Most likely you have probably already heard the warnings -you should always be extra careful when reading the ingredients label of popular facial skin care products.Well don’t take these warnings even the least bit lightly, because thoroughly understanding what is in your facial skin products is terribly important.

Unless you have an advanced degree in chemistry, you are probably going to have a really hard time making heads or tails of what ingredients are in your facial skin care creams. I'll try to give you a little help in figuring out what you should look for in a product, but more importantly, what you should look out for.

I would be willing to bet that, if you buy your facial care products from a department store or local pharmacy, these products are loaded down with potentially harmful chemical additives and fragrances. Case in point, I want you to look through your collection of products that you already own and read the ingredients. Count for me how many times that you see the word "paraben."

If you own a large number of facial skin care products, then I’ll bet that you saw that word often.

Would you care to know what exactly parabens are? They are a family of low cost preservatives commonly found in all manner of cosmetics, which are primarily used for their antibacterial and fungicidal properties.

Now I will tell you what parabens in your facial skin care products can do.

Parabens can cause reaction skin irritation, contact dermatitis, and can speed the growth of tumors (this is evidenced by a scientific study that found parabens in samples of breast tumors).

There are dozens of other chemicals in your facial care products that are also known to raise your risk of developing cancer, and there are many more that can cause a myriad of other health problems. Everything from rashes to respiratory failure are available to you over the counter at your local cosmetics counter.

These chemicals are used in facial skin care products and other cosmetic products simply because they are cheap. Lower cost ingredients push up the profit margin of the products and makes the major cosmetics companies very happy. These companies rake in an estimated $18 billion dollars domestically, but at what cost to you?

What you need to look for in facial care products are fresh, natural, plant-based ingredients, and naturally created preservative and antibacterial compounds. You should be able to read the ingredients label (without a chemistry degree) and see natural active ingredients like grape seed oil, macadamia oil, avocado, Manuka honey, Wakame sea kelp, and Maracuja passion fruit extract.

These are facial skin care ingredients that wereengineered by naturerather than chemists, and will cause you no harmful side effects.

Products that contain ingredients such as these are manufactured and sold by people who care about you and your health. They may mot be as easy to find as some of the major companies products are, but once you locate them, you will go back again and again.