Beauty Supplies
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Most of the skin care products on the market today are harmful to the skin, and potentially harmful for the body. Many women spend hundreds of dollars a year on skin care products and do not know that most of those products contain ingredients that are harmful to the skin or cause cancer. br /br /There are over 7000 ingredients manufacturers can use in skin care products, with 1000 known to be harmful and 900 known to cause cancer. Do we need to die to look younger? br /br /Each skin care product contains an average of 20 ingredients, and every time you use it, you are putting on at least 20 potential allergens on your skin, preventing or reversing the benefit of the product.br /br /According to Dr. Getz, of Dundee Dermatology in Dundee Illinois, Most of the skincare products on the market today are not what they promise [they are] not good for you.br /br /I asked him about the newest, but most promising, skin care product on the market now, called Atopalm. He hadn#039;t heard of it. As we discussed some of the high profile skin care products on the market today, he shook his head. It#039;s almost impossible to grasp the latest trend and keep up with the market. We keep up with what has proven to work and what is good for the patient#039;s skin.br /br /The next-generation skin care products are loaded with ingredients that are harmful to the skin. The immediate look or feel of one#039;s skin confirms the premise that this product will have years off their face. In fact, he says, many of the skin care products will age and damage your skin.br /br /He recommends brands that you can get over the counter, at a fraction of the cost of a high-profiled skin care product. Two of his recommendations are CeraVe and the new Aveeno Eczema Care products. He gave me a sample of each product, and I took them home for the test.br /br /Atopalm was did a good job on rough areas, but spending $36 dollars for a 2oz. jar is too much for me to spend on a moisturizing product. The Aveeno and CeraVe products performed just as well as the Atopalm product. br /br /Sometimes the cost of the skin care products is good marketing. Consumers believe that if the product cost enough, than it must be better for them. br /br /In addition, not everyone#039;s skin reacts equally from a product. While one may tolerate an ingredient well, another may develop liver problems. One ingredient may have more adverse reactions than another may. Dr. Getz adds, Just because a product claims it is hypoallergenic, doesn#039;t mean you won#039;t have an allergic reaction to it.br /br /Here is only a small list of ingredients used in skin care products that are harmful.br /br /strongAlpha Hydroxyl Acid./strong This common ingredient found in anti-aging products, promises to renew skin and erase wrinkles. Skin care products containing AHA exfoliate the bad and the good parts of skin, the dead skin cells and the skins own protective barrier. This protective skin barrier we have is essential to blocking out free radicals, known to damage and age skin. br /br /strongCollagen./strong This insoluble protein is made of molecules that are too large to penetrate the skin. The collagen found in most skin care products is comes from animal skins and chicken feet. It forms layer of film that suffocates the skin. Sure, we have more collagen in our skin when we are younger, but the only way to restore that is by injection, not through skin care products. That is why many skin care companies now label their products as collagen boosting instead of collagen correcting the mistake and misrepresentation that collagen in the product and will penetrate the skin.br /br /strongDiethanolamine (DEA)./strong This is an alcohol, an ingredient used as an emulsifier, and emollient in skin softening lotions. If this ingredient is in products containing nitrates, it reacts chemically with the nitrates to form potentially carcinogenic nitrosamines. br /br /strongElastin./strong This ingredient is a protein like collagen. These molecules are too big to permeate the skin#039;s membrane.br /br /strongSodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)./strong Harsh detergents like engine degreasers and auto cleaning products use this ingredient. This is absorbed through the skin immediately and retained in the eyes, brain, heart, and liver. Research finds that this ingredient can also cause cataracts.br /br /strongPetroleum and Mineral Oil./strong Mineral oil is a byproduct of petroleum. The molecules in petroleum and mineral oil are too large to permeate the skin, just the same as lanolin and collagen. These ingredients provide a protective on the skin, which will help protect against free radicals. However, this will prevent fresh oxygen from entering the skin and traps in toxins, waste, and excess oil. This is a junk food for the skin.br /br /strongPropylene Glycol./strong This is an element used in brake and antifreeze–an ingredient known to cause liver abnormalities and kidney damage. If you have any of these abnormalities, skin care products may be the last thing on your Wish List.br /br /strongDimethicone. /strongThis is an emollient moisturizer, an ingredient commonly used in many skin care products. It is harmful and causes tumors and mutations in laboratory animals. It is also cancer suspected.br /br /strongDEA./strong This compound is used for pH control. This is toxic and currently under investigation for another ingredient known to cause cancer.br /br /strongGlycerin./strong This ingredient is produced by combining water and fat. Unless the humidity of air is over 65 percent, glycerin draws moisture from the lower layers of the skin and holds it on the surface, which dries the skin from the inside out. This may help those with oily to combination skin types, but will not help those with dry skin. br /br /My grandmother is 76 years old. She has never used skin care products, and her face radiates a subtle, healthy glow. What is her secret? She insists on using only Ivory soap on her skin. I never liked the smell of Ivory, but it is a staple in my beauty cabinet. It is the only product that has cured any of my skin care predicaments. In addition, it is pure and inexpensive.br /br /Check your medicine cabinet and see if your skin care product has one of these harmful ingredients.br /br /Source: brDr. Stephen Gina Antczak. Cosmetics Unmasked. Hammersmith London: Thorsons, 2001brAdrienne Denese, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Denese#039;s Secrets for Ageless Skin. New York: The Berkley Publishing Group,
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br /br /That#039;s one of the reasons I#039;m impoverished. Savings and I just don#039;t mix. But I#039;ve finally figured out a few ways to save and spend at the same time. The one I enjoy the most is playing the gift card market. With gift cards I get to spend the same money twice! And when I play the gift card market correctly, I get to save twice as well. br /br /strongUnderstanding The Gift Card Market/strong- br /br /The first step to succeeding in the gift card market is to understand how gift cards work and what rules surround them-br /br /- According to Bankrate#039;s 2007 Gift Card Study no gift cards for specific stores carry fees any longer. Additionally, only Bloomingdale#039;s and Macy#039;s cards have expiration dates. This may be true for national chains, but you#039;ll want to check on this with local stores or smaller chains. (FYI, gift cards expiration isn#039;t a matter of greed – it#039;s an accounting problem.)br /br /- Use anywhere gift cards (Visa, American Express, etc) typically do have monthly fees and/or expiration dates on them.br /br /- Know how your local escheat laws apply to gift cards and gift certificates. Escheat means A reversion of property to the state in the absence of an individual owner. This usually occurs when a property owner dies intestate, and without heirs. But it also applies to #039;abandoned#039; or #039;lost#039; financial instruments, such as bank accounts, tax refund, and even gift cards. The Incentive Gift Card Council has a brochure explaining each state#039;s escheat laws in simple terms available in this PDF.br /br /- Not all retailers gift cards are usable at the store#039;s online equivalent. Although I was unable to find a chart or list of these shops It shouldn#039;t be too hard to check with the specific stores that you are concerned about. br /br /strongGetting Into The Gift Card Market/strong- br /br /Obviously before you can start playing the gift card market you need to acquire some gift cards, right? Well, there are several ways to do so – buy gift cards directly from the named retailer, buy them from a gift card retailer (who sells gift cards to numerous stores), buy gift cards online, receive them as a reward (work, contests, online earning opportunities), or even receive them as gifts! However, there are only two ways to build your gift card collection while saving at the same time-br /br /- Receive the cards as a gift or reward at no cost to yourself (obviously), orbr /br /- Purchase the gift cards at a discount br /br /I#039;ve not been too successful at receiving gift cards as gifts (most people I know are living in poverty as well), and I#039;ll deal with gift cards as rewards in a future post, but today I want to focus on buying discounted gift cards. Once again there are several routes you can take-br /br /- When friends, family, associates, or coworkers complain about gift cards they won#039;t, or can#039;t, use offer to buy them at a discountbr /br /- Keep an eye out for special offers for gift card discounts at your local retailersbr /br /- Trade small denomination gift cards (or those you got at a discount) for larger onesbr /br /- Buy the gift cards below face value online br /br /The first two ways are fairly self explanatory and the third (trading gift cards) is an entire post unto itself, so I#039;m going to focus on the move I most frequently make – buying gift cards at a discount online. There are many sites dedicate specifically to buying, selling and trading gift cards online, but at least 90% of my gift card purchases are made through eBay. While buying anything on eBay contains slightly more risk than buying at a retail store, I#039;ve purchased literally hundreds of gift cards on eBay and haven#039;t been ripped off yet. Just remember the standard precautions when buying at auction and you should be fine. Most important in this case is taking shipping costs into account. You don#039;t want to end up paying $27 for a $25 gift card! br /br /strongMaximizing Gift Card Market Savings/strong- br /br /Finally, we get to the fun part. How to maximize your savings by using gift cards. When I talk about buying gift cards below face value I#039;m talking about significant savings. With one exception (discussed in examples, below) I never pay more than 90% of face value for my gift cards. This is my added layer of security. If I do get scammed in an online gift card purchase some day the loss will be minimized by the savings I#039;ve received over the years. Typically, though I buy my gift cards at a 15% t o20% discount, with the occasional savings of 25% or more.br /br /The beauty of buying discounted gift cards is that the savings is 100% stackable with in store discounts, coupons, etc! Since gift cards work the same as cash when making your purchases you can still get the savings even if your other discounts are one coupon per transaction or something similar. In other words, I#039;ve already saved 10% to 25% before I even walk in the door. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, this also helps curb my shopaholic tendencies because I get to spend the same money twice! Additionally, buying gift cards in advance of large purchases helps me set the money aside. br /br /strongExamples of Gift Card Savings/strong- br /br /Large purchases- br /br /When I needed to spend $800 (about a week#039;s take home pay) on new tires, I knew I couldn#039;t do it all at once. But paying on credit just ends up costing more in th elong run, and when I set the money aside I#039;d end up spending it on some emergency, thus never saving enough to make the purchase. By deciding where I was going to buy my tires (in this case Sears), I was able to buy several discounted Sears gift cards over the period of a couple of months. Since I don#039;t typically shop at Sears this was a defacto savings account. True I wasn#039;t earning interest on the money sitting in the gift cards, but the savings more than made up for it in my case. br /br /Regular Shopping Trips- br /br /As a caregiver I make roughly five trips a week to my local Safeway grocery store (1 for me, two for each of my roommates/clients). Each trip I spend roughly $30 to $75 (my clients grocery money comes out of their budgets but I control all the cash). By regularly buying discounted Safeway gift cards from eBay and combining them with club card savings, manufacturers coupons and Safeway coupons (also purchased from eBay) I typically save around 50% on each of our shopping trips even though my receipt only acknowledges 30%-40%. These are the only gift cards that I will buy for less than a 10% discount from face value. Because of the frequency with which I use them the savings are worth the extra risk. br /br /Special Savings Opportunities- br /br /Until last summer my daughter Z was a regular at the Saturday morning Kid#039;s Club events at Michaels Arts Crafts Store. As a result we spent tons of money there and I was regularly buying Michaels gift cards to cut the expense (why pay $2 for Kid#039;s Club, when you can pay only $1.50 each week!). We#039;d stack my gift card savings with their regular %50 off a single item coupons to pay 40% or less on expensive scrapbooking items. When a new Michaels opened near my home in San Jose they had a 50% off your entire purchase coupon in addition to amazing discounts all over the store. I loaded up on discounted gift cards I purchased online and we spent almost $250 in one purchase. However, we took home more than $1,200 worth of stuff! That#039;s an 80% savings on brand new merchandise from a major retailer. br /br /One more thing – don#039;t forget that gift cards do make excellent gifts. Especially when you can get them for well below face value! If you#039;re someone who frequently send small gifts, consider investing in a few $5 or $10 Starbucks gift cards when you see decent discounts on them. Or if you always seem to forget someone on your gift list, a few $25 gift cards (purchased for $20 or less) can fit almost anyone.