Thursday, March 19, 2009


Experience Skin Care Daily

From Garden to Skin

If one could pick the flowers out of their garden and harvest them for a cleanser or masque, you would be practicing an “ancient tradition.” Plants have so many uses for example the power to heal. Increasingly women are becoming more aware of herbal skin care.
Look around your kitchen the ingredients for a masque are right before your very eyes. Generally used for sun burn Aloe has wonderful benefits when combined with other ingredients. Not to mention that yoghurt taste delicious, it also can be used externally for sensitive skin. Cucumbers blended with yoghurt and aloe makes a great masque for soothing and calming, redness and irritated skin.
Our skin is designed to protect and renew. Just like the moon, your skin has a cycle of elimination and regeneration. One way to maintain beautiful skin is to cleanse twice daily. Those dancing feet may be tired but your skin will tell you all about it later if you forget to wash your face before bedtime. If you leave anything on your skin at night you are not getting true beauty sleep. Moisturizing heavily or too often may create dependant skin and result in dry skin. The fact is that while you sleep the skin is busy adjusting to its atmosphere and trying to remain healthy. By cleansing the skin you are removing not only what is on your face but eliminating the free radicals. These are commonly known as environmental factors such as pollution, smoke and herbicides.

Ritual for the skin

Set aside an hour every evening. Start with a large bowl of steaming water and sprinkle a fragrant flower in the bowl such as Lavender adding green tea has antioxidant effects. Along with its gentle easing effect it also reduces the appearance of redness. Use a soft hand towel and soak in your warm water, wring out the excess and apply to the face for one minute. This practice helps open pores, awaking your skin to remove impurities. Cleaners these days are loaded with foam and bubbles; although fun they may contain harmful materials that irritate the skin. Cleansing with a Lemon infused milk or cream is a healthy approach. The Milk is skin friendly with lemon, a natural antiseptic, it strengthens skin’s elasticity. Lather this on with a light massage being gentle around the eyes where the skin is the thinnest. A second cleanse with the addition of sugar to your cream will exfoliate lightly and soften rough skin. Not just for ladies, this goes for you guys also. Remove with a light press and roll of the hand cloth. You just exfoliated so you will not need the extra wiping of the skin. Tone the skin lightly with witch hazel. This balances the ph level of the skin. Have your masque premixed for easier application. This is the fun part. If you do not have one of those fan brushes from your local art supply store you can use your hands to apply the masque. Place your cucumber slices over your eyes. Sit back and unwind for ten minutes. If the cat has not licked off the masque by now you can delicately remove it with your hand cloth. Breathe. Now, lightly press your dry towel to remove excess water. If your skin is just too tight for comfort after a few minutes then apply a light pea size amount of moisturizer to the dry areas and get some true beauty sleep.

List of ritual items
1 Large Bowl
1 hand cloth
1 dry towel
1 small bowl for masque
2 cucumber slices
1 cleanser
1 toner
1 masque
1 moisturizer

Choosing wisely

There are environmental work groups out there that can assist you in choosing your product for skin care. When I was in school for esthetics, I did research on ingredients and broke them down to find out what was in my cabinet. Holy Shitake, cow girl! What was I thinkin’? The stuff in my cabinet was now an alien to me. How could I possibly put that on my skin knowing that it was that harmful?
I found a Holistic Skin Care line that I could use and responsibly offer to my clients. If you want someone else to do it for you, call your local spa and schedule a facial. Just do your research first and don’t be afraid to ask questions. For example, do you carry an organic, holistic or natural product line? Harmony and balance is just a facial away.

1 comment:

  1. Excellent points. I'll certainly be looking at my skin 'care' line a little differently now.

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