FDA Warns of dangers lurking in popular topical acne treatments

By Mike Smiley

Are you using skin care products that contain these ingredients that are causing potentially dangerous allergic reactions? If so, the FDA is urging you to be aware of the potential dangers before you find out like some others have.

NBC NEWS broke a story related to an FDA warning cautioning women about possible severe allergic reaction to some of America’s best selling acne treatment products.

FDA officials are warning that ingredients in some of the most popular acne products including brands such as PROACTIV, NEUTROGENA, AVEENO and CLEAN & CLEAR have been linked to potentially life-threatening allergic reactions because of benzoyl peroxide and/or salicylic acid in them. FDA warns agais Saliciica cid and Benzoid peroxide

Officials said that there had been no deaths linked to the reaction, the warned users of products with these ingredients be at a heightened level of awareness and seek medical attention if they should experience tightness in the throat and difficulty breathing or other signs of an allergic reaction. According to reports, 44% of those who have had a reaction have required hospitalization.

When it comes to beauty products, the effects of the ingredients they contain can be more than skin deep. “Whatever goes onto the skin goes into the body,” said Angelica Chadwick, VP of Customer Relations for My Skin’s Friend, an organic skin and hair care company in Tennessee. “We’ve been vigilant to keep ingredients foreign to the human body completely out of our products from simple body lotions to our Fast Firming Facelift System.”

Chadwick said the product in the My Skin’s Friend that has shown some effectiveness in helping quiet the symptoms of acne is the company’s Detox Clay Mask. “MSF Detox Clay mask addresses the cause of acne instead of the symptoms. The cause is the plugged pores in the skin. Our clay is a montmorillonite clay that, when hydrated, has a negative electrical charge. When you apply it to the skin, it penetrates so deeply that anything it encounters with a positive charge will be attracted to it like a magnet.”

According to Chadwick, this method causes most toxins, dead skin cells, dirt, and other substances capable of causing a skin plugs to get lifted out of the skin when the clay dries and you rinse off the clay mask.

Here’s a run down of some of the products and their ingredients that person’s should be alert for when buying skin care products.

The first is an ingredient that is ubiquitous in many products. Matrixyl 3000 one of the leading ingredients on the most popular cosmetics right now. It is a synthetic compound that even the creators of the product advise the consumers to take care when purchasing products that include matrixil 3000 as an ingredient.

The best known brands with Matrixyl 3000 are Crème De La Mer, Perricone Cold Plasma, Kinerase, Obagi NuDerm, Lancome Renegie, L’Oreal Revital Lift and Avon Anew among many others. It’s worth nothing that all clinical studies concerning the safety of matrixyl 3000 were conducted in house and were funded by the manufacturer. You can read more about the study here. http://www.letstalkbeauty.com/wrinkles/matrixyl-3000

The cosmetic industry uses thousands of synthetic chemicals in its products, in everything from lipsticks and lotions to shampoo to shaving cream.

Many of the substances used in cosmetics are also used in industrial manufacturing processes to clean industrial equipment.

One thing we can all agree on is that an ingredient that effectively abrades a floor may be not the best choice for facial cleanser.

Many untested chemicals have been steadily introduced into our environment, and we have seen breast cancer incidence raised dramatically. The USA allows the cosmetics industry to put thousands of “synthetic chemicals” into personal care products, even if those chemicals are linked to cancer, birth defect or other health issues. I thought the FDA’s job was to protects the consumer from this kind of thing.

Here are some guidelines from the Breast Cancer Society on how to choose safer products.

Use Fewer Products With Simpler Ingredients.

Avoid products that contain any chemicals. A lot of beauty products contain carcinogens and endocrine-disrupting chemicals that increase breast cancer risk. Read the labels. Be smart.

Avoid “Fragrance”

Fragrance is a little word that contains hundreds of chemicals including hormone disrupting phalates, synthetic musks, and ethylene oxide. Better to opt for products that are fragrance free or where the fragrance comes naturally from the ingredients like, organic vanilla or peppermint.

Use Truly Natural Cosmetics

In the USA as we know that many toxic chemicals can be found in the most common makeup, shampoos, lotions and all the other personal care products. Read, read, read.

Beware Of Empty Organic and Natural Claims

Read labels for specific information on a product’s ingredients. What does USDA mean? USDA-certified means that 95% of the ingredients are organic BUT still leaves plenty of room for harmful synthetics.

Read The Labels To Avoid Synthetic Ingredients

Good ingredients: Aloe, Honey, Sweet Potato.

Bad ingredients: Anything you cannot even pronounce or they just are letters.

The Most Important Of All They Recommend To Avoid These Offenders

Anti-Aging Creams with lactic, glycolic, AHA and BHA acids
Hair dyes, especially dark permanent dyes
Liquid hand soaps with triclosan/triclocarban
Nail polish and removers with formaldehyde
Skin lightener with hydroquinone
Scented products
Moisturizers, ointments and skin creams with petrolatum
Shaving creams, hair gels and hair coloring containing nonylphenol
Hair spray, gel, mousse or shaving cream that contains isobutane
Sunscreens with UV filters that mimic estrogen
Creams and lotions that contain carcinogens and endocrine-disrupting chemical

My Skin's Friend products start and finished with organic foods, fruits, oils,veggies, nuts and herbs. We never add any chemicals of any kind. It is literally body food. It is the very BEST for your skin and hair health.

Tags: acne, acne symptoms, acne treatments, aveeno, benzoyl peroxide, best acne treatments, chemical sunscreen, clean & clear, FDA warning about acne treatments, getting rid of acne, hair care products, hair products, help with acne, hormones, itchy scalp, long hair, lotion, male pattern, moisturizer, natural acne treatments, natural defenses against ebola virus, nutrogena, organic acne topical treatment, organic defenses against ebola virus, pregnancy, proactiv, salicylic acid, skin care products, spray, strengthening your immune system naturally, strong hair, sun damage, toxins, travel risks and ebola, wheat, wrinkles

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...Organic Sunless Tanner

Stopping here first was a good call.

We used to enclose a printed version of this booklet with our tanner but we continually get suggestions and recommendations from the hundreds of customers who love this tanner so we decided to convert it to a more dynamic forum so you always have the latest information for getting the perfect tan.

One you learn these simple secrets, you can keep that sexy, natural looking tan all year long while you're also pampering your skin.

You'll get more than just a tan.

My Skin's Friend Sunless Tanner is on of the very few liposomal tanners on the market. It actually helps moisturize your skin as well as tanning it so it's like getting two products for the price of one.

These simple secrets will guarantee an even, natural looking tan

Getting an even, natural looking tan shouldn't be difficult yet we hear from customers who have tried so many sunless tanners on the market only to be disappointed in the look of their tan.

We set out to make the best organic tanner on the market and from the emails and customer reviews we get, looks like we've accomplished it.

If you don't get the perfect tan, let us help

Sure, we occasionally get a customer feedback that says they got streaks or some uneven spots but even then, we work with them to help correct those issues and start over. Without exception, the outcome is positive so I urge you to write to us if you experience anything but a perfect tan and let us help.

Getting an even, natural looking tan is definitely possible without covering your body with chemicals, baking in a tanning bed or enduring the funky smell most tanners leave you with.

If you follow these simple steps, you too will be sporting a tan so natural looking that your friends will ask you where you just vacationed!

First things first.

Don't rush the process o.k.?

You want a natural looking tan, not a cheap paint job right? Just like getting a real sun tan, it takes a little time and patience but the outcome will be well worth it.

My Skin's Friend doesn't tan you, it causes your body to tan itself. In fact, when you spray it on, you won't see any color because there isn't any in it. That's why it doesn't look fake like a lot of others but there are "secrets" to getting the best, most natural looking tan with it.

Before you spray, make sure your skin is clean and exfoliated.

Use a regular wash cloth, loofah or anything else you might already like to exfoliate with. I discovered this helps speed up the process because it starts with new, fresh skin cells, not the old dead ones. Don't scrub so hard that you cause an abrasion. Just a nice firm scrub.

Exfoliate before using My Skin's Friend sunless tanner

There are two reasons for this.

One, the organic tanner interacts with your skin to create the tanning process so the more fresh, clean skin it can contact (without oils or creams between) the faster, deeper and more even your tan will be.
Secondly, dead skin cells tend to get darker than fresh cells and may cause some spotting so your outcome will be much more even once you properly clean and exfoliate your skin.

When your done, dry off and go to the next step.

I put plastic grocery store bags on my feet from the ankle down to keep the tops of my feet from getting tan from the falling mist.

Some customers have told me that they apply a thin layer of cocoa butter or other natural lotion like MSF Sweet Potato, Melon Fresh or Honey & Aloe to theirs.

They also apply to elbows and knees because those areas tend to get darker faster and the lotion acts to help avoid that.

O.k. with those bases covered, it's time to apply the spray.

It is much easier if you have a friend who can spray you but almost all of our customers report they spray it on themselves with little problem. It might take a little practice to perfect it but it's done every day.

My Skin's Friend organic sunless tanner application

I apply it to myself most of the time but when I can get my husband to do it, it is easier to maintain a more even coverage.

VERY IMPORTANT. The main cause of streaks or runs is OVER SPRAYING.

Because My Skin's Friend sunless tanner is clear (no colorants or staining chemicals), it is hard to tell where you've sprayed.

For this reason, it is important to plan to cover in a methodical way to make sure you don't over spray and get runs or streaks.

Do right leg, left leg to thigh front.
Right arm, left arm front and sides.
Abdomen front (pubic bone to under neck unless you want au natural all over tan).
Then back from hairline to butt. Then back of left leg, back of right leg.

If you have someone applying the spray to you, have them hold the bottle about a foot from your body and spray evenly from side to side, making sure to get an even coat. Applying too much each time will cause runs and you don't want that or you'll have streaks. Just a very light coat works like magic.

RUN REPAIR TIP!

If you see a run or large droplets during or after spraying, don't panic. It can be fixed before the streak shows up.

Once you've finished your third and final application for that day, simply let the last coat dry a few minutes and then apply an organic lotion to the entire area to blend the overspray into the rest of the area. In almost all cases, this will completely eliminate any spots or streaks and you'll wake up with a very nice, even, natural looking tan.

Over spray also happens because you will swear you're not getting enough on you but I assure you that you are. We chose the very fine mister pump to make sure you get a very light application each time to prevent runs or streaks.

When one coat dries (which is very quick and can be accelerated with a blow dryer set to cool), apply the next one until you've sprayed three consecutive coats in one treatment. I know you won't feel like anything is happening but trust me, it is.

Once the third coat is dry, you're ready to get dressed. My Skin's Friend tanner won't color hair or clothes so don't worry about having to cover your hair or having it rub off on your clothes or bed linens.

Cover your whole body or the areas you want tan with that first coat and wait 3 minutes or so for it to dry. One of the things people love about it is that it dries very fast.

Repeat this process no more than three days straight.

Once you've done if for three days, STOP and wait for 48 hours for your tan to “mature” and show you the final shade. If you want to be darker, simply continue to apply it as above until you reach your ideal shade. Once that happens, you can usually maintain your tan with a once or twice a week application. Remember, you won't see the final results for 48 hours
after the final coat.

That's it! That's all you need to have a cool looking tan. And when people ask where you got your beautiful tan, tell 'em Tahiti!

If you have any problems, questions or tips you'd like to share with us and your fellow tanners, please contact us at support@myskinsfriend.com. We love hearing from our customers and always appreciate tips you've learned to help get the best looking organic tan under the sun.

Want to share what you've learned? Click here to send a link to this page to your friends!

Now, go show off that beautiful tan of yours!

My Skin's Friend Organic tanner

Thank you for being My Skin's Friend.

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