Installment 3 - Skin lightening; a MOST unmentionable subject

Remember when ladies used to sip at tablespoons of arsenic with their tea so as to achieve that pearlescent glow? No? Just me? …Oh. Well, anyway, they did. But today our reasons aredifferent, and our approach is a little more… shall we say… healthful.

To start, let’s try the home remedy route. These take a bit longer, but are usually much easier on your skin. One very popular method for overall skin bleaching is drying out anorange peel, grinding it into a powder and mixing it with milk, so as to create a paste, which you will pack on your skin and use nightly for at least a half hour.

To help remove a sun tan, mix one teaspoon with another teaspoon of baking soda, lemon juice, honey and milk powder. Top that off with one half teaspoon of almond oil and give your face a good scrub. You could also let it set for ten to fifteen minutes for an extra boost.

To help bleach blemishes and even skin tone, peel a raw potato, cut into small pieces and mash like crazy. Once you’ve relieved your stress with mashing, apply generously to your face. You could also try using the peels, but I find that using the actual potato is more efficient. So why not avoid wasting that perfectly good spud, and throw those peels on the compost pile!

Two of the most popular and easy methods for skin lightening are soaps and creams. Most of these soaps contain natural acids and exfoliating agents. Papaya soaps are used around the world, and soaps containing black licorice extracts are excellent for sensitive skin. As for creams, they almost always contain some sort of acid – be it natural, or otherwise. These creams can work wonders; however, whether you have sensitive skin or not, you need to be very careful when using these as they can irritate, and occasionally even create a bit of unusual sensitivity. If you are looking to lighten spots like beauty marks, moles or scars, I would recommend brands like NeoCeuticals or Neostrata, as they are both effective, and contain SPF, which is important if you’re trying to banish those freckles.

And finally… an exotic skin lightening secret; Oriyen pearl cream and nutritional supplement. These little powerhouses help fight fine lines, clear blemishes and can help create a pearlescent glow. … Which I guess means our reasons aren’t all that different after all.

Next on our rosters... the shame of filthy teeth!

Installment 2 - It's a homemade extravaganza!

Frugal? Like natural treatments? Good with your hands and a blender? Then you’re just the lady/gent for the job… the job of making your own at-home beauty treatments. For yourself. Because let’s face it, sometimes your usual beauty routine can fall flat, and your skin will need a little boost. So in this installment, I shall be filling you in on some fantastic treatments that are relatively inexpensive, easy to make and will have you glowing anew.

The first treatment is for my beloved sensitive skinned sisters. Let me just say for starters that this treatment is a bit – for lack of a more elegant way of describing it – icky. It contains oatmeal and raw egg. That’s right, raw egg! First, you’ll need to blend a cup or two of uncooked oatmeal into an ultra fine powder, then mix it thoroughly with an egg yolk, and voila! A moistening, soothing facial mask. Leave it on for 15 minutes to a half hour, rinse with warm water, and then give yourself a splash or two of cold water.

The next category is apple cider vinegar. All right, so not exactly the same theme as above, but this stuff does everything. While you’re using it for beauty, you can also remove hard water from your fixtures, disinfect your kitchen counters and keep your chickens from pec… well, I’ve gotten way ahead of myself here. Instead of extolling all of the virtues of apple cider vinegar, I’ll just give you two recipes for two different treatments.

1. Hair. First, find either a very basic conditioner without a lot of junk already in it; OR, three or four tablespoons of pure olive oil. Mix in a teaspoon or two of vitamin E, and ¼ cup of vinegar. You may need to add more or less depending on how much hair you have to work with, so go ahead and experiment. Rub this into your hair thoroughly and let it sit for an hour or so. Now rinse your hair out really well. If you have to, give it a wash with a moisturizing shampoo, then condition as you normally would. This treatment does a few things at once; 1. It makes your hair shiny and soft, and 2. It can help relieve a dry, itchy scalp.

2. Face. Apple cider vinegar is a light acid. This being said, it can help reduce oiliness, exfoliate and aid in both the cure and prevention of breakouts. For a mask that is simultaneously moisturizing and cleansing, mix one tablespoon vinegar with one teaspoon olive oil. Add a dash or two of flour to give it a bit of thickness; slather it on and let it sit for roughly ten to fifteen minutes, then rinse clean. You could also try just slapping on a bit of raw vinegar and leave it over night to help clean and tone skin.

Finally, let us discuss hair. You likely have it; most of us do. There’s probably a good chance you’ve done awful, horrible, agonizing things to it; again, most of us have. And even if not, everyone’s hair could use a moisture boost now and then. So for this purpose, let us look at a wild, delicious smelling concoction; the protein conditioner. Mix one or two eggs (depending on amount of hair) with ¼ cup coconut milk, and half a heavily mashed banana. Slather it into your hair – which you would be wise to cover with a shower cap – and let sit for an hour or more. Rinse, rinse, rinse!

So this concludes our adventures in homemade beauty! Next on our agenda… how to lighten up!

Installment 1 - The joys and terrors of combination skin

In this blog I'll be discussing many beauty problems, solutions, quick fixes and even home remedies for all of your beauty woes.

For our first installment, I'd like to discuss combination skin. Any search around beauty ads or even the internet will yield practically the same result: oily t-zone, dry everything else. But none of these seem to take into account other factors. For example a reverse combination (ie. dry t-zone, oily everything else), sensitive skin, wrinkles, acne and blotches. It seems like your options are stunted if you have any of these issues, but there are a few things you can do to care for your funky skin.

For starters, find a good all-over cleaner. I'd recommend trying something natural and/or moisturizing. Natural face washes often have less of a drying effect, but still give your oily spots a good cleaning. A personal favorite is Burt's Bees Orange Essence cleanser. It feels like you're rubbing in lotion, but always leaves your skin feeling clean, soft and smelling delicious. It's suggested that you wash your face twice a day, but this may be too much for your dry areas, so just test washing twice a day for a week or see, and see how your skin responds.

Next, find a very gentle exfoliant. For this I would recommend St. Ives apricot scrub. They offer sensitive scrub as well as scrubs for aging and blemish control; whatever you choose, this tends to be fairly easy on your skin if you are careful how hard you press while washing. You could also try those vibrating cleanser devices and use your regular cleanser. Whether you use either of these products, or find something else you prefer, be sure to exfoliate once a week, focusing on your dry areas; even your lips.

Now for a moisturizer... this tends to be a problem if you have sensitive skin. If that is the case for you, focus on lotions that are free from fragrance... this is a given to many people, but a lot of folks forget this fact. Also, try for an oil-free lotion. Depending on your level of sensitivity, oils can cause you to either break out, or turn into a walking rash. When using regular lotion, focus on your dry areas, and leave the oily areas bare. Of course, if you plan on going out, be sure to find a very fine, fragrance free SPF lotion, and apply very lightly to your oily areas.

These are just some very basic tips for weekly usage. In our next installment, we will discuss occasional beauty treatments to pep up your skin, and keep you fresh and beautiful.