But Baby It’s Cold Outside

You know what time of year it is!!! The time when you get to snuggle up in your blankets with a warm drink in your hand, and the time your face begins to get a little dryer right? I know for me that’s the case! The colder it gets the dryer my face gets. Why does that happen? Why does winter weather dry our skin out?

Winter weather brings lower humidity not only outside but also inside your home as well.  This enhances the dryness of your skin.  Being exposed to dry wind, and cold water will further dry the skin during the winter.  Not only does the cold weather affect you on the outside, but on the inside as well.  When you become cold your blood vessels become constricted and reduces the blood flow to your skin.  It also reduces the sweat and oil producing glands.  When you have low water content in your body during the winter the skin cells shrink and dry.  I know during the winter I drink more apple cider or hot chocolate to keep myself nice and warm, but this means that I’m not drinking enough water which causes dehydration to the skin, increasing the dryness of the skin.

Don’t think that only being outside in the cold affects your skin.  Being inside can cause some drying as well.  As soon as your heater goes on, no matter what type of heating it is, the skin gets dry.  Like outside in the winter time, there is low humidity.  The best way to fix this is to use a humidifier, especially at night.  A humidifier will replace the moisture in the air that has been sucked up from the dry heat.  This will save your lips from becoming chapped and your throat from becoming hoarse.

Another thing I love doing during the winter is taking hot baths and showers.  Sadly, showers that are too long and too hot can break down your lipid barriers which can cause a loss of moisture.  We can never win!  It’s better to stick with warm water and shorter showers.  Remember to pat dry and not rub.

We use sunscreen to protect ourselves from the sun, but did you know that you should also wear sunscreen in the winter? The winter sun combined with snow glare (if you live where it snows) can damage your skin.  Try using a lotion that has at least SPF 15 in it.  I find that applying moisturizer while my skin is still a little damp helps the effectiveness.

In the summer time our skin looks a little more radiant and pink.  In the winter we tend to look a little more dull.  I don’t know about you but I enjoy long sits on the couch and NOT exercising.  I think a good amount of people skimp on exercise in the winter because we get to hide under large coats and sweaters.  Exercise is key in everything.  Even though I hate it, I have to do it.  Exercising in the winter will help bring that glow back to our skin because it will help produce sweat and increase our blood circulation and hydration of the skin.  Which also means we have to drink a lot more water than coffee and other warm sugary drinks.  It doesn’t have to be outside and you don’t even have to go to a gym.  There are plenty of at home work outs you can do.  So keep it moving!

I hope you all found some helpful information in this post!  What do you do to keep your skin happy and healthy in the winter?

What’s YOUR Skin Type? How You Can Know

The biggest mistake I made growing up was choosing a skin care product that wasn’t for my skin type.  I live in the desert and my skin gets very dry and flakey if I don’t take care of it.  I was using products that dried out and tightened my skin which made it worse!  It wasn’t until later when I found a skin care routine with amazing products! My skin is like my baby.  I’m very protective of it.  

Moral of the story; Finding out your skin type is an absolute must in order for you to find the proper skin care or treatment for you.  Let me start with the first skin type;

NORMAL SKIN

Your skin has a comfortable feeling with smooth, even texture with small pores.  Your skin should feel vibrant and elastic with the driest part of your face is your cheeks, but not excessively dry.  It looks clean and healthy but you may see some shine and larger pores on the forehead, nose, or chin.

The best thing to use for this skin type is a foaming face wash, exfoliation, and a lightweight moisturizer.

DRY/EXTRA DRY 

If your skin is dry it will feel tight and dry after you wash it. It can look dry and flakey throughout the day and feels rough or uneven.  You may have red patches that are easily irritated. Dry skin type shows fine lines faster than other skin types.  Having dry skin requires special care.  Eating foods with high water content like fruits and vegetables and staying hydrated with water keeps the skin hydrated.  Limit sun exposure, caffeine and alcohol intake and use a good moisturizer to protect your skins natural oils.  You can also use humidifiers in your home because air-conditioning and heating creates a dry environment.

• Don’t rub with a towel while drying your face
• Moisturize moisturize moisturize!!
• Don’t pick at your dry skin
• Wear gloves while cleaning with chemicals

OILY SKIN

Oily skin looks shiny and thick, especially through the T-zone.  Oily skin means you have overactive sebaceous glands which makes your skin more acne prone.  You may have large visible pores and frequent breakouts.  A good thing about oily skin is that you are less prone to aging and wrinkling.  A healthy diet and a regular, consistent skincare routine can help manage oily skin.  You should cleanse your face at least twice a day to prevent dirt build up.  Use alcohol free astringent to remove excess oil and oil free moisturizers to keep your face from over drying. 

COMBINATION SKIN 

Combination skin has patches of both dry and oily skin with the cheeks being the dry and T-zone being the oily.  The larger pores are located on the forehead, nose, and chin.  This skin type requires different types of care for particular facial areas.  Regular cleansing, toning, and moisturizing for the oily areas and a cleanser that is milder with a denser moisturizer for the dry areas.

SENSITIVE SKIN 

If you have sensitive skin your face is easily irritated by cleansers, moisturizers, and cosmetics.  The skin is very sensitive and tends to become itchy, blotchy and red.  Try to figure out what products trigger your skin so you can avoid them.  Your skin requires mild, fragrance free cleansing products and alcohol free toners that are formulated for sensitive skin.

**No matter what your skin type is you should always:

• Always use sunscreen
• Stay hydrated*
• Wash your face every day
• Never ever EVER wear your make up to bed
• Change your pillow case every day
• Moisturize!!
• Stay happy and healthy

A Good Routine For Your Face **How To PROPERLY Wash Your Face**

Here is a topic I’ve been dying to get to! The main reason is because I have recently helped a few people who are having skin problems and most of their reasons are because of their daily skin care routine.  They either don’t have one, or don’t do enough to properly cleanse the face.  It’s difficult to create great skin unless you start with the basics:

1. Cleansing

2. Exfoliation

3. Moisturization

Before I get into these three steps I was to discuss something you shouldn’t be using to wash your face. I know we’ve all done it before and some still do it.  I’m not bashing anyone who uses this but let me educate you on why I cringe when I hear people using a bar of soap to wash their face! NO NO NO! 

Let me tell you why a bar of soap is not what you should use.  Bar soap is formulated for the body, not the face, and the skin on our face is not the same as the rest of the skin on our body.  Soaps contain detergents that that usually have alkaline pH.  The skin is dehydrated due to loss of moisture from the stripping factor of the soap. So, not only will this irritate the skin and dry it out, but it will also aggravate skin conditions such as eczema and rosacea.

Facial cleansing is so so important because our faces have so many glands that makes our face oilier so you need a cleanser that isn’t going to strip that away and leave a film on your skin.

So back to the three basic steps ;

1. CLEANSING 

The purpose of cleansing is to remove all the bacteria, dirt, make up, oil and sweat that has built up on your skin during the day.  Cleansing is an important part of the three basic steps because it helps the following steps to work their best.  At least once a day, your skin needs to be cleansed with a product that has a formula that wont strip the natural oils from your skin.  You should choose a cleanser based on your skin type to receive the best results for your face.  Search for ingredients like wheat germ oil that cleans without stripping, or glycerin that attracts moisture to the skins surface.

• SOAP – You CAN use soap ONLY if it is specifically formulated for your face. Look for glycerin or cold cream soaps. Soap will deeply clean the skin and leave it feeling refreshed without a trace of build up.  – BEST FOR OILY SKIN

• GEL CLEANSERS – These cleansers usually foam or lather while you use them. The gel cleansers are formulated to to dissolve oil buildup and fight blemish causing bacteria without stripping the ski. – BEST FOR OILY-COMBINATION PRONE TO BREAKOUTS 

• OIL CLEANSERS- best on the driest of skins

• CREAM CLEANSERS – Lightweight, water based formulas that clean without leaving residue on the skin.  They have oils in them and emollients along with cleansing ingredients – BEST FOR NORMAL TO DRY SKIN 

**Let me just say that the Clinique comforting cream cleanser is amazing! I have never washed my face with a cleanser that made my face feel so hydrated and smooth. LOVE IT! Also I love Clinique. Crazy about it!

2. TONING/EXFOLIATING 

After cleansing we know there’ll still be trapped oils and dead skin cells that we need to get rid of.  Exfoliation is key for every skin type.  It removes dead skin cells that were not removed from your first step in cleansing. It also helps remove trapped oils that produce blemishes. Toners are great for your skin because they stimulate circulation in the skin.  They remove any remaining dead skin cells or greasiness, and give the skin a smooth feel. Toners are helpful for very oily skin or for girls who wear a lot of make up.

3. MOISTURIZE

After cleansing and exfoliating your skin is now ready to be moisturized! YAY! I love the final step.  After I’ve washed and toned my face the moisturizer I use feels amazing.  Hydration is the most important skincare step. Your skin’s tone and flexibility depends on water in the tissues under the skins surface.  Adding moisture to the skin helps maintain skin firmness and smoothness. If you haven’t removed the oils and skin soils from your face your skin isn’t ready to accept the moisturizer and it wont work the way it can.

 

Don’t Stress! Your Face Will Show It!

Ever notice that when you’re stressed you tend to break out more? It’s because stress causes your body to produce more cortisol and other hormones that tell those small glands on your skin to produce more oils to your skin.  The small glands (sebaceous glands) producing more oils are what cause you to break out.  Oily skin is more prone to break outs and other skin issues

Stress can often have negative effects on skin problems you may already have like psoriasis, and eczema, and increases your risk of skin infections.  What happens is it impairs the proper function of your skin because it dries it out.  That causes the outer layer that protects your skin to break up while skin cells shrink and the lipids to evaporate

Skin problems can also be stressful and the more we touch/pick at that problem the worse it gets and we stress out more! Rubbing, scratching your skin and biting your fingers or lip increases your chance of skin damage. Don’t rub your face with a towel once you’ve finished washing it in order to avoid irritation.

If your skin problem doesn’t heal or it keeps coming back time after time then you probably need to figure out a better way to handle your stress. What’s great is the fact that we know how stress effects us and we can do things to prevent it such as:

1. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night- This ties into my last post about how sleep effects your skin. If I oversleep I tend to feel more stressed.

2. Don’t neglect your skin! Especially when your stressed you might skimp on your skin care. Not taking care of your skin can aggravate it.

3. Take time for yourself.  Read a book, go for a nice walk around the block, take a bath or just do what I do and sit on the bed staring at the ceiling all morning.  *Lazy award goes to me!*

4. Set limits and boundaries. Don’t push too hard and increase your stress

Sleeping. My Favorite Thing To Do For My Skin!

Beauty sleep is real!!  If you have ever skipped a night of sleeping or pulled an all nighter I’m sure you’ve seen the effect is has on your face.  Your eyes look dark and saggy, your skin looses is brightness and altogether you just don’t look or feel too great.  The reason being is the lack of sleep causes your blood vessels to expand and that’s what causes those dark circles to appear. Sleep is the time when the body’s cells have a chance to repair themselves.  Your skin renews itself by growing new skin cells and replacing the old ones.

Night time is a perfect time to absorb moisture and nutrients.  The temperature of the body is also higher which increases the blood flow to the skin.  That’s the reason why we have that rosy glow when we wake up. But how much sleep do we need? Seven to eight hours of beauty sleep should do the trick.  The main problem with me is sleeping more than the recommended time.  I wake up sometimes around 9:00 am and feel like I can get up and get going! But, if I don’t have anything to do for that day I’ll fall back asleep, wake up around noon and feel awful.  My body is sore, and my head hurts.  I found out that sleeping in too much can actually increase skin cell break down and it’s just as bad as not getting enough sleep. For me, the more I sleep in the less productive I feel/am.  I feel more stressed out for wasting my day which makes me irritated and puts me in a bad mood.  Not sleeping is is definitely something I need to work on.

Some things to do to help your beauty sleep are:

1. Get in a sleep habit – Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day.

2. Put a soft cover on your pillow – The higher the thread count the better

3. Do some stretches and light yoga poses to calm you down and get you ready for sleep

4. Listen to soft music or an ASMR video (Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) – is a neologism for a perceptual phenomenon characterized as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli).

5. Take a warm bath – relax your muscles.  The warmth of the water will make you sleepy

6. Do deep breathing exercises

Clear your heads tonight and dream of beautiful skin

Did You Know Exercising Benefits Your Skin Too?!

The main problem about exercising for me is that I don’t do it very often… Whoops!  I’ll take a run around the block with my dog but an intense, muscle crunching workout at the gym just doesn’t happen for me.  I HAVE to work out though because I love food way too much.  However, after finding out that exercising can actually help your skin got me a little more interested in it.

Not only does exercising improve your general health and well being, it increases your circulation which boosts delivery of nutrients and oxygen to skin cells.  Even sweating is a good thing!  It rids your body of toxins that clog your pores and gives you blemishes.  Make sure you shower after your work out or else you’ll have the toxins you just sweat out make you break out.  Now, you don’t need to spend hours at the gym (unless you have that kind of time then I envy you), all you need is enough physical activity to leave you slightly out of breath.  I personally like yoga.  Not the easy, and relaxing yoga though.  I go for the p90X yoga that works you HARD.  I love it! Just a couple minutes of that every day plus the run around the neighborhood leaves my skin nice and pink.  I find that after a lot of the physical activities I am involved in leaves my skin looking more bright and rosy.  Your skin produces more of its natural oils that helps the skin look more healthy and elastic.  Although that naturally moisturizes the face make sure that you cleanse it after to prevent a break out.

Exercise has been known to help lower your stress and anxiety levels.  High levels of anxiety and stress can dampen your mood and drain your vitality which tends to show in your face and body.  Wake up and do a little yoga in the morning to start your day off positive and relaxing.  I love doing soft yoga in the morning to stretch my sleepy bones and also at night to calm my mind and release all the tension from that day.  I encourage you to try it out twice a day for a week and track how you feel during the day and as to go to bed.

Make exercise your new skincare secret for healthier, smoother, younger complexion!

E

Water, Water and… WATER (Your New Best Friend For Your Skin)

WATER: Something we can all do better at/drink more of.  I even have a hard time with getting my full intake of water a day.  It is the most important and greatest hydration solution ever! But, if you’re like me and can’t stand the taste that doesn’t exist in water you probably don’t get enough.  Sometimes I have to force myself to drink even two cups of water in the morning and then as the day gets going it becomes even harder to keep it up.  What I try to do is add in a little flavor with a lemon and cucumber.  I try to stay away from sweeteners and added flavor packets only because I don’t want any other chemicals made by a lab in my water .  I keep it natural without the sugars.  That’s just my personal feel.  If it helps you drink more water that’s great!  Another way I spice it up is to make a very very simple water smoothie.  Just add fruits and veggies in a blender, add a lot of water and there you go.  It’s no Jamba Juice, but it definitely makes me pee like none other and the nutrients from the fruits and vegetables I add helps my skin too so it’s a win win!!

Here’s something I learned that I would like to pass on: Your skin depends on a healthy liver to process toxins from the environment. Like your skin you should love your liver because it is the second largest organ in your body.  Everything nutritional we consume gets passed through the liver so it can be transformed into a different biochemical form.  If your liver is dragging from an overload of alcohol, caffeine and/or saturated fats, toxins build up and less bile salts (acts as a laxative) are produced.  You won’t have lovely skin if you’re dehydrated.  Also, most teas and coffees have added chemicals/ingredients that don’t help our body or our skin at all.  Caffeine triggers the kidneys to produce more urine, making us mildly dehydrated.

Water flushes out toxins, prevents headaches and constipation and improves the functioning of your entire body.  Drink it.  If you use the bathroom and your urine is yellow you need more water.  You want it as clear as possible, and you want to be going as much as possible. So drink up.  It does so many wonderful benefits for your body and your skin! I’ve seen major improvements on my skin and acne because of my daily water intake.  It’s almost like working out but easier… The more you work out the more you realize how great you feel and you want to keep working out so you can feel that way all the time! Same for water! Once you start feeling and noticing the difference you’ll want to keep drinking water.

Water is your new best friend.  Keep a water bottle close by at work, school, or home so you don’t have an excuse for being dehydrated! Then when it’s empty refill it! It’s as simple as that.

Love your skin and your liver everyone!

Here’s a graphic on more water facts….

Happy Hydration!

Fats and Carbs Are Good For Me? WHAT?!

In my previous post I mentioned that our skin gets nutrients from carbs, proteins and fats. Why do carbs and fats scare us so much? It’s because people associate it with bad foods and unhealthy weight gain. Ever hear someone say they’re going to cut out all carbs in their diet to lose weight or to “be healthy?”  Not only is a zero carb diet difficult to achieve but it is also not great for your body. So why do you need it? Because it’s an organic blend made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They are the main source of energy for our body and our recommended energy intake should be between 40-65% from carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates have important roles in our bodies including:

• PROTECTING OUR MUSCLES 
• PROVIDING  ENERGY 
• PROTECTS AGAINST DISEASE 
• PROVIDING NUTRIENTS FOR GOOD BACTERIA 

And so on and so on….

Don’t be afraid of carbs! They’re not bad for you. It’s all about the amount and the type of carbohydrates that determines our weight and energy.  So there.  I’ll attach a list of good carbs and fats.

Let’s move on to the dreaded F word! FAT. Cutting out all fats from your diet in order to trim away some extra weight around your waist will not make you’re skin happy.  Your body needs healthy fats and your skin needs essential fatty acids (key word ESSENTIAL).  Your body needs these essential fatty acids (EFAs) because our body doesn’t make them on it’s own – it comes from the foods you eat.  Obviously I’m talking about healthy fats.  Not saturated fats or trans fats.  Not having enough EFAs can make your skin dry and prone to white heads and black heads.

A healthy skin cell has a healthy membrane. The healthy membrane is what keeps the good things in such as nutrients or water and allows waste to go out.  The fatty acid is what helps that membrane stay healthy meaning an unhealthy membrane equals not enough fatty acid and saggier, aged skin.

The essentials you want are omega-3 and omega-6.  These are the two main ingredients of healthy skin.  Don’t neglect proper nutrition if you care about having healthy, youthful skin.