Courtesy of Trpster*

Serious Fall Skin Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Skin Care.

It seems that every September 21st or so, I find myself suddenly scrambling around the house, trying to find the lip balm I carelessly tossed aside in April. And what about my hands? All summer, I haven’t given them much thought, and yet one day in late September, leaves beginning to turn, a little bite in the air, I notice that they’re drier than sin. What gives?

What many people don’t realize about fall is that not only does it get cooler and crisper, [Read more →]

Courtesy of Michel Filion

Serious Hand Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Skin Care.

If you poke around in the world of “hardcore gardeners” (I’ve known a few myself), you invariably find some very dedicated, very passionate people with very beaten up hands. Not that it stops them of course - when your passion for something as deeply satisfying as gardening “takes over” - well, who cares about those nice shirts and sore knees, and… unfortunately, those poor hands! If your hands could talk, they’d tell a tale of woe - strewn with cuts and scrapes, calluses, pricked fingers, fungal infections, and skin just generally battered and beaten by the damp, unforgiving earth. But it’s “loving abuse,” since after all, the benefits you reap - literally - are well worth the wear and tear on your body.

But still, living your life with cracked hands and dry skin - or worse, with cracked nails and shredded cuticles - is not a lot of fun, whatever the payoff you’re getting out in your victory garden. And because it can be so difficult to return your gardeners’ hands to their silky smooth origins, people tend to try pretty radical measures, like soaking their hands in olive oil and wearing gloves all night to lock in moisture. Most of you probably have bottles and jars of hand cream all over the house, in your glove compartment, on the shelves of your potting shed… And yet, what you hear over and over again from serious gardeners is that nothing seems to work in the long term.

Well, I’m here to tell you today that there are some easy steps you can follow to TOTALLY TRANSFORM those beaten up, dried out hands - even if things have gotten to the point where your blood is starting to flow! At Awakening Mineral Skin Care, we believe in “healing” - and that’s what this how-to article is about: how to actually HEAL gardener’s hands for good, and keep them so soft and silky, your significant other will actually REQUEST a massage from you (how’s THAT for a promise?) [Read more →]

Photo courtesy of annia316

Serious Skin Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Skin Care.

At Awakening, Dead Sea cosmetics (or “cosmeceuticals”) - including lotions, creams, and other mineral skin care products like our Dead Sea mud masque - are our “raison d’être.” We have built our company on the idea (and the proof) that skin care products formulated with natural, high-quality, concentrated minerals (and particularly certain “building-block” minerals like potassium and magnesium) will do more to give you radiant, blemish-free skin than anything else available on the market, period. (If you don’t believe me, take a look at our customer testimonials (link to testimonials)).

So we’re understandably thrilled about the rising popularity of mineral makeup over the last few years. You’ve probably been hearing alot about mineral makeup, and when you look at their benefits, it’s not hard to understand why the buzz has been so positive. When you compare them to conventional makeup, it’s pretty hard to make the argument that you shouldn’t make the switch. Like, NOW. So today I’m going to take a look at some of the big reasons you should consider trying mineral cosmetics (and while you’re at it, Dead Sea skin care products (link to products) in general), and give you a better idea why so many people are behind this new movement in cosmetics.

If you’re pressed for time, here’s the short version. After a glance at the bullet points, read on for more detailed information.

[Read more →]

Healing Eczema with Minerals

Serious Eczema Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Skin Care.

Eczema is not a disease or an allergy. Rather, it’s an “immune vulnerability” that typically appears with other so-called allergic-type immune reactions like hay fever or asthma. This has only been understood recently, but now scientists have identified approximately twenty genes that control how the skin interacts with the environment. If these genes are normal, the skin will act as a natural barrier to irritants and infectious agents. But in eczema sufferers, these genes have developed abnormally, and the skin’s barrier, or stratum corneum, function fails, allowing irritants to pass through to underlying tissues. The irritants trigger an immune response - the itchy rash that characterizes eczema (a.k.a. “atopic dermatitis”).

[Read more →]

Botox Face?

Serious Skin Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Mineral Therapies.

Warning: If you’re going to get a Botox treatment anytime soon, you may not want to read this. I’m definitely not going to pull any punches here. On the other hand, I always try to offer alternatives in these articles - and there are few good ones here. So take courage, and read on!

1. It’s Poison

You can’t help but wonder if Botox, the wildly popular anti-wrinkle treatment, would be so successful if people actually knew what the word meant. It’s actually two words combined into one. “Botulinum toxin” with a few letters removed becomes “Botox.”

Botulinum toxin in the class of poisons called “neurotoxin proteins.” Basically, it paralyzes the muscles it comes in contact with. This makes it a potentially useful medical tool: conditions such as involuntary blinking, migraines, and jaw disorders have been treated with Botulinum toxin. In practice, however, there have been at over 1,500 hospitalizations and at least 30 deaths directly associated with the use of Botox in medical treatments.

This should come as no surprise, because Botulinum is considered to be one of the most lethal naturally occurring substances on earth. If you have the misfortune to come into contact with pure botulinum, they call it botulism, a condition that usually kills people by making the respiratory muscles seize up – that is, you stop breathing.

2. It was never intended to be a wrinkle treatment [Read more →]

Photo courtesy of Milena Mihaylova

Serious Acne Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Mineral Therapies.

Those pesky teen acne outbreaks may be nothing more than a distant memory when suddenly, as Yogi Berra liked to say, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

Some people develop acne in their twenties, thirties and even forties… even if they never had acne as a teen. And although there are certain environmental factors that can increase the severity of adult acne breakouts, the ultimate cause is the same as with teen acne: hormones.

“But wait,” you say. “My hormones haven’t been crazy like this in years!” Well, you may never experience hormonal imbalance at the “teen spirit” level again, but there are many natural fluctuations of hormones throughout your life (for women, pregnancy and menopause are the two biggies). And while adult acne does affect women at a higher rate than men, most sources of hormonal fluctuation are gender-neutral (and far too commonplace): high stress levels, poor sleep, buckets of caffeine and other stimulants, poor diet, and exposure to toxic chemicals (more common than you’d think).

And yet, these things are practically required for Americans these days. Let’s face it, if you’re not stressed out and “busy,” you must be some kinda slacker! Well, the good news is, that’s total BS. And if you take the time to take better care of yourself, you’ll probably find that your adult acne breakouts diminish noticeably.

Just by using some very simple skin care remedies, you’ll join many of our customers who have experienced amazing results simply from using MUDFACE, our proprietary Dead Sea mud masque, combined with SKIN or FACE&NECK, our antioxidant face creams.

What follows are 4 “no brainer” steps that will help you start to control adult acne breakouts by helping to regulate hormonal imbalances.

[Read more →]

Photo courtesy of Gaetan Lee

Serious Skin Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Mineral Therapies.

As our customers know, we at Awakening Mineral Therapies have always made it our mission to create products that are wonderful for your skin and as friendly as possible to the environment. We have been at the forefront of changes in the skin care industry for many years, constantly seeking to improve our formulas in terms of their efficacy AND their environmental purity.

For example: parabens. Most people who are familiar with natural skin care products have seen the words “paraben free” on a label or two. I’ll be discussing parabens in more detail below, but for now, suffice it to say that Awakening was one of the first skin care companies to respond to the allegations about parabens’ negative health implications and begin to remove them from our products.

But beyond our choice of ingredients, we also believe that human health cannot exist independently of the health of our planet and its other inhabitants, which is why we never, ever test on animals, and always try to manufacture our products in the most eco-conscious manner possible. In fact, our highly concentrated formulas last up to 5 times longer than comparable products, thereby using less packaging in the long run.

But as the Product Master at Awakening Mineral Therapies, I can tell you after 15 years of formulating skin care products, that “going eco” is a lot easier said than done. [Read more →]

Serious Skin Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Mineral Therapies.

Hey there, and welcome to another edition of Serious Skin Care 101 with yours truly, Rob - Product Master at Awakening Mineral Therapies for Healthy Skin. Today I’d like to discuss some easy things you can do to improve your skin health RIGHT AWAY. There are a lot of skin care products on the market these days that are targeted to particular skin problems, certain age groups, and even consumer niches (Organic, Ayurvedic, Biodyamic, Homeopathic…). Each of these approaches brings something new (and in many cases, something valuable) to the arena of skin care. But no matter what your age, sex, geographical region, or skin problem, there are some basic things you should be doing every day that will contribute to better skin health in the long term. In fact, without these basics, it is unlikely that the products you choose for your specific skin needs will have their full effect. The skin — your body’s largest organ — is but one component of human health, and as such, it does not exist in a vacuum. Stay healthy in general, and you’ll have healthier skin – there’s no two ways about it!

Read on for a list of 8 simple things you can do to improve your skin health right away. The key is getting going right now, and doing these things every day. Ready? Okay, we’re off to see the Skin Wizard.

[Read more →]

Photo Courtesy of DigitalART2

Serious Wrinkle Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Skin Care

Let me start by saying that if you’ve tried injection treatments to reduce your wrinkles, I don’t consider you to be insane. I mean really, who could fault you? I heard a funny comment the other day: “60 is the new 40.” And it’s true. We’re all living longer than ever, and with the advent of new “lifestyle” drugs and supplements, we’re all doing a lot more in our “mature” years. Add to that the cult of youth that has appropriated younger looking older folks for its advertising – making it almost an imperative to be “young” even at 80. Gone are the days of mahjong and gin rummy. These days it’s wind surfing, adventure travel, and Red Bull to keep you going.

While this is pretty unrealistic for the vast majority of aging people in the world, it is something to aspire to. And heck, if you can’t do it, you can at least try to LOOK like you can, right?

Enter the wrinkle-reduction industry [Read more →]

Serious Foot Care 101 with Rob Hardwicke, President and Product Master at Awakening Mineral Therapies for Healthy Skin.

“Hydrate and Heal.” That’s our mantra here at Awakening Mineral Skin Care. And that’s the simple key to curing dry, cracked, painful heels and feet. In fact, just getting your feet properly hydrated will relieve most of the pain you’re experiencing. The healing part is mostly about diligence and using high-quality products. We’ll get to that below.

Now, you may be wondering how you ended up with such painful, cracked heels and feet in the first place. After all, those big thick calluses should be acting like a layer of protection, right? Wrong (sorry). Many people don’t know that calluses – basically a thick layer of intensely dry skin – are really the source of painful, cracked feet and heels. [Read more →]