Natural Moisturizers for Dry Skin

Natural Moisturizers for Dry Skin
By Laci Chiodo

Does your skin feel like a desert? Not to worry! Soft, supple skin is not a mirage. If you're stuck in a dry spell and searching for relief, try a few of these natural moisturizing techniques to hydrate and revitalize your skin.

Hydrating Facial Mask
In a small bowl, mix one avocado, one raw egg, and one teaspoon of coconut oil to form a creamy paste. Apply the paste to your face and let it work its magic for 25 - 30 minutes. Rinse with warm water. Raw eggs and avocados contain natural moisturizing proteins, making them a super combo for fresh, luxurious skin. Adding coconut oil provides a boost of antioxidants.

Milk Bath
Fill your bathtub with warm water and add up to five cups of rich, whole milk or buttermilk. Light a few candles, turn on some tunes, and soak yourself for twenty to thirty minutes. Milk contains proteins that can help smooth and rejuvenate dry skin.

Oatmeal and Yogurt Exfoliant
Mix one cup uncooked oatmeal and a few spoonfuls of plain yogurt to create an exfoliating paste. Use as a gentle body scrub to remove dry, flaky skin and dead skin cells. The oatmeal will do the scrubbing while the yogurt does the moisturizing.

Maintain a Healthy Diet
Be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day and eat foods high in nutrients. Think fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco - all skin dehydrators, and avoid processed and packaged foods as much as possible.

Hand Treatment

A Quick Hand Treatment

Hands are the most visible parts of you, but they also take a lot of abuse. You use them in everyday activity, and yet, they are the ultimate accessory. You must give them the same attention you give your face.

* Soften your hands even while you do the dishes. Add a little almond oil (about a teaspoon) to dishwater. The water will soften rought skin while the oil seals the moisture.

* Slough off dead skin cells with a solution made of sea salt lemon. Brush it into hands with an old toothbrush. Do this twice a week to soften hands and remove discoloration.

* Wash hands thoroughly with warm water, then, using a coarse washcloth, rub briskly. While skin is slightly damp, apply a mixture of one teaspoon honey and one teaspoon olive oil. Place hands in small plastic bags, then in a pair of cotton gloves for thirty minutes. The heat helps the treatment penetrate.

* Warm a cup of milk in the microwave for thirty seconds (or until warm, but comfortable to the touch). Soak your hands for five minutes to strengthen nails and hydrate skin. Not only is milk loaded with lactic acid, a natural alpha hydroxy acid that gently exfoliates dead skin, but its high calcium content will strengthen fragile nails.

Lemon-Cucumber Whitening Extract

Lemon-Cucumber Whitening Extract

This recipe is good in whitening dark underarms and neck.

You will need:
Lemons
Cucumber
Turmeric

Procedure:
Extract lemon juice using juicer, and extract the same with cucumber. Mix lemon and cucumber juice together with a pinch of turmeric.
Apply to neck or underarms daily and leave this for 20 minutes. Then rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water.

Dark Under Eye Circles

Dark Under Eye Circles

By Anna Lynn C. Sibal

It is always said that the easiest way to tell how old a woman is or how she generally takes care of herself is to look at her eyes. The eyelids and the skin under the eyes are among the most delicate areas of the skin. The skin on that area is so thin, it wrinkles easily and is susceptible to puffiness and darkening.

Puffy and dark circles under the eyes can make us look tired and appear older beyond our years. Women approaching their thirties and older generally address this area first when they try to rejuvenate themselves, because puffy and dark circles under the eyes are one of the more obvious indicators of aging.

What causes us to form dark circles under our eyes, also known as eye bags? We have to recognize and accept it with ourselves that having dark circles under the eyes is part of the natural aging process. Also, we could be genetically pre-disposed to develop them earlier. Dark circles under the eyes can also develop from factors from our own environment, such as pollutants and allergens in the air. In addition, crying our eyes out is a sure-fire ticket to having dark circles under the eyes.

Not a few women think that undergoing cosmetic surgery or using expensive creams are the only ways of dealing with dark circles under the eyes. This is not so. While it is not possible to be able to remove them completely all the time, there are ways that we can take to combat them, or at least to make sure that they do not get worse over time.

One of these ways of fighting dark under eye circles is to keep our bodies hydrated by drinking plenty of water and fruit juices every day. Eight glasses or two liters of water is the recommended amount. Water flushes out the toxins in our body and acts as a natural moisturizer for the skin.

Another way of doing it is to get plenty of sleep every night. We should get around seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Sufficient sleep allows the body to repair and rejuvenate itself. When the body is able to repair itself properly every day, the skin appears younger and healthier, including the skin around the eyes.

If you are a smoker, you would do well to stop smoking. Smoking robs the body of nutrients and dries out the water in our cells. It is not just our skin that suffers from smoking; the entire body suffers from the harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke.

Dark under eye circles home remedies:

• Resting your eyes for thirty minutes or so with a slice of cucumber over each eyelid.
• Putting on an eye pack that spent time inside the refrigerator before going to sleep.
• Chilling a couple of used teabags with most of the water squeezed out of them and then taking a nap for fifteen minutes with the teabags on your eyelids.

Getting dark circles under the eyes is a part of the aging process, but you do not have to go under the knife just to be able to get rid of them.

Black Hair

Black Hair

Should You Get Black Hair?

By Lynn Lopez

You might be thinking of getting a drastically new look. Most times, this only entails a change in your everyday makeup, a new haircut, or a few touch-ups to your wardrobe. What's really guaranteed to up your look's shock factor is getting a new hair color. If you've been a blonde all your life, turning brunette will turn heads. If you've never switched your brown hair color for any other shade, going a lot lighter will brighten up your appearance. But if you go with black hair, then that will definitely give you a whole new look.

Black hair can convey lots of different images. It could make you look like a total Goth girl or make you look like the perfect Oriental doll. Done right, it could make you look like a raven-haired goddess with long, cascading tresses.

Not everyone is cut out to sport black hair, though. Before you head to your stylist and declare your intentions to blacken your locks, go over these few guidelines first.

• Black hair is your goal, but it's not advisable to choose a totally charcoal-black shade. Hairdressers say a really deep black sometimes makes hair look fake, so a dark brown-black shade would look better.
• Consider your skin color. They say black goes with everything, and that's more or less true with black hair. You could have dark skin, have a glowing tan, or olive complexion and you're going to be able to pull off black hair just fine. Fair skin also does justice to black hair, but make sure you're not extremely pale, unless you really are going for a Goth look.
• Take your cue from stars who have turned their manes black. While she's ordinarily gorgeous in every look she's experimented with, Angelina Jolie once looked sinister in black at the 2000 Oscars. Ashlee Simpson used to be an aspiring black-haired rocker chick when she emerged into the music scene. Britney Spears shocked everyone when she dyed her normally blond hair a stunning black. Burlesque artist Dita Von Teese is a natural blonde, but established her signature style with glossy black curls.

Having second thoughts about getting black hair? Get yourself accustomed to a darker hair color by getting a deep brown shade first. If it turns out gorgeous, let the color settle in for several months and give your hair time to relax before getting another treatment. Then you can launch your new look and go all out black.

Carrot Juice Exfoliating Toner

This recipe for uneven skin tones due to blemishes and pigmentation.

You will need:
Carrots

Procedure:
Make a carrot juice by extracting the juice using a juicer. Apply on face's blemishes and pigmentation. Use this daily to achieve clear and well-toned skin.

Penne a la Broccoli Recipe

Penne a la Broccoli Recipe

One of the fastest and easiest main dishes to make. It's full of flavor and it also has the cancer-fighting protection of broccoli. Serves 4.

Ingredients:

16 oz penne or other hearty pasta, uncooked
Large bunch of broccoli
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Several cloves of garlic, chopped or mashed
1/2 cup water
Salt to taste
Red pepper flakes (optional)
Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preparation

1. Cook the pasta in rapidly boiling water until al dente.

2. Trim the ends of the broccoli stems and cut off the flowers. Peel the outer fibrous layer off the main stalks and cut the stalks into bite-sized pieces.

3. Separate the flower of the broccoli into bite-sized pieces.

4. Place the broccoli in a colander and rinse under cold running water. Put it in a saucepan with the olive oil, garlic, water and salt. Bring to a boil, cover tightly, and let steam until the broccoli is bright green and very crunchy-tender - no more than 5 minutes. Remove the lid and boil off most of the remaining liquid.

5. Toss the broccoli with cooked pasta. Top with red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Nutrients Per Serving
• Calories: 504.5
• Protein: 17.4 grams
• Fat: 5.8 grams
• Saturated Fat: 0.8 grams
• Monounsat Fat: 2.8 grams
• Polyunsat Fat: 1.3 grams
• Carbohydrate: 95.4 grams
• Fiber: 7.4 grams
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Calcium: 63.2 mg