Maintaining a beautiful skin

Heard of the following saying?

"Beauty is only skin deep"

True, true but we, human, likes and loves beautiful thing. After all, we are what we see. The visual sight of ourselves is the first impression that we present to others. So, even though beauty is only skin deep, a lot of people think otherwise.

The most basic step in maintaining one's beauty is taking care of one's skin condition. Skin, being the largest organ in us, do need care and maintenance. As we age, it loses its elasticity and it shows through the wrinkles that surface in our faces and bodies.

These are the natural ways to maintain a beautiful skin and face picked from Mark's Traynor Beauty Book.

Honey is a natural moisturizer which is very effective in preserving a beautiful and healthy skin. Take some liquid honey and rub it on the face and body. Leave it for 15 minutes and then rinse the skin area with water until they are free from honey.

For those with oily skin, add one or two teaspoon of orange juice to the liquid honey before applying to the body and face.

A radiant, fresh and soft skin is ours for the taking if we make this honey method a regular routine.

Milk, if added to the water we bath, will soften the skin of our bodies. Add a cup of liquid milk or milk powder to the bath tub, and then soak ourselves in it. After some time, rinse off the milk and water mixture with clean water.

Orange juice can be used to maintain the natural acidity balance in our bodies. It is very suitable for those who have an oily skin complexion. Rinse with orange juice after using the face wash that one used will preserve one's freshness and cleanliness as it is very effective in removing any facial dirt and oil residue.

Do you know that corn grain does has its place in maintaining one's skin beauty? Corn grain mixed with water acts as a very good face wash as it effectively removes any dead skin cells and thereafter makes the skin absorbs moisturizer easily.

Slices of cucumber found its place in the area around the eyes. Left for around 10 minutes in the eye area, it will freshen up our eyelids and reduce the swollen eyes we have when we don't have enough sleep.

Egg is particularly suitable to moisturize dry skin. Apply a mixture of egg yolk with a little bit of honey to the face, leave it for 20 minutes and then rinse off with clean tap water.

For those who oily skin, take the egg white and apply it to the oily skin in the face and leave it for 10 minutes. Then wash off the egg white from the face. This will maintain the balance of the skin acidity and reduce the size of the pores on the face.

Yes, even clay can be used to preserve our natural skin beauty and health. Kaolin, a form of clay, which can be bought in pharmacies and beauty centers, is used to soften one's skin. Add kaolin with water to form a skin pastry. Then apply it to the face and it will gradually harden and form a face mask. If one skin is oily, add a teaspoon of orange juice to the kaolin paste. For those with dry skin, add milk to the kaolin paste before applying to the face area.
  
            

 

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Treat Acne With Tea Tree Oil

The antimicrobial activity of tea tree oil is what makes tea tree oil effective in treating acne. Its two important chemical constituents, Terpinen-4-ol and Cineole are responsible for killing bacteria and germs. As Cineole is also a powerful irritant aside from its strong anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, we would prefer to go for tea tree oil with low Cineole content to minimize skin irritation when applied topically to our skin.

As tea tree oil is an essential oil derived from steam distillation of the Australia's Melaleuca Alternafolia tree leaves, it is much safer from benzoyl peroxide which is often the standard ingredient used in treating acne. Even though tea tree oil might cause some skin irritation to acne sufferers especially those with sensitive skin, its degree and number of side effects are much more lower than benzoyl peroxide which will often itching, dryness, burning and stinging to its users.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that some acne sufferers are using tea tree oil as a supplement to benzoyl peroxide as their acne treatment as its antibacterial property will kill the acne causing bacteria; Propionibacterium acnes and its less harsher side effects.

As with most aromatherapy oils, tea tree oil completely penetrates your skin without leaving any residue on its surface. With such a strong penetration power, tea tree oil is able to reach and kill the acne bacteria that resides in the pilosebaceous units. With regular application, acne bacteria are killed and reduced and over times, new acne lesions are prevented and even the appearance of acne scars are minimized. The best part is tea tree oil still remain active in the fatty cells even after 3 to 4 weeks of application.

If you experience immense skin irritation with tea tree oil, then dilute its concentration with jojoba oil or pure aloe vera gel. When you start your acne treatment with tea tree oil, you should apply to your acne spots only and leave them overnight. To your surprise, those acne blemishes have become less inflamed in the next morning.

Aside from its usage in treating acne, tea tree oil is also effective in treating Athlete's Foot, Bronchitis, dandruff, Whooping Cough, and even Ringworm.

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Does Vitamin B5 work for acne?

There are lots of home remedies around which can be used to treat acne. One of them involves using large dosage of vitamin B5 which is also known as pantothenic acid to treat acne.

But does vitamin B5 really work in treating acne? According to a study conducted by Dr. Lit-Hung, not only high doses of Vitamin B5 (10 to 20 g ) was effective in treating acne but it also decreased pore size. I guess you already knew that one of the factors that causes acne is the overactive sebaceous glands that excrete an abnormally high amount of sebum/oil and when the P. acnes bacteria feed on it, acne lesions are developed. As most acne sufferers have a low level of fats metabolism, these fats are deposited in our sebaceous glands. As it takes Coenzyme-A to break down these fats, consuming mega doses of Vitamin B5 will provide our bodies with lots of Coenzyme-A.

Now, before you decide to take such a high doses of Vitamin B5 immediately, I would advise you to increase the intake of B5 gradually as your body need some times to adapt to such a high doses of B5 intake.

For the first 3 days, take 5 grams of B5 every day. And do remember to spread out your daily intake; say 3 to 4 times a day so that the level of B5 in your body can be more stable. Some people resort to time released B5 supplements but they are usually more difficult to procure. Then go for a B5 10 gram daily intake for 3 months. A tip that I like to share with you is to take B5 15 minutes before or during meals as doing so will minimize stomach or diarrhea problems.

How fast acne disappear from one's skin will vary from individual to individual. Some people reported that they have a clearer skin after a week while for others, they need a month for it to be effective. For me, it took around 2 weeks to have some noticeable improvements in many acne condition. For acne sufferers with severe acne condition, it might take 2 months for their acne to start diminishing and a total of 6 months for a flawless complexion. I know this news would be a BIG deterrent for many people but if you have tried almost everything under the sun to clear your acne, what do you have to lose in seeking this solution to your stubborn acne condition?

The key here is to be consistent in your intake of B5 and that means you must take the mega doses of B5 everyday in the 3 months period or until your skin is clear of pimples. Don't be alarmed if you notice that you have more pimples or zits after starting your acne B5 treatment as it only shows that vitamin B5 is working in pushing your existing pimples to the surface of your skin.

I also noticed that after a few days of taking B5, my skin became less oily. I guess B5 was lowering the amount of sebum that was produced in my skin follicles units and making my skin drier.

As taking mega doses of Vitamin B5 will cause deficiencies in other classes of vitamin B, I would advise you to take a supplement of vitamin B-complex (B50 or B100 complex would do). If possible, aim for a B complex which contain a low level of B6 or pyridoxine (less than 50 mg) as there were some study out there B6 increases acne breakout if taken alone.

You might experience chapped lips, stomach irritation, diarrhea or hair thinning during the course of your acne B5 treatment. For minimizing hair thinning problem, take more biotin ( a certain class of B complex vitamin). You can use the following guideline : 1 mg bitoin for every 2.5 g of B5 that you take.

Even though it is next to impossible to have an overdose of B5 as it is water soluble, somehow I would not recommend women who are breastfeeding or pregnant to take it as there is not much studies on its safety on such cases. Since B5 is water soluble, it is wist to drink plenty of water during your acne B5 treatment to lessen the above mentioned side effects.

Lastly, did I say that you can also apply B5 to your acne prone skin? Using B5 topically to complement its oral intake will make you having a higher success in treating acne with B5.

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A Look At Toothpaste in Treating Acne

You must have heard many contradicting views on using toothpaste in treating acne. Some people reported that toothpaste performs miracle for their acne while others swear that they would never ever try this acne home remedy again for treating acne as it only produces more irritation and burning to their face.

Why is it some of us are having great success in treating acne while for others, toothpaste do more damage to their skin? To have a better understanding, let's take a look at a toothpaste typical ingredients.

In most toothpaste, you will find fluoride or a variation of it such as Sodium Monoflurorophosphate or Sodium Fluoride. Fluoride is the ingredient that is used to prevent tooth cavities. If you ever suffer burning or irritation when using toothpaste to treat your acne, it is due to fluoride and it might also cause skin allergies for some of acne sufferers who have sensitive skin. However for acne sufferers who have less sensitive skin, they might find that it works for their acne as fluoride dries up the pimple contents and that's why people say that it works for their pimples.
Sorbitol, hydrated silica, titanium dioxide and Polyethylene Glycol which are found in toothpaste do appear in some dermabrasive products used to treat acne but their minute presence in toothpaste are too insignificant to render their effectiveness in clearing acne.

Glancing further at the toothpaste contents, you will note that the presence of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. This ingredient is also present in many toiletries products such as your shampoo, body wash, facial wash etc. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is the ingredient that produces bubbles in most of the toiletries products and you can bet that these foamy bubbles won't do anything to improve your acne condition.

To minimize tartar deposits on the tooth, Sodium Pyrophosphate is added to toothpaste to remove calcium and magnesium from the saliva. In the skin, calcium promotes skin cell growth and causes more hair follicles to grow.

When Sodium Pyrophosphate is applied to the skin, calcium reduction lowers skin cell growth which leads to less activities in the hair follicles. Bear in mind that one of the factors that leads to acne formation is the abnormal shedding of skin cells in the follicle unit and by having less cell growth activities, you will get less pimples on your face.

Now that you know more about toothpaste in treating acne, would you still like to use it to treat your zits? If you decide to proceed, make sure you only apply toothpaste to your acne spots (spot treatment) and don't leave it overnight. In fact, you should only leave it for 10 to 15 minutes. Never ever apply toothpaste to your pimples which has been popped as you will experience extreme stinging and burning sensation.

If you feel that toothpaste makes your skin too dry, apply a mixture prepared from three teaspoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder. This mixture will make your skin feel soft and less drying. On a final note, treating acne with toothpaste will make your skin ages faster due to its drying effect.

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Treating Acne with Yogurt.

Treating acne with yogurt is one of the home remedies that you should try as yogurt is found to be effective in treating acne and has no side effects at all. Not only it is easy to use yogurt to treat your acne but yogurt is also easily available and is practically affordable to any acne sufferers.

Some of us might have the opinion that yogurt might make our acne worse as yogurt is produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. Something which is full of bacteria couldn't be good for our skin, could it? Well, don't think that all bacteria are bad for our skin as there are good bacteria which are beneficial not only for our skin but also health. And the bacteria contained in yogurt is good bacteria as the harmful bacteria in it has been killed by the acidity level in the yogurt (pH 4 to 6).


One of factors that causes acne is the proliferation of P. acnes bacteria in the pilosebaceous unit which causes infection, inflammation and finally leads to acne lesions. The population of P. acnes in the pilosebaceous unit which is made up of hair follicle, hair shaft, sebaceous gland and erector pili muscle is wiped out by yogurt acidic nature.

Aside from its antibiotic nature, yogurt also strengthens our immune system as it is rich in vitamin B and zinc. Having a stronger and healthier immune system will keep acne at bay. Have you ever noticed that you have more acne break outs when you are stressful ( for example, during the time when you are facing an exam or rushing to complete a project deadline)? It is during this period that you are experiencing high level of stress.

Many people have an upset stomach after consuming milk. It is the sugar (lactose) in milk that makes our stomaches unable to tolerate its effect. Instead of lactose, yogurt contains lactic acid which does not pose the same problem as milk to our skin and therefore a healthy digestive system will clear our acne.

Even though you can opt to consume or use yogurt topically to reduce acne, it is better to take it orally. Aside from its tasty feel, the healthy bacteria together with the minerals and vitamins will be absorbed into your body through the blood stream and not only will you begin to notice less and less acne lesions on your skin but also enjoy a healthier life.

As a topical use to treat acne, people usually go for a face mask made out of yogurt to soften and smoothen the skin, dig up impurities and heal blemishes. Here's how to make a face mask out of yogurt.

Mix a teaspoon of comfrey leaves fine powders(which you can prepare by grinding with a food processor), a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of cosmetic clay to a teaspoon of plain yogurt (preferably low fat type) to make a paste. Spread the yogurt face mask to your face for 15 minutes. Then remove the yogurt mask with a warm damp cloth. Lastly apply a sunscreen moisturizer.

You also use yogurt with pieces of fruit bits in it. Stir the yogurt content with a spoon till the fruit mixes and floats. This fruit bits are very beneficial to reduce and treat acne and acne scars as it consists salicylic acid. Next apply the solution to your face and leave it for 15 minutes. Finally rinse the face with clear water and pat dry with wash cloth.

Other than using yogurt to treat acne, you can take a look at more home remedies method to remove acne. Though some of them might look unconventional, but if it works on your acne, what do you have to lose? Your acne, of course!

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How To Treat Acne - The Unconventional Ways!

The bad news about acne is that we can't cure acne but that does not mean we cannot treat it. Before you resort to prescribed products or seek a consultation with a dermatologist, there are many topical treatment as well as unconventional products available to treat acne.

The problem lies in finding and identifying the suitable products that works on your acne. Don't be surprised and puzzled when you find out that the products that your friends use to treat their acne successfully do not work on your skin.

As each of us is different, the acne on our face and skin will react differently to the thousands of acne treatments available in the market. Some might also find successes in treating their acne with unconventional method such as using toothpaste, honey, lemon, rice powder or even turmeric!

Some of us claim that honey treats their acne successfully. Even though honey is known to possess antibacterial properties, the properties of the active ingredient in honey that kill the staphylococci bacteria, hydrogen peroxide, is easily destroyed by heat and light.

Go for Manuka honey if you like to use honey to treat your acne as manuka honey possesses additional anti bacterial properties beside hydrogen peroxide that is derived from the enyzme added by the bees. Be prepare to face the stickiness and messy condition that you will face when you apply honey on your acne. Manuka honey is very effective in fading those post acne red marks left by acne rather than clearing acne on our face and skin.

Why don't we recommend table honey for your acne? As table honey contains so much sugar, it will make the honey anti bacterial properties less effective.

Have you ever heard that some acne sufferers are finding some successes with toothpaste in their quest to treat acne? Toothpaste does indeed work in treating cysts and red blemishes as they dry up the acne pimples and then tighten the acne pores and its surrounding skin area to make them easier to come off. However, be careful when you pick on your acne after the toothpaste application as blood may be oozing if you do so.

You will get a slight burning and stinging sensation after applying toothpaste to your acne spots. Therefore, don't ever apply tooth paste to your open pimple wounds.

Even though we don't recommend using tooth paste to treat your acne, if you want an instant home remedy to reduce your pimple swelling, use tooth paste that comes with the white content. And don't ever leave it longer for more 15 minutes on your acne spots due to its strong drying effect. After removing the tooth paste from your face, apply C & C Oil Free Moisturizer to your skin.

Here is more information on toothpaste used in treating acne.

There is some truth to the statement "lemon juice clears my acne" as lemon juice contains citric acid which is a form of Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHA) that is commonly use in many topical acne treatments. This ingredient will slouch off dead skin, promote skin elasticity and rejuvenate your skin by enabling new skin cell that grows to rise to the skin surface. You will feel that your skin is very fresh as it flushes your pores; clearing the sebum and dead skin in them.

In contrast to tooth paste, lemon juice will need about 3 to weeks to clear your acne. Applying a dab of lemon juice soaked with cotton pad to your acne pimples and leave overnight. Lemon juice also fades scar spots.

It is no wonder that some of us will turn to garlic to treat our acne. Garlic is a well known antiseptic, anti viral, anti fungal , anti bacteria as well as anti inflamatory product all roll into one.
Even though it is so potent, you must be prepared to wait for weeks for garlic to show its effectiveness on your acne. The way to apply garlic to your acne pimple (not face) is to apply the garlic juice from the crushed cloves. For lighter complexion acne sufferers, they might find garlic is too harsh on their skin that causes slight burn and stinging sensation while darker complexion individual should experience next to no of these effects.

Should you find the stinging and burning sensation is too extreme for your acne, wash the application off from your face in order to prevent redness and swelling. It might be that you are one of those who are allergic to the active allicin ingredient of the garlic.

All is not lost even though you belonged to this group of people or someone who does not want to go through all the hassle to prefer the garlic juice. You can use Garlic Oil 500mg 250 Softgels from Source Naturals. Apply the oil from the punctured garlic softgels to your pimples. These treated garlic does not contain allicin as allicin is a very unstable compound and further more allicin is not biologically active in the body. Actually it is not the allicin ingredient as claimed by many so called "professional" that clears your acne.

Not only could garlic be applied externally, they can also be taken internally. In the long term, garlic will not only treat your acne, but also boosts up your immune system. A weak immune system will cause us to catch cold easily and always falls sick and feeling tired.

For this, it might worth your time to take a look at Kyolic aged garlic extract. Kyolic aged garlic has been around for many years and it is known to be the best garlic product available in the world. you would be surprised to find out that Kyolic aged garlic goes through a 20-month cold aging process before it is sold. This lengthy process preserves most of the natural ingredients inside the garlic and remove the pungent smell and irritating allicin contents from the garlic.

Ever wonder why most Indians have smooth and flawless skin complexion? Do you know that they not only apply turmeric on their skin but also drink it with milk daily? Beside, they also often consume curry which is cooked with this curry spice in their daily meals.

The yellowish curry spice turmeric , also known as haldi, possesses anti inflamatory and anti oxidant properties that reduces pigmentation and also has an ever lasting effects on treatment on scars, acne and pimple marks. Turmeric also prevent the harmful UV ray of the sun on our skin.

So how do we prepare turmeric to be applied to our acne? First mix turmeric with cucumber or lemon juice. Then apply this mixture to the acne prone area and leave for 15 minutes. Then remove the turmeric on your skin by cleansing milk.

Instead of the above mixture, you can also mix turmeric with sandalwood and rose water.

You will be overjoyed after a few weeks of applying the mixture of turmeric and cucumber or lemon juice daily when you see your new radiant and stunning skin glows without any trace of acne lesion.

One note about turmeric that we would like to stress is turmeric can cause yellow stains to your clothes, tubs or basin if you accidentally spill it onto these parts. However, do not be alarmed as you can remove it by sprinkle some lemon juice on the affected area and let it dry in the sun. You will notice that the concerned area will turn to red before the stain finally disappears.

As with garlic, there is also a commercial available cream for turmeric in the form of Vicco Turmeric Skin cream. This cream will dry up your acne blemishes over night and fade away all those unsightly red marks in two weeks. It is more suitable for those who have oily skin due to its drying effect which may be too much for people with dry skin. But then again, most acne sufferers have oily skin.

The Chinese have been using rice powder for years to keep their face and skin blemish free. As rice has a very cooling effect on our skin, applying them on a regular basis to our face will sooth and prevent acne lesions from developing. Just mix a few pellets of rice powder with water and apply the solution to your face. After a minute or two when the mixture dries, you will notice patches of white powders on your face.

Finally, there's another unconventional method to treat one's acne. However, it can only be used by the softer gender. Females, whether they are teenagers or adult women, can use birth control pills to control their acne outbreaks. Not only it works, it does wonder on severe and stubborn case of acne.

To those guys with severe acne that are thinking of trying out the birth control method, please don't do it at any cost. It will cause havoc to your system as these pills are just not meant for the hormones in your body.

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