Natural Anti Aging Skin Care

To reduce your risk, don’t use permanent, dark colored hair dyes, which have more of the offending chemicals. Instead, consider trying other options, such as henna, semi-permanent dyes, highlights, and herb-based rinses. Some salons, like Aveda, offer dyes that have lower concentrations of certain chemicals like peroxide and ammonia. I also suggest you try foiling, as less of the dye touches your scalp. Or, visit Long Locks for some fun and interesting natural skin care recipes and hair care recipes. 

Step 3 for Wrinkle Free Skin Around the Lips--Hydrate and moisturize.
Dehydrated skin causes deep, abundant creases, while plump, moist skin resists folding and keeps its shape. In conventional dermatology, lip line “ditches” are filled with painful injections of fillers, such as Botox. But there are luxurious, top-quality moisturizers that re-plump affected skin. The result is a smoother, fuller look than the somewhat fake appearance produced by injections.

One of my favorite products that creates excellent results is Trilane, which nourishes with premium squalane from olives, plus jojoba esters, both of which are virtually identical to a woman’s own skin oils and do what most moisturizers do not: They penetrate.

While I like to believe that lip lines (or wrinkles around the lips) are a distinctive part of a woman’s beauty, I certainly understand that it can be upsetting to see those fine lines around your lips. If your lip lines are bothering you, I encourage you to try what complementary dermatologists call combination therapy, which is based on two facts: 1) A woman’s skin rebuilds itself constantly, and 2) The aging of a woman’s face results from a multitude of factors, each requiring a different therapeutic approach. By combining gentle therapies that target the different processes that cause lip lines, you can significantly reduce those lines without side effects, exorbitant cost, or the need to hide for weeks while you heal from painful cosmetic procedures. Better yet, the effects are cumulative over time. 

Step 1 for Wrinkle Free Skin Around the Lips: Relax Your Lips
Skin, like bone, reshapes itself according to the forces that it is chronically exposed to. The predominant force that shapes your lips is the orbicularis oris muscle, which forms a pursestring-like ring around your mouth. Contracting this muscle causes your lips to “purse” and pulls the surrounding skin into radiating folds. With repetition, the folding creates creases in the skin’s deeper layers. This causes new layers of skin to accommodate and deepen that crease. Sucking on a cigarette, drinking straw, or similar object encourages this process. In conventional dermatology, Botox injections paralyze the culprit muscle fibers, but the same result can be had by simply not smoking or using drinking straws, and by not engaging in similar actions that contract the orbicularis oris muscle.

Excess facial hair, called postmenopausal facial hirsutism, is a fairly common effect of menopause--especially in those who have decided to not use conventional hormone replacement therapy. Understandably, this condition can be extremely upsetting.

The following strategies are free of side effects and address the underlying problem so that the growth of facial hair actually stops. Because hair grows in cycles, these treatments require about two to three months of use before you see results. In the interim, you can remove the worst of the hair by plucking or sugaring. Like waxing, sugaring removes hair at the root, but it doesn’t damage the surrounding skin. And it’s painless! I recommend using the wonderful sugaring product from MOOM to remove unwanted hair while you treat the underlying problem.

First, if you’re in your perimenopausal or menopausal years, female hormone balance is key to reducing unwanted facial hair. Refer to my recommendations throughout this blog for achieving female hormone balance.

In addition, there are natural botanicals that, when used topically on the face, are known to inhibit 5-alpha reductase—the enzyme that activates testosterone in facial follicles, causing facial hair.
• Green tea extract (epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG) inhibits 5-alpha reductase and also has been shown to reduce skin inflammation. 
• NDGA (nordihydroguaiaretic acid), an extract of chaparral, blocks receptor sites for 5-alpha reductase and also inhibits the skin’s pro-inflammatory cascade.
• Zinc, azelaic acid, and vitamin B6: Even at low doses, zinc and azelaic acid (from the yeast Pityrosporum ovale) are potent 5-alpha reductase inhibitors because they work synergistically. Vitamin B6 enhances their activity and their ability to penetrate the skin. In a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, when very low doses of these agents were applied together, their combined activity blocked 5-alpha reductase by an amazing 90 percent. 

You can find most of these nutrients sold separately at health food stores or vitamin shops. Or you can use a product called Reductase-5, which contains these botanicals.

• Protect against ultraviolet radiation and avoid the sun-induced skin inflammation that triggers hyperpigmentation in the first place. No skin lightener will work if sun-induced inflammation isn’t avoided. Use a top-quality sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB and has a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or more. Also make sure it does not contain any inflammatory ingredients such as PABA.
• Cleanse gently and always moisturize. For the treatment of age spots, try using a mild facial cleanser once a week unless your face needs a thorough washing—for instance, if you have a lot of makeup on. On the other days, cleanse twice a day with oil instead of soap. Using about 1/4 teaspoon of a high quality, perfume-free oil such as organic jojoba, olive, grapeseed, or macadamia oil, gently massage your face. Then, wet a clean washcloth with warm (not hot) water, and remove the oil by scrubbing gently in a downward direction to clean and close your skin’s pores. Follow by massaging in about 1/4 as much of the same oil, preferably while your face is still damp. If your skin feels too oily afterward, gently dab away the excess with a clean cloth.
• Twice a week, exfoliate with 10 percent glycolic acid. For most women, 10 percent is gentle enough even for everyday use without causing inflammation. I recommend Mango Madness SkinCare’s Exfoliate Me Glycolic Acid Cleanser.

• Combat free radical damage that can lead to age spots by eating a diet high in the antioxidants that scavenge free radicals, especially foods rich in beta-carotene, such as kale, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, mangoes, cantaloupe, apricots, carrots, and cabbage.
• Stop smoking. It hastens the aging of your skin and contributes to free-radical damage throughout your body.
• Use sunscreen, at least SPF 15, whenever you go outside.

• Limit your exposure to toxic emotions in the environment. Several years ago, I made the decision to significantly limit my consumption of the news. The media—whether it’s television, radio, or newspaper—specializes in presenting the news with violent, fearful, and scary images and stories that contain very little that is inspiring and uplifting.
• Limit your exposure to toxic people. We all have them in our lives. Those family members, friends, or co-workers who constantly complain, gossip, and point out the worst in people, places, things.  Too much of this toxic input can literally overwhelm your body’s ability to process and detoxify all the negativity, and can, in turn, significantly undermine your health, energy, and well-being.
• Spend more time appreciating yourself. Women are notoriously hard on themselves. We are constantly criticizing ourselves for not being good enough, smart enough, beautiful enough, or thin enough. My women friends are always jokingly offering to give each other transplants of their most disliked body parts—usually the breasts, behinds, and stomachs—when they feel too large. Send positive messages to your body that reinforce your sense of self worth and self love.

watch your waistline

• Just $2 provides enough seeds to plant full garden.
• A mere $5 helps a family of seven grow enough fruits and vegetables to last for a full year.
• Donate $30 and you will be responsible for 100 schoolchildren getting the seeds they need to start gardens of their own at home.

• For $10, you can purchase a bag of oyster shells to help replenish oyster stocks along the Alabama coastline.
• For $50, you can donate a plot of marsh grass to help promote the regrowth of plant and animal life along the shoreline.
• For $100, you can help establish 10 square miles of new oyster reefs in Mobile Bay.

Best Natural Skin Care for Dry Hands--Step 5

The final step in keeping your hands soft and supple during the harsh winter months is to supplement with essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs are known to create moister, softer, suppler skin and tissues.

To ensure that you are getting enough EFAs in your diet, eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like flaxseed oil (1–2 tablespoons per day), ground flaxseed (4–6 tablespoons per day), raw pumpkin seeds (2–3 ounces per serving) and cold-water fish, such as salmon, trout, mackerel, or halibut (3 times a week). Also be sure to include monounsaturated oils, like olive oil, avocado oil, or macadamia nut oil, in your diet. Use these oils in your salad dressing recipes and when cooking overall to help you moisturize your skin.

Finally, take at least 1,000 mg of fish oil per day.