Press Kits / Story Ideas"Giving Skin What it Really Needs: What Awakening Products do Differently"Here is a startling fact: 80% of chronic skin conditions can be improved or entirely healed simply by hydrating skin properly. Not just dry skin, cracked feet and various kinds of contact dermatitis, but difficult, long-term skin problems like eczema, psoriasis and even acne. That's the impetus behind our mantra at Awakening Skin Care: "Hydrate & Heal." What Awakening's Dead Sea mineral skin care products do differently than the vast majority of "moisturizing" creams and lotions is to actually provide skin cells with what they really need in order to be hydrated. Plant-based formulas that rely on ingredients like shea butter and various oils (many of which DO have certain healing properties) only do half the job of hydrating the skin: they KEEP moisture in, by creating a moisture barrier on the skin's surface. But the other half - PUTTING moisture in - is either very limited or nonexistent. Awakening's formulas isolate the two key Dead Sea minerals that are the most efficacious for skin health, and then combine them with a range of rare essential oils and botanical extracts. This results in ultra-potent products that are unlike anything else on the market today. We call this hallmark formula the Mineral Hydration Factor™ (MHF™). MHF is a proprietary blend of Dead Sea potassium and magnesium, which together provide a level of hydration and healing for skin that's based on the human body's own natural building blocks. Potassium is an essential mineral responsible for maintaining hydration levels in the body. Highly concentrated potassium acts like a messenger, telling the skin cells to get ready to accept moisturizing ingredients. A good analogy is a sponge: when a sponge is completely dry and stiff, it is much less effective overall than a sponge that has been soaked through and then squeezed to a point of being damp-dry. In fact, unless the sponge is damp, it's basically worthless. Similarly, potassium supports the skin's natural ability to gather moisture from the atmosphere as well as hang on to the abundant moisture available inside the body. Magnesium, another essential mineral, is present in over 300 ongoing biochemical reactions within the body. Without it, we would cease to exist. For the skin, magnesium acts as a healing agent - it has both anti-allergenic and tissue-rebuilding properties. That is why our formulas have such a remarkable effect on skin that is exposed to the elements and that endures a lot of irritations that cause itching. "Industry Leaders: Awakening and the Use of Parabens"Parabens are a class of preservatives still commonly used in many skin care products that have caused a lot of controversy in recent years. The Consumers Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients lists parabens as the second most common ingredient in skin care products - after water. "Paraben" is in fact a general term, and parabens may be listed on product labels as any of the following:
Although parabens represent a tiny amount of a given formula's actual total ingredients, they're shockingly potent. A 2004 report detailed research in which traces of parabens were found in 19 of 20 women with breast cancer. There is also evidence that parabens are "endocrine disruptors" that mimic estrogen when they enter the bloodstream through the skin. Inflated estrogen levels have been linked both to breast cancer and to interference with the development of the male reproductive system in boys. When we read the studies, rather than waiting for "the final word" from the scientific community at large, we immediately began the long and difficult task of finding replacements for parabens. This was a move that was somewhat against the grain, since the jury is still out on parabens. The American Cancer Society has concluded that there is not enough scientific evidence to support the claim that parabens can cause cancer, and even the very stringent European Scientific Committee on Consumer Products says there is not enough evidence, and allows a very low percentage of parabens to remain in products in the European marketplace. But since no long-term studies have been conducted, and it is clear that parabens DO remain in the body over a long period of time, we felt that there was no question we needed to move decisively. Unfortunately, removing parabens from skin care products is easier said than done. Parabens may indeed be unhealthy, but they do their intended job very well. One of the primary challenges in creating skin care products is finding ways to keep their shelf life at an acceptably long period of time, and it is a serious undertaking to find alternatives that are as effective in every case. Nonetheless, in an effort to keep our products in line with natural standards, we decided to phase parabens out of all our creams. The remaining products of ours that contain parabens are the mud-based products, which present a particular challenge. We do not dilute or cut our Dead Sea mud in any way, so our customers experience the full suite of their amazing benefits. The problem is, the very bioactive nature of Dead Sea mud that makes it so effective as a skin care product also makes it very unstable on the shelf. As of this writing, we still have not found a good workaround to parabens for those products. But there are some promising possibilities out there, and we are committed to having a completely paraben-free line by mid-2009. "Gardeners' Hands: Why ABC loves Awakening HANDS"One of Awakening Skin Care's most passionate markets is gardeners. A typical letter to the home office reads like this: "Bare hands connect us both with the soil and plants of our garden. But this hands-on connection with the earth comes at a price: Rough hands and weathered skin. We turn to Awakening's natural mineral-rich products for the health of our skin. We've been hooked on Awakening HANDS and SKIN since 2000 and love them!" — Erika & Vinny Flewelling Awakening's unique formulas are simply better suited to healing the very particular kind of "loving abuse" that gardeners inflict on their skin than anything else on the market. Our proprietary combination of Dead Sea potassium and magnesium have the capacity hydrate and heal gardeners hands in a way that plant-based skin care products cannot. For more on Awakening and gardeners click here "Awakening HANDS: Pride of the Horseback Community"The thing that makes Awakening Skin Care's products so popular with horse folk is their uncanny ability to heal hands and feet that take a lot of abuse while never, ever leaving a greasy residue. If you're a horse person, you rely on your grip, day in, day out. Lose your grip and you lose your horse. Awakening's formulas absorb completely in 40 seconds, leaving skin hydrated, refreshed, and grease-free. That's why Al Dunning is a fan. For more on Awakening and horse enthusiasts click here Press Contact:
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