Lifestyle Choices

Proper cleansing can be the most important part of your skincare routine! Not only is it absolutely necessary to get your face clean without irritating your skin (often a delicate balance), but you can also treat your skin by the way you wash and the soap or cleanser you use. Your bath or shower can be your best friend, your greatest indulgence and your most important key to excellent health and a great, young appearance.

Getting the product right!

Your skin is by nature slightly acidic (with a pH of about 5.5). Until recently, most soaps and cleansers were the opposite — slightly alkaline. The result was dry skin! With advances in cosmetic chemistry, no longer do you have to choose from only harsh, alkaline products. (more…)

BEGIN BY STAYING OUT OF THE SUN

To preserve your skin from premature aging, in addition to the constant use of a sunscreen on your face as part of your everyday skin care, you should understand the art of sunbathing—that is if you want to tan at all. Ideally, of course, you would be far better off pale.

As we’ve already said, the sun is your skin’s worst “ager.” It has been proved that exposure to ultraviolet light brings about permanent fundamental alterations in the genetic material of skin cells and encourages the process of cross-linking. These changes are cumulative and irreversible. Even when sun-exposed skin from an arm is grafted onto a protected area such as the abdomen and left there for years, it still remains older- looking and darker than the skin surrounding it. (more…)

The Products

Makeup products offer you two things: coverage, which to some extent will conceal minor flaws and blemishes in your skin, and most important, color. There are literally hundreds of different makeup products on the market. From the amount of advertising that accompanies the launch of each of them—the new wand-lipstick or foam cheek color or moisture- encapsulated powder—you would assume that to do a good job of making up her face a woman needs all of them. You don’t. In fact you need very few.

Neither do colors change a great deal from season to season, in spite of the fact that each cosmetic house brings out new autumn or spring collections. If you gather together a simple range of shades for eyes, cheeks, and lips that you know look good on you, there is no reason to replace half of them with each new season’s arrivals. Yes, there might be the new shade of fuchsia lipstick which you fancy or a new-formula foundation (foundations seem to get better and better each couple of years), but the quality of a makeup product is not dependent on its price, although the package—including the little compacts, mirrors, and applicators—is usually better the more you pay. (more…)

Knowing how to read nutrient labels will help you to make better food choices when shopping. Marketing slogans that call a product ‘healthy’ or ‘natural‘ can make a food sound a lot better than the ingredients would merit. When we are too busy we tend to believe what is written on the front of the package, rather than taking the time to read what is on the back. For example, popcorn is considered a great low-fat snack. However, if you buy the microwave or prepared versions, you will find they can be a lot higher in salt and fat than if you buy dried corn and pop it yourself. If advertising can be misleading, let’s have a look at what some of these terms really mean.

A. ‘Lite’ or ‘Light’

This can mean a number of things and not necessarily that the product is lower in kilojoules or fat. Lite potato crisps may be thinly sliced and lightly salted, but they may still contain a high fat content. Light olive oil has a lighter flavour, light beer has less alcohol content, light margarine has less fat, light cheese has less fat and salt. It is important you check the label for what it is that has been ‘lightened’. (more…)

The following is a list of ingredients that have come under question in the last few years. From being carcinogenic, DNA damaging, hormone disrupting or known irritants, many of these ingredients are under further investigation in various countries. It may be interesting to check your beauty and personal care products and see how many of them contain these ingredients:

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (or Laureth)

This has its origins in natural sources. It is produced by the sulphation of commonly available lauryl alcohol, which comes from coconut oil. You will often see on the label ‘coconut derived’, and this can be a bit misleading as it sounds very natural, when in fact it goes through a lot of chemical processes to become the final product. Sodium Lauryl Sulphate may damage the outer layers of the skin, causing dermatitis, dryness and blackheads. It may also enhance the absorption of other chemicals. It should only be used in cosmetics that are quickly rinsed off the skin. It is widely used in shampoos, bubble baths, face and body cleansers, toothpaste and most household detergents. The US National Toxicology Program (NTP) classifies it as a skin and eye irritant. In fact, when dermatologists want to test the calming effect of an ingredient, they use Sodium Lauryl Sulphate as the irritant! (more…)

Many companies use the word ‘natural‘ very broadly, often inaccurately. Often a product is marketed as natural, even though there are only one or two natural ingredients in it. Words like ‘pure plant extracts’ can also be misleading.

Lip tip: Ingredients in cosmetics are listed according to the concentration in the product. So if you are unsure what is in a skincare product, check out the label on the back, or on the box it came in. This will list the main ingredient first and follow in order of most to least. If the product claims to have ‘natural ingredients‘ in it, check out where they come on the list. (more…)