Your skin is a very important part of your body, and you should nourish and protect it as best as you can. In many cases, doing the best for your skin actually means avoiding the majority of popular, name brand skin care products.
Why? Because these products often contain a wide variety of toxins and chemicals that are harmful to both you and the environment.
There’s no need to rub things like Methyl-Paraben, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Synthetic Fragrences (the actual chemicals of which are often unknown since it just says “Fragrance” on the label!), and other chemicals into your body though. There are quite a wide variety of natural skin care products on the market today that can provide the same if not better results as the chemical filled versions. Heck, you can even make your 
own!!
You do need to be careful though. Natural and organic skin care manufacturers are not regulated by the same strict standards that organic foods are. There are actually no real regulations regarding the claims that skin care companies can make, and, as a result, many companies make statements that twist the actual meanings of language, as well as the truth.
The lesson here is that you need to educate yourself about the products you’re using, and, if after reading through their ingredient list you aren’t comfortable with whats in the bottle, move on to another more natural product. The website Skin Deep is a fantastic place to learn more about what types of products
to buy, and what to avoid.
Another solution, make your own natural skin care products! I’m not suggesting you make your own mascara or eye shadow. But, you can make your own facials, body scrubs, even lip balm. Here are some recipes and some websites you can use to get started.
This website has some great homemade beauty recipes
And this one has a list of common household ingredients and their properties that are good for the skin, as well as homemade skin care recipes.
While this site has skin care recipes and remedies you can make at home.
Lemon Mint Facial Toner
Ingredients
1 peppermint tea bag
1/4 cup witch hazel
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
1 cup of boiling water
Preparation
Steep tea in water for 10 min.
Remove tea bag
Once liquid has cooled, add lemon juice and witch hazel
store in a glass jar in the refrigerator
Use daily to refresh and tone facial skin by simply dabbing on with gauze or a cotton ball. Great for right before a face mask too!
Oatmeal Scrub and Toner
Ingredients
1/3 cup quick oats
1-2T milk
Preparation
Soak oats in milk
Rinse face with warm water
Apply oatmeal mixture to face with hands or damp cloth
Scrub face for a few min. to exfoliate
Rinse
Oranges and Cream Body Scrub
Ingredients
1/2 C pure cane sugar
2T whole milk
5 drops orange essential oil
I C olive or almond oil
Preparation
In a medium sized container mix together the sugar, milk and olive/almond oil.
Once these ingredients are thoroughly mixed, add the orange E.O.
Apply all over your body and leave on for 10-15 min.
Then shower