RAW ESSENTIALS – CAROL ALT’S NEW SKINCARE LINE BECOMES AVAILABLE ON HSN DECEMBER 12TH!

Knowing what we all do about Carol Alt’s devotion to the benefits of raw foods, is it any surprise that she has found a way to care for her outer self in the same manner? After many false starts and near hits over several years, Carol is launching a line of skincare products called RAW ESSENTIALS, made entirely from – you guessed it! – 100% raw active, natural and completely synthetic-free ingredients. That means no parabens, P.E.G.s, or lauryl sulfates. In fact, RAW ESSENTIALS is the only product line sold in the United States that is certified raw. Carol explains:

“I had been eating raw and was feeling so amazing, with such incredible results, that I realized I wanted to continue that thread throughout my life. I knew that I could feel better and better if I could cut more “bad” things out of my life. I had already “chemical-proofed” my immediate surroundings, with water filters, air filters, ozone machines, etc., for my home and office. Then I thought, ‘What about the things I put on my body?”

“The pharmaceutical companies and skincare companies try to tell us that skin acts as a barrier that will keep all the bad things from entering our systems, but that simply isn’t the truth. Skin does allow certain things to pass through it and into the blood stream. When I was battling cancer, the last thing I wanted was anything chemical or unhealthy passing through my skin, especially since I was being so careful about what I ate, and drank, and breathed. So, I became a label sleuth, reading the ingredients of every product I bought or already had on my shelves. From there, I began studying skincare and the various processes that were involved in making these products.

“I found some very troubling things. For example, the F.D.A. does not regulate skincare. That alone scared me, since it meant that manufacturers could legally put just about anything at all into my lipstick, or my mascara, or my hand lotion and who or what was there in place to protect me?

“So, I began making my own products at home, using nothing but raw ingredients. I tried out all types of herbs and liquids, in various combinations, until I hit on something that worked. Well, my skin started looking better than it had in years, which of course, was a great by-product of my quest for better health.”

Carol began sharing her discovery with her friends and family. One of her sisters had suffered for years from rosacea, but once she changed over to Carol’s homemade moisturizer, the rosacea became a thing of the past.

There was another consideration driving Carol’s quest for her own line of raw products:

“At the time I published my first book on eating raw, I realized I had a dilemma. Many people were looking to me as an expert on pure and clean, whether it was food, or skincare, or any other health-related entity. It became clear that I could not put my name on just any skincare line unless it was in keeping with my personal philosophy and principles. It was that philosophy that led me to create this line of skincare products, since nobody else could live up to the ideals I had set for my own skin. If I wasn’t using something myself, how could I possibly recommend that other people use it?!

“Sticking to my principles has, unfortunately, cost me a great deal of money over the years. In one instance, I had to fight to be released from a long-term contract as the spokeswoman for a cosmetics line after less than half of the term had elapsed. What a financial hit that was! But my values had changed dramatically and I have to live with myself. Since that time, I have turned down literally millions of dollars from advertisers of various skincare lines, because I cannot, in good conscience, promote those particular products.

“Since the raw movement is relatively new, it was virtually impossible to find a cosmetics company with a truly pure line that I, myself, would feel safe using. My guidelines and demands on this subject are so stringent, and I am not willing to compromise on them, that it made it very difficult for any company to be able to afford to work with me. You have to understand that it is very expensive to use raw ingredients in anything. When I say ‘raw’, I mean as found in nature – unadulterated, unheated ingredients. That is basically why I had to create my own products, which has taken me quite a while to accomplish. What I kept running into when trying to work with manufacturers was that, unfortunately, people tend to, shall we say, fib – telling you (meaning me!) what they think you want to hear. Time after time, I would discover that a so-called raw process or ingredient actually had been cooked, thus defeating completely the raw mandate.

“For example, one company had come up with a banana fragrance and a mango fragrance for my tropical line. Those two fruits do not produce a useable scent for this type of thing. Banana fragrance (mango, too) can only be produced by combining two other ingredients found in nature and fusing them together by cooking them, thus chemically altering them. The resulting banana-like fragrance may be a natural “aroma”, but it is not a raw, natural “ingredient”. That was totally unacceptable.

“By relying on these people who were assuring me that they were doing everything in a raw and natural manner, when they weren’t, it was delaying my ability to launch this line that I so firmly believed in. On more than one occasion, with more than one manufacturer, we had gotten all the way to the end of the process and were about to launch my line, when someone would say something offhandedly and I’d say, ‘What?!’ and discover that one item or another had been adulterated, either by heating it or chemically altering it from its natural state. Well, that, of course, put a screeching halt to that particular venture and it was on to the next manufacturer!

“One of the last guys I tried this with finally showed me that he simply didn’t get it. We happened to be in his office one day and I asked him to add a certain raw ingredient to one of the products. (The entire product line, by the way, was nearly complete at this point!) He said “I’ll be right back”. When he returned a few minutes later, he proudly handed me a beaker with the new formula in it (containing that ingredient) to inspect. ‘Wait! This stuff is hot!’, I said. ‘It’s not that hot’, he told me. ‘How hot is it?’, I asked. ‘Only about 97 degrees’, he replied. What he failed to mention was that he was talking about Celsius degrees, not Fahrenheit. That’s about 135 degrees Fahrenheit! ‘Are you kidding me?!’, I asked. ‘You’ve now denatured the vitamins and minerals and enzymes!’ In the raw food world, that is not raw, natural or unadulterated. I suddenly realized that this man had no idea that heating (cooking!) any ingredient was so wrong in terms of raw. I also knew that if he did it right in front of me, so to speak, he had probably been heating other ingredients along the way.” Needless to say, Carol ended that partnership.

Carol points out that there is ample scientific evidence identifying a number of ingredients in traditional cosmetics as culprits in certain common cancers, particularly breast cancer. She has no intention of permitting such ingredients to impact her life and health, and the fact that RAW ESSENTIALS can assist others in avoiding the consequences of those nasty chemicals (such as parabens) that are found in other cosmetics, has been paramount in giving her a great sense of satisfaction.

“You know…I simply cannot imagine that putting something synthetic on your skin can possibly improve it. All you have to do is look around. No matter how much expensive goop people put on their faces, are they looking younger? No! Not at all. If all of the synthetic products really worked, would we need botox and plastic surgery to the degree they’re now being used? Think about it…!”

“RAW ESSENTIALS will be sold exclusively on HSN (Home Shopping Network), beginning December 12th and 13th with a “soft launch”. At that time, there will be 4 products available containing raw active ingredients that go beyond “natural and organic”: A day moisturizer; an eye cream; a body wash and a face wash. Then, toward the end of January, we will present a “hard launch” and offer additional products, including a night cream; a bath salt; a toner; a facial scrub and two masques (one detoxifying, one nourishing).

“This is one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever been involved with”, Carol concludes. “There are so many benefits to be had from changing your lifestyle, even if it’s only little by little. As I’ve said before, if I can just touch one person’s life and change it for the better, it’ll be worth it.”

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