Alison

Guidelines for Glowing Skin!

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For many years now, men and women the world over have graced the covers of health, beauty, and home magazines with flawless, glowing, and absolutely gorgeous skin all with the aim of promoting proper skin health and care.

natural skincareThe only problem is that most of these pictorial attempts at flawless skin have been heavily airbrushed and glossed over till they look just right. With these guidelines for glowing skin, you will be able to pull off that flawless look entirely on your own!

Top 5 Tips For Great Looking Skin

Drink lots of water!
drink lots of water for healthy skinWater has healing powers that cleanse your body of toxins and waste products and help your skin to stay glowingly hydrated. It should be drunk at any and all times of the day, and not reserved only for when you are dehydrated. Drinking a healthy amount of water, as shown by recent studies, has been found to reduce the risk colon cancer by 45%, the risk of bladder cancer by 50%, and even breast cancer. Carry water with you. Keep a bottle handy in your car, a glass of water on your desk, and a jug of water on the dining table at all times. Encourage yourself to drink more because doing so, for fact, will help your skin to glow.

Maintain a proper balance of sunlight.
protect your skin in the sunToo much sun and tanning is not good for your skin and causes deadly forms of skin cancer, but on the other hand a lack of Vitamin D and sunshine can also cause cancer. Tough luck!

Avoid the hottest hours of the day. The trick with sunlight is that you want the Vitamin D, but you don’t want to get burned. The hottest hours of the day are usually between 10am and 4pm. Spending about 15 minutes in the sunshine during this time without any sunblock will help to give your body the Vitamin D that it needs.

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3 Quick and Easy Homemade Face Masks To Blast Blemishes

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Say bye-bye to blemishes with the pimple popping powers of fruits!

I’m sure you already knew that the types of foods you eat influence the quality of your skin, but you should know it’s not just about what you eat; it’s about what you put on your face!

That’s right. I have 3 amazing acne face masks that are made solely from the produce you already stock in your refrigerator. Curious to know what they are and how you can make them yourself?
Good. Read on…

5 ingredients for homemade face masks
These five ingredients are all you need to make our three homemade face mask recipes

Pumpkin and Papaya Mask

For this blemish battling DIY all you need is 1 cup of Canned Pumpkin and 2/3 cup of mashed Papaya.

  • In a bowl, mix together your pumpkin and papaya. It might take some time and elbow grease to get a smooth consistency, but that’s what you want.
  • Next, on a clean face rub your mask all over your face, however, be careful not to get any in your eyes.
  • Allow your mask 10-15 minutes to sit on your skin then rinse off with lukewarm water and pat dry with a fresh, clean towel.

What makes this mask so potent is the Vitamin A and C content. Both pumpkin and papaya are full of these beneficial vitamins.

The zinc content of pumpkins help absorb the vitamins which in turn balance hormonal changes. Keeping your hormones in check will help prevent acne breakouts.

Vitamin C is also responsible for reducing the likelihood of scarring, which can sometimes occur after acne flare-ups.

Papaya on the other hand also contains alpha hydroxy acids (AHA’s) which slough away dead skin cells and promote healing from acne scars deep within the epidermis.

Reparative and Preventative; I like it!

Tomato and Avocado Mask

Big zits are annoying, but blackheads can be downright frustrating. This next mask helps combat both at the same time.

  • Start by mashing one small skinless tomato with a ripe avocado in a bowl. Use a fork to help you press out any clumps to ensure a nice smooth consistency is achieved.
  • After cleansing your skin, gently rub your mask all over your face. Spend a little extra time massaging the mask into areas where you frequently breakout or suffer from blackheads. My most common regions are the nose and chin.
  • Let your mask absorb for 30 minutes then rinse off using warm water and pat your face dry.

Tomatoes contain an amazing antioxidant called lycopene. Lycopene regulates chemical and biological balances which helps maintain clear skin and also neutralizes free radicals to protect your skin from future breakouts.

The vitamins in this mask act like as an antiseptic astringent to help reduce blackheads while the avocado locks in moisture to keep your skin looking supple and fresh.

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The Benefits of Tea Tree Oil for Acne

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I never really suffered from acne when I was growing up so you can imagine my annoyance when it started to appear as an adult. If I’m being totally honest, it’s not so much “acne” as it is a few spots here and there; just enough to ruin your morning though.

Not requiring a dermatologist and not really interested in spending big bucks on drugstore topical creams, I went on the hunt for a natural alternative.

From witch hazel to lavender and calendula oils, there were sites (and facts) boasting of their acne-fighting properties. None caught my eye more than that of tea tree oil.

What Is Tea Tree Oil?

Located in sunny Australia, tea tree oil is derived from the leaves of tea tree evergreens. Boiled down, the leaves make a vastly useful antiseptic.

The active acne-fighting ingredient is called terpinen-4-ol. Found naturally in the plant, the chemical component terpinen-4-ol suppresses the body’s’ natural inflammatory response and helps to support the immune system.

Tea tree oil is also a great anti-fungal. It is commonly used to treat fungal infections of the nail, athlete’s foot and even lice. On top of all that, it is a great healer of abrasions, burns, bites, boils and cuts. Got a sore throat or ear infection? Tea tree oil is great for those as well.

Why Is This Oil So Good For Acne?

The benefits of this wonder oil are hard to dispute, but what makes it so great for acne? Well, let
me fill you in!

Acne is a result of a disruption with your pilosebaceous units. If that made no sense to you then listen up.

All over your body you have hair follicles, sebaceous glands and of course, hairs. Your sebaceous glands produce oil called sebum which is your way of naturally moisturizing your skin. When bacteria clogs up your glands and sebum becomes trapped, acne breakouts occur.

Tea tree oil works as a solvent by cutting through all the oil and dirt and unblocks the pores. Its antibacterial properties kill any remaining acne-causing bacteria thus preventing future outbreaks. Simple, isn’t it!

Depending on what type of acne you suffer from, here are a few options for tea tree treatments.

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How to Treat Dry Skin

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dried leaves
Like these leaves, our skin can become dry and dehydrated

Dry skin usually results from a lack of hydration and moisturising, often leading to other skin conditions if care is neglected. There are often underlying causes of dry skin conditions.

While some people suffer from skin blemishes, breakouts and acne, others do not, but are affected by dry itchy patches that causes discomfort and unhealthy skin appearance. Understanding what dry skin is, the causes and how to manage the condition are vital to helping us treat our skin and provide care to prevent other skin conditions developing.

What are the Symptoms of Dry Skin?

The skin may appear dry, flaky and scaly. If dry skin is left untreated deeper cracks will appear and can lead to bleeding and skin infection. A dry face is also likely to feel uncomfortable and itchy.

What Areas of Skin are Prone to Dryness?
Certain skin parts may be dryer than others. While some people experience skin dryness on their faces, particularly around the mouth area, others are affected by dried skin on the arms, legs, thighs and the sides of the abdomen.

The lower legs and ankles may be prone to excessive dryness, and the limbs will often itch or feel sore as the skin feels ultra-sensitive. Babies may suffer with dry itchy patches as they grow, particularly areas of skin that come in contact with nappies.

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Effective Tips For Dealing With Your Acne

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acne blemishesHaving acne is never fun. Having acne blemishes painful, it makes your skin inflamed and blotchy and it can leave behind scarring if it is severe enough and goes untreated.

Acne is not something that will go away overnight, but there are treatments out there that will relieve some of the symptoms and speed up your healing process to a degree.

Here are some tips if you’re struggling with acne and you want to give yourself the best chance of beating the condition.

Keep Clean

This is one of the most simple, yet most effective acne treatment tips. If you want to give yourself the best chance of saying goodbye to your blemishes, you need to keep your face as clean as possible. You can use a specialist face wash for this job which will be great at clearing out your pores or you can try a trust bar of soap, which might not have the same exfoliating qualities as face scrub, but will have the effect of sucking moisture out of your skin, relieving some of your acne symptoms in the process.

Everyone is Different

You will know your skin better than anyone, besides your dermatologist. Everyone’s skin is different so what you must understand is that a treatment that works for one person don’t necessarily work for everyone. If a friend gives you skin care advice based on their own personal experience, it may not be relevant as you may have completely different skin types. Some people can eat all the junk food they want and they won’t get a single spot, others can only so much as look at a burger and they’ll have an outbreak. Understand your skin and what you have to do to look after it.

Use Specialist Products

There are hundreds of products out there on the cosmetics market that are designed to treat your spots and prevent them coming back. Be sure to use a quality product that is formulated to soothe, reduce redness and irritation and will also treat dry spots quickly and effectively. You can have an acne outbreak at any age, which is why for more mature skins it is essential to use a product specially designed to complement any anti-aging products you may be using. Make sure you choose a treatment that is sensitive on skin and will reduce inflammation where many anti-spot creams will only exacerbate the problem.

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