Herbal Skin Care – Hype Or Hope?
All too often we humans make some really bad decisions. Thank whomever you like; our parents, our teachers, our politicians, our religious leaders or our media for filling our heads with so much contradictory garbage that, sometimes, we can't be blamed for the dumb choices we make. And, yes, sometimes it's just our own damn fault for not bothering to question the “facts” we're fed or for not taking the time to educate ourselves and think critically about things.
Take organic products. I believe Showtime hosts the series Bullsh*t with Penn and Teller. One of their recent episodes gave some good insight into how people will hop on a bandwagon driven by little more than impressions and will speak with unapologetic conviction about something with no basis in evidence or fact. The topic was on organic foods and, for those of you who swear by the stuff, I highly recommend watching the show.
My point, though, is not to criticize organic products or herbal skin care products, but to point out that there's a tendency to make some assumptions about either that aren't necessarily grounded in fact. The funny thing is that the medical community, traditional nay-sayers and pooh-poohers of the organic and herbal industry, are as guilty of this as the consumers who buy and the cosmetic companies who sell herbal skin care products.
The argument by the medical community goes like this – there isn't enough clinical study to support the premise that (insert herbal or botanical here) offers any real benefits. It's a logical statement but one grounded in scientific knee-jerking. That's not to say it isn't a valid point, but an equally valid point is this… if there isn't enough in the way of scientific study to support the claim then, presumably, there isn't enough to refute it either. In other words, it isn't really responsible to say something doesn't work if your basis for that argument is that there's not enough research to support the claim. By logical extension, there isn't enough to refute it either.
But the medical community has morality on their side, right? After all, they aren't the ones trying to sell you the skin care product chock-full-o'-nuts or something, right? Well, not so fast. To defend the medical community on the basis that they don't have skin in the game and, therefore, must be offering up an unbiased opinion isn't entirely honest either. See, there are quite a few prescription skin care products on the market. Products for which many doctors get a healthy cut when sold. In other words, they can't all claim to be making an unbiased argument against natural or herbal skin care products because at least some of them are in direct competition with those products.
On the other hand, it would be unwise to assume that the cosmetic companies who sell herbal skin care products have your best interests in mind either. They are trying to make a buck, after all, and they know “natural” sells even if there isn't a lick of proof that the seaweed or nutmeg in their product does a darn thing for you. They are, ultimately, preying on your assumptions that something fresh from Mother Nature has got to be good for you.
So have I answered the title question? Are herbal skin care products hype or do they represent hope? No, I haven't answered the question. What I hope I've done is convince you to think critically about the skin care products you buy. Some may in fact work well. Others, well, the doctors may be hitting the nail on the head. It is up to you, the consumer, to do your research online and vote with your dollar. If you find other consumers just like you raving about the results they've seen with a particular product, give it a try and add your results to the vote. If you try a product and it doesn't deliver, let yourself be heard on forums and cosmetics discussion groups and then never buy that product again.
What ever you do, don't let one group of biased individuals or the other tell you what you should think. We aren't lemmings, people. But if you are torn and you have to make a guided choice rather than experimenting for yourselves, my feelings on this are pretty simple. I'd rather take my advice from the gal who spent a few years getting a medical degree. She may be right, she may be wrong, but if it's a crap shoot I'm left with, that's where I'm laying down my chips.
There's a lot to learn and know about herbal skin care. Whatever skin care interests you may have, from herbal skin care products to more mainstream skin care cosmetics, TK skin care can help.
