Protection from Mosquito Bites

Tuesday, 2011-02-22

We want our skin to be always blemish free that is why, apart from keeping it clean, we also need to protect our skin from insect bites. Among the insects that frequently attack our skin are mosquitoes. This results to red spots which can be annoyingly itchy. Scratching then leads to open wounds and eventually to scars. More importantly, mosquito bites also inflict serious diseases to humans. Whether caring for your skin or your health, everyone must know safety measures to avoid mosquito bites.

Your Own Body

Mosquitoes are mainly attracted to scents likes perfumes, sweat, body odor and body heat.(1) The key is to keep the skin and body clean and to use soaps that are free from too much fragrance. The food you eat also affects how you smell. Foods rich in sugar and alcohol highly attract mosquitoes. Conversely, intake of repellant foods such as garlic, foods rich in vitamin B1, brewer’s yeast and lemon can help keep mosquitoes away.(1) Mosquitoes are also drawn towards dark colors. Wearing neutral tones such as white, beige and khakis can help deter their attention. Additionally, long sleeves and pants provide better coverage for skin.

Your Surroundings

To protect yourself inside the house, put on window screens and make sure there are no damaged parts. Apart from giving insects a passage way, these damaged parts can be sources of light at night which will attract mosquitoes. Get rid of stagnant water (i.e. flower vase, clogged drainage, man-made ponds) which can be breeding places for mosquitoes. Avoid going out before sunrise and after the sun sets especially during summer for it is at these times that mosquitoes are around most. Try to place mosquito repelling plants such as citronella, lavender, basil and peppermint.(1)

Insect Repellants

The most effective insect repellant are those made with DEET (N,N-diethyl meta-toluamide).(2) Both “the environmental protection agency and the Center for Disease Control and Pevention have officially stated that DEET is not harmful when used as directed.” “Used as directed” means applying topically and any chemical in contact with the skin will be eventually absorbed into the bloodstream (which is also the case with skin products containing hydroquinone and mercury). Once DEET reaches the nervous system, it can cause serious neurological damage and even death.(3) Fortunately, there are natural alternatives for mosquito repellants such as vanilla extract, garlic paste and other essential oils such as Lemon Eucalyptus and Tea Tree which is the main ingredient of Diana Stalder Tea Tree Beauty Bar. This soap has both antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.

(1) http://tipnut.com/how-to-prevent-mosquito-bites/

(2) http://www.drgreene.com/tip/tips-avoiding-mosquito-bites

(3) http://www.naturalnews.com/001586.html

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Posted by pgesmundo

Banned Beauty Products with Mercury

Monday, 2010-10-25

Despite the many campaigns lead by health authorities to prohibit the use and distribution of beauty products with excessive mercury content, such products still continue to proliferate. Early September this year, another five beauty products from Taiwan and Japan were found out by the Philippine Food and Drug Authority to contain mercury that exceeds the allowable limit, thereby, posing harm to the consuming public.

What’s more alarming is that this is not the first time for such occurrence in the country. Last February and July 2010, a number of cream and whitening products were also banned for the same reason—excessive mercury content. Even in the US, where stringent measures and tests are being conducted, there were also reports of the same incident.

Mercury is a toxic metal that is quickly absorbed by the skin and can cause severe health problems such as kidney disorders, blurred vision, defected mobility and many more. The use of mercury as a whitening ingredient is prominent because it impedes melanin production which is the root cause of hair and skin pigmentation. While other safer ingredients can do the same, mercury is less expensive.

SouthGain takes pride in the fact that all Diana Stalder products are mercury free and are made of mostly botanical ingredients. We know that skin beauty need not compromise the consumer’s health and well-being. We do just that by giving you products that are free from any ingredient that may cause health detriments.

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Posted by pgesmundo

Unsafe Skin Lightening Products

Saturday, 2010-01-23

In connection to our previous post on the dangers of hydroquinone (HQ) and mercury, here’s further evidence on the importance of using only trusted and regulated products.

Recently, the New York Times published an article about how illegal, unsafe skin lightening creams are easily accessible to the consumers.  Skin lightening creams containing dangerous ingredients like steroids in very strong doses, corticosteroids such as clobetasol propionate, HQ, and even mercury can be purchased online or in beauty product stores.

Numerous stores in cities such as New York, Miami and Chicago are actually aware they are selling items that should either be doctor prescribed or containing illegal substances.  A majority of the victims are women of Hispanic, Indian and African decent, trying to lighten or even out their skin color.

As the article points out, sometimes safe and legal versions of the genuine product are available, however illegal counterfeit versions being sold under the names Fair & White, L’Abidjanaise and Hyprogel can often be found with dangerous, illegal ingredients.  According to dermatologists, these products can present serious side effects from severe acne to more serious problems like damaging the nervous system.

We take your safety very seriously at SouthGain.  This is why we sell only genuine products that do not contain HQ, mercury, steroids or other dangerous ingredients.

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Posted by pgesmundo

The Dangers of Hydroquinone and Mercury

Saturday, 2010-01-16

A wide variety of skin lightening products contains hydroquinone (HQ) and mercury as active ingredients.  The combination of the two is said to slow down the creation of melanin, which causes age spots, freckles, melasma and other types of skin discoloration.

On the downside, these two ingredients are known to have severe side effects.  Mercurcy is especially dangerous, and almost universally outlawed in skin care products because of serious health risks associated with it.  Hydroquinone is a little more controversial, with many countries allowing its use at various concentration levels, but others banning it outright.

Even if you aren’t concerned about the health risks, you will probably find that these ingredients often result in the infamous "rebound effect"—if you stop using the product, your melanin production may actually start progressing much faster and result in more skin pigmentation.

Genuine Diana Stalder Whitening and Lightening Products do NOT use Hydroquinone or Mercurcy

The Diana Stalder Surely White Whitening Regimen Kit and the Diana Stalder Surely White Body Bleaching Kit contain products that use arbutin, which is a more modern skin de-pigmentation and whitening agent.

Arbutin is believed by many experts to be much safer than traditional old-fashioned hydroquinone.  Arbutin is a glycosylated derivative of HQ, and it naturally occurs in the bearberry plant, wheat and pear skins.  The experts believe it is less prone to side effects than traditional HQ because it is more gradually released through hydrolysis.

Arbutin naturally whitens or lightens the skin, infiltrating without affecting the process of cell multiplication.  Arbutin works by effectively inhibiting tyrosinase, which is an enzyme that catalyzes the biosynthesis of melanin, which is the main cause of skin darkening.  Arbutin also protects the skin against damage caused by free radicals.

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Posted by pgesmundo

The Truth About Unlabeled Skin Care Products

Monday, 2008-12-22

Without a doubt, the single most common subject we are asked about is unlabeled skin care products, often falsely represented as genuine Diana Stalder products.  Are they simply a generic version of the products SouthGain is selling?  Are they effective?  Are they safe?  Are they legal?  Where do they come from?  Why don’t they have any labels (or why do the labels look like something from a fifth-grader’s school project)?  What are the ingredients?  How do I know what I’m really getting?  If they’re illegal, why can’t eBay or Stalder or FDA or someone stop the sale of these products?

We receive questions like these almost every day!  The sellers who are pushing these unlabeled products have put forth some, well, let’s say “inventive” answers and explanations.  The result has been a great deal of confusion in the marketplace.  We’d like to take a few moments here to provide some straight answers.

First, it is illegal to sell unlabeled (or improperly labeled) cosmetics in the United States.  The following is an excerpt from the FDA’s cosmetic labeling overview page:

Proper labeling is an important aspect of putting a cosmetic product on the market. FDA regulates cosmetic labeling under the authority of both the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act(FPLA). These laws and their related regulations are intended to protect consumers from health hazards and deceptive practices and to help consumers make informed decisions regarding product purchase.

It is illegal to introduce a misbranded cosmetic into interstate commerce, and such products are subject to regulatory action. Some of the ways a cosmetic can become misbranded are:

  • - its labeling is false or misleading,
  • - its label fails to provide required information,
  • - its required label information is not properly displayed

We’ve seen sellers of these unlabeled products try to explain away a lot of other things, but when it comes to the legality of their products, they simply avoid the question.

Of course, some buyers might be tempted to look the other way when it comes to the legal issues, especially if the products are safe and effective.  But the problem here is that there’s no way to really know what you’re getting when you buy an unlabeled product.  In fact, some of the more prominent sellers of these illegal unlabeled products have completely misrepresented the ingredients.  One of the more flagrant examples involves a seller on eBay (a self-proclaimed goddess, no less!) who continues to claim that her products do not contain hydroquinone, when in fact, hydroquinone is one of the key ingredients.  We know this because we know her real source, and we confirmed the ingredients with them.

So, what are the sources of these unlabeled products?  Several of them remain a mystery.  We believe one of the sources is in China, and may actually contain mercury or other very harmful ingredients.  We suspect some of these products are manufactured in homemade labs.  But perhaps the most common source is BCP, which is a sister to the Diana Stalder brand and part of the Stalder Group of companies.  BCP products are manufactured for the local Philippine market.  They are sold directly to dermatologists who private label the products for sale in their clinics.  These products are not supposed to be resold in their unlabeled state or exported for sale outside the Philippines.  But some unscrupulous dermatologists’ offices are apparently ignoring the terms of their purchase agreements and diverting some of these BCP products to resellers in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The key thing to remember about these BCP products (besides the fact that they’re illegal in the U.S.!) is that their formulations are completely different from the genuine Diana Stalder products that we sell.  Diana Stalder is a premium line, using the best available ingredients to maximize effectiveness.  BCP products are squarely targeted at the lower end of the domestic Philippine market, with the emphasis being on low cost.  Why would anyone want to pay more for a lower-end product when they can get a more effective premium product for the same or better price?!  Also, keep in mind that genuine Diana Stalder products do not contain hydroquinone, while many of the BCP products do.  With the other sources, well who knows what you’re actually getting?!

The good news is that you don’t need to be a party to an illegal sale, and you don’t have to take any chances when it comes to safety or effectiveness–you can buy genuine Diana Stalder products directly from an Authorized Distribution Center (ADC), right here in the U.S.!  SouthGain is the oldest and largest Diana Stalder ADC outside of the Philippines, and we’d be honored to earn your business.

Now, why can’t someone do something to stop the sale of these illegal, misrepresented products?  I guess we’d better save that for the topic of a future blog post.  :-)

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Posted by SouthGain

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