Anti-aging

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Habits You Need to Stop For Better Skincare

habits-to-stopMost people have the idea that having clear and healthy skin costs a fortune. But, this is a misleading concept used for marketing skin care products and treatments. You may use the most expensive skin care products money can buy, but these can’t guarantee a blemish-free and clear complexion. Why? Because skincare does not start with the products you use or the skin treatments you undergo. Skin care depends on your habits and their effects on your skin. Below are some habits you can do without to achieve better skin:

Dehydrating your skin

You can slather on jars after jars of moisturizers on your face but these won’t do any difference on your skin if it is dehydrated internally. The most it can do is give you an oily sheen and some zits. Not drinking at least eight glasses of water daily can dehydrate your skin and make it lose necessary moisture. Lack of moisture can make your skin lose its elasticity and suppleness. This can lead to a condition known as “elderly itch.” With this condition, your skin becomes rough and dry, hence, making it itch. This can lead to premature aging of the skin which can give it a leathery appearance.

Washing your skin excessively

Ideally, your skin should only be washed at least once or twice a day. Washing your skin more than twice daily strips it off the necessary oils needed to maintain surface moisture. Aside from stripping your skin off its natural oils, overwashing can lead to irritation, dryness, and skin conditions like eczema.

Foregoing sun protection

Your moisturizer container may proclaim that is has SPF 15 but this is not reason enough to forego applying sunscreen or sunblock. For total protection, your skin needs at least SPF 30, more if you are going out between 10am to 4pm when the sun’s rays are at their strongest. Even if the day is cloudy, make it a point to wear sun protection since UV rays can penetrate clouds. Overexposure to the sun, can cause skin discoloration, sunburns, dryness, and other skin conditions. Use sunscreen on your face, lips, and other exposed body parts. Additional sun protection like hats, sunglasses, and umbrellas can also be used.

Touching your skin frequently

Your facial skin is very sensitive compared to the skin on the rest of your body. Touching it frequently such as by picking, rubbing, or scratching can irritate it and cause breakouts. Your hands also come into contact with a lot of surfaces and can transfer bacteria on your skin which can lead to cystic acne. Facial skin is also delicate since it is prone to sagging and wrinkling when touched frequently.

Using the wrong products

Just because a product worked well on another person, it does not mean that it will work great for you too. Choosing an inappropriate product for your skin type can worsen your skin’s condition. For example, using an oil-based product for oily skin will make it oilier and prone to more breakouts.

These are just some habits that can damage your skin. To prevent your skin from aging prematurely or breaking out, be sure to improve your skin care habits. Good skin care habits coupled with the skin care products can make your skin healthier and better.

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Total Skin Care: What Your Skin Needs

total-skin-careIt is a fact that not everyone knows how to take good care of their skin. Knowing as well as maintaining the essential needs of the skin are very important in keeping the skin looking healthy and beautiful. Probably the best way to keep your skin healthy and young-looking is to provide it with a total skin care regimen or system. With a skin care regimen that can efficiently and sufficiently protect the function and structure of your skin, you are sure to have an even more beautiful and radiant skin.

Basic and advanced total skin care

It is said that the essential regimen for keeping the skin healthy and beautiful is generally divided into two categories: the basic and the advanced skin care needs. The basic skin care needs cover the daily and minimal skin care system that a person with any type of skin can practice. Meanwhile, the advance needs are the methods that address specific skin problems or concerns. These advanced skin care methods are oftentimes associated with other forms of treatments.

Basic skin care

The basic skin care needs are regarded as the foundation of a daily skin care regimen. This type of skin care system covers four steps that include hydrating, toning, cleansing, and protecting.

1. Hydrate

Having the skin well-moisturized is very important as this keeps it from becoming dry. Hydrating also provides the skin with vital lipids, thus, maintaining moisture. Skin specialists often recommend the practice of nighttime hydration once every night. Our O2 Infusion Moisturizer works wonders to keep your skin hydrated and vibrant.

2. Cleansing

This basic skin necessity keeps the skin free from pollutant, dirt, as well as excess oil. When a person fails to regularly cleanse his face, he or she is sure to experience inflamed and clogged pores and dull skin. We offer Botanical Cleansing Milk and a Clarifying Cleanser to cover from dry to oily skin.

3. Tone

Toning is an essential basic skin requirement, for it prepares the skin from the benefits brought by the skin care products that are applied on the face. To get more efficient results, toning skin care products are applied twice a day right after cleansing. Apart from soothing and calming the skin, toning also balances skin pH and lessens pore appearance. Get your hands on our Botanical Toner or Clarifying Toner for the refreshed look.

4. Protect

The skin also needs protection from the dangerous rays of the sun and other harmful environmental stressors. A morning dose of moisturizer with SPF can protect the skin from the sun’s UV ray that promotes discoloration and deteriorates the structural proteins of the skin.

Advance skin care

Advance skin care addresses specific concerns like acne, discoloration, free radical damage, and other critical skin care conditions. Below is the advance skin care regimen that one can follow as treatment to different types of skin complications:

1. Treat

This type of advanced skin care comes in when the structures, components, and functions of the skin are compromised, leading to the early occurrence of premature aging.  We offer a Youth Renew Moisturizer and and Youth Renew Serum when used together can help fight aging skin.

2. Nourish

Nourishing is an essential form of advanced skin care, for it maintains youthfulness and protects skin health. One can nourish the skin using antioxidants that further prevents premature skin aging and damage. Using the Vitamin C Antioxidant Creme  and Vitamin C Antioxidant Complex are the best combination for keeping your skin nourished.

3. Exfoliate

Exfoliating is very important as this replenishes the skin when it becomes rough and dull. This type of advanced skin care practice helps polish and resurface the skin to maintain a glowing complexion. Our number one selling Jojoba Radiance cleansing Polish as well as our Luminosity Masque are great at exfoliating the skin and keeping it smooth and radiant.

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Common Skin Care Myths

Skin-care-myths
With an increasing emphasis on beauty and age defiance in North American society, everyone seems to be seeking ways to make themselves appear younger by taking better care of their skin. While it is true that skin is one of the keys to a healthy, youthful appearance, not all skin care treatments that are proposed, or even that are popular, are effective. Here are some of the top myths when it comes to skin care.

Acne.

Acne is the bane of everyone from their teenage years and onward. There are so many false rumors out there concerning acne that an article could be written on them alone. To start with, acne does not cease miraculously when you are out of your teens. In some people, acne is a perpetual problem and will continue throughout their lives. Many of the false ideas about acne are extremely detrimental to people who are afflicted with the condition. Acne is not a sign that an individual does not wash their face. In fact, many individuals with acne will be told this by their peers and the result will be extremely counter-productive; they end up washing their faces too much. The dryer skin does not clear out the acne problem, instead it exacerbates it. Acne may be aggravated by certain foods in an individual’s diet, but rarely are the “suspect foods” (chocolate, French fries, or pizza) the main trigger. Finally, remember that acne can be treated by several types of medicine on the market today-and effectively- so it is all right to go to your doctor and consult her about acne treatments.

Tanning.

Tanning is often advertised as adding a warm, healthy glow to your skin. The truth is, nothing is worse for your skin than direct exposure to the harmful ultraviolet rays that are necessary to tan, whether you are on a bed or in the sun. Tanning may help to get rid of formed acne, but it will not prevent new pores from clogging. Tanning has little benefits beyond immediate aesthetic appeal, and in the long run it will prove harmful to your skin. It is best to use sun block whenever you are out in the sun.

Moisturizers.

Many people think that moisturizers will help in making their skin appear more youthful by getting rid of wrinkles. This is not the case. Moisturizers will help to lubricate the skin and lessen dryness, but they will not serve to repair the microscopic damage at the cell level that wrinkles represent.

Skin Care Ingredients.

For many years, top beauticians have placed slices of cucumber over the eyes of their clients in order to reduce skin damage and swelling. Today, you will find many products on the shelves that depict a cucumber or slice of cucumber and claim to include cucumber extracts that will help rejuvenate your skin. The fact is that it is not any particular mineral in the cucumber that is beneficial to the skin, it is the fact that cucumbers are mostly made of water, which leeches into the skin during the process and gives the appearance of re-invigoration.

All of these myths are used today to help sell products, Keep in mind that your skin will look great if you just keep in mind there are things on the market that wont really help your skin. The Myths of skin care are all over and we just added a few so take some time to look into some more information. Here are some links to some sites that have more great information!

http://www.paulaschoice.com/expert-advice/myths/_/beauty-myths

http://www.prevention.com/beauty/worst-skin-care-advice

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Vitamin C Skin Care – The Challenge

Vitamin C is often regarded as a wrinkle fighter or an anti-aging agent. The main objective of ‘Vitamin C skin care’, in scientific terms, is to increase the synthesis of collagen (a structural protein that is found in skin). The additional benefit is related to its capability of countering free radicals which cause damage to the skin.

Vitamin-C

The Challenge:

Vitamin C skin care, however, faces a major challenge today. This is related to the oxidation tendency of skin care products. On coming in contact with any oxidising agent (e.g. air), the Vitamin C in the skin care products, gets oxidised; thus making the Vitamin C skin care product useless (in fact counter-effective). The oxidised Vitamin C imparts a yellowish-brown colour to the  skin care product. This is something that you need to check before buying a Vitamin C skin care product. Even after you buy a  skin care product, you need to store it properly and keep checking that it’s still good to use (i.e. it hasn’t attained a yellowish-brown texture).

The manufacturers of Vitamin C skin care products have tried to deal with this (oxidation) problem in multiple ways (and research on Vitamin C skin care products is on the top of their list). One such method of retaining effectiveness of skin care products for a long term is to keep a high concentration (say 10%) of Vitamin C. However, this makes the  skin care products even more expensive. The Vitamin C skin care products are already pretty inexpensive and making them even more expensive will throw the product manufacturers out of business.

Coming up with a Solution:

The other way is to use Vitamin C derivatives (like ascorbyl palmitate and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate). These are not only more stable but also inexpensive. Even though the derivatives based products are not as effective as the Vitamin C skin care products, their stability against oxidation is a very desirable feature that makes them very attractive. Moreover, these are known to be less irritating too.

Talking of effectiveness of Vitamin C skin care products, it’s important to mention that not everyone responds to Vitamin C treatments. So it’s not a magic potion in any way. If you don’t see a noticeable difference in your skin, it might be because of your skin not responding to the treatment (and the skin care products might not be at fault, at all).

As more research goes on, one can only keep our fingers crossed and wait for a complete solution to the challenges faced by ‘Vitamin C skin care’today.

 

 

 

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Face-Washing: The Core Of A Good Skincare Regimen

face washingThe act of washing one’s face is one of the fundamental steps that a person can take in the realm of skincare, such that its place as the cornerstone of a skincare regimen is hardly arguable. This is a basic act, one that does not require too much effort or time to be expended in doing it, and really just asks that the person have a reasonable level of manual dexterity and access to a supply of clean water. Washing your face also happens to be one of the very few things that dermatologists are not going to dispute each other over, simply because it works the way it should. Granted, it is advisable that it not be the only part of a skincare regimen, but it does form an integral component.

People should take care to make sure that their hands are clean prior to washing their face, if only because it would be the logical thing to do. Since people are going to be using their hands to wash their face, it would be sensible to make sure that the hands are as clean as possible, to avoid doing damage when the action is supposed to be preventing damage. Aside from the prerequisite water, rinsing the hands with soap can help clean off any visible dirt and acts as a preliminary measure for getting rid of bacteria that might be on there.

Hot water is not advisable for washing your face with. This is a common mistake, particularly because it is a simple matter to confuse hot water with warm water. In reality, warm water is best used because it opens up the pores, allowing the water to flow in and wash things out. Hot water can do this as well, but has the potential to cause damage to the skin, especially if the skin is sensitive. Some people also advocate the use of cold water to close the pores afterwards. The use of cold water for rinsing closes the pores and prevents dirt and other irritants from entering the skin again.

Applying skin cleanser is advisable in between the warm and cold treatments, giving it the chance to seep into the pores and do its job. Applying such topical treatments on closed pores reduces their potency, so rinsing the skin with warm water is advisable. Small amounts are also best, particularly if the skin is sensitive. Cleansers and other topical treatments are best used from the forehead down, unless the instructions specify otherwise. Sensitivity to the cleanser should also be noted, because not all of them follow the same potencies and strengths. In some cases, using smaller amounts helps, but for others, switching to another product completely is the better option.

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Beauty Sleep: Wake Up Looking Younger Every Day

beauty-sleep-skin-care-the-aloe-source
(Photo: healthmeup)

Just how important is beauty sleep to our skin? We all know eating healthy foods and keeping skin clean with a regular skin care regime is important, but is beauty sleep just an “old wives tale?”

According to a recent article by BeautyWorldNews.com, sleep is not only important, it is also most effective if you pair it with a skin care regime to focus on replenishing, repairing and renewing your skin.

Antioxidant Kit
The Aloe Source – Vitamin C Antioxidant Kit

To Repair your skin while you sleep, the article author Dr. Vish Banthia, (founder of ZendyBeauty) recommends you boost collagen. If you didn’t know, collagen is actually a protein that makes up the connective tissues of the human body. As we age there is a loss of collagen, which can lead to wrinkles and sagging skin. Dr. Banthia suggests to “apply vitamin C to help promote build-up of collagen.” This powerful antioxidant has been shown to minimize fine lines and, in some cases, even out pigmentation.

The article then went on to recommend The Aloe Source Vitamin C Antioxidant Crème ($40). This luxuriously rich crème hydrates parched skin, while a stabilized vitamin C complex and Aloe vera provide antioxidant benefits for a glowing, youthful-looking complexion.

To take the full advantage of all the regenerative properties that vitamin c and Aloe vera offer, we recommend you use it as part of our Anti Oxidant Kit. The kit allows you to really repair fine lines and wrinkles while evening out skin tone. Plus, you’ll love the fresh scent. For best results, apply twice daily, after cleansing and toning by massaging 1-2 pumps of the Vitamin C Antioxidant Complex. Allow the complex to dry completely. Then, follow with the Vitamin C Antioxidant Crème.