Organic Foods & Cafe

Dr Hauschka – 100% certified Natural Skincare

In response to popular demand, Organic Foods & Café have exclusively launched Dr.Hauschka Skin Care products. These Skin Care products are guided by the principal of utilising the natural rhythms of polarities such as warmth and cold or light and darkness for creating skin care products based on natural and organic ingredients and biodynamic principles. Dr.Hauschka Skin Care is free of synthetic dyes, fragrances and preservatives. They contain fine vegetable oils, natural essential oils and essences from plants grown bio-dynamically and/or organically or harvested in the wild.They are therefore ideal for naturally combating the effects of indoor and outdoor climates in the region.

Further information on natural skin care can be found at: http://www.dr.hauschka.de/english

A' kin, HUGO, Logona, Sante, Saaf, akin, mi-essence, dessert essence, weleda and eco.

These brands were selected due to their outstanding range of products. They are all made with natural ingredients, minerals and plant extracts and are paraben FREE.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR US TO CHOOSE ORGANIC / NATURAL COSMETICS?

Whilst advocates of synthetic skincare claim that the skin is virtually watertight, the skin can actually absorb up to 60% of substances applied to its surface. Thus it can soak potential carcinogenic ingredients from our cosmetics and increase our risk of disease later in life. Natural and or organic cosmetics are fast becoming the number one choice of informed consumers who are not prepared to take unnecessary health risks. Once a toxic chemical has seeped into the skin it eventually ends up in the blood stream and travels with the lymph across the body. Eventually these chemicals are filtered out by the liver and flushed away by the kidneys but they can sometime remain inside the body in our fat where they can accumulate over the years.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORGANIC AND NATURAL COSMETICS?

Natural cosmetics are made with few if any synthetic chemicals and use a wide range of plants, fruit extracts, minerals and vitamins as their ingredients. Basically if you can’t read the ingredients list on the back then its probably loaded with chemicals and should be avoided. Organic cosmetics just takes this one step further and guarantees, through certification, that all the natural ingredients used have not been treated with any chemicals. If you are looking for something 100% organic, make sure that it says this on the label, just saying its organic does not mean that the entire product will be organic.

DOES IT REALLY MATTER IF YOU USE NATURAL RATHER THAN ORGANIC?

For someone who has just become informed of the hidden dangers in conventional cosmetics the first thing to do is to just be aware of what’s in the products you use the most. Then as your products run out look for a healthier option, you may want to start with just getting a lipstick that is lead free and change your products one at a time. For women who are pregnant or breastfeeding then obviously organic is better and for many people organic cosmetics are the number one choice when doing a detox.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ORGANIC / NATURAL SKINCARE

As they are free from harsh synthetic ingredients, natural cosmetics offer numerous beauty benefits such as healthy and supple clear skin, reduce fine lines and wrinkles. They also give the consumer confidence that the ingredients they are putting on their face and body are not harmful.

IF I ONLY USE ONE NATURAL PRODUCT, WHAT SHOULD IT BE?

If you are looking to make a gradual change then a good place to start is with a natural Lipstick. Most lipsticks have lead in them and given how often we re-apply lipstick throughout the day it makes sense to start with the lips.

If you don’t tend to wear lipstick then you could try introducing a natural night cream like akin. It is important when choosing a night cream to ensure that the ingredients are natural and possibly even organic as the cream will sit on the face for at least hours and be absorbed into the skin and eventually the bloodsteam.

ARE ORGANIC PRODUCTS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN REGULAR CREAMS?

Luckily the organic / natural market for cosmetics has seen the introduction of various brands from cheap to high end luxury brands. In Dubai the organic and natural skincare selection is exceptionally good with a range of brands to suit a variety of budgets, lifestyles and skin conditions and types. High end expensive brands: Dr.Perricone CORRECT / Stella McCartney CARE / CLINIQUE Lipsticks. Low to Medium brands: Akin, Mi-essence, Weleda, Sante, Logona, Hugo

WHERE DO MOST ORGANIC SKINCARE PRODUCTS COME FROM?

The majority of natural cosmetic brands are generally from Europe, Australia and the US and Canada

SHOULD I ALSO BE SWITCHING TO ORGANIC MAKE-UP AND WHY?

If you are pregnant or breast feeding then you really should strongly consider organic natural make-up. In addition if you are doing a detox or are generally unwell then using all natural make-up and skincare will lighten the amount of toxins you are ingesting, if combined with a healthy organic diet. For the rest of us, switching one or two products at a time is a good way to go to see how you get on. Always test them in the store first and be sure to check for free samples. Don’t be discouraged if you try one brand and don’t get the result you want, there are plenty of brands to choose from.

DOES ORGANIC MAKE-UP HAVE THE SAME TEXTURE AND FINISH AS REGULAR MAKE-UP?

Most of them do have a similar texture, especially Sante cosmetics, but do try them before you buy. Also, if the colour range of the foundation is limited try mixing two shades until you get the desired result. Also, natural mascara’s do tend to run easier than conventional mascara as they do not have the chemicals in them to hold it together. The bonus though is that natural mascara comes off very easily at night, no need to buy eye make-up remover, just soak a cotton wool pad in warm water and the mascara will come off easily

DO THE MAKE-UP RANGES HAVE MUCH OF COLOUR CHOICE?

They do now and the selections are constantly expanding with new products, not to mention new brands. Do the makeup ranges have much of a colour choice? Nowadays we are seeing so much more choice, in fact, most of the brands look almost identical to conventional make-up in terms of what they offer, the packaging and the look that it can create.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH OUR NORMAL COSMETICS?

Normal cosmetics look great, they feel great and they even smell great and for the most part they work, however, the long term effect of using conventional man-made creams day in day out for 50 years plus is quite simply unknown. What we do know is that the ingredients used in conventional cosmetics are for the most part unregulated. Today, 89% of 10,500 ingredients used in personal care products have NOT been evaluated for safety. In addition, of the 100,000 chemicals in use in different areas of our lives, less than 5% of these chemicals have been thoroughly tested for their long term impact on human health. Unlike drugs, conventional cosmetics are not regulated by governmental agencies.

WHAT INGREDIENTS SHOULD WE BE MOST AWARE OF AS CONSUMERS?

Parabens, mercury, lead, phthalates (often written on ingredients lists as fragrance) and petroleum based products

THE ORGANIC MARKET INDUSTRY

The organic industry has achieved compounded growth of 23% pa for seven consecutive years, while the natural and organic cosmetic sector grew by a massive 39% in 2001 alone. Our range or products is the world’s first and currently only fully certified organic skin and body care products. Recent market research has shown that consumer demand for organics is growing rapidly worldwide.Through cutting-edge research and development, we intend to progressively release dynamic, healthy, first-to-market innovations in the organic sector. Globally, sales in the personal care market, including natural personal care, reached USD$122 billion in 2000 and are growing 1.6%. In the USA, the entire Health and Beauty Care market is almost USD$40 billion and is expecting 3.4% annual growth. In contrast, the trend towards natural ingredients is running through every segment of personal care with sales in the USA in this area, reaching USD$1.56 billion in 2001 and growing at 10%. This segment is expected to grow 6%-7% annually over the next few years.

ORGANIC CERTIFICATION – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Even for products certified organic there are three different levels, causing further confusion.

1. "100% organic" label

This is for products composed entirely of certified organic ingredients.

2. "Organic" label

This is for products with at least 95% certified organic ingredients.

3. "Made with organic ingredients" label

This is for products with at least 70% certified organic ingredients.

DEODORANTS

As we all know Organic living has taking the world by storm. But choosing to live an organic lifestyle is not about following the latest trend, but about making a conscious decision to live healthier for your body.

Have you thought about which cosmetic and body care products you are using? DEODORANT is a product which we shouldn't forget when trying to live more organically. Conventional

deodorants and antiperspirants contain harmful chemicals that can potentially cause health concerns such as:

1. ALUMINIUM which works by blocking pores, which then prevents sweating. Sweating is the body’s natural cooling process. This process is essential to the overall health of your body.

2. PARABENS are chemicals widely used as preservatives in cosmetics and deodorants and are known as the BPA in the beauty industry.

3.PROPYLENE GLYCOL is a wetting agent used in products like antifreeze, but in conventional deodorants and antiperspirants is used to keep products from drying out.

Natural deodorants work by eliminating unpleasant smells that emanate from your body when you sweat while providing a safe alternative to conventional antiperspirants.

At OF&C we have a number or great 100% pure and natural deodorants, ; containing NO harmful aluminums, parabens or Propylene Glycol.