Your skin is itchy, or irritated, red and flaky, with blemishes. You are tired of this, as it’s been going on for years, so you’ve begun looking for ways to relieve your symptoms, which may be respiratory, or manifest as skin irritations. As part of your search, you my be invetigating a natural diet, fragrance-free home care products, and less irritating personal care products. You are not alone; allergies are on the rise in the U.S, and theories abound. It’ often attributed to diet and environmental pollutants, which may cause toxins to build up in your system. Theories state that a toxic body leads to multiple allergies.

Here at Monave mineral makeup, we get many calls from women looking for products and food sources that they can trust to either alleviate their allergies, or prevent further acceleration of the symptoms. When it comes to makeup and skin care, we have some suggestions for what to avoid.

It may sound obvious, but for starters, we suggest avoiding long ingredient lists. This includes long lists of natural ingredients, such as extracts, and essential oils. A long (we’re talking in excess of 10-15 ingredients) list of ingredients means more probability of something in the bottle being an allergen. It also increases the possibility that one or more ingredients in the product can react to each other and create toxins or allergens. When it comes to actives, such as extracts, and essential oils, your skin benefits from limiting these to the more soothing ones, such as rose, lavender and chammomile.

In general, women overdo it, and apply much to many products on their skin with multiple possible allergens in each product, fragrances, preservative etc. We suggest shopping at your natural grocer for starters. If you don’t have one in your town, you can browse online. What you want to look for is at the minimum a mission statement from the company whose products you buy, that emphasizes that it is specifically designed for people who are sensitive to possibly allergenic ingredients. It should state on its website, and/or packaging, what is not contained. Look for these key points: free of fragrance, dye, petroleum products, carmine, sodium laureth, and sodium lauryl sulfates. These are the heavy hitters. In addition for mineral makeup brands, beware of bismuth oxychloride and talc, as they are minerals, but can trigger itching, redness, and bumps, especially in hot weather.

Another trick, very inexpensive, is to create a single-note routine. Single-note means picking one whole food item to use to clean and moisturize your skin. This is a great way to start the process of determining what your skin likes. The problem with products in bottles is that you may be allergice to one item on the list. Here’s an example; virgin organic coconut oil. Another one; cold pressed olive oil. These oils are rarely, if never, cited as allergens, and as long as they are cold-pressed, and organic, you’ll be avoiding synthetic chemicals. Simply rub the oil onto your face until all of your makeup is dissolved, and use an organic, chlorine free tissue to wipe it off. Do this until all of your makeup is gone. Follow up with a warm, wet wash-cloth to hydrate your skin, and use some of the oil as a moisturizer. Oil, wax and water are the basic components of a moisturizer. This may seem too simple to be effective, but try it for a few weeks. If you have oily skin, you can apply hazelnut oil on your skin after cleansing with one of the other oils and water.

When you hunt for makeup, moisturizers, cleansers, and toners, look for simple. Look for a company with a commitment to your issues. And finally, avoid soy, corn, and products with gluten (wheat, oats, barley, and rye). Gluten is another common ingredient that many people have a sensitivity to, but are not aware of.

For your makeup, stick to mineral makeup that is loose, not pressed, and that has only iron oxide, zinc oxide, or titanium dioxide, mica, and ultramarine blue. There are many myths on the internet about mica and titanium dioxide being allergens, but this is only in industrial settings. Make sure to use the softest brush to apply your mineral makeup, or mix your loose mineral makeup foundatin into a light moisturizer to avoid brushing dry, or irritated skin, especially if you have rosacea.

Try some of these tips, and you may be able to start determining which ingredients to avoid. It’s a process of educating yourself, and listening to your body.