Melanin-rich skin is a gift. While it’s strong enough to provide superior protection from the sun, it’s still delicate. Using the wrong products can negatively affect your skin—resulting in breakouts, skin damages, rashes, and even permanent scarring. To make matters worse, dealing with these types of skin issues can cause stress and decrease confidence. What you put on your body is just as important as what you put in your body, so it’s important to really understand the products you’re using. Here’s a quick list of products/ingredients that don’t work well on black skin:

Vitamin A & Retinol Based Moisturizers

Avoid products that contain retinol and Vitamin A  because they deprive your skin of moisture. It’s much better to use a moisturizer that is specially designed for black skin. Our Healing Body Balm will keep your skin moisturized naturally. It also helps heal eczema, psoriasis, and severely dry skin. This body balm has no harsh chemicals like parabens, phthalates, sulfates, petrochemicals, synthetic dyes and is the best way to keep your skin hydrated.

Bar Soap

Most bar soaps have a high pH balance because it's required to keep the bar together. This high pH balance can counteract your body’s natural pH balance, leaving your skin feeling dried, cracked and flaky. Our natural body wash and shampoo is a much better choice because it's incredibly moisturizing with plenty of essential oils keep your skin nourished, soft and healthy. If luxury came in a bottle, it would be this product.

Facial Cleansing Oils

Facial cleansing oils are harmful to your skin because there is always residue left behind on your skin. While oil does add moisture, certain types of oil can clog pores, leading to breakouts. Unless you have severely dry skin, focus on using oil-free cleansers. Check the ingredients list and make sure the product has none of the following: Propylene Glycol, Parraffin, Mineral Oil, Butylene Glycol, Isopropyl Alcohol and Petrolatum. Instead, check for natural plant oils, which give plenty of nourishment without clogging your pores.

Vitamin C Serums

Vitamin C is great for slowing down the signs of aging and for reducing dark marks and wrinkles but you should be careful when choosing a vitamin c serum. Serums that change to yellow or brown in the bottle are not good for your skin, as this is a sign that the serum has oxidized. Depending on the formulation, Vitamin C serums can cause redness, stinging or other allergic reactions.

Alcohol-Based Products

Many beauty products use alcohol as the base ingredient. Avoid alcohols like ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, alcohol denat, methanol and benzyl alcohol because they have no mercy on your skin. Alcohol strips down your skin’s natural barrier of moisture, which is essential for black skin. Choose alcohol-free products if you truly want to improve your skin.

Skin is the largest organ on your body, that's why you have to be extremely mindful of how you treat it. At Golden Grooming Co., we take pride in creating the best natural products for black skin. We never use harsh chemicals like parabens, phthalates, sulfates, petrochemicals, synthetic dyes or silicones, propylene glycol, mineral oils, triclosan, EDTA or aluminum, artificial fragrances or preservatives. EVER. By keeping these tips in mind and these products away from your skin, your skin has a better chance to thrive.