Friday, July 30, 2010

Air Dry Your Hair


If you often blow dry and process your hair with flat irons, curling irons or hot rollers your hair is probably ready for a break. All that heat and processing can leave your hair dry, brittle and very damaged.
Give your hair a much needed break and let it air dry naturally. Think of it as a vacation for your hair.
The first step for air drying is to use hair products for air drying instead of blow drying; a good absorbent towel is also a plus. An absorbent towel will suck up excess moisture and speed up dry time. A good leave in conditioner will keep your hair from becoming frizzy.
Use the absorbent towel to remove excess moisture then gently blot your hair dry. Do not rub your hair. Rubbing will damage the strands and cause frizzy hair and split ends. You want to keep the hair shafts as smooth as possible.
If your hair tends to become flat or too frizzy from air drying you can fluff it by finger combing or pull it back with big clips. I like to pull my sides back in two large clips to add volume to my hair while it is drying. Once it is dry I pull out the clips and have natural volume and waves.
Use products suitable for the texture of your hair. Fine hair works best with mousses and sprays, curly and wavy hair respond best to gels and creams. Find a great product suitable for your hair type that also helps combat frizz, this will help keep your hair under control while air drying.
After you find products that work well for your hair and you get the hang or air drying you will love it. Every time I air dry my hair it has a completely different texture than when I blow dry it. It is softer and so much shinier. Air drying is a vacation for your hair and a styling option for you. It gives you a chance to try a different style and it gives your hair a break from over processing.

Beautiful Skin


Beautiful skin is essential for making the most of your looks. Without it, all that carefully applied make-up will either go patchy and blotchy, slide into lines and wrinkles or disappear off your face in a shiny, oily mess. The simple truth is that most of us don't have beautiful skin. In fact, we don't even have so-called 'normal' skin, with its plump,shiny texture, radiant glow and minimal breakouts.

Instead we have dry bits, oily bits or irritated bits, and that means our skin doesn't always look or feel as good as it should. But the good news is that you don't have to put up with this. By knowing what kind of skin you have and how to treat it, you can solve your particular problems. Balance the levels of water and oil in your skin and you will create the state of harmony that is beautiful, perfect, 'normal' skin.
What Type of Skin Do You Have?

To create perfect skin you have to treat each individual cell within. It perfectly You need to know if the cell needs more water,less oil or just leaving alone to calm down and stop getting hot and bothered. The only way you're going to do this is to know your skin type. Now, you may think you know this already, but many of us are wrong. For starters, skin types change with age, so oily skin in your teens doesn't mean oily skin in your twenties, thirties or forties. Skin types can also change with the seasons, as temperatures affect the levels of oil and water in the skin; they can change with your diet, and even according to the time of the month, So to truly know your skin type, you have to reassess it regularly. Doing so is easy - just answer the following questions and see which letter you choose most often.

1) Take A Look At Your Face In Bright Light, What Do You See ?

a) It's shiny with noticeable blackheads

b) It looks flaky and feels taut

c) My forehead, chin and nose are shiny, the rest is tight and flaky

d) It's very pale, and there are occasional red or flaky patches

e) The surface is dull. I'm low on colour and there are noticeable lines and wrinkles

2) Wash Your Skin With Some Plain Soap and Water, Wait For About 20 Minutes Now What do you notice?

a) It looks less shiny

b) It looks and feels tighter plus It's gone a grey colour

c) It's less shiny on my nose and forehead but now my cheeks feel dreadful

d) It's itchy, red and flaky thanks a lot

e) My lines and wrinkles are even more noticeable but I've got some colour back into my skin tone

3) Do you get spots ?

a) Yes, I'm prone to blackheads,whiteheads or big red ones that hurt

b) Not really only around my period or if i use thick moisturizer

c) Only on my nose, forehead and chin

d) Yes, but they're red rather than whiteheads or i get rashes

e) Very rarely

4) Look At Your Nose And The Area Around It­What Do You Notice Most?

a) Blackheads, whiteheads and oil

b) Flaky patches and redness around my nostrils

c) That my nose and cheeks look like they're from two different faces, my nose is shiny, my cheeks are dull

d) There are lots of little red veins and high colour on my cheeks

e) I've lots of open pores

5) Take Your Index finger and Lightly Press Your Cheek Upwards. What Do You See?

a) Nothing really

b) I get loads of tiny lines like crepe paper that vanish when i stop

c) Some lines appear but when i stop pressing they go away

d) The area goes white, then red or it feels hot

e) I get folds of skin forming and it takes a while to snap back to normal

6) Now Get A Magnifying Mirror Or At Least Stand In Some Really Bright Natural Light. Look At Your Pores - What Are They Like?

a) Big, black and shiny

b) Practically non-existent

c) Big on my nose, chin and forehead

d) Large but clear there's no oil there

7) Apply Your Make-Up As Normal In The Morning, Then At Lunchtime Take A Long Hard Look In The mirror. What's happened?

a) What's left of it is shiny but most of it has disappeared

b) It's gone blotchy and flaky

c) My cheeks aren't so bad, but my nose is shiny

d) My skin looks a bit red and irritated

e) It's settled on the lines of my face or looks dry

Mature Skin - Some Tips to Combat with Mature Skin

As we grow older, we see and feel certain changes in our skin, which is the body's largest and most visible organ. A mature skin is generally tends to be dry and has the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. A mature skin becomes more wrinkled, and spots and growths appear. And after an injury, the mature skin tends to heal more slowly. One of the most significant changes of the skin as we age is increased dryness.
A mature skin needs proper skin care which should include all essential things like - mild cleansing and rich moisturisation. This can be attributed to a reduction in the water content of the uppermost layer of the skin, a decrease in intercellular lipids, and a decreasein sebum secretion, all of which are needed for skin to stay soft, supple and smooth.
For cleansing, it is recommended to use mild superfatted soaps or soap-free cleansers for the body. It is essential to choose a suitable moisturizing cream for use on the facial skin. The use of a moisturizing cream on the body skin can be useful, especially in winter when mature skin tends to be drier. Modern shower products contain moisturizers as well as cleansers. It is however best to avoid long scalding soaks, as well as harsh soaps and bath foams if the skin is sensitive as this combination disrupts its barrier function.
As skin ages, collagen and elastin, fibers that keep the skin firm, weaken. The skin looks loose and lax, becomes thinner, and loses fat, so that it looks less plump and smooth. While all these changes are taking place, gravity is also at work, pulling at the skin and causing it to sag. The sun is one of the major cause of unwanted changes that usually occur in our skin with aging. How wrinkled your skin becomes depends largely on how much sun you have been exposed to in your lifetime. Wrinkles also depend on your parents - the tendency to wrinkle is inherited.
mature skins need to replenish low moisture reserves to address the signs of visible ageing. Replenishing the loss of sebum on the skins surface with equalising ingredients will aid hydration, supplementing dryness. Combined with regular massage, aromatherapy massage will keep your skin in tip top shape.

Some of the Other Things that Happen with Aging, i.e which can be seen in Mature skin are:

  • Complexion has a tendency to be dull and superficially dehydrated.
  • Irregular patches of pigmentation.
  • Lines are becoming deeper and more obvious around eyes, forehead, and top lip.
  • Skin appears looser around the chin and under the eyes.
  • Aging begins to show around the late 20's to early 30's.
  • A natural sun block should be worn daily, as UV rays are a major contributor to aging skin.

To Combat with Mature Skin, i.e to avoid the above things to happen with you, you must:

Drink lots of water to clean your body of toxins and keep your skin hydrated from the inside.
Start with apricot kernel oil and wheatgerm oil, mix in some rich, creamy avocado oil, and for the ultimate skin serum, add a touch of EPO. Vitamin A laden apricot kernel oil mixed with the natural anti-oxidant Vitamin E from the wheatgerm oil, makes a very potent blend for reducing the signs of dry and mature skin.
Protect your skin from wind and harsh environment as they make skin prone to infections.
Evening Primrose Oil is an excellent addition to your base oil for mature, ageing skin. It's rich moisturising properties make it outstanding for dry skin, as it is rich in GLA, vitamins and minerals. Break 1-2 capsules into your base oil for a skin boost!

Oily Skin - Tips for Managing Oily Skin

Oily skin is prone to congestion. It is not only shiny, dull-colored, and coarse, it is also acne-prone. It is slow to develop discolorations, fine lines, and wrinkles. Nose is the most affected area of the oily skin because of presence of wide number of sebaceous glands i.e. oil glands. Oily skin has less of a tendency to freckle. Oils glands are provoked by Hormones, foods that are high in fat, as well as hot, humid weather condition.
Oily skin can develops blackheads, whiteheads, enlarged pores, redness, and potential scarring in severe conditions. It is prone to breakouts even when a woman is well past her teens, and large pores can develop that make the skin look coarse and rough. Oily skin is not a problem. The oil produced by the body is there to protect your skin and moisturize it. It keeps your skin from dehydrating, like when you cover food in the refrigerator.
Oil glands in the skin have a hair-trigger response and can be stimulated by factors both inside and outside the body. The caring for oily skin can be achieved by useing cleansers and toners that strip the skin of all available oil, and scrubbing grains to remove some of the cellular debris that builds up on the surface. Oily skin has its own pros and cons. In the plus points of oily skins, it doesn't wrinkles as easily as dry skin.

Causes of oily skin:

  • The exact cause of oily skin is uncertain, but heredity and lifestyle plays important role in causing oily skin.
  • The pesky hormone imbalances, may also lead to the condition of oily skin.
  • Diet, Humidity are also the main factors in causing oily skin.

Tips for caring of oily skin:

The possible tips for caring of oily skin includes:-
  • Oil free light moisturizers can be used for oily skin.
  • Keep oily skin very clean so that pores do not become clogged and cause breakouts.
  • Wash your face gently with a mild cleanser, no more than twice a day.
  • A mixture of egg, camphor and skim milk powder can be take in action for oily skin.
  • Dermatologist suggest the avoid creamy moisturizers and sunscreens, if you have a oliy skin.
  • To remove excess oil, you must have to use an alcohol-free toner.
  • Lavender is also a powerful regenerative oil, antibiotic, antiseptic, and promote the prevention of scarring.
  • Green clay is also known as betonite, and is the most commonly used clay in the face masks. It has a slippery feel and can absorb large quantites of the water.
  • Use an oil-free sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 15 when exposed to the sun.
  • Chose a mild cleanser, which cleans the skin without drying and wash with lukeworm water.
  • If you have breakouts, use a cleanser with salicylic acid to help exfoliate pores. There are also moisturizers that contain salicylic acid.
  • Sandalwood is a very soothing oil, contains antiseptic properties to help control bacteria, is excellent for acne, and works to reduce excessive sebum production.
  • You can try a mild medicated soap or an antibacterial cleansing lotion. Using a clay or mud mask once a week is another good way to cleanse your skin and combat the oil production.
  • If your face feels tight after washing, then apply a light,oil-freemoisturizer. Avoid mineral oils and cocoa butter.
  • Don't use excess powder to mop up oil.
  • Cedarwood is an essential oil, which is found very beneficial for acne condition and oily skin.
  • Do not use any oil-based cosmetics, which will only aggravate oily skin and create further blemishes. Always use water-based, non-comedogenic cosmetics.
  • Always remove your makeup before going to bed, but avoid cold creams and lotions, which may leave a greasy film on your skin.

Herbal Face bar:

Herbal face bar can be used for caring of oily skin. Our pure and natural face bar contains no animal fats or products, nor any colorant, and makes a superb alternative to our Herbal Face Wash and can be used on any type of skin. It is highly useful for the peoples who have the acne or pimples problems.

From: thebeautytips.com

Caring of Dry Skin - Do's and Dont's for Dry Skin

Dry skin, also called xerosis, is a common problem. It has a low level of sebum and can be prone to sensitivity. Dry skin looks dull, especially on the cheeks and around the eyes. Dry skin is characterised by itching, flakiness, scaling, roughness and having tight feeling. Breakouts may be seen in the dry skin. This type of skin is tightly drawn over bones.

Dry skin is most common in your lower legs, arms, flanks (sides of the abdomen), and thighs. Dry skin is usually not serious, but it can be uncomfortable and unsightly, turning plump cells into shriveled ones. The most serious dry skin condition, is the inherited group of disorders called ichthyosis. There may be tiny expression lines on the dry skin area.
Causes of Dry Skin:

The possible causes of dry skin includes:-

* Dry skin is mainly caused by dehydration, which mainly occurs in poorly controlled diabetes.
* Dry skin is also caused by the dysfunction of sebaceous glands, which secretes the oil to the skin.
* Heredity disorder is also the main cause of dry skin.
* Dry skin is mainly affects the peoples in winter season.
* The deficiency in vitamins and nutritions may also contribute to dry skin.
* Bathing too frequently, especially with harsh soaps, may contribute to dry skin.
* Eczema may cause dry skin.

Dos and Don'ts for dry skin:
Dos:

* Moisturize while your skin is still damp from cleansing.
* Always go for creamy, oil-rich make-up.
* Do add bath oil after your skin has soaked up some water.
* A capful in bath water softens and lubricates your skin.
* Try to use lukewarm water, when you take your bath and shower. Hot water dries out the skin.
* Do towel dry when you get out of the swimming pool.
* The areas that are exposed to the sun, such as the face, ears, hands, and back of the neck should have a moisturizer.
* Do humidify your home in the winter, or year-round if you live in a dry climate.
* To moisture your skin, try to use lanolin base cream. Keri-Lotion, Nivea Cream, and Eucerine cream all contain lanolin and moisturize the skin well.
* An alpha Keri bath oil can be used for dry and itchy skin.
* Wearing gloves can help to protect hands from the cold temperatures and dry air that triggers eczema.

Don'ts:

* The ultraviolet rays of the sun during the winter are still strong. So, don't forget the sunscreen lotion on your dry skin.
* If you have a dry skin, then don't take long hot showers.
* Avoid using harsh soaps that dry the skin. The soaps that are recommended by the doctor for dry skin includes: Dove, Olay and Basis.
* Don't put bath oil in the tub while it's filling
* Don't use too many creams and ointments .
* Don't "air dry" after bathing or swimming.
From: thebeautytips.com