Thursday, April 23, 2009

Reducing Wrinkles - Understanding Botox

Understanding BotoxTo reduce wrinkles, consider Botox. Many people are looking for a solution that will help them to get rid of the wrinkles that have been creeping up on them over the course of a lifetime.

Although most people do not realize that through healthy skin management and a good diet they can reduce the number of wrinkles they have, many are considering chemical injections such as Botox. If you are thinking about, consider these facts about Botox and others like it first.

What Is It?

Botox is administered through injections directly into the skin’s under layers. There, it helps by relaxing the facial muscles that are surrounding your wrinkles. This makes them actually be less noticeable. Because the muscles are relaxed, the skin lays smoother, allowing for fewer noticeable wrinkles there.

The actual substance that is injected is botulinum toxin type A which is a purified and safe form of the toxin that causes botulism. The injections are not all that painful and are often considered to be a quick fix to the problem of wrinkles. Yet, is this the right choice for you?

Where Can You Use It?

Botox can be used in several ways and will have the same effect in each area that it is used. The most common areas for them is at the corners of the eyes, the frown lines that run between your eyebrows and the bridge of your nose, your forehead and the wrinkle bands in the neck area.

What you should know is that Botox won’t work if your wrinkles have been caused by sun damage. It also doesn’t work on all wrinkles found in your face. Also, for some, the thickness of the skin and the type of skin that you have will effect how effective Botox will be for you.

Is Botox the right thing for you? To find out if you qualify and if in fact it would be beneficial to your wrinkles, consider talking to a specialist. Remember that Botox is a not a cure and that you will need to continue having the procedure done to keep the wrinkles at bay. Over time, it may not be as effective for you as more wrinkles develop. Nevertheless, many women are finding that Botox is the perfect solution to their need for reducing wrinkles.

Reducing Wrinkles: Over The Counter Wrinkle Cream

Reducing Wrinkles: Over The Counter Wrinkle CreamWhen it comes to reducing wrinkles, there are a number of different over the counter cream products that you could use. Many times, these are promised to you as a miracle cure for your wrinkles, allowing you to easy apply the cream and watch the wrinkles fad away.

Do you realize just how nearly impossible that is? It didn’t take your skin just a few days to produce those wrinkles and it is likely to take more than a few days to get rid of them, too. Now, before you write off these creams as something that just doesn’t work, consider how they actually can work for you.

Some over the counter wrinkle creams have shown some benefit in reducing wrinkles, although not all do. If you plan to use this method to fight your wrinkles, then make sure that the product that you select contains the following ingredients which have been linked to improving the quality of your skin. While all of these ingredients haven’t been researched enough to give you full guarantees, these seem to be the most effective at fighting wrinkles and restoring a healthy look to the face.

Vitamin A: This antioxidant has been one of the forerunners in reducing wrinkles. Look for skin creams and wrinkle reduces that have this in them, but make sure that it is as high of an amount as possible. This vitamin helps to break down free radicals which cause your skin cells to break down.

Hydroxy Acids: Here is an exfoliating product to consider. You want a wrinkle cream that will offer this as it will remove the top layers of dead skin and help your skin to produce new skin that is healthy looking.

Alpha Lipoic Acid: This is an antioxidant that can help by penetrated cell membranes. When it does this, it helps to get rid of free radicals that break down the cells in your skin. This also works well at increasing the effectiveness of other antioxidants that do the same job. Vitamin C and Vitamin E are great choices.

If you are looking to reduce wrinkles through the use of over the counter creams, skin lotions and agents, then consider only those that offer a good amount of these products in them.

They are shown to be the most beneficial to improving the look of the skin and reducing the appearance of wrinkles all together.

Reducing Wrinkles: Can Diet Help?

Reducing Wrinkles: Can Diet HelpWhen it comes to having a healthy diet, experts will tell you that most Americans just don’t get it. Yet, if you are aging, now is the most important time in your life to be thinking about this factor.

What you eat plays a large role in the healthy glow that you have. If you don’t eat well, you are more prone to having to deal with dreaded wrinkles.

If you would like to reduce wrinkles, one of the best things for you to do is to eat a well balanced diet.

There are many things that play a role in the health of your body. While germs and hereditary do play a role to some degree in your wrinkles; that is not all that effects it. In fact, many women and men will have wrinkles well before the age deems it to be necessary. This has a lot to do with the healthy diet that you probably are not getting.

Diet - Dieting For Wrinkles

How can your diet actually affect your wrinkles? First and foremost, understand that wrinkles can be caused by a number of things including the inability of the body to keep hold of a substance called collagen. When your body loses this, it your skin will become looser and that leads to wrinkles. If you give your body the right nutrients to power through these situations, you can actually walk away with fewer wrinkles and improve skin care.

One thing to consider eating is more vegetables. Vegetables contain antioxidants which are true warriors in fighting many health risks. These compounds get into your blood stream and literally clean out the cells. By doing this, they allow blood to easily work through the body. When that happens, your skin looks amazing and full. In fact, antioxidants are a key role playing in reducing your wrinkles.

What should you eat? To reduce the wrinkles that you currently have or to help prevent even more from showing up, consume a diet that is rich in antioxidants. Eat a diet that is balanced in fresh vegetables, lean meats and unsaturated fats.

These things will lead to a healthy diet that offers many benefits to your overall well being. When you give your body the tools that it needs, it will be better able to reduce wrinkles and give you glowing beautiful skin.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

5 Tips on Reducing Wrinkles

5 Tips on Reducing WrinklesReducing wrinkles is something most will want to consider at some point. Often, people will not realize that they are aging until one day, they look in the mirror and see for the first time the wrinkles.

Sure, it took a very long time for them to get there, but that doesn’t mean that you saw this coming. What’s more is that for many, wrinkles are going to happen no matter what you do. It’s in your genes! These facts are not always understood, though. And, when you want to find a solution that will allow you to actually remove the wrinkles on your face, consider these things.

1. Eat the right foods. Fill you day with dark green vegetables, deep reds, orange colors and more. Consuming these products will give your body the nutrients and the antioxidants it needs to keep your blood flowing. This helps to keep your skin hydrated and fighting off wrinkles.

2. Wear protective sun screen any time that you come into contact with the sun. Even in the winter or on overcast days, the UV rays come through and your skin needs protection. The sun is the #1 causing agent in early wrinkles.

3. Exfoliate. If you allow your skin to have a fresh start weekly, then it will always look young. There are many creams and washes that can be used to provide this help to you, too. It can be as simple as washing your face with them.

4. When considering wrinkle creams, look for those that contain Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin E in them. These are ideal for helping to fight off the wrinkles and restoring life to your skin again.

5. Remove make up and excess oils from your face often. If you don’t allow your skin the health that it needs, you will find yourself in trouble with wrinkles. Don’t dry out your skin, either, though. Removing the debris from your pores is a must for healthy looking skin and fewer wrinkles.

Although there are no products that can guarantee that they will allow you to remove the wrinkles on your face and neck, there are many ways that you can improve the skin quality that you have. If you seek out a high quality product and practice good health standards, the end result is a better looking you.

Simple Ways For Reducing Wrinkles

Simple Ways For Reducing WrinklesReducing wrinkles is something that many of use look forward to doing. As the body ages, so does the skin. The sun, our diets and just our hereditary genes play a role in just how much we have to deal with this condition.

One thing is for sure. If you don’t want to look your age, wrinkles are something that should be on your mind. Engraved in the minds of all of us is that thought that if we have wrinkles, that it is a sign of being old. Yet, remember that wrinkles can happen at virtually any time during your life. That means, you may look older than you feel or actually are.

One of the most important things for you to do in order to tackle the well being of your skin is to be educated about it. Start by taking a look at what a wrinkle actually is. It is a ridge where the skin is no longer flat. Fine wrinkles just look like tiny lines but they are the first stages of much more drastic looking wrinkles. The folds of your skin, which is what wrinkles really are, can happen for a number of reasons. In theory, they are due to the skin becoming more elastic and the tissue underneath the skin becoming too loose or even removed partially.

Why did you have to get wrinkles? Most of the time, wrinkles are a part of everyone’s aging process. The skin becomes looser as a result of losing collagen underneath. When that happens, the skin will fold naturally with gravity. For some, the extreme amount of wrinkles that they have can be due to over exposure to the sun, to a lack of a nutritious diet and even to hereditary factors.

Is there something that you can do about these conditions? There are. In fact, there are many things that you can do. Start with giving yourself the nutrients that your body needs to keep your skin looking amazing. There are over the counter treatments for wrinkles, too. Some of these work, while others do not. You can resort to plastic surgery or to chemical injections to restore the missing collagen. There are a number of ways to improve the look of your face and skin.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Choosing The Best Skin Care Product

Choosing The Best Skin Care ProductThere is really nothing like a best skin care product. There really can’t be anything like ‘The best skin care product’, because skin care products work differently for different people based on the skin type to some extent. A product that is the ‘best skin care product’ for one person might end up being the worst for another person.

So, a more logical question to ask would be ‘What is the best skin care product for my type of skin?’ However, this still is not completely logical. We tend to segregate people into 4 groups based on their skin types i.e. dry skin, oily skin, normal skin and sensitive skin.

However, this classification is just too broad to be used definitively in determining the best skin care product. We can say ‘best skin care product for a dry skin’ or ‘best skin care product for an oily skin’ are better statements than just ‘best skin care product’. But really, that is what it is ‘better’; still not accurate.

So, it really comes to rephrasing the question to ‘What is the best skin care product for me’. Yes, this is exactly the question that you should be asking, and unfortunately there is no easy answer for this. Arriving at the best skin care product for self will need some effort on your part.

First of all, you need to understand how the skin care products work. This is simple. You can consider all skin care products to be composed of 2 types of ingredients Active and inactive. The active ingredients are the ones that actually work on your skin. The inactive ones just help in delivering these active ingredients to your skin. Both the ingredients need to work for your skin, in order for the product to be effective and move on to become the best skin care product for you.

Besides the ingredients, the way you apply your skin care products is equally important. In fact, this is even more important. If you do not know how to apply skin care products, you might forever be hunting for the best skin care product for yourself, when that has already passed you.

Moreover, it’s also important to decide on the frequency of application of the skin care product. The environmental factors - temperature, humidity and pollution level, also affect the selection of best skin care product. Here are a few rules that you could use to ensure that your best skin care product is really the best for you:

* Cleanse your skin before applying that best skin care product.

* Use a makeup remover instead of plain water and remove your makeup before going to bed.

* The effectiveness of active ingredients is reduced when applied over another product e.g. over moisturizer. So apply that best skin care product first and then apply a bit of moisturizer if needed.

* Apply the products on moist and warm skin.

* You will have to experiment with a few products before you arrive at the one that is the best skin care product for you.

* Do not exfoliate too much or too hard.

* Vary your skin care routine as per the seasons (winter/summer etc), changes in environmental factors and changes in your skin type

Note that the best skin care product cannot be determined overnight. It’s only through experiment and awareness that you can find the ‘Best skin care product’ for you.

The Secrets of Natural Skin Care

The Secrets of Natural Skin CarePut simply, ‘natural skin care’ is caring for your skin in a natural and chemical-free way. ‘Natural skin care’ advocates enabling the skin to take care of itself without any assistance from synthetic materials and chemicals. ‘Natural skin care’ is about inculcation of good habits in the way you lead your day to day life. A lot of natural skin care measures are actually the same as those for body care in general.

So let’s see what these natural skin care measures are.

Well the first and the foremost natural skin care measure is – ‘Drink a lot of water’. Around 8 glasses of water is a must everyday. Water helps in flushing out the toxins from the body, in a natural way. It helps in the overall upkeep of the body and promotes good health for all organs (not just skin).

General cleanliness is another inexpensive way of natural skin care. Daily shower, wearing clean clothes and sleeping on a clean mattress and pillow are all part of general cleanliness. After all, clean skin is the key to keeping the skin disorders at bay.

Regular exercise is the next thing on the cards. Exercise increases the flow of blood that helps in getting rid of body toxins and keeping you healthy. Exercise also helps in beating stress which is the worst enemy of good health.

Healthy food and eating habits are also recommended for natural skin care. Some type of food (e.g. oily food) is know to cause acne and should be avoided as much as possible. Your diet should be a healthy mix of various nutrient providing foods. Raw fruits and vegetables are known to provide freshness to your body and help in getting rid of body toxins.

A good sleep is also instrumental in maintaining good health and in beating stress. As a natural skin care measure, a good sleep delays slacking of skin.

Beating stress is another natural skin care therapy. Stress causes overall damage to body and health. Drinking a lot of water, getting a sound sleep and exercise has already been mentioned as stress busters. Indulging in a warm bubble bath, listening to music and playing your favorite sport are also good ways of beating stress. Yoga is yet another way of beating stress; it is fast gaining popularity amongst the masses.

Avoiding excessive exposure to sun by wearing long sleeved clothes, hat and umbrella etc, is another natural skin care strategy. Sunscreen lotions are also recommended as necessary.

A lot of traditional and home made natural skin care products and measures are also known to be very effective. Such measures are not only natural and easy-to-follow, but also relatively inexpensive.

Besides that, a lot of natural skin care products are available in the commercial market. These include things like lavender oil, aloe Vera etc., which don’t have any side effects.

Vitamin C An Elixir for Your Skin

Vitamin C An Elixir for Your SkinVitamin 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 of ‘Vitamin C skin care’ is related to its capability of countering free radicals which cause damage to the skin.

Vitamin C skin care, however, faces a major challenge today. This is related to the oxidation tendency of Vitamin C skin care products. On coming in contact with any oxidizing agent (e.g. air), the Vitamin C in the Vitamin C skin care products, gets oxidized; thus making the Vitamin C skin care product useless (in fact counter-effective).

The oxidized Vitamin C imparts a yellowish-brown color to the Vitamin C skin care product. This is something that you need to check before buying a Vitamin C skin care product. Even after you buy a Vitamin C 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 Vitamin C skin care products for a long term is to keep a high concentration (say 10%) of Vitamin C.

However, this makes the Vitamin C 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. 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 Vitamin C treatment and the Vitamin C 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.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Top 10 Skin Care Tips

Top 10 Skin Care TipsHealthy skin is really one of the most important ingredients for beauty enhancement. This article on skin care tips is an effort to bring the 10 best skin care tips to you. The list of skin care tips has been restricted to 10 because anything more that that would not only be difficult to remember, but also shadow the more important skin care tips. So let’s see what these top ten skin care tips are:

Knowing your skin type is one of the most important skin care tip. This is important because not every skin care product suits everyone. In fact, all the skin care products specify the type of skin they cater too.

‘Drink a lot of water’. This will not keep your skin moist but will help in overall upkeep of your health (and in turn your skin). It might seem a bit awkward to some, however, this is an important skin care tip.

Cleanse your skin regularly (1-2 times everyday). A very effective skin care tip that helps in getting rid of the dirt and other harsh elements from your skin. Cleansing is especially important when you have been out of your house (and hence exposed to pollutants, dust etc). This skin care tip also advocates the use of Luke warm water for cleansing (hot and cold water, both, cause damage to your skin)

Be gentle, after all it’s your skin. Don’t scrub/exfoliate too hard or too often. Similarly, don’t apply too much or too many skin care products.

A must-to-follow skin care tip.

Keep your skin moist at all times. This is one of the most important skin care tip. Don’t let your skin get dry. Dryness causes the outer layer of your skin to break, leading to a rough and unattractive appearance. Use moisturizers/ emollients. Moisturizers work best when applied while the skin is still damp.

Avoid the use of soap on your face. Soap should only be used from below the neck. A small but important skin care tip.

Use sunscreen to protect yourself from sun’s harmful UV radiations. You can use day-time moisturizers that have sunscreen built into them. Use them even when it’s cloudy. UV radiations are known to cause skin cancer, so follow this skin care tip without fail.

A bit of exercise and good sleep are essential too, not just for skin care but for your health as a whole. Lack of sleep can lead to formation of wrinkles below your eyes and lack of exercise can cause your skin to slack. Moreover, exercise and sleep also help in beating stress. So besides being a skin care tip, this is also a health care tip.

Treat skin dilemmas with care. This skin care tip is about not ignoring any skin dilemmas. Consult your dermatologist before you go on to use a skin care product (lest you do end up harming your skin even more).

Beat the stress. The harmful effects of stress are known to everyone, however, sometimes stating the obvious is essential too (and hence this skin care tip found its place here). Yes, stress harms skin too. So, take a break or indulge in a warm bubble bath or just get good sleep.

Tips For Make Up And Skin Care

Tips For Make Up And Skin CareMake up and skin care is generally regarded as women’s forte. Men seldom indulge in Make up and skin care. Many men do care for their skin but make up is really alien to most men. Treating make up and skin care as different topics wouldn’t make sense; after all, make up will work only if the skin is healthy. So how do you exercise make up and skin care, together? Here are some tips for make up and skin care:

Always have skin care on mind, whether you are buying products for make up or actually applying them onto your skin after you have bought them. So what you are buying is a ‘make up and skin care’ product, not just a make up product. Check the ingredients to see if it contains things that you might be allergic to. Also check if it contains high concentration chemicals that can harm your skin.

Make up and skin care is also about testing the products before using them. So, apply the make up on a small patch of skin e.g. earlobes and check how your skin reacts to it.

Keep track of expiry date on your make up products and never use them beyond the expiry date. In fact some products (e.g. vitamin C based products), if not stored properly, get spoilt much earlier than the expiry date.

Cleanliness is an important part of make up and skin care procedure. Sharpen your eye-liners regularly and keep all your makeup equipment clean at all times. You might fix a date, each month, for overhauling of your equipment. As part of cleanliness, your make up and skin care procedure should also include keeping your hair clean at all times.

Nail care is another important aspect of make up and skin care. Use a good quality nail polish and always keep your nails clean. Once you are done with cleaning and polishing your nails, you should rub in cuticle oil at the edges of the nail.

If you have deep-set eyes, you should use a liquid eye liner instead of a pencil one. This will prevent smudging at the deep edges of your eye-lid.

If you have a skin disorder e.g. acne, you should not apply heavy or chemical based make up. Consult your dermatologist if you are not sure about the make up products that you can use while you have acne or other skin disorder. Never try to squeeze pimples/ acne. Remember that make up and skin care should not conflict each other.

Use a mild make up remover (instead of just washing it away).

Another important make up and skin care procedure is the following golden rule: never sleep with your make up on

While applying a deodorant, make sure that you maintain the recommended distance between the nozzle and your skin (as mentioned on the deodorant pack).

So, make up and skin care should always go hand in hand. Do not try to treat make up and skin care differently.