Top 10 Lifestyle Habits for Beautiful Skin

Maintaining a Healthy Skin Barrier

The skin serves numerous functions – detoxifying, protecting, regulating – but the primary protective or barrier function is the most obvious. The top layer of skin cells has the most important function in maintaining the effectiveness of the barrier. Here the individual cells overlie each other and are tightly packed, preventing bacteria from entering and maintaining the water-holding properties of the skin.
Fatty substances (lipids) are secreted by the cells during the course of their journey from the base layer of the skin to the top. These lipid molecules join up and form a tough connecting network, in effect acting as the mortar between the bricks of a wall.

The cell wall barriers are simply layers of fats that surround the watery contents. Therefore, the communication mechanisms must operate through these fatty cell walls. In fact, many of the substances that are involved in this communication process are various fats since it is easiest for fats to move within the fatty layers that comprise the cell walls. Despite its bad reputation, proper fats and cellular fats are of major importance in our body’s biochemistry and physiology.

Damage to the skin barrier can result from a combination of genetic predisposion and exposure to sensitizing chemicals and other substances. That is why avoiding irritants is as important as using products that help. In skin care, the most common irritants are usually perfumes and preservatives.

Fatty substances control the majority of our body’s physiology through receptors that activate many important genes. Likewise, our skin barrier is comprised of a supporting structure of collagen, a protein that contains fats that serve a critical function. These fats prevent the excess loss of water through our skin and prevent the cells of our body from becoming dehydrated and dying.

A major sign of a defective skin is the dryness that results from excessive water loss. This water can not be applied topically but must be ingested. To prevent the excessive water loss and the resulting dry skin, we must repair the skin barrier. We find that the skin composition in individuals with dry skin is due to an improper mixture of the skin fats. This is commonly due to a deficiency in our diet of the correct fats, those contained in natural olive oils, avocados, and healthy nuts, etc. On a nutritional basis, we can provide these necessary fats through the skin sometimes through topical treatments containing natural butters or oils, like Shea, olive and cocoa butter. The epidermis is not a usual means to acquire nutrition but it can absorb enough fatty substances to correct the fat imbalances that are the cause of the defect in the skin’s barrier function and thus correct the dry, itchy skin or sensitive skin problem. Try to be aware of chemical preservatives in any topical products you do use.

Although many products today are labeled “fragrance free,” that is really a misnomer. Nearly all products contain some fragrance to mask their chemical odor; so-called fragrance-free products may just contain fewer chemicals than others. What’s more, the fragrances used in many products (even pricey perfumes) are commonly synthetic. For sensitive individuals, this chemical brew can be a problem To make matters worse, many natural fragrances are now extracted using harsh solvents rather than old-fashioned distillation methods, in which fewer chemicals come into contact with the essential oil of the flower. Unless you can determine the extraction method used, be cautious. This is one reason many individuals react negatively to the essential oils used in aromatherapy massages and related products – many are of a synthetic, chemical composition.

According to several studies, various preservatives including formaldehyde, parabens, and others commonly used in skin, hair, and beauty products can also provoke allergic reactions. Although the preservatives are needed to maintain product shelf life and only minute amounts are present in any given product, many products contain these same chemicals, including skin care products, makeup, medications, antiperspirants, toothpaste, and foods. Many of these products are used on a daily basis, causing a higher reaction rate. As a result, the overall exposure to these harmful ingredients is higher than would occur if only a single product were used. Studies show that massage therapists have more contact dermatitis – or skin inflammation – due to exposure to these extracts.

Until recently, few studies investigated the cumulative impact of repeated exposures to preservatives in a variety of products and ingredients. For the majority of people, these product preservatives are an additional benefit, not a problem. But, as the chemical compositions increase, so do the allergic reactions.
If you suffer from sensitive, allergic skin or severe dry skin, you may be among those who will have a problem or reaction to these chemical-laden products. In this case, it is your role as an informed consumer to carefully read labels for all products that come into contact with your skin – internally or externally- to assure that they don’t contain the listed ingredients that you must avoid. Your skin barrier does a lot to protect you naturally, help it out when you can and feed it nourishing chemical-free products whenever you can.

Finding Natural Skin Care Treatments

Many people are recognizing the need to find quality skin care that does not contain any of the chemical ingredients that are in so many of the products that are currently on the market. The search for a 100% pure skin care treatment will require you to do some research and find out the kind of ingredients that you should be looking for in your skin care products.

The people who are looking for pure skin care products are usually interested in finding the best anti aging skin treatment that is available as well. Most of the time the purer the ingredients the better the anti aging skin care treatment will be. You should consider the damage that can be caused to your skin when you are using products that contain chemicals and other ingredients that you should steer clear of. There are a number of resources online that can give you the information that you will need to begin your search.

Of course, when you conduct your research, you will discover that there are some ingredients that must be included even in those that claim to be a 100% pure skin care treatment. When you are looking at the products that are available, look for ingredients that are made from natural sources. Some of the ingredients will need to be processed in some way before they can be used so in this sense they are not completely natural. However, you can find products that are free of the harmful chemicals that should not be put on your skin. Consider that the ingredients are being absorbed into your system through your skin and decide if the chemicals that are in the products are something that you want in your system.

Fragrances and other ingredients that make the skin care product smell nice and have a better texture are the ingredients that you should be wary of. Anything that does not add to the effectiveness of the product is just not necessary in your 100% pure skin care treatment. Save your use of fragrances to the perfumes that you decide to wear. You will only be placing it in a small area and can choose the fragrance that you like. Manufacturers understand that people like things that smell nice and add the fragrances to enhance their product. Unfortunately, the fragrances are doing more harm than good.

For the best anti aging skin treatment and a 100% pure skin care treatment, you should look for products that are made of plant based ingredients that have been proven to be effective. Watch out for the quantities of the effective ingredient when you are shopping as well.

Many companies use a very small amount of the best ingredients to entice customers, but they are not effective because there is not enough of the ingredient to make an impact on your skin. Do not be deceived by this practice and do your research on the ingredients and their effective quantities before you buy a skin care product.

How To Know Your Skin Type

Basically, there are four common skin types: oily, dry, combination, and normal. The way your skin reacts and behaves classifies the type of skin you have. Skin types react in different ways to creams and/or lotions
, environment, and weather. The skin on your face is the great point to categorize type of your skin.

Here are four skin types that you should know:

1. Oily Skin

Skin may look oily, sallow, and coarse; it has large pores and tends to have pimples, blackheads and whiteheads. The texture of skin is thick; the touch is often sticky. It is usually youthful-looking due to the presence of oil on the skin. Besides that, within hours of cleansing the oiliness will reappear and makeup is usually absorbed quickly. Often, individuals with this skin type have a propensity to develop acne in their teen and middle years.

2. Dry Skin

This skin type has a transparent looking and fine texture. It may lack natural oils, may look rather flaky with small pores, blackheads and blemishes. It feels particularly dry after cleansing and may have whiteheads around the eyes and dry patches. Without sufficient moisture, this skin type can simply become chapped. It’s more likely to become wrinkly than other types.

3. Combination Skin

This type can be characterized as oily on the T-zone (forehead, nose and chin) and the rest of the face, cheeks and around the eye, is dry. However, to restore both areas to balance, they need a separate cleansing routine.

4. Normal skin

If this is your skin type you are very lucky, because less than 20% of women have this skin type. It is the “healthy” type of skin. It’s smooth, soft, and supple; not too dry, not too oily, characterized by few blemishes, and has a nice glow. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that you don’t have to take care of it.

The first step just before choosing a skin care routine that will make you look beauty is knowing you skin type. Therefore, I want to give you simple tips how to know what type of skin you have exactly:

1. Cleanse your face, and wait for an hour, without applying any skin care product to it.

2. After that, take a tissue and wipe each of the following areas of your face: your forehead, nose, chin, and cheeks.

If oil appears on the tissue, then you have oily skin. But, if skin particles can be seen on your skin, or remain on the tissue, then you have dry skin. Other than that, If you see oil in some areas (T-zone: forehead, nose and chin), and none in others, then naturally you have combination skin. And, if you don’t find oily residue or flake is left on the skin, you have normal skin.

One thing that you should keep in mind, cleansing and moisturizing twice a day is an important thing of having attractive and healthy skin, regardless of what type of skin you have. For maximum results, select products that are intended for your particular skin type.

5 Steps for Healthy Skin

Are you serious about your skin care? Serious skin care requires a total health approach, or you’ll never achieve the skin care results you want.

After all, our health is the most important thing to us. What are we without our health? And our overall state of health is related to the state of our skin as well as our overall wellbeing. With good health we achieve great skin, but without it it’s extremely difficult to achieve great skin.

So if, to achieve serious skin care results, we need to get serious about our skin, and health, first, what should we do? How do we go about this?

Simple. Notice I said simple, not easy. There’s 5 simple things we can do to achieve the skin we want, and the look we want. And if we do these 5 things then we’ll also achieve great overall health and feel great as well as achieving serious skin health.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Exercise. There’s no doubt that exercise has an impact on just about every aspect of our life, and health, including our skin. Exercise, for example, increases our ability to circulate the blood around our body, and as the skin, like other organs, requires a good blood supply, improved circulation will improve your skin health. Serious skin care must involve a minimum amount of exercise.

2. Improve your diet. Cut down on the Pizzas and burgers, increase your intake of high quality fresh fruit and vegetables. Increase your intake of good vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and your skin will thank you for it.

3. Use high quality organic health supplements to supplement those vitamins and minerals that we should be getting in our diet, but aren’t. Because even the best diet will have it’s deficiencies, for a number of reasons, and we need to use high quality organic supplements to correct this.

4. Avoid well known brand name skin care products. Serious skin care cannot be found in a brand name moisturizer. Brand name products contain ingredients that are at best suspect and at worst actively damaging to our health and skin. And the bottom line is that mainstream skin care products don’t work anyway, so even ignoring the health risks, you’re wasting your money using the skincare products on the shelves of your local store.

5. Use a quality organic skin care range that offers tested ingredients proven not only to be safe to your overall health but also to work. And the best ones are backed up with money back guarantees so you can try the products risk free until you’re convinced that they are working for you. Try getting a money back guarantee like that from your mainstream skincare product manufacturers.

Serious skin care requires a serious, thought out approach to overall health, not just skin health, because the two go together. If you’re serious about your skin care you need to make an effort. Anything less and it just won’t work. But if you do it will shine through in far more than just your skin health. It will show in your whole life.

Because your skin is just another organ in your body. It’s a visible organ, not an invisible one. Because people see your skin they see when your skin us unhealthy, because it looks unhealthy. But if you get healthy generally then your skin gets healthy, and looks it.

So make sure you get serious and practice some serious skin care practices. Eat well, stay moving and stay healthy and everyone will know, from how your skin looks.

Where do you get these great skin care products? Not from the mainstream anti aging and skin care companies, in fact the best ones come from a company you’ve probably never heard of.