I was wondering what every day beauty tip I could write about for the upcoming July fourth holiday weekend, and then I remembered the old argument I have about oils versus talcs. Little did I know with a small amount of research that it would turn up kind of an important fashion decision. Let me explain.
When i lived in Pasadena and worked at a horse ranch in the La Canada hills, it was my first time encountering mountain scorching heat. Being around the horse riders I began using talc powder to keep the moister inside of riding boots to a minimum during major heat waves. We are pretty fortunate to be blessed with moderate weather here in the Pacific Northwest, but a few months out of the year it can get pretty hot. If 2011's July fourth is a scorcher, here is a few beauty tips I recommend for anti-chafing.
Sometimes people think only the heavy-set has to deal with chafing, but that's not necessarily true. The combination of perspiration and rubbing skin can happen in various parts of the body on anyone. Often as children we may have been taught to run for the talc powder. I would like to argue against it here today. I was a major talc user during my time in the Pasadena California area, and when I lived in Arizona. Little did I know that every sprinkle of talc I put on my heels, groin, armpit, and inner thigh could be mixed with asbestos particles. [Double take]. 'What's that you say poisonous particles are uber common in talk powders?' Yes I say, yes.
While considering writing this article on talc versus natural oils (which I will expound upon later here), I did a little bit of online searching to find out what the contents in talc powder are. I haven't used it in years and when I was younger I also rarely read labels. I'm glad I do so now. Well I found a pretty informative article about how talc powder is packaged and processed According to and article by the Cancer Prevention Coalition, .."talc is closely related to the potent carcinogen Asbestos ". Now that is a shock to me. I mean isn't this the same body friendly talc powder we sprinkle on sensitive baby parts? Yes, it is.
For years I have switched to unscented oil from The Body Shop [ Lloyd Center Mall in Portland, Location 939 ]. When it was no longer available I went through a long road of experimenting and came up with actual vegetable oil. I usually have a small travel-size squirt bottle with me for when I do life drawing modeling, am laying out in the sun, am performing burlesque, or am planning on doing any long walk on summer days. Having a tiny bit of oil which is absorbed into the skin eventually, puts on a protective layer, and sooths any area that is threatening irritation like the bikini line where we apply hair removal techniques.
A friend of mine used to tell me he used petrolium jelly to break in real cowboy boots, but we know that petroleum jelly, is completely an oil by product, so why even consider that?
What does this have to do with burlesque? Well models and burlesque dancers definatelely have no luxury of cuts bruises burns of chafing. Taking a preventative approach is the only way to go to keeping your skin the glorious luminous beautiful piece of art that it is.
Vegetable oils are available for a few bucks at your grocery store such as my favorite Fred Meyer 3805 SE Hawthorne here in Portland, and the travel section will have small spray bottles. Imagine that all this time you could have avoided white talc powder sprinkles on your shoes pants or precious favorite clothing item.
