Green Skincare for a Green Wedding

While a bride might be willing to make sacrifices to go green on her wedding day, most brides would not be willing to sacrifice looking fantastic.  People talk about “beautiful brides” for a reason!  Most brides and grooms are very happy on their wedding day, and that internal glow often translates to an external “radiance.”  One way to maximize this wedding day glow is to prepare with a good skincare routine combined with high quality skin care products.  Many brides fear the possibility of waking up on the day of the wedding to discover the dreaded stress induced blemish!  The good news is that there are many options to help you achieve gorgeous, glowing wedding day skin, as well as great skin everyday, with natural, green products that won’t blow your wedding budget. 

Lets begin with a primer on the basics of a good skincare routine.  The following steps are the basics of a routine for beautiful wedding day skin: 

1.  Cleanse - whether to remove makeup, or just the grime we accumulate in the environment, cleansing the skin is the cornerstone of a good skincare routine.

2.  Exfoliate - necessary to remove dead skin cells from the surface of the skin.  This can be accomplished manually (such as with a washcloth, scrub, or microfiber cloth) or chemically (such as with gentle acids).

3.  Tone - helps to protect the skin by returning to proper ph (somewhat acidic, between 4.2 and 5.6).  Toners can also help to hydrate the skin.

4.  Hydrate - the skin is about 70% water, and we need to hydrate both internally and externally.  Internal hydration requires drinking plenty of water, while external hydration can be accomplished through spritzing the skin with water or based products (for example distilled or spring water, aloe vera juice, and hydrosols – distillates which are a by product of the essential oil making process), or applying water based serums, lotions or gels.

5.  Treat - there are many natural and green products that can treat various imbalances or problems with the skin (such as essential oils, hydrosols, antioxidants, acids, fruit and nut oils, and other “active” ingredients).

6.  Emollience - oils, lotions, and creams help to seal in the hydration and protect the skin. 

While this may seem complicated, we don’t necessarily need to include all of these steps everyday (depending on your individual skin care needs, exfoliation and treatments might only be necessary a few days a week). 

The very basic daily routine should include: 

• Cleansing (even if its just wetting your face with water),
• Toning (with a mild tonic, such as a spritz of aloe juice mixed with a small amount of vinegar, or an herbal hydrosol)
• Hydration – for some a toner will be sufficient hydration, others may want to follow toner with a water based serum or gel
• Emollient – seal in hydration and protect the skin with a few drops of natural oils (NOT essential oils – these are too potent to use straight on the skin) or a naturally formulated lotion or cream.

Speak up!  Have a favorite green skin care product?  Let us know by adding a comment below.