Home Mixtures for Problem Skin

Winter is coming which means that cases of dry , itchy skin will become more common. Here are some more home remedies to help you stay soft, moisturized and free of the chemicals in commercial lotions.

Buttermilk has been used in the USA since the earliest settlers arrived to help moisturize dry skin, including buttermilk baths to keep the whole body in tip-top skin condition. If you suffer dry facial skin, try dabbing buttermilk on before allowing it to air dry and subsequently washing it off with warm water.

The Native American Indians on the other hand have traditionally used the oil of the Jojoba plant to keep their skin moist and to keep minor irritations, rashes and skin blemishes at bay. This is because Jojoba has well established anti-inflammatory qualities making it an ideal skin treatment for those with minor skin problems and irritations.

St. John's Wort is another herbal remedy that is highly recommended for dealing with dry skin too. It works especially well if you are having problems with chapped or damaged skin in particularly cold weather or if you suffer dry skin as a result of exposure to strong detergents.

There are also several ways to dry out oily skin. Your teen might find these treatments effective for acne.

The first and easiest thing to do is to avoid washing your skin too much. All that does is encourage the skin to produce even more oil. Instead, use tissues to dab away any excess oil as often as necessary.

An alternative is to dip a washcloth in natural yoghurt before dabbing it on the greasier areas of your skin. Allow the yoghurt to dry and it will bring the excess oil away with it.

An oily skin recipe that many find to be highly effective is a mixture of 1 egg white, ½ a cup of oatmeal, ½ a cup of mashed apple and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix all the ingredients together to a smooth paste, apply to your face for 15 minutes and then rinse off with warm water.

Exfoliating your face keeps it healthy too. An alternative exfoliant recipe that is especially effective for oily skin is a mix of 3 tablespoons of aloe vera gel, 1 tablespoon each of lime juice and honey and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar. Start by combining the aloe vera and honey until the mixture is completely smooth before adding the lime juice and then the sugar.

Apply the mask to the complete facial area with the tips of your fingers (once again, be gentle), leave on for 15 minutes and finally rinse the mixture off with warm water.

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Keeping Your Skin Super Healthy!

Keeping Your Skin Beautiful
If you are a busy mom you want your skin to look beautiful but natural. Here is the four step regimen you should follow to have beautiful skin.

The basic four step skin care program goes like this:

1 – Cleansing. The secret when you are cleansing your skin is to be gentle and to use mild cleaning ingredients. If possible, you should avoid using soap (even herbal versions) as soap dries your skin which is why many beauty experts recommend that you should never use soap on your face.

Instead, use a cleanser that is suited to your skin type. For example, you might use a creamy cleanser if you have dry skin or a drier cleanser if your problem is overly oily skin.

One thing that you should avoid is the temptation to clean your skin too regularly. Doing so may in fact make your skin problems worse rather than better, so it is not something that you should be doing.

You should avoid any cleanser that contains strong astringents or alcohol as these will strip away most of the protective oils that your skin needs as well.
For most people, all that is needed is to wash your face at night before retiring and of course, women should remove all traces of cosmetics too.

Wash with warm water – not too hot or too cold as both can damage the capillaries just beneath the skin – and then splash warm water on your face in the morning.

Just splashing your face before dabbing your skin dry is a great way of removing excess oils (either natural or caused by your nightly moisturizer) and this should be all you need to do in the morning.

2 – Exfoliate. This is a crucial step in any properly effective skincare regime and yet it is the step that most women tend to ignore.

There are many ways of exfoliating your skin ranging from specialist dermatological treatment to completely natural exfoliants, with many very expensive branded products in between. We will of course focus on natural exfoliants when we look at specific natural skin care solutions.

3 – Moisturize. No matter what your skin type, skincare experts and dermatologists recommend that you should moisturize your skin regularly, doing so before going to bed being the most popularly recommended option.

When moisturizing at night, you should focus on making sure that the skin around your eyes is properly moisturized. The lack of fatty tissue in this particular area of your face makes this area of skin prone to wrinkles, hence applying moisturizer helps to ‘plump up' the skin and thereby reduce the tendency to wrinkling.

Lastly don't forget the sunscreen. Most of the damage that your skin suffers over the years will be caused by exposure to the sun. Furthermore, this is something that starts happening at a very young age (even though you don't notice it) and even on cloudy and overcast days.

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