Let's make ourselves clear

What is 20/20 skin? It's clear skin! Is it achievable? It is! How do we achieve it? It really starts with a trip within to examine your habits, your patterns, your behaviors to see if there are any patterns in you, in your mother, or grandmother that have lead to similar outcomes.

While I understand how dirty sheets or pillowcases can play a role, I think the more impactful role is what we are putting in our bodies. There may even be clues we hadn't considered. For example, if you have an allergy or sensitivity to grains and gluten, but aren't reading the back of the ingredient lists of your products, but just your foods you may miss the fact that your newest shampoo has gluten in it so now you're noticing reactions. Another example is for someone who is grain free, like me...I once bought a new face wash everyone was so excited about including me obviously.

It took me awhile to get around to buying it because I was so busy at the time. Finally I get it, I am washing my face in the shower and I begin to feel as if my lip is tingling. I am VERY in tune with my body. I read the ingredients a 4th time as I had done this thoroughly or so I thought when I was standing in Sephora! And then, a word stands out from all the others that I guess I hadn't done deeper research on.

"SODIUM COCOYL GLUTAMATE"

The words stood out to me so I googled them to understand more about this ingredient. I wanted to understand its origin and its base; what makes this substance what it is?

Google result #1 reads: Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate is a natural surfactant (foaming ingredient), derived from coconut oil, corn and fruit sugars. This ingredient is known to be safe and natural for shampoos, which is the reason we decided to use it in our Natural Hair Care line.

Google result #2 reads:  Being that I am allergic and sensitive to ALL grains this would not work for me. Gluten gives me one set of problems, but corn has also done its fair share of damage to my body. So when I say you want to google everything, research all ingredients, you do because it's easy to write in to that skincare company and say your product made my lip tingle, but the more important thing is to look for patterns in your body's reactions. Your body is saying something so listening to that is key to healing.

Now, instead of taking the stance I could have taken and being upset at that amazing skincare company that I love still today, I can be a leader and advocate for my health and myself and avoid formulas that have that ingredient in it and be sure I know what each ingredient is on the back of labels.

Clean skin is now here for me! This has been a long time coming. My first experiences with 'bad skin' and cystic acne that hurt so so bad was in my teens. I SO wanted to be an adult that didn't have to deal with acne - but here it was traveling all this way with me because something else traveled with me and that was my food, beauty products used by my mom and grandma and great-grandma...we all use the same relish brand, the same pickle brand, the same brand of detergent. AHHHHH! A lightbulb went off and shined so bright to remind me and reinforce that my freedom from acne would come from my diligence and ability to read labels to protect myself.

If I had learned this at my daughter's age, I could have avoided so much pain, so many useless treatments, the pitting in my skin, the scars, but it still tells a beautiful story. 

The road to 20/20 skin is within you! I am now waiting for a last scar to completely heal before I can experience this. It requires me to use this cute little algorithm I came up with:

When out to eat on a date with my husband or daughter, I used to tell the restaurant of all of my allergies. I thought I had to but I still ended up getting sick. Then, I revised my approach and packed along Mary Ruth's Gluten Enzymes. This still was a faulty plan because enzymes break down gluten/wheat, but not the corn and as I mentioned before corn RAVAGES me. But finally, just a few weeks ago, I tried another approach and it seems to work okay for those infrequent times that I eat out and there is nothing available on the menu for me...

I use the enzyme to tackle the wheat and I do tell the restaurant that I am allergic to corn. This works well when there are chefs who truly understand nutrition on site not so much at fast food places. When having fast food, I just avoid all sauces and that usually serves as a good defense against corn while my enzyme takes care of the gluten.

Our Groceries Skincare Line seeks to get ahead of known allergens and skin irritants. Given my body's heightened sensitivity to things, I sometimes feel if it works for me, if it is safe enough for me, it will be safe enough for you!

I hope this helps someone!