Skin care

Your skin is your first line of defense against aging and looking beautiful. If you take proper care of it you’ll look as though you’re ready to set in front of a TV camera – and your friends and family will think you’ve stopped the calendar.

Getting Enough Sleep
No amount of skin care will compensate for a tired body and one of the first places to reflect this lack of enough zzzzzs is your skin. Most of us need at least 6 hours sleep to function properly. However, the ideal amount of sleep to look wide-eyed, youthful and ready to go is about 8 hours sleep, or more, depending on the individual. To induce a good nights sleep be sure your bedroom is cool enough as a reduced body temperature signals the brain to shift into sleep.

Quit Smoking
Nothing is worst for the skin than the nasty habit of smoking. Not only is it bad for your circulation, cigarettes raise your blood pressure and heart rate and make it more difficult to fall asleep. Many people aren’t aware that nicotine is a stimulant and can keep you awake like large doses of caffeine. Smoker’s also wake up more in the middle of the night, possibly because of withdrawal symptoms.

Proper Nutrition & Exercise
If you want your skin to glow from within, eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean meat, fish and complex carbohydrates. Also, make sure your skin is properly hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

Walking is a great way to keep your skin glowing. If you’re walking on a sunny day, be sure to protect your skin with sunscreen and wear a hat to cover your face.

Egg Facials
Facials with egg help smooth and nourish your skin and give you a youthful glow. Try any of these three routines:

1) Using a cotton puff, apply egg white to your face and let it dry for up to 30 minutes. Splash off with lukewarm and then cold water.

2) Beat an egg white until stiff. Add one teaspoon of honey. Stir together. Then fluff onto your face. After 30 minutes, splash off with tepid and cold water.

3) Beat the whites of four eggs with one grain of alum (available at drug stores) until stiff. Now apply all over your face and throat and let remain on for about one hour. Splash off with warm and cold water.

Oily Skin
Skin cells produce a natural oil, called “sebum,” which helps retain moisture and keeps the skin youthfully smooth. Your skin also maintains a natural acid-alkaline balance to help you fight infection.
When all these natural functions are running smoothly, you’re rewarded with normal, healthy, youthful skin.
But when they’re not running smoothly, the results can include a variety of problems that give your skin a prematurely old look. When your skin’s oil glands produce too much sebum, pores become clogged. The result can be an outbreak of blackheads, pimples and acne.
Try these steps to solve the problem of oily skin:

Oily Skin
Skin cells produce a natural oil, called “sebum,” which helps retain moisture and keeps the skin youthfully smooth. Your skin also maintains a natural acid-alkaline balance to help you fight infection.
When all these natural functions are running smoothly, you’re rewarded with normal, healthy, youthful skin.
But when they’re not running smoothly, the results can include a variety of problems that give your skin a prematurely old look. When your skin’s oil glands produce too much sebum, pores become clogged. The result can be an outbreak of blackheads, pimples and acne.
Try these steps to solve the problem of oily skin:
1) Cleanse your skin with a pH-adjusted lotion or cream. Choose a gentle deep-pore cleanser that removes excess oiliness, fights bacteria and helps heal blemishes.
2) Follow a routine of regular cleansing every morning, every night and once or twice during the day if possible. Carry cleansing tissues with you in your purse for mid-day touchups.
3) Stimulate circulation with a mask product. Use it two to three times a week to help deep-cleanse and rejuvenate your skin tone.
4) Mix a solution of one-half water and one-half apple cider vinegar. Apply to oily spots and let it remain. Repeat this frequently.
5) Combine one tablespoon of plain yogurt with one tablespoon of wheat germ or bran. Smooth this mask over your face. Let it remain 20 minutes, and then splash it off with tepid water.
6) Combine one tablespoon of brewer’s yeast with three tablespoons of water. Use this as a mask. Place it on oily areas of your face. Let it dry and leave it on for 20 minutes. Splash it away with warm and then cool water.

Dry Skin
Go easy if your skin is dry or sensitive. If your skin feels dry, rough and flaky when you touch it , it needs extra tender loving care with the following routine:

1) Cream off make-up and dirt with a super-fatted cleansing cream, morning and night. Apply all creams and lotions with an upward motion. It’s stimulating to the skin and helps prevent sagging. Note: Vitamin E oil is also known to slow the aging of skin. Dab it on problem areas that show signs of aging.

2) Moisturize in the morning and before bedtime to keep your skin soft and smooth and to protect it against the additional loss of moisture.

3) Take warm, not hot, showers. Lots of hot water can drain moisture out of your skin, leaving it older-looking, itchy and dry. Be sure to use moisturizing lotion after bathing.

Beware of Summer
You can still enjoy the summer and keep a youthful skin if you follow these guidelines:

1) Take the sun in small doses. Be sure to use a sunscreen product to screen out harmful rays.

2) Ultraviolet rays are strongest between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., so be especially careful if you’re in the sun during those hours.

3) If you’re relying on clothing to protect your skin from the sun, be sure it’s opaque. If you can see through it, the sun can burn your skin.

4) Wear a sunscreen product on the beach even on cloudy days. Reapply it after swimming.

5) Sensitive areas need special protection. Wear sunglasses. Cover your hair. Use petroleum jelly on your lips for added protection.

6) A great treatment for prickly heat and sunburn: Aloe Vera gel. From ancient times peoples have recognized the ability of Aloe Vera to speed up the healing of wounds & burns while relieving itching and swelling.

Aloe Vera is a cactus-like plant with green dagger-shaped leaves. The leaves are filled with a clear, vicous bitter shining gel made up of 96% water and 4% containing 75 unknown substances.

The Aloe has an amazing ability to rejuvenate and rebuild the skin by helping the process of cell division and discarding dead cell tissue. Additionally it is excellent as a moisturizer by maintaining the natural moisturizing agents in the skin, even drawing moisture from the air around.

Age Spots
These flat, gray, brown or black spots occur on more than 90% of fair-skinned people past the age of 50. Skin formulas containing maximum strength hydroquinone can gently fade darker skin and age spots. Any suspicious looking moles or spots that have an irregular pattern should be checked by your dermatologist to be sure they’re not cancerous.

Pimples
Resist the urge to pick at a pimple. Skin that is broken out is already infected with bacteria. Picking breaks down the skin and invites in more bacteria, leading to possible infections or scarring.

Remedies
Apply a product with salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, camphor, or zinc oxide twice a day. A drop or two of Visine on the pimple will reduce redness

Hair Tips

Today’s “young hair” is clean, healthy, shining and natural. If your hair and scalp are not healthy, they’ll look old at any age.

Oily Hair
If your hair is oily, fight the excessive oil and bacteria that contribute to dandruff, scalp infections and skin breakouts by keeping your hair and scalp as clean as possible.
Shampoo as often as necessary. If you read the labels, you’ll see that the acid-alkialine balance is generally expressed in pH scale of 0 to 14. On this scale, 7 represents a neutral balance of acid and alkaline. As the numbers get lower, they reflect increasing acidity. As they go higher (from 7 to 14), they show increasing alkalinity.
Always use warm water. Too much heat will quickly activate scalp oil and will worsen an oily condition.
Avoid overbrushing. Overbrushing stimulates the scalp and can intensify the problem of oiliness. You still have to brush your hair, but keep it to a minimum around scalp areas.
For a big boost, try a shampoo that contain fruits such as kiwi, lemons or pears. Fruit acids clean off the oil and debris that weigh hair down.

Dry Hair
Feel free to shampoo dry hair as often as necessary. Use a gentle conditioning product. If it is protein-rich, it should be gentle and nourishing for your hair. A variety of these products is available in most stores.
Condition your hair after every shampoo. Use a product with ingredients to strengthen dry, fragile hair. If it has protein and conditioners, it should leave your hair with a youthfully glossy shine.
If your hair and skin are extremely dry, buy a humidifier for your bedroom and always use it in cold weather. It will protect your hair and skin from the drying effects of indoor heat. The reason most British women have beautiful hair and youthful skin is that the mists and fogs of the British Isles provide the natural moisture they need to avoid dryness.
Twice a week rub olive or castor oil into your scalp at bedtime. Wear a plastic cap to avoid getting oil on your pillowcase while you sleep. Shampoo it out the next morning.

For Fuller Hair
Layers add body to your hair, so cut shorter pieces beneath long layers. They’ll push out the long layers and you’ll instantly see voluminous hair.

Try a shine-enhancing color rinse. The color coats the hair shaft, making it fuller.

Use a weightless spray gel. The sugar in the mix smoothens the cuticle, creating light-reflective shine, giving the illusion of fuller hair.

Water causes hair shafts to swell, resulting in a bigger look. So using steam rollers can give you your bounciest hair ever.

Emergency Cover Your Roots Tip
Mascara or even eye shadow can do the trick. Paint roots with mascara (avoid black; opt for black-brown or auburn, and wipe excess of wand first with a tissue) or brush shadow that matches your hair color over roots with a sponge-tipped applicator.