secondly, it is important to use skin care products that are made only with raw, living and natural ingredients such as raw cacao (cocoa) butter and cold-pressed oils. This is because the skin greatly nourishes from the life force, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and essential fatty acids present in the natural ingredients.

The benefits are numerous. The life energy in the ingredients is highly nourishing and healing. Antioxidants for example, help to reverse skin ageing and inflammation and help heal scar tissue. Minerals play a key role in beautifying the skin, hair & nails. Sulphur, for instance, is a central component of collagen & connective tissue, which provides elasticity & flexibility to the tissues. Vitamins such as A, C and E are moisturizing, soothing and healing to the skin. Essential fatty acids help to remove toxins from tissues.

To ensure that the life force and all these nutrients are retained, skin care products must be made at temperatures below 40C. If ingredients are heated above this level during the manufacturing process, most of the antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and the life force in the ingredients are destroyed. A good example of this is cold-pressed olive oil, which has long been considered a topical remedy for wrinkles and facial lines. Not surprisingly, olive oil is the best source of raw vitamin E. However, it is also is extremely sensitive to temperature and light and becomes completely corrupted when heated.

Heated oils and fats when used in skin care products ?Ceven in the so-called most natural ones- are actually one of the worst offenders to skin beauty. They contain highly toxic transfatty acids, which may be absorbed into the cell membranes, causing them to become porous and weak. Heating oils and fats also leads to the creation of free radicals, which are unstable oxygen molecules that have lost an electron. Collagen, a protein molecule that constitutes 80% of the dermis, is particularly susceptible to free radical damage, which includes wrinkles, lingering scars and stiff collagen

In contrast, cold-pressed fats and oils kept at low temperatures help to beautify the skin, strengthen the cell membranes and restore nutrients to the tissues.

In short, the best external skin care is to use products made using only 100% raw and living ingredients. At present, the only company in the world producing a range of such products is Raw Gaia. More information can be found at http://www.rawgaia.com/

(c) Hector Bolanos, 2006.