Skin Care Talks » General Skin Care

Ways To Use Your Aromatherapy Skin Care Products

skeenz — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 00:00:36 +0000

If you are really dabbling in aromatherapy, you’ll have some dark glass bottles of essential oils and not much ion the way of instructions on how to use them. There are may ways to use aromatherapy essential oils, including making them part of your skin care regimen. The more you get a feel for aromatherapy, the more ideas for making your own aromatherapy skin care products will pop up.

Shoo, Fly, Don’t Bother Me

Aromatherapy skin care products don’t just make you smell better and feel better – but they also can make fantastic insect deterrents. And they are not loaded with the harsh, irritating chemicals that can be synthesized products. The essential oils that bugs find nauseating include tea tree, citronella, lavender, cedarwood and lemon-scented eucalyptus (which is different from plain eucalyptus). Here’s what you can do with them to protect your skin:

Mix one part essential oil to an unscented, plain body lotion. This aromatherapy skin care product can then do double duty to moisturize your skin and keep the bugs away.

Dab on neat like a perfume. You need to dilute the essential oils in carrier oils like olive oil, then apply. This writer’s skin tolerates full strength tea tree and lavender oil, but do a test first to see if your body tolerates a drop at full strength.

Make a spritz, which is a multi-use aromatherapy skin care product. Take flower water or just regular water in an empty spray bottle and add about six drops of essential oil. Spritz on when needed.

Deep Steam Cleaning

An intensive homemade aromatherapy skin care product is steaming your face once a week or less (depending on your circumstances). This is a great way to clean the toxins out of your pores and softens the skin. Do not steam if you have sunburn, sores or if your skin is very sensitive.

You need to be sitting while doing this, and keep a glass of cold water nearby in case you feel faint. Get a bowl, a kettle full of water boiling, a towel and your favorite essential oil (tea tree, lavender and ylang ylang works with most skin types). Pour the boiling water into the bowl. Add six to eight drops. Close your eyes (or else you’re eyeballs will sting) and lean over the steam. Place the towel over your head. Stay like that for no more than ten minutes. If you fee faint, come up for air and stop.

Facial Skin Care Tips

skeenz — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:38:25 +0000

Our face is usually the first part of our body that another person will look at when you meet. Practicing the right kind of facial skin care methods can help you maintain your facial skin without exposing it to harsh chemicals that may cause blemishes and irritation.

Promoting Beautiful Facial Skin

Facial skin care needs to be mild and not contain chemicals that may damage your face. Our facial skin is more sensitive than skin in our limbs and therefore, you cannot use the same products that you use on your body on your face. Proper facial skin care dictates that you should get separate products for body and face unless it states that one product can be used for both.

Concentrate on what type of facial skin you have and buy facial skin care products accordingly. This is a surefire way of facial skin care that will help you manage and control whatever skin problems you have. Oily skin needs facial skin care products that control the sebum but at the same time moisturizes it to prevent it from drying up. Dry skin will need a moisturizer for proper facial skin care to continually nourish it.

Acne is a common facial skin problem. It is often caused by poor hygiene and overproduction of sebum. This does not mean however that you should use stronger cleansing products or try to dry up the sebum in your face. The right facial skin care for acne prone skin is to consult a dermatologist for acne that shows no signs of abating even after the use of over the counter acne medication. There are prescription medications for acne which vary from pills to laser treatment of acne scars.

Use facial sun block as much as possible to lessen your skin’s exposure to the sun. The sun is one of the main causes of wrinkles and ageing skin. Facial skin care includes using a sun block cosmetic or products that can effectively reduce sun exposure and at the same time moisturize your skin.

If you have sensitive skin, it is better to use a mild facial cleanser to maintain your skin. Sensitive skin is prone to strong fragrances and harsh chemical so make sure you use pure botanicals and organic facial skin care products for your face. Bear in mind that our skin will absorb whatever facial skin care products’ ingredients we apply on it. So, chemicals and other dangerous ingredients will enter our bodies and may also do damage.

Hey! Pay Attention To These Skin Care Tips!

skeenz — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:30:35 +0000

All the skin care goop you can smear on, peel off or step into cannot help you if you don’t do your part. There is no instant solution for great skin – or even fairy decent skin. Fortunately, these skin care tips will not only help your skin look its best, but will help every other part in your body, too. Think of it as multitasking for your health! And if you do decide to use any skin care product, they will work better for you because you gave them a fighting chance.

Drink Plenty Of Water

You need at least six glasses of water a day. This is the least expensive and most overlooked skin care tip out there. Water does not equal liquid. Water, flavored waters and herbal teas hydrate your body and the skin. Other popular kinds of beverages do not. Drinks like coffee, black tea, hot chocolate, carbonated drinks, energy drinks and especially alcohol dehydrate your body. They are okay only occasionally.

Water not only helps keep your skin soft, but helps to remove toxins from your body. Drinking plenty of water has other benefits besides skin care. Water helps keep your urinary and digestive systems functioning normally. Water helps keep all of the liquid parts of your body flowing and helps give you energy.

Don’t Smoke

This is a harsh but true skin care tip – if you smoke, your skin is screwed. Smoking dehydrates your skin, as well as making your more prone to wrinkles and skin cancer. Smoking can also discolor the skin on many parts of the body – not just in nicotine-stained fingers. Smoking also leaves your skin smelling like an old ash tray.

Learn How To Handle Stress

Another tried and true skin care tip that is often ignored is that you need to learn how to handle your stress. Your emotions not only show on your face, but they do a number on your skin. Some aggravating skin conditions like hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), psoriasis and eczema are aggravated when you are stressed out. You need to learn how to prioritize demands on your time and take time out for you.

Don’t turn to chemicals or food in order to relax. That’s another skin care tip that’s often ignored. Chemicals will affect your skin. Use meditation, a walk in the park, laughing with friends or petting your dog in order to help you relax. Over time, these skin care tips will leave you with a healthier body overall.

Is There Such A Thing As All Natural Skin Care?

skeenz — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:06:36 +0000

Yes, there is such a thing as all natural skin care, and very rarely does it come in bottles or tubes. Since the skin is an indicator of our overall health, you need to work on your overall health in order to get great, clear, toned skin. You still need to clean, exfoliate and moisturize your skin, but those steps alone will not guarantee great skin. In all natural skin care, you walk on the road to great skin holistically by doing the things you should be doing for your health anyway.

Diet And Water

One of the most important – and overlooked – steps in all natural skin care is paying attention to your diet and water intake. If all you eat is cheeseburgers and Coke, the look of your skin is going to be the least of your health problems. One of the side benefits of eating a balanced, varied diet low in protein and high in fiber is that your skin looks better.

For the skin especially, you need to drink plenty of good water – at least 6 glasses per day. Herbal teas and flavored water can substitute for clean water, but nothing with milk or caffeine. Milk is more of a food than a drink and is rich in protein. Caffeine dehydrates the body and dries out the skin. Caffeine is in fizzy soft drinks, coffee, tea, chocolate and most energy drinks.

Wash In Moderation

Washing in water and soaps or facial cleansers low in synthesized products only a few times a day is needed, depending on how dirty you get or how much you sweat in that day. Some people only really need to wash their faces once a day. If you wash too much, you strip your skin of its natural oils and then the skin gets paranoid. “What – there’s no oil – gotta make more and more!” Soon, you can’t wash enough to keep up with the extreme oil production. This can put a damper on any other all natural skin care procedures.

Exfoliation

One of the other steps in all natural skin care is exfoliating with a brush or reusable rough pad for the skin rather than relying on expensive man-made creams to do it for you. And remember drinking all of that water? That also helps take away toxins from the body when stimulated by the pleasant scratching of an exfoliating pad or even a massage. Eating a heart healthy diet will also help the body get rid of toxins and help your skin in the process.

Men: Make Your Own Antiaging Skin Care Products

skeenz — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:23:21 +0000

If you like making anything, guys – from croissants to customized cars – then you will enjoy yet another chance to exercise your creative muscles. You don’t need to bother with those expensive and dubious antiaging skin care products on infomercials and web banner ads. And, thankfully, men’s skin needs are different from women’s skin care needs. Just make your own antiaging skin care products.

Egg Mask

This is a simple homemade antiaging skin care product if you have about ten minutes to devote to fighting those wrinkles, written and used by a guy. You need one egg, milk, a mixing bowl and a willingness to get your hands squishy. Separate the egg yolk from the white. Put the yolk in the bowl (do whatever you want with the whites). Add 2 teaspoons of milk. Beat together, as if you were going to make scrambled eggs.

Wash your face, dry it, and then slap this stuff on. You can use your hands, a paintbrush, or whatever works best for you. Leave it on for five minutes. Wash it off. If you need to, follow with a men’s moisturizer, made specifically for men.

Drink Plenty Of Water

Just drinking at least six glasses of water a day is another antiaging skin care product! This means water, flavored water or herbal teas – NOT beer, not soda, not coffee, even. They will all dehydrate your skin which will lead it to dry out and magnify any wrinkles you might be getting or already have. Keeping your skin hydrated plumps it out and keeps it ready for action.

Eye Creams

The area where wrinkles gather the most and seem to reproduce overnight is around the eyes. You might want to use natural anti aging skin care for your eye wrinkles. You need a blender, mixer or food processor for this. If you don’t have one, this eye cream is a great excuse to get one.

Put in your blender/food processor two tablespoons of unsweetened applesauce and slices of a small raw potato. Turn that stuff into a paste. Now, smear it around your eyes – but not in your eyes. Don’t rush. Then, soak a washcloth with warm water. Sit down. Lay the hot towel over your face and say “AHH” for five minutes. Then wash it all off with warm (not scalding hot) water. Pat your face dry, don’t scrub at it. This will help your skin make the most of your homemade antiaging skin care product.

The Skinny On Proactiv/Proactive Skin Care

skeenz — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:33:01 +0000

One of the best-selling skin care products meant mostly to tackle the zit problem is known as both Proactiv and Proactive skin care. The official spelling is Practiv, but many shops (even real world store circulars) will spell the name with the “e”. If you go online, the “e” version is used just as often as the non-”e” spelling. But no matter how you spell it, Proactive skin care products are hot.

The Zit Problem

With spokesperson Jessica Simpson fronting the Proactive skin care line up, literally millions is using the brand to tackle their zits. The basic reason why we get zits (acne, pimples, spots) is that out pores are dirty. It’s really just that simple (it has to be if Jessica Simpson is involved). But if you use harsh cleansers, that irritates your skin and, ironically, your skin is TOO clean. Your confused skin overcompensates for the disappeared natural skin oils by making a phenomenal amount.

The Zit Solution

Proactiv, or Proactive skin care products are the solution by following their simple to use system of three bottles to cleanse, tone and repair your skin. The first is a face wash called Renewing Cleanser, which preps your skin to better absorb the good stuff to follow by getting rid of oils, dirt and anything else blocking the pores.

After cleaning, you then use the alcohol-free Renewing Toner, which acts as your needed facial skin exfoliation. Exfoliating gets rid of dead skin cells, promotes skin circulation (another help in getting rid of toxins or dirt) and feels great! Along with cleansing, exfoliating also helps prepare your pores to better and more efficiently absorb the good stuff to come.

What is this good stuff? It’s the star of the Proactive skin care line up – the Repairing Lotion, which contains benzoyl peroxide and natural botanical ingredients. This helps protect your skin from further break outs and help reduce the pimples you already have. It can be used day or night, unlike some other acne skin care products.

The Proactive skin care product line up is NOT to be used with silicone sheets for facial scarring or with the prescription medicine Accutane. Proactive skin care products are not for the severe, painful, scarring kind of acne that needs prescription drugs like Accutane. It is also not to use Retin-A and Proactiv at the same time, but to alternate the days you use the products. Using Proactive skin care products will not help skin infections or problems like eczema. You need a doctor or dermatologist for that.

Skin Care For Children’s Skin

skeenz — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:15:43 +0000

Many people are now very conscious of the state of their skin. It is just a few decades ago that we became aware of the dangers of not taking skin care seriously. So, it is of no surprise that many parents also make it a point to look out for their child’s skin care. In fact, many people look out more for their child’s skin than their own.

Baby Skin Care

Babies have very sensitive skin. This is because they have yet to develop toughness and exposure to elements that may be abrasive to their skin but not to an adult’s skin. Baby skin care methods are just to use the mildest soaps and shampoos for cleansing them. The milder the soaps and shampoos sued for babies the better. As they grow older, parents may still use the mild soaps to cleanse their children, in fact, as long as these soaps perform their function well enough, adults and children can use mild soaps for cleansing.

The important thing to remember for baby skin care is to keep the skin clean. Frequent washing may strip off the natural moisture of the baby’s skin and this will lead to irritation and dryness making the skin susceptible to rash and skin diseases.

Kids Skin Care

Kids tend to get more dirty than babies who just stay in their cribs and play pens. Kids’ skin care entails vigorous washing to get rid of the grime and dirt that kids from three years to twelve years incur. Some parents use stronger soap or soaps that adults use thinking that their kids’ skin care can be the same as adults. Actually, if your child is used to mild soap and shampoo, it is better to continue using these for his or her skin care.

Most commercial soaps use harsh chemicals to ensure that they function well in cleaning our skin. Although they do clean our skin, they also strip it of the natural oils and moisture that we need to keep it elastic and healthy and this is not part of the necessary skin care for kids’ skin.

The important thing to remember for children’s skin care is to clean it gently. So, it is important to choose their soaps and shampoos well. Stay away from chemicals that may cause dryness and irritation. It is also best to teach children to car for their skin at an early age. Avoiding too much exposure to the sun during the peak times is something that they have to learn early on.

Sensitive Skin Care – Helpful ideas

skeenz — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:25:19 +0000

Sensitive skin is typically defined as being fine textured or thinner than average. People with sensitive skin have a quicker and usually a stronger reaction when exposed to cold and heat and are more susceptible to sunburns. Sensitive skin shows indications of dryness or being delicate and is susceptible to becoming damaged. People who have susceptible skin also seem to be vulnerable to allergic reactions and are inclined to have broken capillaries.

They will occasionally notice their skin becoming irritated and red with noticeable surface veins due to an adverse reaction to a variety of detergents, some types of cosmetics and alcohol. Sun screens are highly recommended for those who are trying to take care of sensitive skin. Be careful and select products that do not have fragrances since they might cause an allergic reaction and avoid PABA sunscreens.

Choose a mild soap, perhaps baby soap when washing your skin or you might want to consider using a cleansing product that does not contain soap. Make sure you thoroughly wash the soap from your skin and avoid irritating your skin by patting the skin with a soft, smooth towel. Experts in sensitive skin care suggest that if you are considering a new perfume or cosmetic item, place a small amount of the substance on the inside portion of your wrist to determine if your skin will have a negative reaction to the product. When taking care of sensitive skin using a moisturizing cream can be beneficial.

Sensitive Skin Care Product Advice

When purchasing cosmetic products, sunscreens and moisturizers make sure to check the labels and make sure they are hypo-allergenic. For sensitive skin care you should choose a sunscreen product that is not oil based and preferably comes in a gel substance. Talk to your doctor about the level of sunscreen that is appropriate for your sensitve skin. A minimum of SPF 15 is suggested by some experts. Select oil free cosmentics especially when shopping for a blusher and foundation products and apply only a small amount of the product to your sensitive skin. Search for cosmetics that are water based and are considered non- comedogenic which are products that do not clog the pores.

Experts recommend that you avoid washing your face more than twice a day. If you notice breakouts on your skin apply a cleanser which contains salicylic acid since it can exfoliate your pores. When selecting moisturizers you might want to consider products that contain salicylic acid. There are a variety of sensitive skin care products and treatments that are available.

Aromatherapy For Oily Skin Care

skeenz — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:12:24 +0000

Aromatherapy can greatly help you with combination or oily skin care. Your skin will change throughout the course of your life, but usually everyone goes through an oily skin stage during adolescence. You can still need oily skin care all of your life. Sometimes you get combination skin, which are patches of dry areas like your cheeks contrasted with a really oily nose and forehead (called the T-zone).

First Tips

Your aromatherapy oily skin care solutions will not work if you don’t eat sensibly and exercise regularly. You also shouldn’t smoke or drink excessively. You should be drinking six glasses of water, flavored water or herbal teas per day. Water keeps the skin hydrated and keeps the organs functioning more efficiently.

Wash with warm, not scalding hot water. Don’t scrub at yourself as if you were trying to scrape paint off a wall – use your fingertips to massage in any aromatherapy oily skin products and pat gently dry with a towel. You only need to wash once or twice a day, unless you have been sweating or got excessively filthy.

So Many Scents, So Little Skin

Therapeutic grade essential oils that work best for oily skin care are geranium, lavender, cedarwood, palmarosa, niaouli, juniper berry, tea tree, ylang ylang, cypress, grapefruit and myrtle. Most aromatherapy books will also include bergamot, but that often leaves skin way too sensitive to sunlight.

For acne, you can put diluted neat tea tree on the spots. However, the smell might knock you sideways, so use this sparingly. Some people prefer lavender instead. Before you use these, do a test patch on your skin to be sure you can tolerate full strength lavender or tea tree. Place a drop on your arm or leg, leave it there for 24 hours and see if anything happens. If nothing happens, then you’re good to go.

You can also use aromatherapy for oily skin care in the form of weekly facial steams. There are some facial devices available, but you don’t need it. Stick your face over a bowl of steaming hot water that has 5-10 drops of one of the oils listed above. Drape a towel over your head and keep that position for five minutes. If you feel faint, though, stop and try again next week.

You can use a toner for oily skin care called flower water. These are best bought rather than made. For oily skin care, you want witch hazel, verbena water, orange-flower water and cornflower water. These are often sold wherever aromatherapy products are sold.

What Is Organic About Organic Skin Care?

skeenz — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:08:32 +0000

Organic skin care doesn’t mean you can use only twigs and dirt to take care of your skin. It’s a little more complicated than that. Organic skin care refers to far more than just the products that go on your skin. When you are buying organic, you are buying more than the organic skin care product itself. You also buying a better way to harvest, produce and test cosmetic products.

The Products

The organic skin care products you buy should include ingredients from herbs, botanicals, foods and other natural sources. Their carrier agents are from other naturally occurring ingredients, such as water, honey and natural soap. The materials used in the product should be all made free from pesticides, artificial fertilizers and any man-made synthesized materials. There is not to be any genetically modified material in it, either.

More and more, anything certified organic means it has not been tested on animals. These tests are useless medically and considered a wasteful and outdated form of testing by many in the scientific community. Some products proudly carry a “leaping bunny” label as being a neon sign that they do not test on animals. (Just having the words “cruelty free” does not mean they have stopped testing on animals). In case you are not sure if a company still tests on animals, just ask People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

Who Says?

Just because a cream, lotion or soap has the word “organic” in one form or another on it, doesn’t mean that it’s certified organic. Who certifies this? So far, there is not an international organization that sets the standards, although France’s International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) is close. Usually, each country has its own organic standards. For example, in America, rules for organic standards are set by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), which follows the National Organic Program.

The FDA makes it clear that just because organic skin care products are organic, doesn’t mean they work any better than conventional skin care products. However, isn’t it good knowing that what you by and smooth all over yourself can lessen mankind’s harm on this planet? Well, it feels good for some of us, anyway!

If you are not entirely sure about how organic your organic skin care products are, you need to contact the company. They usually have websites and post their ingredients list online. They usually say whether their organic skin care products have a certain percentage of organic materials.