by Deborah Charlap

Created on: September 16, 2008

If you are one of the long-suffering souls who developed acne in adolescence and never outgrew it, you may be working your way through one skin care regimen after another looking for a solution. If you don't discover one, you could easily find yourself transitioning directly from spots to wrinkles. This kind of pressure can lead acne sufferers to products containing harmful chemicals whose negative effects range from making our skin more sensitive to sun-damage to actually causing cancer.

Our skin is our largest organ, and for some of us it works overtime to eliminate toxins from our bodies: in the form of excess oil, acne and clogged pores. Before we get started comparing skin-care products, there are a number of simple things we can do to help our skin do its job effectively:

1. Drink Plenty of Water: Flush, flush, flush those tissues.
2. Prevent Constipation: Our bowels are our other major eliminatory organ, and if they aren't working properly your skin will pick up the slack.
3. Discover and Eliminate Problem Foods: You will have to experiment with this on your own, but some common culprits are dairy, chocolate and anything deep-fried.
4. Exercise: Sweat is good for your skin and exercise increases your endorphins, our brain's feel-good chemicals.

Now that we are well-hydrated, eating healthy foods, getting our exercise, and most importantly, eliminating regularly; we can take a look at our choices in skin care products. First and foremost we should make a commitment to keep known poisons off our skin. The shocking news is that many "natural" skin care products are actually full of dangerous ingredients.

Did you know that: Simple ingredients like lavender and salicylic acid can make your skin more sensitive to sun-damage? Sodium laureth sulfate has been implicated in causing breast cancer? Fragrance is not regulated by the FDA and can therefore contain otherwise illegal additives? For a complete list of ingredients and detailed product reviews, The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database offers an easy to use, in-depth look at skin care products on their web site www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.

You will find that there are some brands that can be generally relied upon for safety, but you may also have great success making your own products with simple, easy-to-come-by ingredients. The safest products tend to be the most basic: jojoba oil, aloe, witch hazel, green clay. Here is a step-by-step guide to natural, chemical free skin care that has

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