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Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Natural Acne Treatments For A Healthier Skin: Part 1


by: Gregory De Villiers

Natural Acne Treatment

Acne sufferers have most probably studied, heard and read of many miraculous cures, which supposedly can cure your acne overnight. It's a medical fact that acne cannot be cured. Acne is a skin disorder that a person must grow out of. Don’t spend your time and money on overnight remedies. Instead, take a minute and understand your own skin disorder so you can discover the right treatment for it.

It is important to understand from the outset that each person is different and therefore a remedy that works wonders for some people may fail completely on others. You have to decide whether you want to try conventional medical acne treatments or natural acne remedies. Chemical formulations and pharmaceutical products can trigger allergic, toxic and other adverse reactions. Natural acne treatments tend to be more gentle on the body, but results can be slower.

Natural Acne Treatment Guide

Nature's way to treat acne includes changing your diet, improving bowel function, cleansing the internal body organs using herbal products and avoiding certain foods. For more information on treating acne, visit http://www.treatingacne-inc.com


Changing Your Diet

You need to stop eating foods that poison your insides. Two important elements to eliminate from your daily meals are sugar and fats. Refined sugar should be stopped altogether from entering your system. This means eliminating sugary drinks such as sodas and certain fruit juices, sweets, candy and other sugary treats. Sugar is however required as a quick source of energy for the body. There are suitable substitutes in the form of nutritional supplements, some examples being 'Superfoods' or 'Green Drinks'. These supplements increase the body's antioxidant levels which also helps as a natural remedy for acne.

Among fats, hydrogenated oils should be cut completely out your diet. This means avoiding cookies, cakes, desserts, snack crackers and all other sources of bad fats. The best foodstuffs to replace these fats are the natural oils such as olive oil, cod liver oil, and coconut oil as well as nuts and seeds.

Food Combinations

Eating the right combination of food items is an integral part of a natural acne treatment regimen. Nutritionists suggest that you eat fruit by itself without mixing them with other food types, and particularly not following a heavy meal. Vegetables should be cooked or eaten either with oil or meat, but not combined with both in one go. Salad is perfectly acceptable to be combined with all different kinds of vegetables. Finally, starches (bread, pasta, potatoes etc.) should not be eaten together with meats.

Other Harmful Food Substances

As part of the natural acne remedy, you must stop taking harmful ingredients for example Monosodium glutamate or MSG (found in Chinese foods, processed meats and tenderizers) and the neurotoxin Aspartame (used as an artificial sweetener in diet drinks).

Internal Body Cleansing

The chief focus of natural acne treatment is internal body cleansing. This functions differently for different body organs such as kidneys and liver. Again, select a herbal formula for cleansing each of these organs.

Bowel Movement

While the majority of people have their bowels emptied once every 24 hours, natural bowel movement should be more often. In addition, a a bowel emptying should take place in 30 seconds. If it takes more than that, the digestion is slow, mainly because of the presence of difficult-to-digest foodstuffs. The poisonous waste is therefore staying dormant in the intestines for some time and this ultimately results in acne. The best method to make your bowels work easily is to cease eating processed foods and red meat, or reduce their intake. Alternatively, use any of the effective herbal formulations available in the market. '4 Total Cleanse' is one such recognized herbal formula for acne that works by improving bowel function.

Parasite Cleansing

The next stage in the natural acne treatment is cleansing your gut of parasites that can precipitate infections and result in acne. Herbal treatments are available for parasite cleansing and you can use them in combination with herbal formulations for bowel movements.

Natural acne remedies work gradually and sometimes relatively slowly thus, do not expect a miraculous recovery no matter what type of natural acne treatment you are trying out. Follow the treatment as indicated and don’t pause midway because you see some signs of improvement. At times you may need to use the treatment even after your acne has totally improved.Don’t be taken in by myths and cure remedies that have not first been approved by your medical doctor as you may further irritate your skin disorder and cause even more damage than repair.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Non Surgical Face Lifts : Is There an Effective Alternative?

by: Danna Schneider

Face lifts are one of the most serious surgeries you can have when it comes to cosmetic surgery. Not only are they costly, but they involve a long healing process, and the results can be very unnatural looking and "plastic".

It is certainly not anyone's wish to come out looking like they've had their face pulled back, but rather that they have turned the clock back ten years, gracefully. Unfortunately, the "good" facelifts are few and far between. Are there really any effective alernatives, a "non surgical facelift", if you will?

Well, thanks to the ever-growing market for this type of beauty and youth restoration, there are actually some less drastic measures you can take that will literally take years off you face, without surgery, or with minimally invasive surgery performed by a professional. Let's take a look at the non surgical alternatives to facelifts. The first, and increasingly popular and less invasive option is what you call a "mini facelift".

The mini facelift involves small incisions made in key areas around the lower part of the jawline, rather than a complete sweep of the skin surrounding the face, and pinpointed areas where the face can be gently pulled to look more taught and erase wrinkles.


The mini facelift gives you a younger looking face and neck, with less cost, less recovery time, and a more natural outcome that leaves the lower part of your face refreshed and rejuvenated looking. It also pulls any jowl-like appearance and loose skin around the neck back up to where it should be.

Another non surgical alternative to a full-on facelift is a subdermally injected filling of the problem areas which usually goes away after a few months, and needs to be re-done after it is absorbed into the body. This method of facial rejuvenation can actually tighten the skin, pull it back up, and make it looked toned and youthful again, while erasing fine lines and wrinkles by physically filling them in.

Facial rejuvenation can be a combination of fillers used to fill in wrinkles and lines. The different fillers that may be used are injected locally to the areas that need it, and include colllagen, restylane, hyaluronic acid and even fat injections that are either human derived or come right from you.

There are also 100% non invasive options that can be used by a professional to help smooth away the lines that have come with age. One of those, which requires quite a bit of healing time and also some pain is laser resurfacing.

A laser is used over the surface area of the facial skin, and it actually helps to take away layers of skin as well as to help rejuvenate collagen production. It is pretty expensive and your skin will be extremely red and raw for weeks if not months after this is performed. The results, however are fairly extraordinary.

A less painful alternative to full-on laser resurfacing is the Fraxel Laser, which actually does the same thing as a normal laser does, but it doesn't penetrate all of the skin's layers, rather it allows the user to penetrate and treat only the specific areas that need it.

This makes for less raw skin and quicker recovery. This is not cheap either though, it will run you anywhere from $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 per treatment, and at least five treatments are needed to see a dramatic improvement. I've seen the before and afters though, and they are nothing short of impressive.

Chemical peels are another option for facial rejuvenation, and they can vary in strength and severity as well. A chemical peel is performed by a professional, and they can make the chemicals either strong or weak, depending on the depth of skin damage they would like to remove.

This is primarily used for clients with a lot of photodamage, or discoloration, and it is especially known for restoring a healthful glow to the skin as well as an even color and texture, which often comes with youthful skin. The recovery time depends on how deep the peel goes.

Of course another non surgical alternative to a face lift is Botox, but I look at Botox as more of a local and preventive measure against further wrinkles, not really a "lift" since what it does is freeze the area it's injected to, it doesn't actually lift or pull the skin back to its rightful place.

Botox is probably a good option for some, but I tend to dislike the appearance it gives to some people, as it doesn't allow them to fully express themselves, and that is what makes our faces beautiful, the fact that we can use expressions to show our emotions.

As far as "do it yourself" alternatives to facelifts, there are some pretty decent products out there on the market that you can use on a daily basis to help keep the skin fresh and also to help keep it lifted, toned and youthful looking. There are now hand held soft light lasers available for purchase online.

They emulate the soft light lasers that are often used in dermatologists offices to help stimulate collagen and rejuvenate the skin, helping to soften wrinkles and even acne scarring. I bought one of these myself and had some very good results, but I just couldn't keep up with the nightly use, and so I must admit I let the results go away.

There are also some excellent home microdermabrasion kits that can be purchased for home use. They allow you to gently take dead skin cells and damaged layers of skin off, and often leave you with a glow and a softer, more youthful look. Another home kit that can be purchased are light acid peels for the face.

These are probably not nearly the strength of a chemical peel you would receive under professional care, but they can certainly offer a benefit that you can use any time you feel your face needs a nice little extra "lift".

And there you have it, what I think are the most effective alternatives to the drastic face lift. They range in cost considerably, as well as the recovery time and healing process, but they all can have some astounding results in your campaign against aging skin.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Foods for Healthy Skin: What Vitamins and Minerals are Good for Your Skin?



We should start our skin care at the very base of our life. And that is food.
When it comes to our skin, what we eat is very important. Skin is the biggest organ, and it deserves all the nutrition we can give it.

One the most critical elements of skin health is vitamin A, and one of the best sources of this vitamin is low-fat dairy products. As a matter of fact, the health of our skin depends on vitamin A. Low-fat yogurt is high in vitamin A. Other excellent sources of vitamin A include cod liver oil, carrots, leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes and fortified breakfast cereals.

You also need to eat foods rich in antioxidants, such as blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and plums. The benefits of these fruits for healthy skin are considerable. The antioxidants found in these fruits can protect the skin cells. As a result, there is less chance for damage.

This in turn protects against early aging and skin looks younger. Other fruits and vegetables that are rich in antioxidants include artichokes, black, red, and pinto beans, pecans and prunes.

Essential fatty acids are vital to your skin. You should include salmon, walnuts, canola oil, and flax seed. Essential fatty acids keep cell membranes healthy, and allow nutrients to pass through.

We also need healthy oils. Eating good-quality oils helps keep skin lubricated and keeps it healthier overall. Try to find oils that are cold pressed, such as olive or extra virgin oil. Our bodies only need approximately 2 tablespoons a day of healthy oils.

Selenium plays a crucial role in the health of skin cells. Eat foods like whole-wheat bread, cereals, muffins, turkey, tuna and brazil nuts. Latest studies discovered that if selenium levels are high, even skin damaged by the sun will only suffer negligible harm.

Processed and refined sugars can instigate inflammation that may eventually lead to skin break outs. Green tea has anti-inflammatory properties, and it protects the membrane of the cell. Green tea also plays an important role in the prevention of skin cancer.

Water has an enormous effect on the health of your skin. Healthy and young-looking skin is also a well-hydrated skin.


Friday, May 11, 2007

Welcome to the MySoftSkin blog!

Hi and Welcome to the Mysoftskin blog!

We're going to be concentrating on your skin! Being able to look and feel god in today's crazy world seems to be so hard. But it isn't. Spending just a few minutes caring for yourself everyday should be enough, even for the most demanding treatment.

Today we will start with the history and philosophy of skin care:

Natural skin care has its roots in the 4th millennium BC in Egypt and the Middle East. It is believed that the Egyptians developed many natural skin care treatments for a variety of skin conditions. One such treatment consists of bullock's bile, whipped ostrich eggs, olive oil, dough and resin mixed with milk. In the modern age many people with unique skin types and needs (sensitive skin, dry skin, oily skin) have turned to natural skin care solutions.

Some examples of natural skin care ingredients include jojoba, safflower oil, rose hip oil, shea butter, beeswax, witch hazel, aloe vera, tea tree oil, and chamomile. Many of these natural ingredient combinations can be tailored specific to the individual's skin type or skin condition.

Natural skin care goes beyond the application of products on one's skin. It also pertains to a holistic philosophy surrounding the holistic care of one's body. This includes the belief that what is ingested will affects all aspects of health, including the health of skin. People who use natural skin care products are less concerned with artificial beauty enhancements, as they feel that natural beauty is healthy beauty.