Wednesday, March 11, 2009

How to Apply Sunblock

Sunblock on? Check.

UVA/UVB protection? Check.

SPF 45,000? Check.

Ready to hit the beach!

Err, not quite. Wearing sunblock (also called sunscreen) is like taking a multivitamin: people use it, think they're safe, and don't realize that it's possibly doing them no good whatsoever.

A bottle of sunblock is your greatest weapon against wrinkles... IF you use it correctly. Let's give a primer on sunblock how to apply sunblock, shall we.

1. Wash your face. Thoroughly. Excessive face-washing is counter-productive, so don't overdo it. Simply run some warm (not hot) water, lather up some moisturizing facial cleanser (not soap) with your two middle fingers, and rinse. Pat yourself dry, but not too dry. Warm, moist skin absorbs best.

2. Do nothing. Let us make this very clear. For your sunblock to work, it has to be the FIRST thing you apply. If there is a layer of anything (makeup, moisturizer, toner, etc) between your skin and the sunblock, it won't work.

3. Apply sunblock liberally. You've heard before that using too much of something it a bad thing, but this isn't one of those times. Don't skimp on sunblock. It's amazing to me how people will try to save money by using less sunblock, and then spend $100 on an anti-wrinkle cream that does nothing for them. It's the SUNBLOCK where you should spend most of your money, since that is the best way to prevent wrinkles.

4. Do nothing (again). Your sunblock requires at least 10 minutes to absorb into your skin and dry up. It also takes about that long (maybe longer) to work, so don't go in the sun right away. Don't add anything to your face, whether it's water, moisturizer, or makeup, for 10 to 15 minutes. If you do, the sunblock won't work. Use this time to do something else, like your hair, or get dressed.

5. Repeat. If you're going to spend time in the sun, repeat this process every two hours. If it's just a day at the office, once will do, unless you plan on eating lunch outside.

6. Weather doesn't count. You need to wear sunblock every single day, no matter what the weather is like. UV rays shine right through the clouds, and you can still get sunburn in the rain or snow. Make it a morning ritual to apply sunblock first thing out of the shower.

7. Don't neglect your body parts. It would look strange if you were 80 and had very few wrinkles... except on your ears. When applying sunblock, don't forget your ears, hands, backs of your hands, other exposed body parts, and your lips. Of course, for your lips, don't use sunblock. Instead, use a lip balm with SPF 15. And let it sink in before applying that lipstick.

All these steps can be a pain in the rear, but your skin will thank you and reward you with fewer wrinkles. Make it part of your routine to do this, get creative, and you'll get used to it. The alternative (facelifts at 35) is far, far more of a pain than this.




Golden rules of sunblock.

-Use SPF 15. Any less will do nothing, and any more will add nothing.

-Block UVA and UVB. UVA ages you, UVB burns you. Most products only block UVB, which means you'll wrinkle like a raisin.

-Go bare. Apply sunblock on clean, warm skin. Make it the first product you use.

-Wait. Allow 10 minutes for it to absorb before applying anything else or going outside.

-Do it again. If spending time in the sun, re-apply sunblock every 2 hours.

-Don't go in the water. If you must, then use a real water-proof brand and re-apply when you're dry. Ditto for sweating.

-No sun? Who cares. Wear sunblock every day, no matter the weather.





www.YourAgelessFace.com
Source: http://EzineArticles.com Sofia_Moussier

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Top Winter Skin Care Tips

Think about the long winter, you think about your chapped and dehydrated skin and cracked lips. Winter gives your skin a dull miserable look that you can do without! Do not curse yourself for those outdoor activities that keep you busy during winter months. You cannot be indoors all the time with your room heater on! With proper skin care and a little bit of precaution, you can keep your skin healthy and make it glow even in those freezing temperature? Let's do.

Winter Care Tips for Skin:

Keep Your Skin Hydrated: Always drink plenty of water so as to keep your skin moist and supple. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables so as to retain water in your body. Also apply coconut oil to your skin before taking bath to treat your dull skin.

Drink Less Coffee, colas, tea and alcohol: In winter, drinking coffee and alcohol make your body loose water more easily and your skin to become dry and chapped. Avoid it, if possible.
Indoor Humidifiers to Raise Moisture: Placing several humidifiers or bowls of water in your home or in your office may prevent dryness in the air and keep it humid. This can also prevent your skin from getting dried and itchy.

Avoid Using Soap: Do not use soap; it makes your skin dry. Instead, apply a paste of green gram powder or moisturizing cleanser regularly for that soft and supple skin.

Use Oil-Based Moisturizer Regularly: Use an oil-based moisturizer, particularly that comes in ointment form, to protect yourself from moisture loss. In humid condition, this ointment containing 80% oil and 20% water and forms a protective covering on your skin.

Take Precaution While Going Out: While going out for a long time, cover any visible part of your skin like face, arms, legs, neck with a thick coating of moisturizing broad-spectrum sunscreen with 15 SPF. You should consider taking your dermatologist advice while choosing the right sunscreen for your particular skin type. It does not mean that you have to buy a costly product. David Boron, MD, a dermatologist in Arcadia, feels that inexpensive products work just well as expensive products. What should be of importance to you is how your skin reacts to that product.

Wear Gloves: When going outside, wear gloves. When wearing woolen clothes, as a precaution, wear loose-fitting cotton gloves next to your skin.

Wear Loose-Fitting Cotton Clothes Next to Your Skin: While dressing for winter, the most important point to remember is that when you dress in layers you sweat. In addition, your body also produces heat. Over heating of your body makes your skin sensitive to become itchy and dry. To prevent this, wear loose-fitting cotton clothes next to your skin. You can wear layers of woolen or winter clothes on top of it to fight cold.

Regularly Exfoliate Your Dry Skin : In winter, regularly exfoliate twice a week so as to remove the dead cells and to open the skin pores to absorb more moisture.

Do not fight winter. Take proper skin care and enjoy the winter in all its glory with glowing and soft skin!



www.ygoy.com
Source: http://EzineArticles.com Amit_Shukla

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Natural Fruit Masks For Your Skin

Fresh fruit is a great cosmetic for healthy skin and hair since it's rich in vitamins, minerals and many more ingredients that makes a fruit mask a treat for any skin type. Below you can find some recipes for different skin types.

Avocado mask for all skin types:

1/2 ripe organic avocado

1 tablespoon organic plain yogurt

1 teaspoon natural honey

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2-3 drops of chamomile essential oil

Pulse all ingredients in blender until smooth. Clean you face and neck and pat dry. Gently apply the mask to face and neck with your hands. Make sure not to apply it around your eyes and mouth. Do not massage it in too deeply. Leave the mask on for about 10-20 minutes. Rinse with warm water, pat skin dry.

Avocado makes a wonderful skin hydration facial mask since it contains a lot of potassium, vitamins and natural oils.


Strawberry Facial Mask for oily skin:

1/2 cup fresh ripe strawberries

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon rice flour or cornstarch to form a smooth paste

Blend together all the ingredients to make a smooth paste. Gently clean your face, pat dry and apply the mask. Leave the mask on for about 15 minutes. Rinse with warm water and pat your skin dry.

Strawberry mask is a great for skin cleansing and softening. Strawberries contain natural salicylic acid that clears the skin of dead cells, allowing it to look healthy and radiant.

Strawberry Facial Mask for dry skin

5 very ripe strawberries

2 teaspoons heavy cream

2 teaspoons organic honey

Pulse all ingredients in blender until smooth. Apply to a clean face and let set for about 10-15 minutes. Gently wipe off, rinse with warm water, pat skin dry.

Make sure you are not allergic to any ingredient of chosen mask by applying it first on a small skin surface for a few minutes. If skin gets red or irritated, do not apply the mask on you face.




www.mybeautyonline.com
Source: http://EzineArticles.com Margaret_Isabelle

Check Out Serious Skin Care Products For Wonders

For a long time now, people have been using skin care products that have somehow ended up causing them more harm than good. Many have complained to no avail. It is for this reason that serious skin care products had to be developed and made available to the world. These latest products mainly come from natural substances such as herbs or industrial products that contain minimal or no chemical content at all.

However, just like when using the other skin care products, one needs to know his or her skin type before using these serious skin care products.

Beauty masks are some of the serious skin care products currently in use in the society. These masks are usually mixtures of specified ingredients that when properly mixed, can be applied on the skin especially on the face whereby they will help in taking care of the skin. Beauty masks are often applied on the face during night time when one is about to sleep and get to be removed in the morning.

However, this period is usually not the only time that they can be worn. Due to the different skin types that exist, beauty masks are usually prepared differently so as to suite one's skin type.

For example, a beauty mask meant for dry skin may be prepared by thoroughly mixing 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of honey, a few drops of rose water and a 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil.

For people with normal skin, they can make a beauty mask by thoroughly mixing 1 apple, cored and quartered and 2 tablespoons of honey. This mixture should then be refrigerated for about 10 minutes and then applied on.

On the other hand, for those of us who have oily skins, a mixture comprising of a 1/2 Cucumber, 1 tablespoon of Lemon juice, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of mint can be used to make our beauty masks and can be applied on after 10 minutes of refrigeration.Herbal creams and oils are other serious skin care products which do not come with side effects.

Examples of these creams and oils include, Aloe Vera cream or gel, Calendula cream or oil and Comfrey oil. Aloe Vera cream is known for its healing, soothing and moisturizing effects which are all good for the skin. Apart from these properties, the cream is able to help with exfoliation which is the process of removing the skin's top layer that comprises of dead cells.

Both Calendula and Comfrey oils on the other hand, have softening properties and it is for this reason that they are usually applied on cracked dry skin so as to assist in softening it. In addition to this, these oils are most of the time used in facial saunas or in making herbal water. However, comfrey has additional abilities such as reducing the redness that may be found on skin as well as being able to sooth the skin. To get satisfying results from Calendula and Comfrey oils, you have to cover the skin once you have applied them on. A common covering method that people prefer using is wearing of plastic gloves.

Milk bath skin lotions are also serious skin care products commonly used by ladies. These lotions are a mixture of powdered milk and natural oils such as almond oil. The milk bath skin lotions are usually mixed with bath water in the tub and then one is supposed to enter the tub and just lie in the mixture for a while so as to allow the skin absorb and soak all the nourishment that the lotion has to offer. By undergoing this process, the skin eventually become moisturized and beautiful to look at.



www.goshriek.com
Source: http://EzineArticles.com Wangeci_Kinyanjui

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Natural Skin Care - Health In Your Hands

Many of us become so busy in our daily schedules; good skin care just is not something always at the top of the list. But there are many ways to care for your skin with out too much time and effort or even money needed. Natural skin care can come from several different sources throughout your day with just a little effort by making sure to take good overall health care measures.

Two things that are important are to eat a well balanced healthy diet and proper nightly rest. Just by eliminating greasy fast foods and processed sugars, there will be a difference in the health of your skin. By substituting a good healthy balanced diet of fruits and vegetables, your body will fill better and give your skin a new glow. By eliminating stress through relaxation techniques, normal exercise and the proper amount of rest on a regular basis, your skin will show more elasticity and natural moisture. By doing these very important, but simple things our skin will look younger and fresher.

Even for those of us that do eat quite well with a good balanced diet, many of us still could use a little more help by taking vitamins. Since there are several reasons for not always being able to tell exactly what may be still missing in our normal food intake, the extra vitamin supplements are very important. It is vital for our skin to get enough of the trace minerals, antioxidants and essential fatty acids for our inner and outer health for us to get the best skin benefits possible. Regular exercise too, will improve and maintain the body's circulation that will contribute to better well-nourished skin and your overall well-being.

Wash your skin in warm water instead of hot showers or baths to keep your skin from dehydration. Also make sure to only wash with purely natural soaps or body cleansers. Wear only chemical free sun screens and use all natural moisturizers. It is not as hard as you may think to find all natural products at a reasonable price for your skin. If you wear cosmetics, take a few extra moments to read the ingredients of the cosmetics you choose to use, and wearing slightly less of any cosmetics always help by keeping your pores more open for healthier facial skin. Good clean facial skin can be maintained by washing twice a day with warm water and naturally gentle facial cleanser.




www.onestoptreatment.com
Source: http://EzineArticles.com Anita_R_Choudhary

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Treatments For Deep Eye Wrinkles

The skin around your eyes is some of the most delicate and sensitive skin. There is very little fat in this area so it will show the signs of aging much more quickly than the other areas on your face. It is very important that you keep this skin protected so that you can avoid the deep eye wrinkles that many people face as their skin ages. What can you do to make sure that the wrinkles around your eyes are minimized?

There are many treatments available that can help your skin stay younger looking for a longer period of time if you use them in the proper way.

The first thing that you will need for deep eye wrinkles is a good moisturizer. Look for a product that uses the ingredients that are known to moisturize the skin and keep it looking young and soft. There are many products on the market, but not all are the same. You should read some reviews to be sure that you are using the product that has the best effect for anti aging treatments. Many products use natural ingredients to help the skin stay younger and less prone to wrinkles. These are the least harmful to your skin if you have a sensitivity to chemical laden products.

An eye cream is necessary as your skin ages to keep the delicate skin around your eyes well moisturized. These are generally applied at night along with your nightcream. Using these products in combination will combat the deep eye wrinkles that you may be experiencing as well as deep forehead wrinkles and those around the mouth area. Your nightcream product is a heavier moisturizer that will need the full night to absorb into your skin. You will feel a difference in the quality of your skin when you begin using these products right away. Make sure that you are using a product that is designed to be a nightcream on your skin every night before you go to bed.

Keep your eyes protected from the sun with sunscreen as well as sunglasses. The sun can have a very devastating effect on the skin and your eyes if they are not protected during the day. Make sure that you are protecting your skin every single time you go out. Many people forget this part of their skin care routine and suffer from the wrinkles that are caused from the sun. You will also find that the sun can cause sunspots and pigment changes in your skin if you are not wearing a sunscreen regularly.

To help your skin remain healthy and avoid the deep eye wrinkles that come with aging, you should make sure that your diet is healthy. Your skin will break down and lose its elasticity as it ages. A diet that is healthy and contains antioxidant rich foods will help to combat this natural aging process. Your deep eye wrinkles are the result of your skin not being as elastic as it once was. Minimize these effects with a good diet and plenty of water.

Make sure that you get plenty of rest as well. Your body needs time to repair itself every day. You should be sure that you are giving yourself plenty of time to repair the damage that is caused during the day. Your skin will appear pale when you do not get enough rest at night and this can cause the skin around your eyes to appear darker. While this is not the cause of deep eye wrinkles, it can enhance the appearance of the wrinkles.




www.DefendYourSkin.com
Source: http://EzineArticles.com Dr._Valerie_Rosenbaum