Natural Skin Care Blog

Good grief — GERMS! — and in the bend of your elbow, too…

Did you ever imagine that you had a family — well, actually, several families — of germs living and thriving where your arm bends?

As you learned in school, microbes are very, very small but their colonies are huge — as in huge.

Think you can get rid of them?

You can scrub, scrub, scrub.

They’ll still be there. Lots of them will still be there.

The scientists who have been peering into their elbows assure us that, even after washing, they expect to find about 1 million critters per square centimeter.

What’s more, these elbow bacteria are not the same as the bacteria on your forearm… or your hand…

No. The elbow is their little fortress.

And how cool is it that?

Your best friend and your pet peeve both have the same tribes living in their elbows?

(Ask the scientists why. I haven’t a clue.)

Come back often – helpful information — and some odd bits, too — about your skin. Where else can you read thrilling stuff about germs in your elbow?

No Comments »

Men are more likely to suffer from baggy eyes because they have larger tear ducts. When these swell up, the eye area gets puffy causing the delicate eye area tissues to stretch just a little more each time.

Each time the swelling goes down, the skin tends to be a bit looser. This happens over and over…

There you have it: the common cause of baggy eyes.

Whatever makes your eyes swell can make little bags. Those of you with allergies can expect this to be a problem.

Any irritant that causes your tear ducts to go into production – to wash out the offending substance — and there you go again. Puffy eyes leading to looser skin…

Because this is the area around your precious eyes, you have limited options for remedial techniques.

The bad news is that, as far I can find out, there is no safe way to eliminate those wretched little bags completely and safely.

The more-or-less good news is that there are a couple of things you can do to minimize the appearance of bagginess.

One is gentle cleansing with a product made especially for the eye area.

The other is to apply an eye area mask designed to soothe irritated tissues which, in turn, prevents further swelling. The mask is removed with an eye area cleanser after about five minutes. Natural soothing ingredients have a slight firming and flattening effect. The result is that fine lines are less noticeable and puffiness is reduced by this gentle procedure.

Ask your eye doctor to check the list of ingredients so you can feel confident about using either of these methods to minimize those baggy eyes.

No Comments »

Your complexion’s not perfect?

What are you doing about it?

Covering it up?

That’s the complexion care equivalent of sweeping the dirt under the rug.

Oh, goody, you can’t see the problems any longer.

Oh, not-so-goody, the problems are still there. You will see them the very next time you remove that concealing make-up.

Those skin issues did not pop up two weeks ago when you first noticed them.

No 15-minute facial or 3 day treatment is going to get rid of them — no matter who tells you so.

Why? Because the underlying causes have been at work for years.

Researchers in their lab coats, peering into their microscopes, report that your skin is subject to the greatest amount of damage before the age of 20 and it’s well into the “aging” process before you begin to notice those unwelcome signs.

If you are old enough to read this, you are old enough to start a program of sensible, consistent complexion care, based on the way your skin cells work — not on the latest product being heralded in all the media as the one that will finally give you the perfect skin in only 10 applications (or something like that…)

Your skin is an organ. That makes it subject to the laws of nature, just like your heart and lungs.

There is only one way to improve your complexion — care for it the way nature demands.

Your only other choice is to cover it up, day after day after day… (and don’t blame your mirror when it catches you off-guard!)

No Comments »

Everyone dreams of a clear skin.

Huge amounts of money are spent in the search.

“I want a clear skin – and I want it NOW.”

In response, the industry uses its high tech capabilities to turn out remarkable products you can apply to your face to give you the appearance of a clear skin – instantly.

Problem is, your high tech face goes down the drain at night…. So, before you can show your face to your world, you have to put it on again

The skin underneath is still unchanged. Evidence of aging is still there, looking back at you from your mirror.

Perhaps the largest contributor to that muddy-looking complexion, that flakiness and, oh, those dreadful wrinkles is lack of proper nutrition, inside and out.

Cells must grow before they are ready to appear as part of your face. Like every other living entity, cells must have certain building materials for proper development.

Starvation at the cellular level results in an unattractive appearance and – more importantly – interferes with the ability of those cells to form a strong protective barrier to keep your vital internal organs safe from environmental damage.

Weak skin equals weak protection. It wrinkles easily. It begins to sag, to lose color…

The longer you ignore the causes of your less-than-satisfactory skin, the more unsatisfactory it becomes. The harder it is to repair it; the longer it takes to restore some degree of its natural elasticity and radiance.

A healthy skin is a beautiful skin. A healthy skin is a clear skin, naturally.

No Comments »

The waste removal function is probably the least understood of the many things your skin does for you. Those tiny cells move an astonishing amount of stuff out of your body.

That’s right. Body waste goes out through your skin. Most of it you never actually see — or, more likely, you simply don’t recognize it.

Those dark circles under your eyes — do you think immediately of toxins in your system?

How about unpleasant body odors? Bacteria thrive on waste, especially in moist areas of your body.

When you started that work-out program at the gym — did you notice an outbreak of bumpy things, maybe a week or two into the program? What happened? Your skin cells were suddenly overwhelmed when your system went into a higher gear.

And acne? One reason (certainly not the only reason) is hormonal imbalance which creates more waste to be pushed out than the cells can handle. So it starts to back up, gets infected — yuck.

These issues — and many more — influence your personal waste removal system. Your skin sends out distress signals when it is overloaded, when it can’t remove the junk fast enough.

But why does it have to show up as a big red bump in the middle of  your forehead?

Improve your appearance by giving your skin some help in carrying out its vital waste removal functions.

You and your appearance will benefit.

P.S. Sign up on the left for suggestions on ways to improve the effectiveness of your skin’s vital functions.

No Comments »

Are you sure you’d never use a facial mask?

I know what you’re thinking. “Mask? Ugh. Those horrid green slimy things they spread over my face at the spa…”

Or perhaps the stuff was a nasty thick brown substance.

Whatever… it was not something you ever intend to do at home – and it certainly isn’t your idea of a necessary step in your daily skin care program.

It’s really too bad that you (and almost everybody else) have been given the impression that masking is an unpleasant, and unnecessary, rigamarole promoted by spas to separate you from a few more dollars per visit.

This is especially unfortunate because cell biology has clearly shown that masking is the single most important weapon you can use against against aging.

(Sign up over to your left to get more information on subjects like this from a fresh viewpoint, based on science and the natural way to a beautiful face.)

Yes, I said “masking” but please note that I did not say the mask had to be green and slimy, brown and sticky – or white and crackly. Frankly, those are so Last Century…

The masks of today are typically light, translucent, invisible. They are wonderfully effective because they are based on scientific studies of skin cells and what the surface of your skin – your face – requires to be healthy and beautiful.

The mask of today is formulated for your skin type, specifically. You probably will not use the same mask your best friend uses – or your spouse, for that matter because there are masks to address the skin issues of both men and women.

No Comments »