Skin Care and Acne: Ten Little Known Acne Skin Care Facts

Here are 10 facts about acne skin care that the acne industry doesn’t want you to know. Read on, because some of them are really going to surprise you. Know these facts, and you’ll be ready to implement a proper acne skin care regimen.

Acne Fact #1
Creams, topical solutions, lotions, and gels don’t work, and never will work, as they do not treat the root cause of acne. A kitchen ingredient such as baking soda is more likely to help you than a topical solution prescribed by a dermatologist.

Acne Fact #2
Antibiotics don’t work over time. They kill the bacteria that form acne in the last phase of acne formation. As time goes by, the bacteria mutate, and become resistant to the antibiotics. Antibiotics also kill the good bacteria in your stomach which help with the fight against acne. This entails you to get worse acne had you not taken the antibiotics in the first place.

Acne Fact #3
Vitamin B5 is not a cure for acne. High doses will create an imbalance of the other Vitamin B types which will cause you to suffer from various symptoms like headaches etc.

Acne Fact #4
Herbs work, but only in the short-term. They can clear acne fast, but you’ll lose the battle because they don’t treat the root cause of acne. However, olive leaf extract can be very beneficial in the short term.

Acne Fact #5
Ingesting expensive anti-oxidants won’t cure your acne. Free radicals do not cause acne. Anti-oxidants are good for your overall health, but they won’t help your acne much.

Acne Fact #6
Avoid Accutane, which is prescribed by doctors and dermatologists. It is really bad for the body over the long term, and has some nasty side effects that can last a lifetime.

Acne Fact #7
Overwashing and underwashing your face can be just as detrimental. Overwashing your face can cause the skin to become too dry and you could age prematurely. Underwashing could lead to more acne-forming bacteria to form on the face. In proper skin care, moderation is the name of the game.

Acne Fact #8
Acne is not about genetics. It is not normal, and should not happen at any age. It’s a sign that something is wrong with the body. Fix the route cause instead of the acne itself, and your skin care efforts will be rewarded. The acne will disappear.

Acne Fact #9
Celebrity endorsed acne skin care cleansing and herbal systems are just as ineffective. They are both superficial and do not fix the root of the problem.

Acne Fact #10
Greedy acne skin care treatment companies do not want you to know the root cause of acne, which has very little to do with hygiene or bad genes.

So what is the cause of acne? Simple, really. It’s all to do with a hormone imbalance. Rectify this hormone imbalance and acne skin care will be a cinch! In fact, you won’t believe how fast those zits will disappear. In future posts, I will show you how to eradicate acne with very little effort by balancing your hormones, leading you to experience an acne free life forever!

Wendy Wilken is the author of “Facelift Without Surgery” and also a practitioner of natural anti-aging skin care techniques. She spends her free time researching and writing about anti-aging skin care and non-surgical facelifts. See her other products too.

Anti-Aging Skin Care: 14 Ways to Reduce those Annoying Eye Bags

Many of us wishing to look younger are cursed with those annoying bags under the eyes which are often puffy, and have a dark discoloration. These eye bags make a person look older, tired, and more haggard. How do we diminish them and get them to look lighter as part of an anti-aging skin care program?

Eye bags are caused by the liver’s cleansing process of the body’s digestive impurities. As you get older (especially in men and women over 40), you will experience more puffiness under the eyes because the body has less ability to expel these impurities, making your anti-aging efforts that much harder.

Here are a few anti-aging skin care tips to reduce any eye bag problems:

• Try obtaining more sleep. The dark rings around the eyes are often a good indication that you’re not getting enough of your beauty sleep. The average adult human requires eight hours of sleep a night.

• Drink at least one liter of water per day, preferably warm.

• Cut down or eradicate smoking.

• Avoid fried foods, red meat, fast foods, soft drinks, carbonated water, sugar, table salt, synthetic sweeteners, alcohol and caffeine, foods containing baking powder, and cold foods. Try not to drink liquids before retiring to bed at night.

• Apply face masks over the entire face. Use cucumber slices, chilled thinly sliced potato pieces, or cooling pads around the eye area, for about 10 to 15 minutes, a few times a week. This will temporarily reduce the depth and dark discoloration of the eye bags. Lie on your back while doing this, and relax as much as possible so as to reduce stress.

• Immerse cotton wool in cold milk or water, and apply to the eye bags by lying down on your back with your feet elevated higher than your head.

• Eat more raw honey, fresh fruit, unrefined sea salt, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and drink vegetable juices.

• Take a multi-vitamin and mineral combination supplement once per day or as directed.

• Vitamin K as a supplement or foods rich in Vitamin K such as spinach, beets, and turnips, is extremely beneficial to reducing bags under the eyes.

• Avoid allergens that trigger nasal congestion such as pet hair, dust, and pollens. Try sleeping with an extra pillow to elevate the sinuses so that mucus does not build up in the sinuses and nasal cavities.

• Exaggerated eye bag puffiness in the morning can be temporarily treated by placing chilled table spoons on the areas under the eyes to reduce the swelling.

• Try not to use eyeliner; rather use an eye shadow that’s similar to the color of your eyelids to mask the discoloration of the bags under your eyes.

• Do not use exfoliators such as retinoids, alpha hydroxy acid, salicylic acid around the eyes, as these could irritate the skin and aggravate the swelling.

• Massage the area under the eyes. Use your forefingers, and firmly massage the eye bags using a small circular motion. By doing this as often as possible, you will minimize the swelling, lift the sagging skin, and reduce the fatty digestive deposits that have gathered in the eye bags. Do it at the bus stop, in traffic, in front of the television; you'll see the difference in a few days!

Reducing eye bags are very important in your anti-aging efforts. Looking younger is a process that encompasses many things. By minimizing those puffy eye bags, you will be well on your way to looking younger than your years.

Wendy Wilken is the author of “Facelift Without Surgery” and also a practitioner of natural anti-aging techniques. She spends her free time researching and writing about anti-aging skin care and non-surgical facelifts. See her other products too.

Anti-Aging Skin Care: Sleep is important for Anti-Aging, Relaxation and Longevity

Anti-aging skin care is a process, a lifestyle decision. Eating properly, taking the correct vitamin and mineral supplements, avoiding sunlight, and reducing smoking, sugar, and alcohol intake are all important for anti-aging skin care. But how important is sleep for your daily anti-aging regimen?

Sleep is beneficial to the body and for the skin in many respects. Your body produces melatonin while you sleep which is claimed to be an anti-aging hormone. It’s great for the skin and the immune system. In the day, and when it’s light, you lose melatonin; conversely in the night and in the dark, you gain melatonin.

Whilst in the deep sleep phase, your body produces a growth hormone, which helps repair damaged cells. A good night’s sleep reduces stress which has a positive impact on the skin. Stress causes the skin to wrinkle, loose its collagen and elasticity levels faster, and produces cortisol(which is a stress hormone) and bad neurotransmitters. You’ve probably seen many people age before their time and wear permanent frown lines on their foreheads, due to stress.

To get your “beauty sleep” and to stay looking young, try going to bed the same time every night so that the body can adjust to a daily sleep routine and synchronize its internal clock. You should optimally obtain eight hours sleep every night to get the proper rest you require to allow the body to conduct its repair process. This golden rule is applicable to young and old. It’s a fallacy that older people need less sleep; in fact more sleep is necessary to produce more of the growth hormone and melatonin which keeps senior people looking younger for longer.

To get a good night’s sleep for increased longevity, and to aid anti-aging skin care, the following should be observed:

• Avoid ingesting sugar, sweets, alcohol and caffeine before retiring for the night.

• Be calm before sleeping; try to empty your mind from the clutter of the day, otherwise you might experience difficulty in falling asleep.

• Exercise regularly (this produces endorphins and will make you feel tired later) and get plenty of fresh air during the day.

• Try and take one power nap for not longer than 15 to 30 minutes during the day; longer than this will interfere with your sleep pattern in the night and disrupt your “body clock”.

• Enjoy a nice relaxing bath with scented bath oils in the evening. This will put you in a good, calm frame of mind before sleeping.

• Ensure that your bedroom environment is conducive to sleep and has proper ventilation.

Serotonin is the “feel good hormone” in our brains that begins the sleep cycle. As mentioned earlier, once asleep, the body then produces melatonin, and the growth hormone, and later on in the sleep process the sex hormones are produced, balanced and harmonized.

Sleep is the regenerative process for the body, aids digestion, stills and regulates the heart, brain, and circulatory system. The brain downloads and processes the information and events from the day. By not sleeping enough, this disrupts this cycle, which can leads to illness, susceptibility to disease and premature aging.

As an anti-aging skin care necessity, sleep’s main advantage to the skin is aiding in reduced stress levels, cell re-growth, hormone production and regulation, and a more relaxed dispensation. Obtaining proper sleep is important for looking younger than your years and enjoying a longer life.

Wendy Wilken is the author of “Facelift Without Surgery” and also a practitioner of natural anti-aging techniques. She spends her free time researching and writing about anti-aging and non-surgical facelifts. See her other products too.

Non-Surgical Facelifts Position 2: Using Acupressure to Look Younger

We will now discuss the second of the 20 acupressure points. As a means to a non-surgical facelift, acupressure conducted with your own fingertips, and under your own control, leaves a face looking younger, with more color, less wrinkles, and with overall firmer facial skin and underlying tissue.

To continue with your non-surgical, natural facelift, point both of your forefingers skyward (Like you are pretending that your forefingers are gun barrels) and place the tips of them onto the skin midway between the hairline and the tops of the eyebrows. The tips of your forefingers must be just in line with the pupils of your eyes.

Now make small, firm, inward circles with your fingertips (the fingertips should be moving towards each other when making the circles). Do not press too hard so as to cause discomfort. Massage this point for at least 1 minute. (You can do this for as long as you wish).

This acupressure point is called Yang Bai. It opens the energy channels in your face, so that the thin muscles in the vicinity of your fingertips are stimulated with the result of increased blood flow to the surrounding skin and tissue. This point works on the skin and the forehead muscles, which support the layers of skin that, as time goes by, have a tendency to develop deep wrinkles. By massaging this point, you will be plumping and building up the underlying facial tissue as the blood flow is increased.

There are other advantages too: This acupressure point is an effective treatment for migraines and insomnia. You might experience some warmth to the face and the back of the neck whilst massaging this point.

You are now well on your way to completing your own non-invasive facelift!

Acupressure as a means to a non-surgical facelift is very effective, and with time you should see the lines begin to smooth on the forehead as long as you apply the massage to the area for at least one minute per day for the first 30 days, and apply the massage for 2-3 times a week thereafter, to maintain your progress.

Wendy Wilken is the author of “Facelift Without Surgery” and also a practitioner of natural anti-aging techniques. She spends her free time researching and writing about anti-aging and non-surgical facelifts. See her other products too.