Tag Archives: carley’s

Quality You Can See!

March 13, 2016 Stephen Wills

A short story about that Refined Rose Hip Oil on the left.
It’s been sitting in a refrigerator for 14 years. I bought it by mistake. We tried to use it instead of our usual Virgin Rose Hip Oil. In the beginning, I just didn’t understand the difference. When the moisturizer was made I couldn’t believe the difference. It was so weak and unexciting. I noticed it first because the color was different. It seemed like we had made a moisturizer using mineral oil. Luckily, we hadn’t put it in the jars. So we tossed that batch and quickly ordered the good stuff. I still hold onto it as a reminder to always use the best ingredients.

The picture shows you why we believe our skin products are so much better. Almost all skin care companies try to save as much money as they can. Even the ones who make high priced moisturizers still cut corners. One way they cut costs, is to use highly refined oils. The deeper colors of the virgin oils, show you how many nutrients are present. They use dyes to cover this up.

What’s the difference between virgin and refined oils?
Virgin Oils are first pressing using as little heat as possible. Refining produces a lot more oil. But refining (they use a lot of heat) strips out many, if not most of these nutrients.

So what nutrients are in these Virgin oils?
These Virgin oils are rich in nutrients such as carotenoids, tocotrienols, and tocopherols. They are loaded with antioxidants like phenols, terpenes, and glucosides; vitamins A, C, and E; beta-carotene; plant sterols; and trace elements such as copper, iron, selenium, and manganese. All important nutrients your skin can use to become healthy.

Why can’t we just apply these oils to our skin?
Our skin is 64% water. Oils and water don’t naturally mix. Oils don’t absorb well into our skin The way we make our true moisturizers insures these precious oils will absorb deep into your skin.

Learn More About Carley’s Ingredients at ClearandSmoothSkin.com

Promotions

Send Us a Video Review, Get a Free Product

August 30, 2015 Stephen Wills

We love customer reviews. We love reviews when they are posted on the website. We love reviews when they are posted on MakeupAlley and Acne.org. We love reviews sent to us by email. But we especially love video reviews. Send us a video review (instructions on how-to make a video review below) and we will send you a FREE product of your choice.

No catch. Just send us a video review of your beautiful new self telling us about your experiences with Carley’s products and email us at [email protected] with the link to the product.

Instructions on how to submit a video to YouTube can be found here. You can send us a video by a phone video or on your computer. Then send us the link to the video and which product you’d like and we will send you your free product!

AND the best video this September will win $100 of FREE products (of your choice), to be shipped at one time!

Note: Only one video per person. YES, we’ll accept more than one video per household. Email us if you have trouble uploading a video.

Tips and Tricks

Irritant-Free Shaving Tips

January 11, 2014 Stephen Wills

Many men are too proud to admit when their shaving cream irritates their face. While we are instilled that shaving with cream is an absolute must to avoid cuts there are other alternatives that are both healthier for the skin and more comfortable. Just released from Carley’s, is a new concept to shaving: Shaving Butter!

Using a shaving butter with silicone-free ingredients that naturally lubricate (including exotic ingredients from such places India’s Butter Tree), the skin can get a closer shave that doesn’t irritate later.

Do a Clear & Smooth treatment to the skin with special attention to the beard and mustache area. A hot shower with exfoliation will open the pores nicely.
Apply a thin layer of the shaving butter to the areas to be shaved. a Finger full of the shaving cream should be enough.
Lather with the Natural Soap and apply to the areas to be shaved.
Shave with fresh razor, re-applying more butter as needed.
Rinse with warm water, extracting excess water with fingers. Don’t towel dry, leave face wet!
Apply moisturizer to wet face, rub into skin until fully absorbed (Kukui Nut and Regeneration are my favorites for this step).

This method never fails to give me my closest, smoothest shave ever. The extra lubrication of the moisturizer makes the blade glide smoothly, and greatly reduces the irritation that normally accompanies shaving.

*For the ultimate in smoothness, I’ll use the mask in between steps 5 and 6, give your face one more light wash with the Natural Soap to remove the mask and then moisturize. The Elder Flower Mask feels amazing post-shave, like it’s healing the micro-trauma from the razor.

Women
While we are plainly directing the use of facial shaving, women shouldn’t hesitate to the use the very same treatments. The special nature of the ingredients that go onto your skin create a smoothness in your shaving that you won’t see anywhere else.

Many use the Shaving Cream as an actual substitute for the regular moisturizer products. What kind of shaving cream can do that?

Sharpening the Blades
Another key is a sharp blade. Here’s a trick that will help you get a closer shave and save you a lot of money: Buy a razor strop.This is a strip of leather barbers use to sharpen a straight razor. Believe it or not it will also sharpen regular safety razor blades. I’m getting well over 2 months out of a blade and the blade stays very sharp.

Products Mentioned:
Carley’s Shaving Butter
Carley’s Acne Treatment
Natural Soap

Informational, Tips and Tricks

A Natural Solution to Dandruff? Warts? Rashes? Alternative Uses for Carley’s Products

August 5, 2013 Stephen Wills 1 Comment

Despite what the label says, Carley’s products tend to be very dynamic. The reason why is that the product lines are consistent with similar base ingredients and the same quality control processed throughout. Even the pH is kept about the same!

Due to the moisturizing nature of many of the products, we’ve seen people have success with a wide range of products they’ve tried. Some consider these products universal in their uses – Especially the soap. What are some cool “off-label” uses we’re talking about?

Rashes – Customers come to use everyday telling us that their pesky skin rashes went away after applying the Eczema Cream w/ Black Seed Oil.
Burns and chapped lips – The Kukui Nut Body Lotion and Exotic Butter Night Time Moisturizer worked amazingly on my 2nd degree burns, cooling the skin better than any store-bought Aloe Vera cream ever could. I even use it on my lips when chapped if the Lip Balm isn’t nearby.
Makeup base – Hair and Makeup Artist Jenny Karl swears by the Virgin Coconut Moisturizer. She uses it as a base before applying makeup for her clients. And yes that includes some pretty famous actors, models and fitness clients!
Wart remover – The Clear & Smooth exfoliant worked wonders on a pesky skin wart I had. Apply a small amount and cover with duct tape (duct tape seals the skin better for warts). Here’s a full write-up I did on wart removal.
Dandruff – I’ve found that the new Tea Tree Oil Cream will actually ward off dandruff from forming. Apply to the scalp, rub down for 15-30 seconds and then let sit on the scalp for 3-5 minutes.
Male pattern baldness – This one may be a stretch but I use the Clear & Smooth exfoliant in my scalp every day. Studies show that stimulating the scalp increases oxygen to the blood under the skin and nothing is better than an exfoliant. Factor in the good ingredients in the Clear & Smooth and you have something that has miraculously prevented me from seeing the same balding effects that every other male (and female) in my family has seen. Full write-up here.
Sunblocker, burn cover-up – The Mineral Makeup Foundation is a great sunblocker for your face. Even better, it’s the perfect cover-up for burns. The worse thing you can do for a large burn is to expose it to sunburns. Avoid scarification by blocking the sun over the burn. It doesn’t hurt your appearance to block a bad burn anyways.
Facial shaving – The Daytime Moisturizer works as a great facial shaver. Even better than Daytime is now the Hair (yes, hair) Conditioner.

It’s not just us that have found amazing uses for Carley’s products. Our customers were asked what “off-label” uses they found for these products:

Shampoo, shaving cream, piercing/tattoo cleaner, dandruff – “I use the soap as shampoo, shaving cream, piercing and tattoo cleaners. The moisturizer in my hairline and eyebrows to prevent dandruff flakes, and it works! I brag about how universal the soap is to all my friends, hahah.” – Samantha
Facial Shaving – “I’ll start out this topic by saying my guilty pleasure is shaving with our hair conditioner. I know this sounds weird, but it works really well. I get a pepperminty smooth shave. The same properties that help the hair and scalp seem to help the blade cut the beard more easily. I used to use our body wash to shave with, but the hair conditioner works even better. I’m pretty sure it would work well shaving legs too.”
Severe diaper rashes – “The Kukui Nut Body Lotion does wonders for severe diaper rashes. Leave it on overnight and its healed in the morning!!” – Kasey
Shampoo, body wash, face wash, shaving and cleaning your puppy – “I use the natural soap, as shampoo, body wash, face wash, to shave and to suds up my pup. It is the best product out there!” – Doreen
Preventing fluffy hair – “I used your moisturizer on my hair to prevent puffy hair.” – Kate
Washing false teeth and getting rid of laundry stains – “My mother washes her false teeth with the soap. She also said it’s better than Shout for laundry stains.” – Albert
Rashes – “A few months ago, our three-year-old started breaking out in a light rash on his back. We used this [Eczema] cream on it a couple of nights and it went away, after months of having applied other creams every single night just to keep it from getting inflamed. So that’s great, but then we really got to see what it can do. Two days ago, he woke up from his nap with a horrible heat rash covering his entire right leg. He said it was itchy, and it looked bad enough that I thought I was going to have to take him to the doctor on Monday. We applied this cream probably five times over the next 18 hours, and this morning the rash was about 90% better.”

So what about you? Are you finding any new uses for Carley’s products that we don’t know about? Send them here.

Tips and Tricks

The Biggest Mistakes Acne Sufferers Make

September 13, 2012 Stephen Wills 4 Comments

You aren’t washing off enough after your acne treatment
Use a lathered wash cloth after treatment to get rid of all traces of the acne solution. If you see any staining of towels, wash more thoroughly! Any product containing benzoyl peroxide needs work to take off the skin. If you leave benzoyl peroxide on the skin you may as well be leaving the products on permanently as the skin will adapt to the ingredient. Instructions and video here.

This also applies to using an acne treatment over the sink. This is hard to get the treatment right when it’s hard to lather and wash off correctly over the sink.

You are using acne treatments more than once a day
Never! Once again, exposing yourself to too much benzoyl peroxide risks roughening up your skin. Once a day treatment is ideal for long lasting clearness. As far as the natural soap and other products go, use as often as you like!

You are using spot treatments
A spot treatment will probably clear you up for a brief period of time. The problem is that these treatments are usually acidic, full of harsh ingredients and terrible for the long term health of your skin. Try the Kick Start Method for those tough areas.

You aren’t using enough product
Just like some use too much there are many that squeeze every drop of life they can get out of a bottle. Some try to get six months or a year out of a bottle. Until your acne is completely under control, you can only get three to four months max for facial acne. The first bottle should last no more than three months. Body acne? One to two months per bottle due to the thicker nature of the skin and more surface area. If you’re still not clearing up, use more.

You mix and match skin products
People often believe that if they mix and match products that they will get the best results. As with most things in life, shooting for a solution like a shotgun will usually not work. You need to focus on each individual product you try to see which one you get the most of.

Almost all skin care products today are acidic. Any liquid ointment should be avoided until you are clear. One by one add them back in to your routine and see how your skin reacts. For cover, our powdered mineral foundation works well (or a store bought foundation with as little ingredients as possible). For maximum cover, a paste can be made with the foundation and the daytime moisturizer. Apply the treatment with a makeup sponge. If it doesn’t say pH neutral, don’t use it!

You aren’t scrubbing hard enough
Your skin has many layers. The out layers are dead skin cells. Removing these dead skin cells opens up your pores and encourages new skin growth. This also aids the products into penetrating the skin. Do not be afraid to scrub hard. Most acne sufferers have tender skin. This is due to the products they’ve been using. Start out gently and gradually increase the effort you use to scrub. As your skin gets healthy, you will be able to take more exfoliation. Exfoliation is the secret to youthful healthy skin. It is exercise for the skin.

You’re using a toothpaste or shampoo that contains SLS
If you get breakouts around your mouth and chin you could be allergic to SLS (Sulfates) or something else in your toothpaste. There are SLS-free toothpastes on the market that are great such as Biotene and Closys II. Others might have problem ingredients such as Papaya. If breakouts are around your hair line it could be due to the SLS in your shampoo. If you Sulfate seems to be the issue, avoid store-bought liquid soaps. Our body wash is liquid and contains no Sulfates of any kind.

You aren’t spending enough time in the sun
With the advent of sunscreen and better communication about the dangers of sun exposure, we’ve actually seen a rise in Vitamin D deficiency. With the fear of skin cancer people are shielding themselves from the sun with sunscreens. To the point of not getting any Vitamin D. According to studies up to 37 percent of caucasian adolescents are deficient and over 82 percent of African Americans are. With a large enough deficiency, the skin struggles to heal as fast and acne may be triggered.

The only way to get Vitamin D naturally is to spend about 15 minutes in the sun daily. Morning sun works best. Keep track of your time in the sun as you can burn fast when unprotected. Here is a sunscreen guide for natural ointments that are healthy for your skin.

The water quality in your shower is poor
Maybe it sounds like we’re reaching here but the quality of your water can make a huge difference for some. If you aren’t seeing results six months in it could very well be the quality of filter you use. Water is an element that affects your skin greatly. It also varies depending on the area you live. My son used to notice his acne staying clear when he away from college. After noticing a few instances of the same by our customers we looked into it. After customers got a soft water system their often skin cleared up. Could hard acidic water be the cause?

You have a gluten or food sensitivity
Sensitivities to food can cause a skin condition similar to acne. There is a simple (but challenging) test. Give up all wheat products for a week. You have to read labels. Gluten is in pizza, bread, pasta, beer and many distilled spirits. These kinds of wheat may even be found in cosmetic products. Sometimes it’s not the products your using or should be using, it’s simply your diet.

I’m a big believer in Karma. What goes around comes around. Our goal is to help people to have clear skin. Whether that’s with our products, a competitor’s or some other reason – all the power to you. Follow the directions and use some detective work!

Tips and Tricks

Regular or Industrial Strength Treatment for Acne?

August 21, 2012 Stephen Wills 1 Comment

Most acne products on the market use Benzoyl Peroxide as the primary clearing ingredient. It may seem smart to use higher and higher amounts of this essential ingredient but we recommend less. Much less for healthy skin.

We use BP in our acne treatment like most others but in smaller quantities. This is why we we offer an Industrial Strength version for those with more severe acne as well as the Regular Strength.

Drying, Sensitivities and Overuse
Benzoyl Peroxide acts as an oxygen generator for your skin. When massive amounts of oxygen are absorbed into the skin, this disrupts bacteria. Acne is prevented from even forming if done right. Problem?

Benzoyl Peroxide is overused in today’s market. It’s easy to throw BP at the problem and create a quick fix. In today’s quick-fix-world where people demand instant cures it is hard to practice patience. But that is exactly the way to achieve not just clear skin but healthy skin. Clear skin done quickly may not stay clear for long. Healthy skin stays permanently clear!

The drying effects of BP are well documented. Not only can the ingredient dry the skin too much but the skin can adapt to BP. It begins to take more and more treatments to stay clear as the body adjusts to such harsh conditions.

A small portion of the population is actually allergic to Benzoyl Peroxide. This creates a rash on the skin when used as an ointment. That doesn’t mean these people can’t use products that contain BP. This just means they need to carefully monitor the amount they use on their skin. Here is a guide about using BP for people with skin sensitivities…

Regular Strength or Industrial “Kick Ass” Strength?
The goal is for all acne sufferers to be able to take the regular strength to stay clear. The “Kick Ass” formula uses a higher amount of BP (about 5%) to keep severe acne sufferers and teens clear. The regular strength uses about half that amount which is far lower and milder than other products on the market (and yet works more effectively!).

If you are a severe acne sufferer or teenager with acne, use the Kick Ass treatment. This formula has the right amount of BP to effectively clear the skin. Not only can this product better handle skin more oily and prone to acne but it isn’t full of heavy chemicals that most products marketed towards teens and severe acne sufferers do. For the hard to treat spots or lagging results, try the Kick Start Method. For body acne sufferers, skin on your body is less sensitive than your face. You can apply a more liberal amount on the body so the Kick Ass treatment may be for you.

As your skin becomes clearer, switch to the Regular Strength. If you have a pimple here or there, start with the Regular Strength. The Regular Strength has the ideal amount of BP for long term health. Not too drying, not too harsh for sensitive skin. Like Goldilocks said, just right!

The solution to your acne woes may appear to need extreme measures but they really don’t. If you have a history of acne ointment “abuse” (because that’s almost what it is!) your skin will take longer to adapt to milder treatments. All of those heavy acidic products so pumped full of terrible chemicals did long term damage to the skin. The skin will take time to heal. Don’t even think about an acid wash! You may as well pop pimples yourself and hope for the best.