Natural Facial Cleansing

Most cleansers, makeup, and other beauty products are full of harsh synthetic chemicals that may be harmful to skin. Natural solutions for healthy skin care are better for you, support a cleaner environment and natural techniques work at least as well.

Essential oils are some of nature’s best helpers in almost every aspect of health. Many times more potent than dried herbs, essential oils contain all the healing properties of a plant in a very concentrated form. For this reason, they are best used in tiny amounts and are often diluted for skin care.

Sea salt is the world’s most mineral-rich exfoliant. The minerals in sea water are known to nourish and heal skin. The same minerals can be found in unprocessed, mineral-rich sea salt, and the coarseness of salt makes it a perfect exfoliant. Try the following whole-body sea salt scrub.

- 1 Cup Sea Salt

- 2 Tablespoons Apricot or Almond Oil

- 5-6 Drops Peppermint Essential Oil

1. Put salt in a bowl and add the oils.

2. Mix well.

3. Store in covered container until ready to use.

This recipe is best used in the shower after washing. Rub a small handful of the salt scrub all over your body in brisk circular motions. Afterwards, use a moisturizing anti aging skin care product.

Fatty oils restore skin’s moisture and flexibility. Part of the benefit of the salt scrub recipe is the apricot or almond oil it contains, which leaves a nice glow and moisture in the skin.

Using an oil cleansing method, surprisingly, is a simple and effective way to clean your face. Using olive oil, castor oil, and hot water leaves a lasting glow. Fatty vegetable oils can be used as moisturizers, makeup remover, cleansers if you want to stay all natural.

Dry Skin Help with Diet

There are lots of things you can do with your diet and supplements that can help your dry skin. To combat dry skin, your body needs fats to build fat-rich cells that hold on to moisture. Saturated, monounsaturated and omega-3 fats are key components in the cell membranes . Vegetarians (who eat eggs and dairy products but not meat) eat about one-third less saturated fat than the average meat eater. Vegans (who eat no animal products of any kind) only receive about one half as much saturated fat as the average meat-eating American. As a result, they obtain from their diet much less cholesterol than omnivores.

The best way to assure you get a healthy diet of skin-enhancing fats is by eating a wide variety of whole plant foods. You can get fats from nuts, seeds, olives and avocados Use olive oil, replete with monosaturated fat, for cooking and salad dressings. Coconut oil is also an excellent alternative for it retains its stability at high temperatures. Try to avoid processed foods and deep-fried foods that are rich in trans fats and omega-6 polyrrnsaturated fats. These fats contribute to the production of free radicals, the by-products of oxidation, which is a skin aging process that antioxidant vegetables help tame. Although for many years polyunsaturated vegetable oils, like canola, corn, safflower, and soy were recommended, c anola oil is actually unstable when heated and the processed used to stabilize it turns a certain percentage of the oil into a trans fat.

Eating the undesirable fats found in these oils (as well in trans-fat containing foods such as margarine, most baked goods, fried foods, processed foods and sweets )may increase both wrinkling and the risk of developing skin and other cancers including melanoma. Vegetarians can eat eggs and dairy to obtain saturated fats while vegans can obtain them from coconut oil.

Fish oils are good sources of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids which can increase the lipid content of your cells. They can be obtained from fish like salmon, as well as supplements with Omega-3 or Cod Liver Oil capsules. Omega-3s help your skin by providing essential fats needed for cellular integrity while they also prevent inflammation which can lead to the formation of dark spots in pigmented skin types.
Antioxidants are helpful in fighting free radicals - renegade oxygen molecules that cause cellular aging and wrinkles.

Also look for products that contain ingredients that help your skin retain moisture, such as essential fatty acids along with ingredients like lecithin to strengthens kin cell membranes. Look for products that are also third party tested to ensure they are free of environmental toxins. It is important in purchasing essential fats to ensure that you find a pure, well-tested source, free of environmental contaminants.

Several studies have suggested that it is better to get antioxidants through natural food sources instead of supplements, but if this is not possible or additional vitamin intake is needed, supplements can be a valuable help.

SUPPLEMENTS
The following oral supplements that contain the below nutrients can all be helpful to your skin:

Selenium is a powerful antioxidant mineral. Selenium. Some scientific evidence suggests that consumption of selenium may reduce the risk of certain forms of cancer. However, FDA has determined that this evidence is limited and not conclusive. Vitamins A, C, E, B5, alpha lipoic acid, and grape seed extract, Ester-C , CoQro, lutein, as well as zinc, selenium, copper, and lycopene. Take these supplements according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Is it too late to save my bad skin?

“I never paid much attention to my skin because I never had any skin problems. I never bothered with skin care products because I didn’t need to. Now I’m seeing wrinkles and spots forming, I guess it’s just too late to anything about it.” If this sounds like you, you may want to keep reading.Never fear, because there is still much that you can do to help your skin. If you are lost in sea of product choices, you can still be assured cosmetic dermatology can offer many alternative treatments.

Not surprisingly, many adults rarely consult a dermatologist that is until AFTER the signs of aging have appeared. Wrinkles, of course, are the chief complaint. Your skin may feel rough to the touch, and even sore, especially in drying environmental conditions such as on an airplane or in a low-humidity environment like the desert or high-altitude cities. In the winter, when indoor heating is used, your skin gets even more dehydrated, making the wrinkles look worse. Your skin may catch on rough clothing. You may also notice wrinkles on your neck or others parts of your body.

Those who have never had skin issues or were blessed to even have beautiful skin for most of the lives, are now desperate to address the skin wrinkles and many run to the dermatologist feeling a lot of regret. Although genes certainly play a role in one’s skin condition, decades of neglect, or even mistreatment of their skin is most frequently the source of their skin problems. Many say that if they knew then what they know now, they would have done things very differently and taken better care of their skin.
There are numerous explanations for unhealthy skin but the main causes tend to be an unhealthy diet, an ineffectual cleansing routine, and poor lifestyle choices.

Poor Diet
Your skin is a living, breathing organ of the body and it needs proper nourishment and hydration to look and feel its best. When your skin is deprived of the necessary vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that it needs it is unable to functional at optimal levels and the structure slowly begins to break down. This breakdown results in dry skin, blemishes, discoloration, wrinkles, and premature ageing.

In order to avoid this breakdown you need to feed your skin a varied mix of important nutrients each day. Ingesting sufficient amounts of vitamin A, a nutrient that can be found in citrus fruits and orange vegetables, can help you avoid dry skin and blemishes. Eating foods rich in the vitamin B group like brewer’s yeast or breads, or taking a vitamin B group supplement, can help you ward of skin discoloration, dry skin, dermatitis, shallow skin, and premature ageing.

To help discourage wrinkles, pale skin, sun damage, blemishes, and other unhealthy skin symptoms, nutrients like calcium, protein, iodine, niacin, folic acid, iron, and copper are very important to a healthy diet. Get these effective skin helpers by enjoying foods like mild, eggs, cheese, chicken, fish, leafy vegetables, fruits, and grains.

Poor Hygiene
Another common cause of unhealthy skin is poor hygiene. Whether this involves the failure to clean your skin often enough or the use of an ineffective cleansing routine, built-up dirt and grime can lead to blemishes, premature ageing, shallowness, dry skin, and wrinkles.

When your skin is not properly cleaned on a regular basis, dirt, pollution and other harmful substances are allowed to build up on your skin and clog the pores. Clogged pores result in breakouts, dry skin, and the reduction of cell renewal.

To get the most out of your cleansing routine make sure that you wash your skin twice a day, everyday. Also, make sure that you are using an effective cleanser like a soap that is specially formulated for deep cleansing. Make sure that you use gentle pressure when cleaning the skin, do not scrub or pull on the skin since this can result in tiny tears that are susceptible to irritation and infection. Finally, always follow your cleansing routine with a hydrating moisturizer that also contains a sunscreen in order to hydrate your skin and protect it from sun damage.

Bad Lifestyle Habits
Even if you enjoy a healthy diet and pay special attention to your skin care regime you can still be sabotaging the health of your skin by indulging in unhealthy habits. Habits like sun tanning, smoking, choosing fizzy drinks or sodas over water, and wearing heavy makeup can lead to the development of unhealthy skin. Avoid excessive sun exposure, always wear sunscreen with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 15, stop smoking and avoid those who smoke, drink plenty of water, and choose light cosmetics if you want your skin to stay young and healthy looking for years to come.

Skin Care Ingredients

Before we have a discussion of specific ingredients, it’s important to educate ourselves a little bit more on skin itself and what makes a product good or poor. Your skin is the largest organ of the body. Anything you put on it can be easily absorbed through the pores. When you use skin care products, they are typically applied all over the face, neck, and body. This covers a lot of surface area and, therefore, a great deal of chemical absorption occurs.

The biggest reason our skin, whether on the face or the rest of the body, develops lines and/or starts to sag, is that the collagen and elastin in our skin begins to break down. Collagen is a protein that is fibrous in nature. What makes collagen different from other kinds of protein is that it possesses great tensile strength, which means, among other things, it provides firmness to the skin.

You don’t need to be a scientist, therefore, to understand that as collagen breaks down due to aging, the firmness of our skin becomes…well, less firm. Wrinkles appear and skin starts to sag.

Elastin, too, is a protein that helps skin stay “flexible” and firm. If your skin is stretched, elastin is the protein that helps it return to its original position.

What all of this means for you as a consumer is you do want to avoid buying products that are nothing more than wrinkle or fine line ‘fillers.’ Some creams will give the appearance of plumper fuller skin while it still sits on the surface, but once absorbed or removed, the illusion is gone. Want you want to look for is a product that actually stimulates new collagen and elastin production in your skin. If you achieve this, you will, in reality, begin to turn back the clock.

Unfortunately, some cosmetic manufacturers will include some great ‘active ingredients’ while filling the majority of the product with inferior filler. Because these active ingredients are beneficial for the skin, they include just enough to be allowed to legally list them on the product label. This way, the typical consumer thinks they are getting a great product of high-quality. But, because these ingredients are expensive, and because, many well known companies spend much of their budget on marketing, the amount of these ‘active ingredients’ is limited to have any real benefit for your skin.

So, when choosing a skin care product, it’s not just about selecting one with good ingredients; it’s also about choosing one with a high concentration of these good ingredients.

• Collagen

After the brief review of the importance of collagen, you would think that buying a product with collagen in it would be a great thing. And the marketers who sell products that contain collagen know this. But, again sadly, collagen molecules are much too large to penetrate into the skin when applied topically and there presence in a beauty product has no effect whatsoever. To be of any benefit, you must purchase a product with ingredients that have been shown to stimulate your body’s own collagen production.

• Phytessence Wakame

Phytessence Wakame is an exotic kelp, native to the Japanese Sea. It works by blocking a harmful enzyme in your body called hyaluronidase. Hyaluronidase breaks down hyaluronic acid in your skin. Without hyaluronic acid, the elastin and collagen fibers lose their “glue,” which leads to a loss of youthful appearance and dark eye circles. Hyaluronan is a major component of skin, where it is involved in tissue repair.

• CoQ10

If you look at the ingredient list for some of the better skin care products, you’ll often see CoQ10 listed. CoQ10 is short for Coenzyme Q10, so you may also see it listed this way. CoQ10 is a vitamin like substance that is found in all of our body’s cells and is very important for healthy skin. CoQ10 is a powerful antioxidant. A lot of skin damage and aging comes from free radicals wreaking havoc in our body’s cells. CoQ10’s antioxidant ability can counter these free radicals before damage occurs.

Unfortunately, like many other vital substances, as we age, the amount of CoQ10 in our bodies becomes depleted.

Although CoQ10 is a great ingredient, not all forms are equal. One in particular stands head and shoulders above the rest. This version of it is called Nano-Lipobelle H-EQ10.Most of the CoQ10 you buy in a typical skin care products are not readily usable when applied topically to the skin.

• Nano-Lipobelle H-EQ10, on the other hand, is a special nano-emulsion form of CoQ10, which penetrates far down into the skin, thereby providing much greater benefits for skin health. In fact, Nano-Lipobelle H-EQ10 has been shown to penetrate seven layers deep into the skin, making it extremely effective at gobbling up free radicals in your skin. The result is a powerful anti-wrinkle effect.

Dry skin recommendations

Dry skin recommendations and supplements that can help your skin

LIFESTYLE RECOMMENDATIONS

Dry skin responds best to climates with high humidity and hates cold, dry and windy climates. Indoor heating and air-conditioning can also be drying to skin. If you live in a dry climate, try to use a humidifier to add moisture to the air. There are many affordable varieties available on the market or for re-sale today.
Don’t steam facials because steaming is actually more drying than hydrating. Likewise, avoid steam rooms, swimming pools, chlorinated hot tubs and overly hot baths. Avoid those old-fashioned recommendations to put your face under a towel over a pot of boiling water. Not only will this lead to excessive drying, it can also cause broken capillaries or blood veins along the fragile skin of the cheeks and nose.

If your skin tends to be dry, and tight or wrinkled and sun spotted, avoid excessive sun, exposure or hot wax facial treatments, hair sprays and hair dyes that can dry your skin and provoke inflammation leading to dark spots.

Hormone replacement therapy can help to lessen skin dryness after Menopause though it will increase age spots due to new hormones stimulating pigment production. It may help prevent the wrinkles that quickly occur after menopause Consult with your doctor with your family health history to make an informed decision on HRT.

Facial Mask at Home

Spending a bomb to buy a facial product with claims of having all natural ingredients for beautiful skin and having drastic results on its usage is very depressing for any beauty conscious woman. We see wide varieties of cosmetics available in supermarkets, department stores, health food stores as well as internet and TV.

Not everybody has the same skin type. What product works on your friend’s skin, might not work for you and vice versa. If you buy a product for your skin type, it could have adverse effect as there could be some chemical or ingredient which could cause a reaction on your skin. Moral of the story - “Not all cosmetic products work well for everyone’s skin”.

Cosmetics labeled as having “natural ingredients” do contain some amount of artificial chemicals or elements. With over priced cosmetics made from natural ingredients, many people have started preparing beauty products at home. Making a facial mask at home with all the ingredients available in the kitchen is quite easy and inexpensive.

- Create a salon like atmosphere while doing a facial at home. Ideally they tie your hair in high ponytail or make you wear a band around head. Choose to do what ever you feel comfortable about.

- Start by splashing tepid water all over your face. Massage your face gently with water. Repeat it twice or thrice and let your face air dry.

- While your face is still damp, massage vitamin E on your face. Let your face soak the oil for 5 minutes or so. Use a mild soap to remove the oil from your face.

- Again splash your face with water at room temperate. Repeat it for 2 or 3 times. Avoid towel drying your face.

- Next make your facial mask. Blend 1 egg white or fresh Aloe Vera juice of same quantity, 2 tsp vegetable oil and 1 tsp pure apple juice in a clean bowl.

- Dip your hands in the facial mask and apply the mask to your skin. Start with your chin, move upwards and then outwards skipping the area around the eyes and lips.

- Now you have to just sit back and relax. Cover your eyes with wet cotton balls or cucumber pieces. The mask has to dry completely. An ideal time for a small nap.

- Mask takes anywhere from 20 - 30 minutes to dry. You feel your skin tightened when the mask is dry. Splash water all over face and gently remove the mask with light massage strokes on your face. Continue doing this till your face is cleared of the entire home made facial mask. Let your face air dry.

Use this home made facial mask once or twice a week or depending up on the time you have on hand. You will feel fresh and have much younger looking face all the time.

Do Facials Help With Wrinkles

You may have seen an infomercial on television or come across an ad on the internet that claims their product will completely diminish your wrinkles. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If a product really had the capability to get rid of deep wrinkles 100%, you would hear it all over the news and it would probably be on Oprah.

This is not to say that absolutely no wrinkle treatment will ever work. You just need to remember that there is no magic treatment. The best way to have great skin is by preventing. Protect your skin from the sun and take care of it both inside and out. Think about it, what if you had put on SPF 30 sunblock every 2 hours everyday of your life since the day you were born? You would probably look years younger and possibly have not a wrinkle in site!

Now I’m sure you haven’t put on that much sunblock. Chances are since you’re reading this article, you already have wrinkles and aging skin and you are looking for something to help get rid of them. You want to know, do facial wrinkle treatments really work? Some treatments work, some don’t. Some treatments do what they say, some don’t. You want to find the treatments that don’t promise the world and that deliver.

Next to daily SPF, the next best thing you can do for your wrinkles is moisturize. You should use a moisturizer with an SPF of 15 or higher in the morning and use a night cream in the evening. Another important way to keep your skin hydrated is by drinking enough water. You hear it time and again to drink enough water because it’s important and helps so many things.

In addition to washing and moisturizing your face, you can add an occasional peel. A peel removes the dead skins cells from your face and a layer of skin to reveal your most beautiful skin possible. It will give you a glow if you have a quality product. If a peel seems too expensive or harsh, you could use a facial scrub, but you won’t get the same effect. If anything, I would suggest a less frequent peel supplemented by scrubs. Also, don’t go crazy with peels because they are abrasive.

Finally, there are all the “Anti-Aging” products. You can find lotions, serums, toners, and just about anything that claims to diminish wrinkles. Some products work for some people and not others. You really need to do some of your own experimenting. If you have dry skin look for a nice moisturizing anti-aging lotion. Stay away from things you know you are allergic to and keep an eye on ingredients that don’t work before buying another product. Give every product at least a week or two, unless you are reacting badly to it, before you give it up and move on. It takes some time for most products to produce results.

How Facial Masks Work

Even though they may make you look scary for a little while, masks are a great way to treat your skin to a once a week spa type of treatment. You can find masks for any skin type with a variety of different ingredients. There are mud masks to help to smooth your skin as well as some that are specifically designed to help with acne problems. All masks are good for your skin and help to tone and sooth your skin.

A mask for your face should be applied once or twice weekly. You don’t want to use them too frequently as they can upset the balance of your skin. The way that most facial masks work is that you put them on your face and wait for a specified period of time until you feel it dry and your skins starts feeling a little tight. Don’t freak out, this is a normal part of the process and it is not taking over your face! After this you usually will give it another few minutes and then rinse your skin. Some people choose to use water by itself and others like to remove the mask with a wash cloth, it’s entirely up to you. Afterwards you should dry your face totally and moisturize it because masks remove some moisture from your skin. This is why I sad earlier not to use them too frequently.

There are also full body masks available that can treat all of your skin at the same time. These work in exactly the same way as the ones for your face and they can help renew the look of your skin all over. It is not possible to do this properly at home so you will have to have one of these applied by a professional. Thankfully, there are many full service salons that offer this service and it is a real treat to have done. When you schedule yourself for one of these be sure to drink lots of water before and after to help remove toxins, help replace lost moisture, and re-hydrate you body. Water is crucial because just as with a facial mask these also remove moisture but on a much larger scale.

Educating yourself about different types of lotions and masks will help you keep your skin clear and give you the healthy glow you want. Water is a beauty secret that many women overlook. The key to beautiful clear skin is adequate hydration and water is crucial in this process as it not only helps your skin hydrate itself but also helps to remove toxins. Utilize what you have learned here and you will have beautiful and radiant skin that others will envy.

« Previous Page