Using plants and herbs to take care of your skin is called botanical skin care. Many skin products contain beneficial bontanicals in them. Some of the products claim that they are botanical, however, they are 99% chemicals. Check the ingredients to be sure that they are really botanical. Some of the products just have a scent added, and the words natural and botanical on the label.

These are the chemicals you should not find on the label of a botanical product. One is Parabens. These are also called methyl, propyl, butyl and ethyl. Dioxane is an unsafe chemical that shouldn’t be found there. Mineral oil can be labeled as liquid paraffin, paraffin wax and petrolatum. The mineral oil can clog pores and actually cause an acne breakout.

Alcohol should never be in a botanical skin care product. The names used for this are ethanol, ethyl alcohol, methanol, benzyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol and SD alcohol. The word alcohol itself should not be on the product. These dangerous chemicals can actually end up inside your body, even though you are using them on the skin. They can cause hyperactivity, cancer, depression or even hormonal problems.

The true botanical ingredients in the skin care products should have been scientifically tested first. The safe ingredients are phytessence wakame, allantoin, grape seed oil, babassu, natural vitamin E, co enzyme Q10 and avocado oil. There may be others, but you could try some out and determine which ones are best for your skin care. To be on the safe side, you can always check with your dermatologist.

Other natural botanical skin care ingredients include unrefined whipped shea butter, Dead Sea salt, acai eye cream and lip balm made from natural fruits. The shea butters come in lemongrass, pomegranate, lavender, lime, unscented, coconut and mango. The lip balms can be found in mango, lime and kiwi. with all natural, botanical ingredients. Even Dead Sea salt can be found in lavender, mango and unscented.

Botanical skin care can also be found in the form of different soaps. There are the lavender, oatmeal and shea butter soaps. There are even seaweed and shea butter soaps.

The botanical skin care products all contribute to getting healthy, young, smooth-looking skin by using safe, natural ingredients.