Five Natural Ways to Prevent Facial Aging

The biological make-up of our skin begins to show signs of aging as early as our 20s. Age shows not only on our face, neck and chest but all over. There are many ways to care for your skin and prevent premature aging. Following are five ways that you can age gracefully. These are things you can do in your daily life that will dramatically reduce signs of aging.

• Don’t smoke. If you do smoke, quit. We all know that smoking is bad for us and affects our body negatively. Smoking
  

  smoking causes wrinkles

  contributes to premature aging and many other health problems. The many chemicals in cigarettes influence the skin’s structure and dehydrate the cells, resulting in increased aging.

• Get some sleep. Research has shown that people who sleep regularly seven to eight hours a night are healthier than those who lack sleep or over sleep. Sleeping allows the body to repair cellular damage and recharge. To prevent signs of aging on the face, try sleeping on your back. Sleeping on your stomach or side can damage skin by slowing down circulation and weakening the skin’s elasticity, resulting in wrinkles.

• Sunscreen, use it, wear it, and love it. Wear sunscreen everyday-even on cloudy or rainy days, and even if you are just going to be outside a short time. We all know that the sun has harmful affects to the skin. Sun tanning and burning damage the skin, leading to premature aging. Sun exposure over time leads to wrinkles and ugly pigmentation spots. There is no excuse to not wear sunscreen, it comes in all forms and is formulated now to be lightweight and beneficial to the skin as well as giving sun protection.

• Cleanse, Hydrate and Moisturize the skin from the inside and outside. Hydrated skin is healthy and plump, looks moist and shows few wrinkles and lines. As we age our skin loses elasticity; using moisturizers with ingredients such as vitamins and minerals that help repair the skin is the best way to restore elasticity and prevent its break down. Be sure to remove all traces of make up or dirt each day by clensing morning and night with a natural soap or cleanser that is appropriate for your skin type. Drink lots of water to hydrate the skin internally and use a good moisturizer. Try a cleansing cream, oatmeal soap, intense facial moisturizer or zinc repair cream by Vivoderm.

• A healthy lifestyle and healthy diet can dramatically strengthen the skin and prevent premature aging. Fruits, vegetables,
  

  healthy diet and skin

  nuts and other nutrient- rich produce give the body strength to fight and repair damage. If you are good to your body from the inside out, you will have less external maintenance. Part of a healthy life style is getting exercise, so get up and get moving. Fit people also tend have less heath problems. Health problems can lead to premature aging of the skin by showing wrinkles and damage earlier than those people who choose to be healthy.

There is no way to prevent aging - it is inevitable, however there are ways to slow it down. Today there is plastic surgery and amazing skin care products to improve the look and feel of skin. But it’s never too late to prevent further damage so you don’t have to take the drastic measures of plastic surgery or spend tons of money on skin care later in life.

By Tiffany Oney

Tiffany Oney is a licensed esthetician, professional makeup artist and natural skincare authority.  She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in Communications Studies California State University, Long Beach and interning with Vivoderm Natural Skincare in Los Angeles, California.

Natural Cleansers and Seven Tips for Dry Skin

A contributing factor to dry, flaky, skin in winter is a drop in temperature. Although winter sometimes feels damp, there is usually less water in the air than on your skin and that creates a moisture vapour loss from the skin. As skin becomes drier, its surface layer stops producing the natural lipids which prevent moisture loss, and water cannot be retained so easily. Dry skin will also show wrinkles more easlit and contribute to an aging appearance.

Herbalist Greta Breedlove came up with this natural homemade skin care recipes face utilizing the seed of the avocado. It makes a moisturizing face scrub, especially for dry skin.

AVOCADO FACE SCRUB

Let an avocado dry a few days until you can remove the skin easily. Chop, then pulverize in a blender or food mill. Moisten with a little milk and smooth over your face, throat.

AVOCADO FACIAL CLEANSER

One egg yolk, beaten until light and frothy
1/2 cup milk
1/2 avacado, peeled and mashed

Beat the mixture with a fork until you have a thin cream or lotion consistency. Apply with cotton balls as you would a cleanser.

As a result of all these factors, sometimes skin on the face and body tends to be in worse condition in the winter months than at other times of the year. In extreme cases, a constant drying effect can even lead to cracking, flaking and redness.

These four tips for helping to keep dry skin at bay during the colder months come from Dr. Kucy Pon, Olay dermatologist.

1. A moisturizer is essential - A moisturizer performs several important functions, including replacing lost water. Water-binding ingredients, such as glycerin, help keep it in the skin.

2. Create an oasis - Put some moisture back into the air by using a humidifier in your home or office. It will counteract the drying effects of indoor heat.

3. Drink lots of water - Increase your body’s natural moisture level by staying hydrated throughout the day.

4. Keep wrapped up - Dress for the season and try to limit your skin’s exposure to harsh temperatures and damaging winds.

If you have dry skin, then you probably already know it can be really difficult to care for. When you don’t look after it properly, it can become flaky, and if it gets really bad, may even become irritated and red. Although it’s possible to find plenty of products that claim to be able to solve dry skin problems, unfortunately most of their claims are sales hype.

Although most over the counter products don’t do much to combat dry skin, there are a number of things you can do to improve the condition of your skin. It’s mostly a question of making some basic changes to your daily skincare routine. It won’t take long for your skin to appear more healthy and vibrant.

With dry skin, you have completely the opposite problem to someone with oily skin. Basically, your skin is suffering from a lack of sebum, the oil that helps to keep the skin moist and supple. People with oily skin produce far too much sebum. Sebum is actually made from skin cells, and is an essential ingredient in healthy, supple skin. Because dry skin has insufficient oil, you need to replace it from both inside and outside.

5.  Moisturize

One of the best things you can do for your skin is to use a good quality moisturizer. Choose a cream that is rich, but not heavy. Consider choosing a natural cream with aloe vera and chamomile. Both these ingredients are very soothing, as well as helping to reduce dryness and improve the skin’s healing abilities.

6. Choose Healthy Foods

You also need to look at the type of foods you eat. It’s important to choose healthy foods, because the healthier your body, the healthier your skin will be. You may not realize this, but your skin is actually the largest organ of your body. So it needs to be nourished just like all the other organs in your body.

7.  Supplement

Depending on the types of food you already eat, you might need to consider taking a supplement, such as Vitamin E, Omega-3 oils and B-Complex vitamins. Making sure you get enough of these important nutrients is a great way to improve the condition of your skin.

By nourishing your skin in all these ways, you should soon a marked reduction in the level of dryness. Helping your skin to be more supple and moist also helps to slow down the process of aging, so you’re the winner in two ways.

By Tom Turner

Cleanser and Soap Basics: Why Cleanse?

Why Cleanse the Skin?

Skin cleansing is necessary for skin health, hygiene and well being. Without effective cleansing, your skin’s surface can accumulate debris, sweat, air pollution, excess oil and bacteria. Cleaning the skin also helps to reduce the growth of microorganisms and reduce infection.

Washing with water alone will rinse some of the dirt and debris away, alone it’s not quite enough. Plain tap water will only remove about 65 percent of the oil and dirt on your skin, and will not effectively remove makeup. Skin cleansers, however, work as emulsifiers and help remove dirt, excess sebum (natural skin oils), bacteria, cosmetics and exfoliated surface skin cells.

Cleansers are especially important for those who use cosmetics, have sensitive or irritated skin, or use topical skin treatments.

Where Dirt and Debris Collect

When we cleanse our skin, we’re targeting the outermost layer of the skin called the epidermis. This outermost layer of the epidermis is composed of a tough protein-fat structure that produces a protective outer film, the skin moisture barrier. Part of the function of the epidermis is to waterproof the skin. While this film shields skin cells from the environment, it also traps and holds dust, pollutants, smoke, bacteria, cell debris, sweat and cosmetics.

Washing the embedded dirt off of your skin also removes some of this outer protective film and can irritate your skin, although mild cleansers have been developed to restore and maintain this protective covering.

The Disadvantages of Soap

Soap is the simplest type of surface-active agent - surfactant - and works by making fat and oil water-soluble and easily removed by wiping or washing. Made from fatty acid salts, soaps clean by reducing the surface tension of your skin with anionic agents such as carboxylate, sulfonate and sulfate ions which are potenial irritants.

At one time, it was thought soaps caused irritation by removing only fat from the outermost layer of the skin, but research indicates that soaps damage affects both the fat and protein structures of this top layer. This can cause unpleasant skin reactions and lead to a rougher skin texture. More bad news: the soap salts that emulsify dirt and oil are by nature alkaline and will raise the skin’s acidic pH as well as provoke swelling of the skin surface. Some studies have shown long-term use of a neutral or alkaline surfactant, such as soap, can increase the amount of bacteria on the skin, while swelling can lead to cellular damage or even breakage. Soap salts can also remove natural moisturizing factors and disrupt the skin’s protective barrier. The fatty acids in soap can have harmful effects too, by plugging follicles (pores) and causing acne.

Soaps may also contain fragrance (often to mask the strong odours of surfactants) and sometimes dyes or pigments. These ingredients can be irritating for people with sensitive skin.

Cleansing History

Today many people use the term “soap” to refer to any cleaning agent regardless of its chemistry. Traditionally soap is a simple combination of fats, oils and salt with a history stretching back to the ancient Romans. In fact, the word “detergent” is derived from “to wipe off” in Latin.

Soaps as we know them were first used about 600 BC by the Phoenicians who combined goat fat, water and potassium carbonate ash to form a solid soap.

More recently, in 1878, Harley Procter developed a new type of soap in collaboration with his cousin, James Gamble. They whipped air into a solution and created Ivory Soap, a product still sold today.

How to Cleanse Your Skin

1. Technique

Most mild, liquid cleansers can be used to clean the whole body, and some can be used without water. Lightly rub the cleanser over your skin to loosen cosmetics, debris and dirt, then rinse well with warm water or wipe off the excess with a clean dry cloth/tissue. Those with very sensitive skin should take special care to remove all the cleanser, as some ingredients could be irritating if left on the skin.

2. Frequency

Mild cleansers can be used once or twice a day on sensitive skin, depending on your preference and your doctor’s advice.

3. Moisturizers

Humans have moisturized their skin for thousands of years, and for good reason. Moisturizers increase the hydration of your skin by trapping and holding water as well as helping maintain and repair the skin barrier. Moisturizers also play a role in preventing contact dermatitis and can soothe inflammation in damaged or irritated skin. Avoid using too rich moisturizers, however, as these can lead to breakouts.

Understanding Hormones and Your Skin

“How to achieve beautiful, supple and young-looking skin”. You almost can’t avoid it - splashed on magazine covers, reported in newspapers and marketed on television and radio, the message to improve our skin would appear paramount to how we and others view our looks.
How does our skin age?  Skin aging is influenced by:

* Genetic differences
* Hormonal changes, e.g. estrogen and thyroxin
* Chronic sun exposure
* Wind, pollution

Blame it on hormones

Hormones are mostly to blame for skin changes as we age. Hormones are chemical messengers produced in organs such as the ovaries, adrenal glands, and thyroid glands, and all have an effect on other tissues.

Much of the reason why our skin begins to suffer is primarily due to hormones — and there is a massive industry manufacturing products to try to alleviate the results of these hormonal changes, notably as women reach menopause in their 40s and 50s.

As menopause occurs, estrogen is reduced and while it has a direct effect on thinning bones, it also creates significant changes in the skin. Women find:

* their skin becomes drier with increased wrinkles
* skin becomes more fragile, loses some of its elasticity, and is looser because the production of collagen is reduced
* older skin appears paler as the lack of estrogen reduces the number of blood vessels in the skin
* menopause also causes a reduction in the level of testosterone but not as significant a drop as in estrogen

Hormones and dry skin

Another hormone we have is thyroxin, produced by the thyroid gland, which influences skin appearance. Too much thyroxin shows a warm, smooth, sweaty, flushed skin. Under-activity of thyroxin produces a dry, coarse thickening of skin with reduced ability to sweat.

Hormones affect acne

The oil glands of the skin are in part controlled by the level and activity of the hormone testosterone in the skin. Testosterone is required to produce acne. This outcome can be seen in conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome, which produce some elevation in testosterone, which in turn causes increased facial hair, irregular periods and acne. It has also been found that some birth control pills can block testosterone skin reactors to improve some of the consequences of increasing hormone levels. (See Acne Guide for more acne information)
Thinning hair

Hair will thin after menopause. In some women, genetic factors produce significant thinning. Abnormalities in the level of a thyroid hormone, in addition to the amount of iron stored in the body, can influence the volume of hair.

Estrogen encourages hair to stay in its growing phase (Anagen hair). This is seen in the significant thickening of hair towards the end of pregnancy. After menopause, however, the lower estrogen amount allows the scalp hair to grow towards the falling out stage (Telogen hair).
HRT and skin

Post menopausal women will notice that unlike their scalp, facial hairs increase. This is thought to be because estrogen — which opposes the effect of testosterone — drops relatively more after menopause than testosterone.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been used over the last 20 years to combat the signs of aging. HRT can promote a fuller-looking skin because the skin then becomes thicker with less loss of subcutaneous fat. Thinning and drying of vaginal surfaces is also minimized. This can also be achieved by using topical estrogen. The use of estrogen creams has been shown to maintain the elasticity and fullness of skin after menopause, although at this time it is not used extensively because of concerns about side effects and the variability of absorption into the body.

See your doctor or dermatologist to determine which solutions best suits your experience with aging skin.

By Richard Thomas, MD

End of Summer Skincare and Mild Soap Cleansing

By Van Le | Labor Day can be bittersweet since it offers an always-welcomed three-day weekend, but it also marks the unofficial end of summer. In other words, after one last frolic at the beach, it’s time to put away the swimming suits and flip-flops, and wake the winter coats and boots from their hiatus. The seasonal closet makeover is a no-brainer, but there’s another place that needs attention: your makeup and skincare cabinet. Towards the end of the year, your skin needs protection from cold weather and reduced humidity. Switching to winter-friendly products can keep your skin looking healthy and beautiful.

Hot, humid weather during the summer can cause pores to expand because sebum is more fluid in this environment. As a result, deep cleansers and foamy cleansing products are appropriate, since they are able to reach deep into the pores, eliminating dirt and oil buildups. During the winter, however, cold temperatures can lead to dry and cracked skin. Switch to a mild soap, and your skin will feel smooth and soft as opposed to dry and tight after washing. Products that contain natural moisture such as Aloe vera are also excellent, since they are not harsh on dry, winter skin.

Winter air literally sucks moisture from your skin, so moisturizing is a crucial step in winter skin care. Even more important to moisturizing is choosing the right product. Products containing mineral oil, almond oil, or avocado oil work especially well since they keep the skin hydrated without clogging pores. Flaxseed oil is another beneficial ingredient, since it is not only rich in omega-3 fatty acid, but also has the ability to hydrate the skin from the inside out. Moisturizing right after a warm shower will help seal in the water and prevent dry skin. Also consider using a humidifier in your room or office, since it returns the moisture into the air and help the skin stay hydrated.

Just because it is cold outside does not mean you should toss your sunscreen tube. Even when you can’t feel the heat, the sun is still emitting harmful UVA and UVB rays, so it still important to protect your skin. Apply a moisturizer that contains an SPF of at least 15, or use products containing zinc oxide, which acts as a natural barrier between your skin and the sun. Surprisingly, the sun’s reflective power on snow can be as high as 80%, so it is possible to be sunburned after spending a day on the ski slopes without sun protection. Moreover, don’t forget to help your lips battle harsh winter conditions with plenty of lip balm. Packaging is also important when deciding on a lip balm. Little tins and jars can spread germs since you are using your fingers to apply. Tubes can be a healthier and more convenient option. Remember to keep your skincare products readily available in your purse, car or desk so you can reapply throughout the day.

Winter skin care may differ from summer skin care in the type of products used, but the regimen for healthy skin is the same year round: cleanse, moisturize and protect.

Van Le is a staff writer for the CSU paper the Daily Titan and writing intern for Vivoderm Laboratories in Los Angeles, California. She is currently pursuing a Journalism degree at California State University, Fullerton.

For the latest findings on natural skincare link to http://organicskincareinfo.net