Tips For Proper Facial Cleansing

The other day, as I was hanging with two local fashion girls in the midst of a shoot for a good friend the subject, as it often does when I'm around, turned to skin care and makeup. The girls had some good questions for me about products, which made me realize that maybe I need to re-visit some basic truths about cleansing your face. I am a staunch believer that even with all the miracle creams, mircoderms, peels, dermaplaning etc. nothing beats proper cleansing. I find most often, that it is the step at which women (and men) go wrong: we tend to misdiagnose a pimple as acne, or dehydration as dry skin.

Here is an easy way to find out if you are using the right cleansing product for your skin.

Wash your face with your normal cleanser, then do nothing: no toner, no moisturizer, nothing. How does it feel? Does it feel tight or dry? If so you are using a cleanser that is too strong for your skin. After cleansing your skin should feel fresh and clean not stripped of oil.

Then, leave your face alone (no products) and make a mental note of how long it takes before your skin becomes shiny or oily. If it becomes shiny within 15-30 minutes, you likely have oily skin, if you find that it happens by noon then your skin falls into the normal range, if it never really becomes shiny or oily or not until late in the day then your skin is likely dry.

Equally as important is the moisture content of your skin, are you dehydrated? One way to check is to pull skin taught at the jaw line then with your other hand push up the skin to compress the pores together. If you are dehydrated your skin will have a somewhat rhinoceros or reptilian like texture. FYI it doesn't matter what skin type you have, you can be dehydrated!

If you find that you are over cleansing, dehydrated, or breaking out from over cleansing here are a few great basic cleansers to try.

Cetaphil is a good all purpose cleanser but it works best with an old school method that I learned years ago. Massage the cleanser on dry skin, take a soft muslin cloth dampened in warm water, lay it over the face, press in slightly then remove wiping off the cleanser, follow that by rinsing 10-15 times with warm (not hot) water. This will help clear your pores and keep skin fresh.

Another more natural version is Burts Bees Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing cream. Use as instructed with Cetaphil and your skin will be super clean but not super dry.

Of course if you have skin conditions and questions that cannot be addresses by simply cleansing always check with your doctor or dermatologist.
By Diane Aiello

Home Remedy for Treating Pink Eye

Pink eye, also known as conjunctivitis, is a common ailment caused by several different factors. Pink eye may come on because of stress to the small nerves in the eye, or because of a bacterial or viral infection.

Infectious pink eye can spread like a wildfire to those around you. Since so many people get this disease, it is no wonder that so many people want an effective home remedy for pink eye. There are a number of simple techniques to get rid of this condition.

Chamomile: Simply placed cool moist chamomile tea bags on each closed eye for about 10 minutes. Repeat this every couple hours. This will help in clearing the infection.

Saltwater: Cotton balls soaked in warm saltwater when placed on the eyelids gives relief from Pink eye.

Sea Salt : Put a teaspoon of sea salt in one cup warm water and stir until dissolved. You can use an eye dropper and put two to three drops of the saline solution you have created directly into your eye or you can use a cotton ball. Saturate the cotton ball and place it on your eye allowing the water to run into your eye. This is a tried and true remedy that has been used for many years and is still a staple in England.

The standard medical convention of treating conjunctivitis is with anti-biotics or anti-allergens. However, due to the overprescribing and over-proliferation of anti-biotics and anti-allergens, we have built up a moderate resistance to those medications.

Over-the-counter decongestant eye drops can relieve seasonally occurring allergic pinkeye. Cold, moist wash cloths can also be applied to the eyes. Again, care should be taken to use a different cloth for each eye. In extreme cases, a prescription may be necessary.

Steep 2 tablespoons of dried calendula (also called pot marigold) in 1 cup of hot water (covered) for about an hour. Allow to cool. Take a square of cotton, dip in the tea, place some drops in eye and put cotton over eye for about 10 minutes. Use as needed. Refrigerate the remainder and use next day same way. No stinging, no burning, very soothing.

To make sure you are clean you should wash your hand frequently and keep them away from your face and eyes. It's very useful to wash the effected eye with coriander tea. Boil two cups of water and remove from heat. Add one cup of dried coriander. It allows you to steep for five minutes. Strain the herbs from the liquid and it allows you to cool the room temperature. Use this herbal eye wash three times a day to relieve pain and soothe the inflammation. If you are prone to conjunctivitis, these herbal remedies can help during inflammation; protect yourself from future episodes by changing your pillowcases and eye cosmetics frequently.

Colloidal Silver : You can buy colloidal silver in a spray bottle. Spray into your eyes two to three times a day. You can also put one or two drops of colloidal silver in your eyes two or three times a day if you can't find a spray bottle. Colloidal silver has been known to cure pink eye as quickly as six hours. Be sure to use a few days after healing to be safe.

Natural Effective Hair Fall Controlling Methods

12 Tips of Hair Care

• Relate coconut oil which has been boiled with little onions. Clean it off with a combination of green gram powder and water exhausted from not poisonous (boiled) rice.

• Apply a combination of almond oil and gooseberry juice with finger tips on the scalp.

• Apply the temperate combination of olive oil, lemon juice and coconut oil. Perform a steam -towel- wrap for 15 minutes and clean the hair with a shampoo.

• Relate a paste of fenugreek and mustard to the scalp.

• Combine Shikakai powder with the water exhausted from the ripe rice and wash the hair with it.

• Squash the foliage of five petal hibiscus flower and get the juice. Clean the hair with this juice.

• Clean hair with tea once in a week.

• Relate besan in the hair and wash it with water exhausted from the cooked rice.

• Immerse a handful of gooseberry in a cup of milk for two hours. Create it as a paste and be relevant in the hair.

• Deep state with curd, beer and egg.

• Mix a little vinegar in temperate water and rinse your hair with this answer. This will add rebound to dull and dead hair.

• Immerse 1 teaspoon fenugreek in curd and keep it for a nighttime. Contain it in the next morning.

Fish Oil is Good for Skin Whitening and Softening

Your skin's health is also important because it is your body's first defense against injury and infection. Healthy skin improves the strength of your immune system and the health of your whole body.

Here are 5 reasons why fish oil is good for your skin.

1. Reduces Skin Dryness

Fish oil is made up of fatty acids. The skin's sebum naturally works to hold moisture in your skin's cells. Sebum is a type of oil. It is composed primarily of fatty acids. 

Excessive dryness can occur when your body does not produce enough sebum. In order to produce sebum, your body needs fatty acids. Skin dryness is one of the symptoms of fatty acid deficiency.

2. Reduces Acne Flare-Ups

Research indicates that acne suffers often have low blood levels of DHA. DHA or Docosahexaenoic acid is a fatty acid that is only found in fish oils and some types of marine algae.

Other omega-3s are found in plants. Your body can (and sometimes must in the case of strict vegetarian diets) convert those other omega-3s to DHA but the process is inefficient and research has shown that supplementation with omega-3s derived from plants does not increase circulating blood levels of DHA. DHA is also essential for normal brain function.

3. Reduces Inflammation

One of the reasons why this type of oil may be beneficial for acne has to do with the role that omega-3s have in regulating inflammation. While inflammation is a normal function of the immune system, the immune system can overreact. In cystic acne, for example, the inflammation involved is far greater than would be required for a major injury.

Inflammation plays a role in other skin conditions as well. For example, psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis are all related to chronic inflammation.

Inflammation also causes skin redness. In rosacea, the skin is chronically red and may also be rough. The redness and roughness may be reduced through the use of fish oil supplements and a good moisturizer.

4. Improves Resistance to Allergens

By regulating excessive inflammation, fish oil may reduce your skin's response to common allergens. While some natural and synthetic compounds are skin irritants, how your body responds to them is an immune system function. Excessive inflammation is involved in people who have severe reactions to allergen exposure. If your skin seems to be "sensitive", fish oil may help.

5. Improves Your Skin's Firmness

The skin's firmness typically decreases with age. Lost firmness plays a role in the appearance of wrinkles and also leads to skin sagging.

Research has shown that fish oil supplements improve the skin's firmness. A 10% improvement has been seen after three months of supplementation.

By Margaret Bell