How To Combat Excessive Dryness In The Winter Time

When you hear Christmas carols in the northern hemisphere, most likely it is getting cold outside. During the cold months, the air gets drier and starts sucking moisture from your skin. This is the time of the year that you are more likely to experience dryness and flakiness. But don´t worry, we have your back! One of our goals in the colder months to come is to give you tips on how you can maintain your beautiful winter glow. In this blog, we talk about products you can use on your face, lips, and body to combat excessive dryness.

In addition to these products, another great suggestion is to consider a home humidifier. If you cannot have one in every room, have one at least in your bedroom during the night. A humidifier will create a moist environment for your skin to "drink" during the night.

YOUR FACE

• Wash Your Face With A Gentle Cleanser – a good example is our TAMANU LUXURY FACIAL CLEANSER.  The cleansing agent in this super-popular cleanser is saponified from oils of organic coconut, olive, and jojoba.  Also it contains such wonderful moisturizing ingredients as organic camellia oil and tamanu oil. The great benefit of having oils in a cleanser is that they bind to impurities, and pull out dirt without clogging pores or stripping away beneficial oils. The oils in the Tamanu Facial Cleanser are also rich in antioxidants to combat free radicals.
• Add An Extra Layer of Moisture – one of our favorite moisturizing products is our B QUENCHED FACIAL OIL. If your regular moisturizer is not enough (and you will know), B Quenched Facial Oil can be just what you need. It is lightweight and can be used any time of the day to help skin retain moisture. Plus, the oils in B Quenched are rich in essential fatty acids, vitamins, and antioxidants to give your face a much needed healthy glow during the cold months.

YOUR LIPS

• Use A Lip Balm Without Mineral Oil - be extra careful in the winter to not use a lip balm with mineral oil, a petroleum byproduct and a known carcinogen. Mineral oil creates an impermeable barrier that traps your body´s current moisture in, yet does not let additional moisture in. That´s why we created LIP YUMMIES, LIP SKINNIES, and LIP ASSIST CONDITIONING TREATMENT with rich moisturizing, good-for-you oils. If you need some color, LIP SKINNIES are a great option. If you just want to soothe your lips, LIP YUMMIES can help. If your lips are getting very dry and chapped, the LIP ASSIST can be your BFF (please note that you can wear the LIP ASSIST alone or over another product and/or even around your lips).

YOUR BODY

• Use Extra Rich Moisturizers – a good example is our ECO BODY LOTION (soon in a new scent, Warm + Woodsy + Floral to compliment the season). Our lotion is free from artificial fragrances and full of organic oils and butters to moisturize your skin. Another great advantage of using a lotion such as  ECO BODY is its ingredients have anti-inflammatory and skin calming properties.
• Address Excessive Dryness As Soon As Possible - if your regular moisturizing routine still leaves your skin in need, consider our ANYWHERE BODY BALM. This silky balm is versatile in use and works hard to heal skin by stimulating new cell growth. Plus, it's super soothing. 

Why You Should Use (The Right) Toner

It can be argued that toner is one of the most underrated skin care products on the market. Toner plays an important role in skin health but is clouded with misconception. Using a toner is thought to be too drying and only necessary for those suffering from acne. And while in some instances that can be the case, the right toner can hydrate, exfoliate, and prime the skin.

Toners formulated with alcohols can dry out the skin (beware of toners that contain Isopropyl Alcohol), but others, like our Fruit Acid Toner use alpha hydroxy acids to enrich the skin. This water-like product is able to quickly and efficiently penetrate the skin to offer instant moisture, while gently exfoliating the top layer of skin. Sloughing off dead skin cells through this exfoliation process will keep pores from getting clogged, and allow moisturizers, serums, and other follow-up facial products to reach and benefit the skin’s surface.

Adding to the long line of skin care misconceptions, exfoliation does not only occur through the use of an abrasive ingredient. Sugar, salt, and seeds might be effective for hands, feet and other rough spots on the body, but the skin on our faces is extremely delicate. Using one of these ingredients can cause capillaries underneath our skin to break, resulting in red spots and other damage. Alpha hydroxy acids (AHA), on the other hand, work to “unglue” the bonds between our skin and dead skin cells to aid in the shedding process. AHAs are derived from natural substances, like fruit in the case of our Fruit Acid Toner.

So who should use a toner? Everyone can benefit from a toner, but especially those with aging skin as our ability to naturally slough off dead skin cells diminishes as we age. Also, those who are affected by sun or wind damage. The elements can create an abundance of dead skin cells and exfoliation is essential. 

But even those products made without irritating alcohols should still be used sparingly at first. Acids can be irritating when first introduced to the skin, so we recommend diluting a cotton pad with water before applying our Fruit Acid Toner. Use it once a week at first, building up to 2-3 times a week, daily, or as much as your skin needs. And always follow up with a moisturizer or serum.

How To Pick The Right Toner

• Avoid harsh toners that include alcohols, as they can be severely drying and irritating to the skin.
• Avoid toners that use parabens or chemical preservatives, like Urea Imidzaolindinyl and DMDM Hydantion. Since toner is a water-based product, preservatives are necessary to keep microorganisms from forming. Parabens are the most common preservatives (they’re convenient and cheap!) but have been linked to severe health issues like cancer. 
• Even if your toner says it includes a moisturizing element (think: aloe vera, vitamin E), you will still want to follow up with an effective, non-toxic moisturizer to keep your skin’s moisture levels balanced.
• Regular use of a good cleanser, like our Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser, will help keep your skin clean and bacteria free, reducing the amount or frequency of toner you have to use. This is helpful to those with dry or sensitive skin.
• Not sure about your toner’s toxicity level? Download the EWG’s Skin Deep mobile app (complete with a convenient barcode scanner!) or visit their website to see how its ingredients rank.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up a bottle of Fruit Acid Toner and see just how regular exfoliation can make your skin glow!

Can Toxins Contribute to Weight Gain?

We understand that weight, and the disciplines of losing it and maintaining it can be a struggle. As part of our healthy journey - which weight is a huge part of - we are bombarded with diets, groups, coaches, and exercise routines (not to mention the gimmicks and gadgets). There are so many options available to help us shed the pounds and/or maintain our weight, but sometimes, no matter how vigilant we are, nothing seems to work. 

Most commonly we focus on diet and exercise to shed pounds. But as Dr. Eric Berg reminds us, you must be healthy in order to maintain a healthy weight. More and more research is coming available to support how environmental toxins - those in the air we breathe, the processed foods we eat, and the products we put on our skin - can lead to weight gain or stalled weight loss. Dr. Mark Hyman explains that toxic chemicals can hinder our body’s ability to balance blood sugar and metabolize cholesterol. It's not surprising since chemical toxins are known to be fat soluble. Simply put, when you have an excess of toxins, which the body cannot always expel, your body creates fat tissue to store them. 

 Some eye-opening food for thought:

• Toxins can cause inflammation, which keeps your body from performing at its best.
• Stress from toxins or inflammation can cause the body to call upon its “flight or fight response.” Among other things, this can result in a slowed metabolism.
• Toxic chemicals can disrupt hormones. 

Toxins easily enter our bodies in multiple ways: through our diet, the air we breath, and through the products we put on our skin. Our bodies do have some natural filters to help dispel the toxins. However, toxins can make their way into our essential body systems. There, they can manipulate hormones, slow metabolism, and call upon the body to make more fat.

There is a long list of toxic ingredients we regularly urge you to avoid. We could reiterate those now, but instead of making a list of "don'ts", it is easier (and more fun!) to talk about the ingredients and products you should trust for your skin care needs. 

Products made ethically and consciously, with organic ingredients, are our recommendations. Products formulated with clean, organic ingredients give your skin the results you crave without any of the lurking chemical toxins that can enter your blood stream and disrupt your body functions.

While there is no guarantee that reducing the toxins in your skin care, or even environment, will help you lose weight, there's no risk in trying.  In fact, you have everything to gain. Feeding your skin with enriching, thoughtful ingredients can improve the appearance of your skin, improve the quality of air that you breathe, and alleviate symptoms of some common skin care ailments. 

Outside of some well-known alternative healers, the mainstream medical community does not typically contribute to the conversation about the correlation of skin care and weight. We would be amiss to tell you that simply switching to non-toxic products will immediately result in weight loss. But, when you consider the chemicals we are exposed to, and the biology of our skin (it's a large organ that acts like a sponge), it makes sense that using clean ingredients would serve our health best. It makes sense to avoid food products without chemicals, so why should it be any different with the skin care products we put on our skin?

Please note that we are not medical professionals.

9 Non-Toxic Quick Fixes For Common Skin Crises + How To Avoid Them In The First Place

Are you suffering from cracked, inflamed skin?  Have an acne flair up?  Did your rosacea “bloom” this morning?  Whatever the issue, a skin crisis can have the potential to be debilitating. Our tendency is to quickly cover up the problem, and while that can work, there are some natural skin care options that can be both a quick fix and a long term remedy. 

Here are some product tips and daily lifestyle tweaks that can help you proactively and reactively deal with common skin care crises.

CRACKED, DRY HANDS + FEET

Quick fix:

• To combat extreme dryness, lather hands and/or feet with Healing Hand Butter and cover them with gloves or socks before going to bed. This will allow the moisture-rich ingredients to focus on your skin while you get your beauty sleep.
• Call into action a couple of ingredients that are naturally healing. Our Tamanu Neem Healing Bar features Organic Neem Oil and Organic Tamanu Oil, both of which repair skin cells and can remedy cracked skin. 

Preventative Solutions: 

• Ensure that your environment has plenty of moisture. While you can’t change the climate outdoors, you can add a humidifier to indoor air to deliver the moisture your skin craves.
• Keep skin soft and smooth with moisture-rich products like Healing Hand Butter, Eco Body Lotion, and Luxe Body Butter. Ensure that you pick products without potentially toxic ingredients like Parabens or mineral oil.
• Don’t over-wash hands as many traditional soap products can be irritating and/or drying. Avoid any soap containing Triclosan or antibacterial ingredients, which can strip the skin of its own moisture barrier (and, not to mention, is harmful to the environment). 
• Exfoliate skin with our organic Moisturizing Body Buff to get rid of dry, flaky skin so that your moisturizing ingredients can reach the skin and do their job.
• Keep your hands and feet protected. That means wearing gloves when you’re in the snow or gardening, and shoes on your feet when you’re outside.

CHAPPED LIPS

Quick Fix:

• Exfoliate your lips with a DIY mixture of honey and sugar. Apply to lips and let sit for a few minutes before rubbing gently to help slough off dead skin cells, and reveal fresh skin primed to absorb moisture-rich products.
• Apply Lip Assist Conditioning Treatment to your lips.  It will keep them moisturized and smooth with its high powered ingredients straight from Mother Nature.
• For immediate relief from a cold sore or crack on the lips, spot treat with our Tamanu Neem Bar on the affected area. While it may not smell as good as our other products, the effect is amazing. 

Preventative Solutions: 

• Avoid all lip products made with mineral oil as it is deceptively drying.
• Stash organic lip products like our Lip Yummie in routine spots in your day-to-day life, like your purse, desk, car, and nightstand. This will ensure that you can always keep your lips moisturized.
• Add coconut oil to your morning coffee. You’ll be surprised how smooth it makes your coffee and your lips with each sip.
• Add sunscreen to your lips when spending prolonged periods of time outside. You can add a thin layer of non-toxic sunscreen before you put on your Lip Yummie or Lip Skinny.
• Dehydration is a major contributor to chapped lips, so drink more water!

ACNE BREAKOUTS

Acne can be caused by many things, like hormones, environment, diet, and more. But there are some things you can do to give your face the upper hand against acne breakouts.

Quick Fix:

• Mix 1 part apple cider vinegar to 3 parts water. Use a cotton pad to dap on the breakout area. Repeat 2-3 times during the day.
• Make a paste by combining 1 tsp of Sally B’s B Green Mask with 1 Tbsp Honey (Manuka Honey is especially effective in calming inflammation) and ½ tsp Cinnamon.  Dab on affected area and let sit for 20 minutes, before washing it off. The antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties will calm down a breakout.  
• Using a cotton swab, spot treat a pimple with organic Tea Tree Oil or Clove Bud oil. 

Preventative Solutions:

• Wash skin twice a day with a gentle cleanser like our Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser. This will keep your skin free of the dirt and bacteria that can make skin oily, clog pores, and contribute to acne.
• Acne-prone skin doesn’t slough off dead skin cells efficiently, so exfoliate skin regularly with a non-toxic alpha-hydroxy toner like our Fruit Acid Toner. Dead skin cells can clog pores and interfere with skin’s natural oil production. It's also important to note that this toner also has organic witch hazel and organic Aloe Vera, which both heal and soothe. 
• Avoid irritating ingredients like Bismuth Oxychloride in your makeup. It can be an irritating ingredient and can lead to acne breakouts.
• Increase your water intake. Water can help flush toxins from your body, while allowing your body systems to work at their very best.
• Limit your consumption of dairy and sugar. Dr. Mark Hyman explains that a correlation between diet (i.e. dairy and sugar) and acne exists. 

ROSACEA FLARE UPS

Quick Fix:

• There is little you can do to quickly reverse a Rosacea flare up, but you can reduce the appearance of redness. Our Seafoam Color Corrector is a non-toxic powder makeup that refracts light differently, therefore reducing the appearance of skin redness.

Proactive Solutions:

• Make sure to always wear sunscreen, as UV rays can cause irritation and flare-ups.
• Use anti-inflammatory ingredients like Organic Tamanu Oil found in our Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser or Organic Calendula that we use in our Carrot Facial Dream Cream.
• Inflammation can be exacerbated by stress, so aim to create more balance in your life. Exercise, yoga, or regular baths can all help to reduce stress.
• Drink more green tea as it contains polyphenols that has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. You can even apply it topically by using our Antioxidant Daytime Serum, which has it on its ingredient list. 

We recommend keeping an arsenal of reparative products on hand in case of an OMG skin care crisis. Consider picking up our Traveler that has 6 pint-sized portions of our best-selling skin care products. Or, begin to incorporate these skin-loving products into your daily routine so that you can work towards eliminating outbreaks and flare-ups in the first place! 

Your Daytime Vs. Nighttime Skin Care Routine

When compiling your personal skin care routine, it’s important to recognize how your skin performs during the day versus at night. The factors that influence the skin vastly differ between the different times of day, and your skin care products should reflect that.

THE DAY

During the day, the skin is bombarded with external, environmental factors. The sun, wind, pollution, and dirt can physically impact the skin, while stress can take its own toll.

The burden of these daytime influencers can create free radicals in your skin, which can lead to aging issues, like fine lines and wrinkles. Free Radicals create an imbalance in our cellular structure which can lead to a host of problems including too dry or too oily skin, the breakdown of otherwise healthy collagen and even skin cancer.

When you prep your skin to take on the day, commit to using products that serve as the first line of defense against free radical formation: products rich with antioxidants. (Learn more about free radicals here).

Not surprisingly, moisture remains an important key characteristic of healthy skin, and keep your skin well hydrated is another piece of the daytime puzzle.

Our essential product picks for the day:

CLEANSER - Each morning, wash your face with our gentle Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser, which helps to remove any dirt or sweat that may have accumulated over night. As a bonus, Tamanu Oil, one of the main ingredients in our cleanser, is a natural anti-inflamatory. This will help to reduce any puffiness that results from your slumber.

SERUM - Our Daytime Antioxidant Serum was designed especially to protect your skin during the day. It is is bursting with active antioxidant ingredients, and is able to penetrate deep within skin to repair free radicals at their onset.

MOISTURIZER - While the serum will provide moisture to the layers underneath the surface of your skin, applying a moisturizer will help to keep the outer most skin hydrated. We recommend either our Carrot Facial Dream Cream or our Tinted Moisturizer. These creams will help to balance and calm skin by adding subtle all-over moisture.

Of course these aren't the only products you have to use to use to perfect your daytime routine. Oftentimes you need to make accommodations for the particular season (like in the winter adding a layer of B Quenched). 

THE NIGHT

There’s a lot of truth behind ‘get your beauty sleep.’ From the safety of your bed and the confines of a controlled environment, your skin is given the opportunity to go into reparative mode, reversing the damage from the sun, wind, pollution, dirt, and stress experienced during the day.

Even at night, antioxidants and moisture are the keys to skin’s success. But unlike your daytime routine that relies more on surface level products, it’s important to choose nighttime products that are active and penetrating so they can repair skin from deep within the skin’s layers.

Our essential product picks for the night:

CLEANSER - The most important thing you can do for your skin is to wash away the dirt and grime from the day (read more about the importance of washing your face). Our Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser is a gentle product that cleanses, while at the same time calming and soothing skin.

TONER - While the frequency of use will depend on your individual skin type, a toner made with alpha-hydroxy acids is an essential product. Use a toner right after cleansing to slough off dead skin cells and refine pores. This will keep your skin clean and allow other products you put on to do their job properly. Add bonus points for using a toner that also moisturizes skin, like our Fruit Acid Toner.

SERUM - Serums are formulated with a high concentration of active ingredients so that they get to work quickly and are able to concentrate on what they do fast.  Our Nighttime Antioxidant Serum, for example, is packed full of hard working, reparative antioxidants.  With luxe ingredients like organic Sea Buckthorn oil and CoQ 10, it penetrates into the skin layers and focuses on one thing: repairing damaged skin cells.

ANTIOXIDANTS  - Our body produces antioxidants, but its naturally ability to do so diminishes with age. This means we have to add them into our skin care routine when we can. One of the most effective forms of antioxidants is L-Absorbic Acid (aka Vitamin C) and we’ve created our Antioxidant Skin Boost with that in mind. Add a tiny scoop of the powder-based Antioxidant Skin Boost to a nighttime serum or moisturizer and let the Vitamin C and the other healthy ingredients slowly penetrate the skin and offer its reparative properties all night long.

MOISTURIZER - A moisturizer serves a two fold purpose at night: to replenish lost moisture during the day, and keep skin balanced while you’re sleeping. Artificial heat and air can dry skin out, so adding a surface layer moisturizer keeps skin’s moisture levels in proper working order. We recommend layering our B Quenched Facial Oil and our Carrot Facial Dream Cream for a boost of moisture. Plus, these products contain other good-for-you ingredients that enrich skin in other ways, too.

While there are two schools of products for day and night, there are products that can cross over and be used with any routine. Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser, Carrot Facial Dream Cream, and Peptide Booster Serum for example are three great products that contribute to your overall skin health (and everyone’s goal of anti-aging!) no matter what time of day.

Have a Snow Day Spa Day

When the snow has covered your driveway and you're snowed in, take advantage of the time to disconnect in favor of some self-care. Pamper yourself with a spa day. Here are some tips on how to relax and enrich your skin from the comfort of your own home:

• Mix up a custom mud mask. Use a scoop of our B Green Mud Mask with ingredients found in your kitchen. Think greek yogurt, honey, banana, avocado, and olive oil. Let the ingredients moisturize, exfoliate and calm skin while you read a book or relax in a bath. Here's one of our favorite Mud Mask recipes: https://www.sallybskinyummies.com/blogs/blogs/5827812-mix-it-up-b-smoothed-mud-mask-recipe
• Take a relaxing bath. Speaking of a bath, retreat to the tub and relax for a bit. Use our B Soaked Bath Salts to soothe muscles and calm the senses. Here are some reasons why a bath can be so great for you and your skin: https://www.sallybskinyummies.com/blogs/blogs/give-the-gift-of-a-bath
• DIY Mani/Pedi. Dry air and winter weather can leave hands craving moisture. And your cuticles can become dry and cracked. Use our Moisturizing Body Buff, Cuticle Bar, and Healing Hand Butter to treat hands and feet to a much needed massage. The ingredients will enrich skin, leaving it soft and smooth.

You don't need to have a snow day to have a spa day. Make these products and rituals part of your regular routine. Take a bath once a week or commit to mixing up a mud mask once a month. Your body and soul will thank you.

'Tis The Season To Give

While charitable giving is important all year round, there's nothing like the holidays to reinspire our giving initiatives.

We all have different organizations that carry personal meaning, but for those of you who are still searching for an organization to support, we offer you a tour through our favorites.

Heifer International 

Operating on the "if you teach a man to fish" philosophy, Heifer International empowers families to turn hunger and poverty into hope and prosperity. The organization brings agriculture, animals, and opportunity for commerce to areas with a long history of poverty. 

Why we love it: Heifer is a great example of how a small action can make a huge impact.

Learn more: www.heifer.org

Environmental Working Group (EWG)

A non-profit organization, the EWG empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With breakthrough independent research and education, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action. 

Why we love it: Their Skin Deep Database catalogs personal care and makeup products in reference to their toxicity. There, you can find if the deodorant you want to buy has any ingredients of concern, and search for a healthier option if necessary. They have also created their own certification - EWG VERIFIED™. This certification allows consumers to shop smart. The EWG VERIFIED seal communicates that a product does not contain any ingredients of concern and is transparent with their manufacturing process.

Learn more: www.ewg.org/

Camp MAGIK

Camp MAGIK is an Atlanta-based organization that provides a safe and nurturing environment, where children can express and explore their grief over the death of a loved one, in order to begin the healing process.

Why we love it: Grief is such an important, yet difficult, process, especially for children. Camp MAGIK welcomes children to camp free of charge to help process their grief wtih those experience similar circumstances. 

Learn more: www.campmagik.org

While a monetary donation is one way to give, there are other ways to support these and other organizations:

• Give your time. Lending your expertise or extra set of hands can be invaluable to an organization of any size.
• Support companies who have a chartible ethic. Patagonia is fighting to save our public spaces and Ben & Jerry's is fighting for climate justice. Support companies who are using their influence for good.
• Raise your voice. Tell a friend or share a post on Facebook. Sharing is caring!
• Educate yourself. The more you know, the better you do. Understanding the issues will allow you to better communicate with those around you and inspire new ways for you to help!

Sugar's Affect on Skin

The holidays are all about sweet indulgences. From the cookie exchanges to the dessert spread at yet another holiday party, sugar can quickly become its own food group. While delicious, this is not a good thing. Too much of the sweet stuff can have serious consequences on the appearance of your skin.

When we consume sugar, our body processes it by converting it to glucose, which acts as fuel. And when it hits our bloodstream - boom - instant sugar rush. But, at the same time the sugar is giving you renewed energy, it is also attaching itself to the collagen in your skin, causing it to become tough and inflexible. With poor elasticity, skin is unable to bounce back into place, and facial movement lines become more visible. In short, sugar can accelerate the signs of aging.

That's not all. Sugar creates inflammation in our bodies, which can affect our joints and/or increase our susceptibility to illness. Inflammation can also manifest itself into rosacea, acne, rashes, or increased pore size.

Just as quickly as sugar can perk us up, a lack of sugar can make us "crash." When our bloodstream is void of sugar, it starts craving the energy it once had. This is responsible for us snacking on sweets or reaching for a soda in the afternoon. The vicious cycle of sugar rush and crash thus begins. Keep up this bad habit and your body might become conditioned to need a donut or pastry to jump start our morning or need that afternoon soda to make it through the day. Experts say that by balancing and maintaining blood sugar your body will eventually stop craving these skin altering sugars.

Give The Gift of a Bath

Self-care is often a trending-topic, and for good reason. Self-care can help us to decompress from everyday stress, and improve upon our physical and mental wellbeing. However, in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it is sometimes hard to stop and take time for ourselves.

Stress affects the mind and body, but it also affects your skin. It can cause acne or eczema flair ups, can create puffiness under eyes, or make skin unusually dry. Because the holidays are synonymous with stress, we encourage you to start making a conscious effort to include self-care into your routine more regularly. You can destress with a yoga class or a good book, but our favorite option is a warm bath. It affords you the time to let your mind wander, muscles to relax, and your soul to be soothed. Plus, it offers many excellect benefits for your skin.

Whether you already have weekly baths on your calendar, or are looking to incorporate baths into your evening routine, here are some tips to maximize the health benefits of a bath:

• Detox. The warm water and steam from your bath naturally opens pores, but for more detoxifying power add sea salt to your tub. It will help to draw out toxins from your body. 
• Unplug. Make the tub a gadget-free zone to let your eyes and mind enjoy a much-deserved break from checking updates, emails, and the news.
• Relax. Add a handful of Bath Salts, essential oils, or Epsom salts to your tub to enhance its relaxation potential. Flowers like lavender, calendula, and chamomile, naturally soothe and calm muscles and the mind.
• Choose your products carefully. If you like bubbles in your bath, pay close attention to the products’ ingredients. Bubble bath is notorious for using artificial fragrance, sulfates (cleaning agent that creates sudsy bubbles), and parabens in their product formulation. As you soak in the tub, these ingredients have more time on your skin and can potentially cause more irritation or harm to you skin and body.
• Hydrate. Warm water, steam, and any detoxifying product additions can deplete your body of needed water. It’s important to re-hydrate with plenty of water once you’re finished with your bath. This becomes even more important if you decided to indulge in a glass of wine during your ritual.  
• Take a quick shower first. If you have come from a workout, gardening, or any dirty job, rinse off the dirt, grime, and sweat off your body in the shower. The alternative is washing it off in the tub and it remaining in the water for the duration of your bath.

To entice you to take a soak, and to enhance your experience, we created B Soaked Bath Salts, a unique blend of detoxifying salts, calming oatmeal, and pure essential oils. Available in two scents - Purifying and Floral - our Bath Salts are a great self-care option as they help to sooth sore muscles and reduce inflammation. Treat yourself or give as a gift - either way, they are the gift that keeps on giving!

Guess The Number Of Scoops To Win!

CONTEST IS CLOSED. CONGRATS TO RITA G. WHO WON A $50 SALLY B'S GIFT CARD! SHE GUESSED 858 SCOOPS AND THERE WERE 859 SCOOPS!

A big order of Antioxidant Skin Boost scoops arrived and we decided to have a bit of fun!

Through Tuesday, September 12, 2017, guess how many scoops are in the jar. The closest number without going over will win a $50 gift certificate to Sally B's!

Enter your guess in the comment section below through September 12, 2017. We will announce the winner(s) via email on September 13, 2017!

Fine print: The person(s) choosing the number closest to the actual amount without going over will be gifted a $50 Sally B's Gift Card that can be used at www.sallybskinyummies.com through one year of the issue date. Winners will be notified by email on September 13, 2017. Gift cards are not redeemable for cash.

Back To School Skincare Tips For Students

The transition from summer to school can be stressful for students, especially those going to college for the first time. A new environment, schedule, and diet can disrupt your skin health, leaving skin to become blotchy, dry, or even break out. However, with thoughtful product selection, one thing can remain constant during this major life change: your skin health.

In the midst of the hustle of getting out the door and late night study sessions, there are several products that will help you maintain your normal glow.

• Cleanse your face morning and night. When you’re on the go, cleansing is a necessary step in your beauty routine to make sure all the dirt and bacteria is rinsed off your face. Consider using our Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser. Not only will it keep your skin clean, but it also has anti-inflammatory properties to reduce any puffiness and/or redness from a long day.
• Use a daytime and nighttime moisturizer. You may not have control over your seat placement in class or where your bed is in your dorm, which may result in you being too close to the artificial heat or ac. Apply an enriching moisturizer, like our B Quenched or Nighttime Antioxidant Serum, to ensure skin won't dry out.
• Stay cool under pressure. Running to class? Keep your makeup from running with a spritz of our B Cool Misting Spray. The Organic Essential Oil of Peppermint will add an instant cool to your skin and the added Bamboo will help to set makeup.
• Get Your Beauty Sleep. Before your head hits the pillow, add a scoop of Antioxidant Skin Boost to your night serum or moisturizer. The enriching antioxidants inside will repair any damaged skin cells that may have occurred from too much sun or stress. While you may not be thinking of wrinkles now, these antioxidants will keep them from forming too soon. 

While non-toxic, gentle products play a big role in keeping skin healthy, there are other lifestyle considerations that play a big role in your health:

• Don’t stress. Unhealthy levels of stress can affect the appearance of your skin, so make healthy lifestyle choices (think: diet and regular exercise) to keep stress levels low and balanced. Regularly getting to the gym can be tough with school meetings and study sessions, so think about biking to school or walking the long way to class. And when an unexpected stressful moment strikes…just breathe.
• Get plenty of good sleep. Pulling “all nighters” might seem like the thing to do during the school year, but getting good, restful sleep is essential for proper skin cell and tissue rejuvenation. Achieve restful sleep by clearing your head as much as possible before it hits the pillow. Don’t let your schoolwork or your social media streams be the last thing you see before you fall to sleep. Instead pick up a “for fun” book, chat with a friend, or listen to music to wind down.
• Increase your Vitamin D intake. Vitamin D, a nutrient our bodies cannot make on its own, plays a big role in bone health, as well as works to prevent some disease like cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. During the summer we get an enriching dose of Vitamin D from the sun, but that exposure significantly decreases once the school year starts. To make up for this loss, add Vitamin D-rich foods, like fish, dairy, cheese, and eggs, to your regular diet.

• Invite your friends over for a spa day. Regularly de-stress and pamper your skin with a spa day. Customize a B Green Mud Mask to meet the needs of your skin, use our Moisturizing Body Buff to exfoliate hands and feet, or paint your nails. Taking regular time out for you (and your skin) is a sure-fire way to keep it healthy.
• Stay hydrated. Dehydration has been known to cause dry skin, dark eye circles, and even acne. Stash a reusable water bottle in your satchel for on-the-go hydration, and instead of caffeine choose herbal tea or coconut water when possible.

Back To School Product Tips For Teachers

Back-to-school can be a stressful time for teachers. After a summer off, teachers must re-acclimate themselves to spending their days inside, on their feet, and navigating the new personalities of their students. During this transition, skin can react negatively.

Consider all new changes skin goes through during the first few weeks of the school year:

• a new sleep schedule, with a presumably earlier wake up call
• a decrease of Vitamin D from days spent outdoors in the sun
• increase exposure to indoor, artificial air, which can dry out skin
• inflammation from standing in front of a classroom
• increased hand washing (must avoid the germs!), which can dry out skin
• an increased use of makeup, since summers generally call for a more natural, less makeup look

During back to school, teachers may experience dry skin, cracked lips, and swollen hands and feet. Their skin may even break out as a result of this change. However, thoughtful skin care considerations can keep skin balanced and healthy, so that it doesn't skip a beat as it goes from beach to classroom.

Sally B's Back To School Product Tips For Teachers

• Cleanse twice a day. Wash face with a gentle cleanser, like our Tamanu Oil Luxury Facial Cleanser, both morning and night to keep pores free of dirt and bacteria. The added organic tamanu oil in our cleanser is a natural ant-inflammatory, which will calm skin from a stressful day.
• Add a moisturizer to your daily routine. Consider applying our B Quenched Facial Oil after cleansing each morning. This lightweight moisturizer quickly absorbs into skin to add lasting moisture to skin so that it is less likely to dry out from the indoor AC that will no doubt be on in full force to keep classrooms cool.
• Stash a moisturizing lip product into your school bag. Teachers do a lot of talking, which can cause lips to dry out. Our Lip Assist Conditioning Treatment adds moisture to lips, while creating a silky, smooth shine. A double duty product for hard working teachers!
• Take care of your hands. Hands can become rough and dry from excessive hand washing and increased work like writing on the board, flipping through papers, etc. Keep a jar of Healing Hand Butter on the desk and moisturize often.
• Get your beauty sleep. Before falling asleep at night, slather feet in our Luxe Body Butter, add a scoop of Antioxidant Skin Boost to your nighttime moisturizer, and put some Intensive Eye Repair under your eyes. Let the good-for-you ingredients repair cells, enhance your beauty, and soothe your skin.

While carefully selected products will be a huge help for your skin, there are other additions you can make to your day to keep your health and skin happy.

• Increase your water intake. You can become easily dehydrated from artificial air and general inflammation from being on your feet. Stay away from too many sugary drinks and keep a reusable water bottle close by. Drink, drink, drink!
• Increase your Vitamin D. Vitamin D, a nutrient our bodies cannot make on its own, plays a big role in bone health, as well as works to prevent some disease like cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. During the summer we get an enriching dose of Vitamin D from the sun, but that exposure significantly decreases once the school year starts. To make up for this loss, add Vitamin D-rich foods, like fish, dairy, cheese, and eggs, to your regular diet.
• Incorporate exercise into your day. Exercise is known to reduce stress, as well as increase blood flow to the school. For your mental and skin health, you can walk, do yoga, or hit the gym.

The start of the school year might bring stress to your skin, but it's also the start of something fantastic. We love the hard working teachers who work so tirelessly to enrich the minds and lives of our curious young ones.

The Importance of the EWG VERIFIED program

At Sally B's Skin Yummies, we are proud to offer an array of EWG Verified products in our skincare line! However, becoming EWG VERIFIED is not for the weary, as the process has stringent guidelines and a meticulous application process. But the rewards are great, as the seal is tangible evidence that our products meet and, in some cases exceed, some very strict standards of safety.

EWG VERIFIED holds products to the strictest standards for your health. This means that products with the EWG Verified Seal have full transparency, none of EWG's chemicals of concern, and a mark you can trust. The ultimate goal of EWG Verified is for all products on the market to be free from harmful chemicals, so that everyone's purchasing decisions can finally be stress free. The Environmental Working Group is also raising awareness of the need for real cosmetics safety reform through their Beauty Made Better Campaign.

We can't keep Sally from crowing about her growing collection of EWG VERIFIED products, so we channeled her excitement in Q+A form below!

What makes products that earn the EWG VERIFICATION™ special?

When I decided to turn my hobby into a business, I knew there would be regulations and requirements that I needed to become familiar with. But instead, I was surprised to find that cosmetic industry was self-regulating. This meant that all the products I had used throughout my life may or may not have been safe.

It became the mission of Sally B's to ensure that every ingredient was carefully researched and sourced before adding to a formulation. We also wanted to set our products apart by being 100% transparent with our labeling and marketing. But aside from my confidence in our products and our word, what would make our products stand out as safe, beneficial, and of high quality?

We considered certifying our products as organic by the USDA Certified Organic program. While our products could earn the seal, a recognizable shopping icon, the program was written for and mostly applies to food products. While technically our products are safe to ingest, we don't recommend doing so. Have you heard someone qualify their skin care purchase by saying, "I only put on my skin what I would eat?" Our response to that is, you absolutely want to use organic shea butter or organic tamanu oil on your skin, but you definitely wouldn't want to eat either. 

Right at the point that we felt that we had to make this crucial decision whether or not to apply for USDA certification, we were introduced to the EWG VERIFIED program. This program offers us the opportunity to earn a seal that indicates that our formulas have been scrutinized for safely like no other program available in the United States. It is an identifying marker that we are proud to put on our products.

Why are not all Sally B's products EWG VERIFIED?

Some of our formulas simply don't apply for verification. For example, we label our B Unbitten as a bug repellent and there is currently no "licensable category" for bug repellents.

Then there are just some ingredients that are more difficult to get verified, like essential oils. The EWG has very strict criteria regarding certain essential oils.  We have been asked to supply specific testing results for components of certain essential oils. For example, in order to get products with Organic Peppermint Essential Oil approved, we had to supply test results that measured the amount of Pulegone in the oil. None of my very reputable suppliers had ever tested for Pulegone. We eventually did find a supplier that tested for it, but with that comes time and costs to get that newly sourced ingredient into our production chain. And Organic Peppermint Essential Oil is not the only ingredient like this.

Even though there are challenges, we believe in the EWG VERIFIED program so much that we are willing to jump through the hoops to get our current collection and future products verified. We will update you as products become verified...stay tuned!

Why should shoppers choose an EWG verified product over one that is not? 

The EWG program is rigorous and their standards meet or exceed other programs.  We often look to Europe and Canada to provide standards of excellence when it comes to formulating safe cosmetic products.  Those countries have banned approximately 1300 ingredients from cosmetic formulations on the market. The USA has banned 11. The EWG takes much of this information, as well as their own quality standards, and uses it when evaluating a product produced here.

What does EWG VERIFIED mean to Sally B's Skin Yummies? 

This verification seal has given us the backing and the credibility to stand behind what we say about our products.  We make our products to create effective, non-toxic alternatives to everyday products. We use the highest concentration of certified organic ingredients available. And now with the EWG VERIFIED seal, we can say that we have been scrutinized and approved by one of the most highly recommended sources for personal care product safety.

Shop our Sally B's Skin Yummies EWG VERIFIED skin care products HERE.

5 Reasons To Sign Up For Our Newsletter

On July 1st, we're giving away a $25 gift card to Sally B's and YOU could be the lucky recipient. Through June 30th, enter by signing up for our newsletter* in the field below. 

But why would you want to signup for our newsletter? We'll give you five very good reasons:

1. Become Your Own Expert. With an absence of strict government regulations surrounding ingredient safety and marketing claims, it is up to you to self-police the industry. Our weekly blogs aim to inform you on how to navigate your way through the skin care aisles, how to avoid potentially harmful products, and choose the products that are right for you.
2. Be The First To Know About Cool, New Ingredients. Ingredient research and discovery is one of our favorite things. We hand make our products in small batches for this very reason. When new, beneficial ingredients are "discovered," like pea peptides or arnica, we incorporate them into our products where we can, and then update you!
3. Get Seasonal Skin Care Tips. Weather can influence the appearance of our skin, but we give you timely tips to keep your skin healthy and balanced. Like in the winter, use an extra moisturizer and avoid scalding hot showers, or in the summer beat the heat by letting peppermint cool your skin.
4. Be The First To Know About Our Sales. We have weekly and seasonal sales, and we update you via email. Plus, learn about contests, promos, and other company happenings!
5. Be Inspired to Take Control of Your Personal Health. It's so easy to say, "I'll start tomorrow." Our emails are full of easy-to-incorporate healthy lifestyle tips that are easy to implement today! From drinking an extra glass of water or to adding a dry brush to your nightly routine, we give a myriad of tips so that you can pick what works for you and your personal health care journey.

To sign up for our newsletter, add your email address to the pop up box that may appear in the bottom, right hand corner of your screen. Or fill out the form below! You can opt out anytime.

On May 1st we will randomly select the winner of our $25 gift card and announce it here on this page, as well as email the winner directly.

*all subscribers on our email address are entered to win

Congrats to our June winner, Kristin B!

How To Help Your Body Bounce Back After a Day of Sweet Treats

Easter can be a wonderful time to spend with friends and family; however, it can also warrant a bit of overindulgence in the sugar department. A couple of chocolate bunnies leads to a handful of peeps, and before we know it we’ve eaten our way through the entire Easter Egg Hunt! While we might go to sleep happy, it’s easy to wonder what all that sugar does to our diet and skin.

We believe in moderation, so one day of sweet treats will not have a lasting effect on your skin. But, it is important to know that too much sugar day after day can cause a ruddy complexion, acne, and accelerate the signs of aging. Understanding how sugar affects skin is essential in knowing how to keep it looking its best.

When we consume sugar, our bodies convert it to glucose. It’s great for giving us energy (albeit temporary energy with an inevitable crash), but not so great for our skin. Glucose attaches itself to collagen, causing it to be tough and inflexible. With poor elasticity, skin is unable to bounce back into place, facial lines can become more visible, and wrinkles begin to appear. Sugar also creates inflammation in our bodies, which can manifest itself into rosacea, acne, or increased pore size.

After a day of sweet treats, a little self-care and diet considerations can help your body to bounce back to a healthy balance:

• Drink lots of water. No matter what ails your skin, water lends much-needed hydration to skin. Staying hydrated keeps skin tissue healthy and happy so that it always performs at its best.
• Eat antioxidant-rich foods. Studies have shown that sugar can produce high levels of free radicals within the body. Antioxidants are nature’s line of defense against free radicals, so supplementing your diet with antioxidant-rich foods like blueberries, strawberries, and leafy greens can help repair cells and the appearance of your skin.
• Get some sleep. The "beauty sleep" cliche is true! Rest will allow your body to repair itself and get those skin cells in good working shape. So yes, we're permitting you to take a nap!
• Exercise. Running, walking, or even yoga help to increase blood flow to the skin to help keep it clear and free of toxins. Plus, exercise keeps your stress levels low, which will also be helpful while your skin is in repair mode.

And what products will help in a sugar recovery? Be sure that your routine is in place with clean products that will not add to your inflammation.

• Cleanse. Make sure to cleanse skin morning and night with a gentle cleanser, like our Sally B's Skin Yummies Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser. Not only will it clean skin, but also the Organic Tamanu Oil in the formulation has natural anti-inflammatory properties.
• Refine pores. After cleansing, use our Fruit Acid Toner to slough off dead skin cells, unclog pores, and refine skin. Then, apply a custom B Green Mud Mask to further improve pores, reduce inflammation, and add moisture. We recommend mixing our Mud Mask’s clay base with avocado (moisturizing antioxidant), banana (anti-inflammatory), organic honey (moisturizing + gentle exfoliant) or plain organic yogurt (moisturizing + anti-aging).
• Moisturize. After toning and/or applying a Mud Mask, pores will be clear, and skin will be primed to absorb the good-for-you ingredients from skin care products. We recommend using a cell-enhancing moisturizer like our Peptide Booster Serum mixed in with our Daytime Antioxidant Serum or Nighttime Antioxidant Serum. The pea peptides in our Peptide Booster Serum naturally boost the skin’s collagen and elastin production, while the ingredients in the Antioxidant Serums will moisturize and fuel the skin with much-needed antioxidants.

While we recommend this routine as a reparative solution, these products also make for an excellent proactive routine. Treating skin consistently with antioxidants and moisture creates a foundation of healthy tissue and cells so that when you are tempted to eat a delicious treat, you can pick up the fork and indulge.

How Stress Affects Skin Health

Stress can pop up anytime in our lives, whether from circumstances of the unknown, your sports team losing, or a tough day at work. We can also bring stress onto our body through environment, diet, and exercise. While stress can certainly take a toll on our emotions, unhealthy stress levels can also affect the appearance of our skin. According to WebMD.com, stress causes a chemical response in your body that makes skin more sensitive and reactive. The website explains that your body produces more hormones and cortisol during times of stress, which kicks your sebaceous glands to gear, producing more oil. This can cause your skin to break out, become more “ruddy” in complexion, or even become inflamed. It can also make it harder for skin to heal.
 
Managing stress might seem like a big undertaking, but conscious and thoughtful actions throughout the day can begin to introduce balance into your daily life, thus reducing stress levels. Here are a few ways to reduce stress:

• Get plenty of good sleep. Good sleep is distraction-free sleep, so check the electronics at the door. Create a bedtime routine that allows you to de-stress with a good book, calming music, or mediation before hitting the sack. And yes, shooting for a 7-8 hour night’s sleep is an ideal target.
• Take regular baths. A warm bath can calm you both physically and mentally. Plus, its warm water and steam can naturally open pores to help draw out toxins from your body. Note: If you want to enhance your experience with bubbles, make sure to read ingredient labels! Make sure you’re using a sulfate free, chemical-dye, and artificial fragrance-free product!
• Incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Running, yoga, and swimming are all great ways to burn off steam and keep your body strong and healthy. Exercise also increases blood flow to the skin to keep it free of toxins.
• Drink lots of water. Dehydration can cause skin to become dry and lose elasticity. Drinking water keeps skin moisturized, as well as keeping body systems in check and working their best. Keeping your body healthy will allow you and your body to recover more quickly when stress does creep in.

• Use products made with gentle, non-toxic ingredients. Chemical ingredients can cause unnecessary stress by overwhelming your system. Using plant based, organic ingredients carries added benefits for your health.
• Keep skin clean. Cleansing your skin twice a day will ensure that your skin is free of bacteria, dirt and makeup that might have accrued overnight or during the day. Try our Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser , made with gentle ingredients that cleanse and heal. Plus, the organic Tamanu Oil has natural anti-inflammatory properties to calm skin.
• Apply a mud mask. Our B Green Mud Mask is a customizable mask that will, among other things, moisturize, calm, and remove toxins from skin. A great treatment for skin stressed from external, environmental factors, like extreme wind or seasonal dryness.

• Increase your antioxidants. Stress, especially stress from environmental factors, can cause skin cells to become imbalanced and form free-radicals. Antioxidants are nature’s defense against free radicals, so maintaining a steady intake of antioxidants – whether from your skin care or diet – will keep your skin protected proactively instead of having to repair it re-actively. Looking to add antioxidants to your skin care routine? Try our Antioxidant Skin Boost.

Creating a daily skin care routine with good-for-you products will give your skin an advantage when stress does creep in. Not only will they keep your skin performing at its very best, but the hardworking, multi-tasking, plant-based ingredients found inside your products will be poised and ready to go should there ever be a need for extra help against the burdens of stress.

The Chapped Lip Remedy

Chapped lips are one of the most common skin ailments, and among one of the most irritating. They can be the result of dry weather, frequent lip licking, or dehydration. Luckily, the remedy is usually simple. An easy application of lip balm can quickly make lips soft and smooth. However, choosing the right lip product is essential to your success and the overall health of lips.

A lip balm is typically the go-to choice for chapped lips. But all too often lip balms will contain mineral oil, a petroleum byproduct and a known carcinogen. This ingredient allows a product to boast moisturizing benefits, but in fact lip balms made with mineral oil only offer temporary relief. Mineral Oil creates an impermeable barrier that traps your body’s current moisture in, giving you the feeling of relief. It does not allow for additional moisture to penetrate skin. This is the reason why you find yourself constantly applying certain lip balm products. Instead, look for products that use mineral oil alternatives like coconut oil. Organic coconut oil is the hero ingredient in our Lip Yummies, which works from deep within the layers of skin to truly moisturize and nourish lips. It gives an instant boost of moisture, while allowing lips to still "breathe," benefiting from the other good-for-you ingredients in your product, or the environment's natural moisture.

But how can you avoid chapped lips in the first place? We're glad you asked! Our Lip Assist Conditioning Treatment is a transparent lip gloss that features active, plant-based botanical and moisture-rich, organic oils and butters to soothe lips, minimizing the appearance of dry, chapped lips from deep within. With its subtle gloss, it can enhance your lip's natural color when worn alone, or add a sleek finish when worn atop your favorite lip color.

With the added healing power of organic Gotu Kola and the anti-aging benefits of Vigna Acontifolia, our Lip Assist works double duty to keep lips moisturized and the area around your mouth youthful. The skin around your lips is prone to fine lines and wrinkles (from all the smiling you do), but our Lip Assist is formulated with some of the hardest working anti-aging ingredients to keep your smile looking youthful. In addition to using this product during the day, we suggest liberally applying it to lips and the skin around the lips right before going to bed.

When talking about lip products we would be remiss to not warn against colored lip products. In 2007, the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics published the study A Poison Kiss: The Problem of Lead in Lipstick, which first alerted consumers to the all too common problem of lead in lipstick. The dangers of lead exposure can vary from developmental problems in children to cancer in adults. While it should register as a concern for everyone, pregnant women and young children are the two groups that should take particular caution against lead. From the earliest stage in the womb to age 6, kids are undergoing their most vulnerable developmental stages, which can be negatively affected by the presence of lead. But how does lead find its way into lipsticks and lip glosses? Lead is an unintended contaminant or impurity that can be present at low levels in some color additives and in other common ingredients, like water, that are used to produce cosmetics. Luckily for us, today’s cosmetics market boasts a plethora of non-toxic lip coloring options, like naturally occurring micas, which we use to color our B Glossy Lip Gloss and Lip Skinnies. Instead of water to add moisture to our products, we use organic oils and butters that do not have traces of lead.

Wonder if your lipstick contains lead? Look it up on the EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database. This independent cosmetics watchdog has safety tested thousands of products and will reveal any known toxins or potential health concerns of your products.

Chapped lips do not be an inevitable side effect of daily life. Being prepared with the right products, containing the right ingredients can make all the difference.

Transitioning to a Healthy New Year

With the New Year comes the renewed vigor to transform our lifestyles. Whether it is a new diet, workout goal, or the pledge to use healthier skin care products, a change in lifestyle can impact the appearance of your skin.

A major change – like increased sweating from a new workout, additional sun from an outdoor running routine, or simply a change in the foods you eat – can change the texture of your skin or even cause blemishes. In fact, often times your skin is first to show change, the good, the bad, or the ugly. So how exactly do you care for your skin when making changes? Very good question.

If you’re going healthy in 2017, we absolutely recommend adopting a non-toxic skin care routine in conjunction with whatever your resolution is. However, it’s important to add new products gradually, even non-toxic products. Anything new, including plant-based ingredients, can be a shock to your system if introduced all at once. Especially when your body is busy adapting to another change.

For transitions like this, we developed our Skin Care Detox programs for face and body. The products used in the detox programs are made with the fewest number of ingredients, which are clean, organic when possible, and gentle as to work with all skin types. Many are also unscented or very lightly scented, as fragrance, even when from natural sources like organic essential oils, can be irritating at first. Each program comes with only the necessary products for your routine so that you’re not burdening your skin with too many products and ingredients.

During the duration of the Detox programs – which last about a month – skin becomes balanced and begins performing at its very best. Plus it becomes primed for additional products within Sally B’s non-toxic skin care collection. A great group of products that we always recommend as “firsts” for people just beginning a non-toxic skin care journey are Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser, Lip Assist Conditioning Treatment, Get Even Finishing Powder, and Daytime and Nighttime Antioxidant Serums. These products work with most skin types and make skin look even more dazzling.

As you continue on during your health journey, here are some tips to help transition to healthier products:

• Take Inventory. Make a list of all the personal care products you use and research their toxicity on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database. You’ll notice that some of your products will rank higher than others, so those are the ones you’ll want to swap out first.
• Swap out your products as you run out of them. When you’re out of moisturizer, replace it with a healthy option.  This will give you time to get used to new products while implementing a gradual change in your daily routine.
• Start with nighttime products. After all, they do call it “beauty sleep." While you’re fast asleep your skin is hard at work. Give it the opportunity to absorb good-for-you ingredients and rejuvenate. Our Antioxidant Boost is a great way to nourish your skin; plus you can mix it with your existing night cream, lotion, or our Antioxidant Nighttime Serum.
• Clean your brushes. Something often overlooked, but very important, is to always remember to switch or clean your brushes when you switch to a new makeup. Bacteria and chemical residue from a previous product can accumulate in brushes and we don’t want anything interfering with your new, healthy products.

Lastly, with any new skin care product we always recommend that you do a patch test by placing a small amount of the product the underside of your forearm to see how your skin reacts. This is especially important for people who have known plant based allergies, as natural products are largely derived from plants.

Congratulations on your decision to make the switch to healthier products!
 

MY ROUTINE: Discover Nancy's Skin Care Routine

We all have our own health care journey and specific skin care needs, but it is always helpful to have guidance when we first set out to change or improve upon our routine. While we tell you about our products’ ingredients and benefits, hearing how someone else, with a similar skin type and skin goals, uses them can be more beneficial.

Our employees have always been our guinea pigs (who else is going to try our new products?!) and our biggest fans, so you can imagine that many conversations in the kitchen/lab turn to what products we’re loving. Recently we profiled one of our employees, an early 30’s mom who was dealing with seasonal dry skin. Today we introduce to Nancy, an integral member of our production team. She is 61-years old and has dry to normal skin. Like many others her age, she is working to minimize the signs of aging. For her, it’s the combination of moisture, antioxidants, and peptides that is keeping her skin healthy and looking its best.

About a year ago she made the switch to a non-toxic, organic routine filled with Sally B’s Skin Yummies' products. At the foundation of her routine is our Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser, which she uses morning and night. This helps keep her skin clean and primed to benefit from the nutrients inside the moisturizers she follows up with. In the morning she uses 1-2 pumps of each our Peptide Booster Serum, Daytime Antioxidant Serum, and Carrot Facial Dream Cream (remember: apply your products from thin to thick so that they can absorb properly into skin). Then, she finishes her look with Luxury Mineral Foundation and B Cheeky Blush.

In the evening, after cleansing, she has a similar line up of products as in the morning: Peptide Booster Serum, Nighttime Antioxidant Serum, and Carrot Facial Dream Cream. Three times a week she adds a scoop of Antioxidant Skin Boost in with the Nighttime Antioxidant Serum for an extra boost of free-radical neutralizing antioxidants.

Her dry skin is not limited to her face though. To keep her skin balanced, three mornings a week she treats her body to an all over scrub with Peppermint Moisturizing Body Buff. The essential oil of peppermint helps wake her up, and the organic shea butter keeps skin hydrated. So hydrated, in fact, that she doesn’t have to follow up with lotion or cream.

For Nancy, this routine has made her skin healthier and plumper. But best of all, she loves that her skin “just feels good.” Those who subscribe to a healthy skin care routine understand this – it’s hard to describe healthy, happy skin. Often times it is an indescribable glow, and other times it is a simple, “it just feels good.” But even though it is hard to describe, one thing is for sure: you will know when you find the perfect routine for you.

5 Reasons To Choose Organic Skin Care Products

You want to be healthy, and you want your skin to look its very best. So you pamper your skin with this product and that product, and pay close attention to what you eat. When you choose foods, you more than likely pay attention to the nutrition facts and ingredient lists, choosing foods that fuel your healthy daily allowances and aren’t made with artificial ingredients. But are you as scrupulous with your skin care selections?

Beauty aisles are littered with products and marketing claims promising that their formulas will improve skin appearance and texture, remove dark spots, and reduce the signs of aging. Like fad diets that give temporary results, oftentimes products made with artificial or chemical ingredients offer the same thing – a temporary mask without improving skin from deep within. Studies and experience have taught us that eating organically is the best decision for our overall health, so it can be deduced that organic skin care products are also worth the effort.

Think about a transdermal patch – a small patch that is applied directly to the skin to deliver a dose of medication to the bloodstream. Your skin allows the medication on these patches – most often aids to help people quit smoking, or birth control methods - to enter your skin and alter your body’s functions. This is all topical.  There is no special delivery system in these patches...except for your skin of course. The ingredients in your skin care products are no different. When you massage lotion on your skin, where does it disappear to? The ingredients are absorbed by the skin and into the bloodstream.

Finding organic skin care products can take an extra step. There is a bit of research and due diligence to be done, but it is worth it because your health is worth it. Here are 5 reasons why choosing to use organic and plant-based skin care products is important:

1. Because you want to put only the healthiest, safest ingredients on your face and body. In the United States, there are few safety regulations within the skin care industry. And that’s a scary thing for your health. Skin care products can play host to a number of chemical ingredients that are skin and health irritants - including parabens, carcinogens, and allergens. An eye-opening fact: there are currently 12,500 ingredients used in skincare products, but the United States has tested only 11% and banned only 8. The European Union, however, has banned 1,100 ingredients, labeling them as hazardous chemicals. Choosing products made with non-toxic and organic ingredients helps to keep your skin and body performing at their very best.
2. You will notice a difference in the tone and texture of your skin.You might have read stories about beauty icons from centuries ago – think Cleopatra, Nefertiti, and Guinevere – who relied on plant-based ingredients for their beauty. We’re finding that there is plenty of truth in legend. Taking our beauty practices back to basics – or back to nature – has proven that our skin craves the gentle and nourishing benefits of organic, plant-based ingredients. While you may be skeptical now, making the switch will have a big impact on your skin’s appearance and health.
3. You are preserving the planet’s health and making it a bit more beautiful, too. Purchasing an organic product potentially removes a chemically laden product from being used. This means that toxic ingredients washed down the drain are not disrupting our delicate eco-systems. With few government regulations on skin care ingredients, keeping certain chemicals out of nature is an initiative that must be taken by skin care manufacturers and consumers. There is progress being made with some states banning ingredients, like plastic, exfoliating micro-beads and Triclosan, but until it becomes more wide spread it is up to you to do your research. Be sure to look for companies who source their ingredients from renewable resources that are sourced ethically and responsibly. This helps to keep our planet’s resources balanced and healthy.
4. Organic products work.  For too long “organic” translated to “granola” and the misconception that organic products could not perform like products made with chemical and artificial ingredients. However, over the years we have found sources for beneficial organic and plant-based ingredients that contribute to our success in making healthy products that work. In fact, we hear every day from customers who are amazed at the effectiveness of our serums or moisturizers. It is why we do what we do each and every day – so that we can share our excitement and successes with everyone around the world.
5. Your Health is Worth It.  We all have a health journey. Whether it is cancer, skin ailments like eczema, or the desire to lose weight, we have found through customer accounts, personal experiences, and research, that eliminating certain chemicals in personal care products can alleviate symptoms. Conscious skin care choices, made in tandem with a healthy lifestyle and diet, can even be preventative solutions for some health issues. The symbiotic relationship we have found between feeding your skin and feeding your body is important to understand when taking inventory of your health and well being.

No matter what type of skin you have – oily, dry, or combination – thoughtful product selection can have a dynamic impact on your overall health. Yes, not just your skin health, but overall health. But don’t take it from us. Make a conscious effort to swap your products out for organic, plant-based alternatives and discover for yourself just how positively your skin, and body, will react to the change.

Try our Sally B's Skin Yummies skin care products made using only the highest quality organic, natural, and wild-crafted ingredients!

Detox Your Skin After An Epic Vacation

Your vacation was epic! But between the long travel days, new environment, prolonged days outside, or a departure from your day-to-day skin care routine, your skin may return home craving some extra TLC.

It's normal for skin to react to a new environment. Maybe you experienced drying air during a long flight or higher than usual humidity. You could have worn more sunscreen and spent more time outdoors. And we all know that we over indulge on good eats when we travel! So it's no surprise our skin can be a bit out of balance when we return back to "real life." But we have the answer - our Facial Detox Box.

Like a juice cleanse or food detox that rids your body of toxins, a skin detox works in a similar way. Our first-of-its-kind Facial Detox Box offers four essential and gentle products to help restore your skin's natural, healthy glow.

The back-to-basics program, rids skin of toxins and feeds it with beneficial ingredients to balance, moisturize, and repair. The program comes with an easy-to-follow routine and with enough product to last about a month. While you may start seeing your skin return back to normal in a week or two, you can still continue with these products and gradually introduce other products that your skin was accustomed to.

Read more about our Facial Detox program here or shop for yours now.

Meet The Sally B's Detox Boxes

You've heard of diet detoxes, and might have even tried one. But a skin detox?

As a small business we're in close communication with our customers. This has given us the opportunity to hear about your successes and fails when it comes to a change in lifestyle, whether it be from a change in diet, exercise routine, or even a desire to transition to healthier products. When you are consciously ridding your body of toxins, what you put on your skin matters. Even if you're already using organic ingredients, even the healthiest ingredient can cause a reaction. During a lifestyle change, your body is busy flushing out toxins and you don't want your skin care to hinder your efforts.

Inspired by all of you, and our friends in the health and wellness industry, we created two Skin Detox Boxes - one for the face and one for the body. Each box contains 4 essential skin care products that are extremely gentle and made with minimal ingredients. They are formulated to nurture skin without overwhelming your system with too many ingredients.

MEET OUR BODY DETOX BOX

Our facial appearance typically takes precedent, but it's important not to forget about the skin that covers the rest of our body. The skin that is most often a victim of sweat, stress, and sun damage. To take care of this skin during a detox we recommend a series of four products - deodorant, bath salts, an exfoliator, and a moisturizer. We also recommend a tool - a dry brush, a time-tested exterior brush that helps stimulate the Lymph system and move toxins out of the body. GET YOUR BODY DETOX BOX HERE

Herbal Deodorant

Typical deodorants have been known to contain toxins, including parabens, aluminum, and artificial fragrance. You may have heard claims about deodorant and its ties to breast cancer. But what are the alternatives?

A similar formula to Sally B's veteran deodorant product Herba Pads, our new Herbal Deodorant has a blend of herbs and activated charcoal (from coconut husks!) that keeps the underarm clean and free from bacteria. This deodorant comes packaged with pre-moistened cotton pads that you wipe under the arm as often as necessary throughout the day. While the pad may look intimidating, colored black from the charcoal, the color does not linger on skin or rub off on clothing.

If this product is your first departure away from an antiperspirant, there will be a bit of a learning curve. During your detox, your body's response will be to sweat. It's part of the cleansing process. These pads will not keep you from sweating like an antiperspirant, but they will remove any smell that may accompany it. At first, we recommend carrying the pads with you and applying as often as you need them. However, over time, you'll notice that your body will acclimate to your new, healthy lifestyle and you won't need to use them as often to stay fresh

Purifying Bath Salts

Soaking in a bath with bath salts can assist with the detoxification process. Our Purifying Bath Salts contains both Dead Sea and Epsom Salts, as well as a purifying blend of organic essential oils especially formulated by a certified aromatherapist. There is also added organic oatmeal to soothe the skin.

Moisturizing Body Buff

A good scrub to rid the skin of excess dead skin does a lot to the appearance of the skin. Our Moisturizing Body Buff - the same product as our best-selling Sugar Scrub, just without essential oils - not only rids the skin of dead skin cells to allow fresh skin to emerge, but it also adds moisture. While the product is unscented, you may get a whiff of chocolate. That's just the organic cocoa butter!

Luxe Body Butter

This brand new product can be used to moisturize the whole body. During times of dietary and other lifestyle changes, skin can become extremely dry. Our Luxe Body Butter, with anti-inflammatory Organic Tamanu Oil, works to keep it soft and moisturized. While we offer several scented varieties on the web and in our retail shop, our Detox Box contains the unscented option.

Dry Brush

This tool is offered as an additional way to stimulate the lymph system to aid in the detoxifying process. To use this brush, start at the outer most parts and gently brush towards the heart with small, repetitive sweeps. Because of its efficiency, we recommend using it every night before you hop in the shower or go to sleep. Overtime you will notice its benefits.

MEET OUR FACIAL DETOX BOX

Our face is the oftentimes the first to show imperfections at any sign of change. Our Facial Detox Box helps to keep skin calm and balanced during any sort of lifestyle shift, to ultimately create a healthy foundation. After your month of using our Facial Detox Box, your skin will have been acclimated to organic, from-nature ingredients, so you can begin building your non-toxic skin care routine. GET YOUR FACIAL DETOX BOX HERE.

Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser

It's our best selling cleanser in a 2 oz pump, without the Lavender essential oil.  This cleanser is effective and beneficial for every skin type.  The organic Tamanu Oil is an anti-inflammatory that calms rosecea, sunburn, acne, and rashes. Use this cleanser morning and night to keep the skin free of bacteria and dirt. This not only allows your other products to work to their full potential, but also keeps skin feeling super soft and clean.

Peptide Boosting Serum

An oil-free moisturizer that boosts collagen and promotes the growth of new skin cells. This product is the perfect follow up to cleansing, as its lightweight design quickly absorbs into skin and works from deep within to keep skin moisturized all day.

Daily 3 Moisturizer

A brand new, light-weight moisturizer designed exclusively for our Detox Box that contains moisture-rich organic oils like Argan, Camellia Seed, Macadamia, Avocado, and Rose Hip Seed. It also has soothing properties to truly enrich skin health.

Charcoal Mud Mask

This dry blend of French Green Clay, herbs, Bamboo, and Charcoal is intended to be mixed with water and organic honey to help extract toxins from the skin. It also exfoliates, moisturizes, and repairs. The result: clean, fresh skin.

Your tool in this box is a hand-made, bamboo stretch headband.  We made it extra wide so that every bit of hair stays off your face while you wash your face and apply your products.

Whether you are making a commitment to enhance your overall health, launching detox cleanse, newly pregnant and seeking out healthier products or making a change to your diet for any reason, these boxes will compliment your transition. Cleansing on the inside and outside will simplify the transition so your true beauty can shine through.

Questions about a skin detox? Email us at info@sallybskinyummies.com.

Summer (Skin) Lovin'!

While it’s great to find a skin care routine for our skin type, it is important to remember that there is no such thing as a “set it and forget it” approach. We have to constantly be aware of other factors - including diet, personal health, and environment - that can impact the look, feel, and health of our skin. As these external factors change, so do our skin care needs. This is especially true during seasonal weather changes. In the winter our skin is up against cool, dry air and in the summer it’s up against sun and heat.

While everyone’s routine will differ slightly, here are our recommended products for the summer:

Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser. All year round we recommend using a gentle cleanser like our EWG VERIFIED™ Tamanu Luxury Facial Cleanser twice a day. But in the summer you may need to use it more than twice a day. If you find yourself sweaty after time spent outdoors, wash your face when you’re finished. It is important that dirt, grime, heavy sunscreen, and other bacteria picked up during the day do not linger on skin or clog pores.

Peptide Booster Serum. Not only is our EWG VERIFIED™ Peptide Booster Serum oil-free (our skin is naturally more oily in hot environments), but it also acts as a superior moisturizer. Even though summer air can be moist (hello, humidity), the heat has a tendency to dry skin out. Plus, the pea peptides in this serum have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cell-repairing properties.

Intensive Eye Repair. The bright, summer sun causes us to squint more than usual, and it’s true, squinting can lead to fine lines and wrinkles. Our Intensive Eye Repair moisturizes skin and reduces inflammation under the eye to keep skin smooth and supple, and, most of all, wrinkle-free.

Get Even Finishing Powder. In the summer we tend to wear less makeup. While you may not need a foundation or eye makeup, consider adding our Get Even Finishing Powder to your makeup bag. This translucent powder evens out skin tone, gives the face a polished, yet natural look, and can even help blot excess oil from skin. It can be worn alone on top of clean skin or on top of our Tinted Moisturizer for a matte finish and great summer look.

Fruit Acid Toner. Not all skin types require the use of a toner every day, but in the summer it might be beneficial for it to make a regular appearance in your routine. Because of sweat, sunscreen, and other environmental stresses associated with summer, our pores become larger and can become clogged. Our Fruit Acid Toner helps to naturally refine pores and keep them clean. It also keeps dead skin from accumulating, allowing fresh new skin to receive the other great products you are applying.

Antioxidant Skin Boost. Sun exposure can lead to free radicals, which can lead to unhealthy cells, which can lead to wrinkles. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, which is why we bottled them up into our Antioxidant Skin Boost. Just add a scoop to your Peptide Booster or other cream each night and let Vitamin C, Hyaluronic Acid, and Resveratrol repair skin for a refreshed, healthy glow each morning.

Our face isn’t the only thing affected by summer. The rest of our body takes a toll, too. When used in tandem, our Sugar Scrub and Healing Hand Butter leave hands, feet, arms, and legs silky smooth - ready for flipflops, shorts, and tanks. And must haves for every beach bag, picnic basket, or backpack? One of our Lip Yummies, bottle of B Unbitten, and B Soothed. Soothe chapped lips, keep skin from irritating bug bites, and soothe irritated skin, whether from sun burn, blisters, or outdoor wear and tear. Not only will your skin be happy, but you will be, too!

Skin Cancer Awareness Month: Tips to Protect Your Skin

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, each year two million people are diagnosed with skin cancer. It is the most common form of cancer, and also one of the most preventable. As summer approaches, it is important to understand the risks of cancer and how you can take steps to minimize your chances of being diagnosed.

While using organic skin care products and leading a healthy lifestyle can improve the health and look of your skin, they are not a foolproof line of defense against the sun’s harmful UV rays. However, there are several ways to protect your skin to keep you cancer-free.

• Schedule regular visits to your dermatologist. We can’t stress this enough. Dermatologists are trained to see skin anomalies that you may pass off as a freckle, bug bite, or blemish. It’s always good to see your doctor when you notice something awry, but early detection is key. Plus, consider the parts of your body they can see and you can’t (think your neck or your back).
• Think beyond your face. It’s easy to concentrate on the appearance of your face, but skin cancer can pop up anywhere on your body. Even in places you might neglect to check, like between your toes, under fingernails, on your behind, and even the bottoms of your feet. Take measures to protect the skin all over your body, just as you would the skin on your face.
• Get your Vitamin D, but do not burn. We think it’s important to get a daily dose of sunshine and Vitamin D, but we want you to be smart while in the sun. Always, always, always apply a 30+ SPF sunscreen when spending prolonged time outdoors. You can get burnt even when it’s cold or overcast, so make sunscreen a part of your everyday routine.
• Avoid chemical self-tanners and tanning beds. We’re big fans of a sun-kissed look, but only when it comes naturally. The UV rays in tanning beds are much stronger than those from the sun, increasing your risk for skin cancer. And those self-tanning products? They can have potentially harmful ingredients just like any other personal care products on the market, so make sure you check the ingredient listing before you use them.

We realize that we are all guilty of getting too much sun from time to time. If you do, there are some ways to repair damaged skin cells and return some moisture to skin.

• Think antioxidants. Too much sun can cause damaged skin cells, or free radicals, to form in the skin. Antioxidants – which you can find in many of our skin care products – help to repair the skin by lending a spare electron to the damaged cell that is missing one. Both our Antioxidant Serums and our Antioxidant Skin Boost are superb sources of antioxidants.
• Use Tamanu Oil to help calm skin. Inflammed skin can be a side effect of too much sun. Tamanu Oil is a natural anti-inflammatory, so it can calm and soothe skin.
• Seek out moisture-rich products. Look for products with shea butter, cocoa butter, jojoba oil, and pea peptides, to name a few, which will quickly replenish the skin’s moisture content. Do not use products with alcohols, which are drying, or mineral oil, which creates a barrier over skin and does not let moisture reach the skin.

During May – Skin Cancer Awareness Month – we urge you to make an appointment to make your skin health a priority. If you don’t already have a dermatologist or an appointment on the books, make a call to change that. Being proactive about your skin health, with regular trips to the doctor and healthy product choices, just may keep you cancer-free.