A few months back I wrote an article on how the levels of inflammation in our body can be caused by aging skin.  Our skin is the largest organ in our body, so when it gets inflamed those inflammatory chemicals get spread throughout the whole body.  Unfortunately the simple process of aging kicks up inflammation.  When I researched this further, I was able to find the specific receptors in the skin cells that were responsible for this inflammatory cascade.  Researchers in South Korea found a specific drug compound that turned off these receptors. They found that with regular application inflammation levels in older folks could be reduced to the levels of 30 year olds.  When I pursued this further, I was able to find several natural compounds that also had this same effect.  Researchers are not interested in natural compounds as they can not be patented in order to make big bucks, but I can.  This led me to create my anti-inflammatory anti-itch balm.

I have been working on a skin rejuvenation project for the last couple years.  I have been collecting bits and pieces of information on various natural substances that do an exceptionally good job at literally making skin younger.  This is a much harder job than simply turning off inflammation receptors.  You have to trigger old cells to either die off and be replaced by young ones or turn their biological clocks back and become young again.

One of the early substances I found was a chemical called methylene blue.  This is a blue dye that I remember using in high school to stain cells on microscope slides so we could see them more easily.  Weirdly this dye is a super anti-oxidant in extremely tiny doses – parts per billion.  It does wonders in turning off certain genes and flipping on others that support youth.

Another find was the Ayurvedic herb Kutki (Picrorhiza kurroa).  Although it is best known as a powerful liver healer, it also contains a chemical called apocynin.  This chemical supports your stem cells by promoting the stronger ones to drive out the weaker skin stem cells.  It is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent and it protects the mitochondria in the cells from damage.  It even has been found to fight eczema.  

Another miracle herb recently discovered to have powerful rejuvenating skin effects is CBD oil from hemp.  This research was done in Israel as it has been illegal to research hemp products in the USA.  Hopefully that is turning around now as big money pharmaceutical companies are figuring out how to synthetically make CBDs in a form they can patent.  The have the clout to change the laws.

Aloe Vera has long been known for its ability to heal the skin.  I have seen many amazing recoveries from serious burns simply by using Aloe.  The magic in Aloe is a group of six tiny unique sugars that function as inter-cellular communicators.  That means it helps cells talk to each other so they can work together to heal.

A super well known healer for skin issues that is already commonly used in the beauty industry is vitamin C.  Vitamin C is essential for the formation of the collagen under your skin.  C is an anti-oxidant that decreases cellular damage from ultraviolet rays and speeds healing.  Its effectiveness is greatly enhanced when it is coupled with something called ferulic acid.  I decided to use both of these in my rejuvenation serum.  However oleic acid, an oil, is the base of my formula because of its ability to calm down those inflammation receptors and vitamin C does not mix with oil. I had to find a fat soluble form of vitamin C, which turned out to be the provitamin ascorbyl palmitate, which turns to C in the skin.

Other essential vitamins for skin health are vitamins A, D3, and E.  Another interesting skin ingredient is the combination of caffeine and green tea polyphenols.  Mother nature provides these nicely in green tea extract.  These are both used currently in commercial skin rejuvenating formulas.

Of the seven herbal extracts found in my anti-inflammatory lotion, one in particular deserves special note for its many other healthful impacts on skin – Sea Buckthorn oil from Russia.  It is good for promoting hydration of the skin, elasticity, rejuvenation, as well as fighting acne and even rosacea.  It is the only plant source that contains omega 3,6,7, and 9 essential oils.  It has more vitamin E than wheat germ, more SOD than ginseng, more A than carrots, and more C than oranges.  It has a boat-load of phytonutrients, flavonoids, plant sterols, and much more.

As I mentioned before, the skin is the largest organ in our body.  Most rejuvenating skin care products are very expensive and consequently used just on the face or hands.  What we really need is rejuvenation over our whole body.  I went through several forms of product with the anti-inflammatory serum, first as a face cream, then as a body bar, and finally as a roll-on.  The effort of making a cream would have made the product too costly, and I hated the waxy feel of the body bar.  The roll-on works well as the oleic acid oil base absorbs very rapidly leaving a really nice feel to the skin.

My new rejuvenation skin oil is simply the new ingredients talked about in this article added to the anti-inflammatory roll-on oil.  I have had several people, besides myself, testing the new product and so far I am getting good reviews.  This is not one of those miracle over-night products that you can just put on your skin to “reduce the appearance of wrinkles.”  This is for nourishing your skin with nutrients and herbal extracts that actually allow your skin to become younger.  It is designed to be used all over your body, not just your face.  I roll four stripes along each arm and leg and rub it in and around.  I do the same on my face and neck and anywhere else.  Within minutes it absorbs into the skin and leaves it smooth and soft.  Because it absorbs in so quickly, there is not an issue with it getting clothes greasy.

I will be making up a dozen bottles for the office this weekend to have available.  It is only $29 a bottle, which compared to the facial products I saw on the internet while researching effective ingredients for rejuvenation, it is very inexpensive.  It is unbelievable what some companies charge for tiny bottles of stuff that may have one or two special ingredients.  Nothing out there has the huge combination of all these powerful ingredients that I have put together.  I hope you like the results you get.

Take care,

David 

   
Ellen update:    

It may seem rather early in the season for Christmas wrapping, but here we are at Michael's looking for some just the same.  We get started about this time of year working on Christmas presents because we make all our presents.  When you are talking about 30 to 50 presents each year it becomes quite a production.  We have to decide basically what we are making, then what type of packaging and what the presentation will look like.  The presentation is Ellen's favorite part - something about the artist in her.  So we are right on schedule for Christmas this year.