Natural Skincare's Top 5

In an industry using thousands of ingredients across thousands of products, it can be hard to figure out what you should be using, when and why. The selection is somewhat more limited when it comes to natural skincare but there's still a lot to consider. However, when you look at the main ingredients in lots of essential skincare products the products tend to have a lot in common. The ingredients in the highest volume in the formulation will always be at the top of the ingredients list, this is a legal requirement for labelling so tells you what makes up most of your product. Often the first 5-6 ingredients are the main materials, with the last 6-10 being in there at usually less than 1%.

So, want to know more about the top 5 ingredients across natural skincare? Then read on...

1. Coconut oil

Coconut oil is an excellent moisturiser as it's a light oil that is slowly absorbed by the skin resulting in long-lasting hydration. It can be used on skin or hair for its softening properties as well as delivering trace amounts of Vitamin E that promotes skin cell health. Coconut oil also possess antimicrobial properties that can help treat acne and protect the skin from harmful bacteria.

2. Shea Butter

Extracted from the nuts of the Shea tree, Shea Butter is an extremely rich ingredients, its thick oil gives lasting hydration to skin but also contains antioxidants that help prevent ageing and wrinkles by fighting free radicals and stimulating the production of collagen.

3. Calendula oil or wax

Calendula contains both linoleum acid and flavonoids (which are plant nutrients) that help fight inflammation, reduce redness and have a calming effect on the skin. Calendula in either oil or wax form repairs damaged skin, hydrates dry skin and disinfects cuts, scratches or spots.

4. Vitamin C - from essential oils

Vitamin C is found in lots of fruits, and especially in citrus oils. Vitamin C provides a skin-rejuvenating effect by improving the creation of collagen, it's also an antioxidant that prevents skin damage from free radicals which cause raging symptoms in skin. Applying oils like Sweet Orange in low doses directly to skin can work as topical treatments but finding facial moisturisers with citrus oils in is a great way to get a good dose.

5. Lavender oil

The classic essential oil, Lavender is an all-rounder. It smells beautiful, is healing, soothing and calming, it's super easy to get your hands on. Its anti-inflammatory properties help to reduce redness and skin irritation and it's anti-bacterial properties help to cleanse skin, ridding bacteria and gently treating spots or broken skin. Lavender is also used in low doses to treat eczema and psoriasis for its ability to calm itchy skin.