Good skin care, if you care

This book isn’t exactly my normal fair, it was a book club selection of the Chicago chapter of Slow Food. Essentially, Slow Food is the opposite of fast food: processed and unfamiliar in origin. Slow Food is about food that is good, clean, and fair. Not necessarily healthy food, but the main principles are that it is important to know where your food comes and attempt to preserve important cultural food traditions.

Anyhoo, this book doesn’t have anything to do with food really, but it is relevant as it is essentially about applying Slow Food principles to skin care.

Skin care is not a thing I think about. I’ve never worn a ton of make-up or paid much attention to the beauty industry in general, aside from the indoctrination we all get into caring in our superficial society. I had break-outs in my youth, and get the occasional blemish, but haven’t had real skin issues. This book is written more from the perspective of someone who cares greatly about their skin, or has had persistent issues they are trying to solve. I often marveled at sentences discussing the “typical” person, between grooming and make-up, using 60 products a day. Um. No. I was more closely aligned with people she mentioned who had been using the same skin care regime for years, with little thought about it.

It was an interesting read, existing so far beyond the scope of what I typically think about. I care very much about what I eat, and carefully read labels, so it was a bit alarming to realize I know nothing about the chemicals and contents of what I am latheron my face and body. It will not cause a big upheaval in my life, or my processes, but I am more aware and will be more interested in the contents of what I smear on my person. It is a quick read, great for a Kindle. In addition, there are recipes in the book for all natural skin care products, some of which sound compelling that I may try.