Tag Beautiful Skin

My Mom’s Skin Cleansing Routine

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Copyright: marctran

When I was a child, I was always intrigued by my mother’s unusual skin cleansing routine, because it sure didn’t look like anything I saw on television commercials. She was very consistent about her routine, and it paid off because she always had fantastic skin. I never found out how she came up with her regimen, and to this day I wonder who told her about the bizarre mask she would apply each week.

My mother would begin her weekly mask regimen by removing her makeup with Pond’s Cold Cream. Then she would walk to the kitchen, grab a small Pyrex bowl, and combine about 1/4 cup of whole milk with 1/4 of corn starch, then apply the bizarre mask to her face and allow it to do its magic for10 minutes. It was always somewhat disturbing to look over at my mom every single night and see her face covered in the blotchy white mask, which would impart a spooky look to her face. By the time the mask dried, it always looked like a cracked and dessicated desert floor. My mom would then remove the mask with warm water and a round natural sponge, apply Clinique Clarifying Lotion Face Toner 2, and then apply moisturizer.

Many years later, when I began working in medical aesthetics, I learned about how cornstarch could control oil production in the skin. Since my mom had oily skin, she fought a constant battle against her skin’s own tendency to overproduce oil. When searching the internet, I was able to find cornstarch and milk mask recipes, but they all had additional ingredients like mashed strawberries or honey. The thought of putting dairy on my skin isn’t appealing at all to me for one reason, which is that I don’t like the smell of milk, so I won’t be making this mask for my own use. If I ever decide to explore the skin benefits of cornstarch, I will use water instead.

How Sleep Can Revitalize Your Body and Mind

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Sheila Olson of fitsheila.com has done it again with another informative article!  Check it out here.

sleep

Image courtesy of Pixabay

When we lose out on restful sleep, our bodies tend to age before their time. If you’re tired or feeling run down and a bit haggard, it might be due to lack of proper rest. After all, nothing replenishes us the way a good night’s slumber does.

 

Why Sleep Keeps Us Youthful

How do you feel after a night of no sleep? Is your thinking slowed and your energy nonexistent, and do you notice new lines beneath your eyes? If so, you’re not alone, as poor sleep can make us feel and look older than we are. Our cortisol levels shoot up, our brains can’t properly restore themselves, and we look as haggard as we feel. Your mind and body both need this time to reset themselves and flush out toxins, which helps us stay healthy and energetic. Unfortunately, trying to force ourselves to slumber through sheer will alone seldom works. Instead, we need to be proactive about our patterns to change our sleep habits.

 

Transform Your Bedroom

If your room is uncomfortable, stressful, or too stimulating, you may not be sleeping as well as you could. If you have a television where you can watch from bed, a lumpy mattress, or curtains that let in every stream of light, then it’s definitely time for a change. Have good bedding, including both linens and your mattress, and add blackout curtains to extend your rests. Every change adds up, so transform your bedroom into a paradise today.

 

Best Sleep Position

Sleeping on your back is the best way to avoid the development of premature wrinkles, but there are options for side sleepers to overcome this problem. Adding a body pillow to take some of your weight, or using a silk pillowcase, can greatly cut down the strain your skin experiences at night. Supplements, meanwhile, can provide vitamins and collagen that our skin needs to stay youthful, which allows us to continue side sleeping without fear. Even a good moisturizer can go a long way to helping your skin fill in lines created from the pull of a pillow.

 

Banishing Tech

Many of us use smartphones into the late hours, but that can deprive us of restful sleep. The light from our phones and tablets signals to our brains that it is daytime, and thereby prevents us from beginning the sleep process. It can be hard to put your phone down at a certain time each night, as tech addiction is very real in today’s society, but we must learn how. Start by removing notifications from your phone, taking off tempting apps and cutting back in increments. All in all, do what you can to eliminate your tech usage before bed.

 

Eat for Good Rest

What we eat can impact the quality of our rest. When we eat poorly or consume foods that cause indigestion, our sleep is interrupted, and we may wake throughout the night. Even drinking coffee in the afternoon can negatively influence how well we slumber. To give yourself the boost you need, reach for healthy carbs over empty ones, and don’t overeat before bed. Cherries, milk, and poultry are also good options to ease you into a refreshingly restful night.

 

Keep a Routine

When you go to bed at different hours, and when you wake up irregularly too, you’re setting your body up for failure. It has no ability to learn when it should get sleepy or when it will awaken. That’s why setting a nighttime routine and sticking to it even when you don’t work the next day is beneficial. By teaching your body to rest at a specific hour, you give yourself a higher possibility of falling asleep when you lie down.

 

To keep your complexion flawless and to have more energy during the day, get the sleep your body craves. It may take some training, and you may need to rearrange your bedroom, but you can get more rest. Each and every one of us deserves a good night of slumber.