Women’s Tips Guides

Hand care begins with nutrients, removal of toxins, and an infusion of moisture. If you are eating good, organic food and drinking plenty of water, doing regular hand massages will increase circulation which will increase the nutrients to you skin cells and will and aids in the removal of toxins.

Increased internal moisture is also a great benefit that your skin will get through a healthy diet, fluid intake, and regular hand massage.

You can examine and change your diet and fluid intake, and see a manicurist regularly to achieve these benefits or you can learn to pamper your hands at home. I do have to tell you that the good side to home massage is that you spend less money, but the bad side is that you do not receive the same relaxation that you would by visiting a manicurist. If you want beautiful hands and nails from home, check out our sections on diet to learn more about what you should be eating to achieve healthy skin, drink your water, and do the following massage at least once per week.

In order to do a proper hand massage, you will want a lotion or oil that can be warmed. Many times, you will find that warming in the microwave will work, but you should be very careful using this method. The emollient (lotion or oil) can get very hot very quickly in the microwave. It is better to find a product that is packaged in individual packets which are designed to be placed in a bowl of hot water to warm them. You can often find these for hair care and they are fine to use for your hand massage.

You will need a mild cleanser, a kitchen sink full of warm water, a hand towel (you will get oil or lotion on this so do not choose that hand-embroidered towel that has been passed through generations), and the above-mentioned emollient that you can warm. The water in your sink should be fairly warm but not hot. You want to help soften your skin to prepare it for the massage, but you do not want to strip natural oils from your skin. Make sure that you are wearing an older, short-sleeved shirt or that you can roll (or otherwise fix) your sleeves up to your elbow.

First, rest both hands in the sink, making sure that the water is high enough to reach at least half way up your forearm. Let them soak until they begin to feel relaxed. You may choose to do the massage as part of a bath, which makes it easier to soak your hand and forearms comfortably.

Second, smooth the warm oil (or warm lotion) all over both hands and forearms from the elbow to the tips of your nails, getting between each finger and along each nail.

Begin to massage by using your thumb to gently rub small circles along the opposite arm, starting at the elbow. If you thumb cannot comfortably massage a portion of the arm, use the fingertips. Work you way down the forearm, massaging both the inside and outside of the forearm.

Once you have massaged the entire arm, you should be at your wrist. Using your thumb, give this area some extra care and massage time. Wrists are often inflamed and may be sore due to repetitive motions due to work. This inflammation can slow the circulation to your hands, which is why you want to spend some extra massage time here. Massage both the inner and outer wrist in tiny circles.

Resting the back of your hand (being massaged) on the fingers of the other hand, place your thumb in the palm. You will feel plenty of muscle in this area and will probably feel quite a bit of tension in these muscles. Massage tiny circles over each muscle, relieving the tension in them. If a muscle feels particularly tight, massage it until it begins to loosen. Once your palm muscles are fairly limber, you are ready to move to the fingers and thumb.

Begin at the base of your pinky (smallest) finger with your massaging fingertips on the back and your massaging thumb on the palm-side of the finger. Rub small circles with both your thumb and fingers at the same time; work from the base to the tip. Repeat this finger massage two times on each finger and on your thumb.

Turn your hand over and rub tiny circles around each nail, making sure to massage all the way around each nail.

Repeat the process on the other arm and wipe excess oil from both arms and hands using the hand towel.

Louise Forrest has created the ultimate FREE Health & Beauty guide. Find out how you can gain access to FREE natural skin care articles, tips and techniques at http://www.NaturalElements.co.uk
Learn how you can benefit fromnatural hand care at www.NaturalElements.co.uk

Normal skin is kept supple by the skins natural production of natural oils and water held within the cells. Oily skin is the result of your skins oil glands working overtime. So, what is dry skin?

Your skins natural oils create an effective barrier to keep moisture in the skin and toxins away. When this barrier is broken, moisture cannot be held within the skin as efficiently. Age brings a natural breakdown to this barrier because our oil glands do not produce as effectively as they once did, so aging skin tends to be drier than more youthful skin.

Extremely youthful skin (like that of babies and young children) is also prone to dry skin because the oil glands in this skin have not been fully developed. Genetics also play a part in the moisture level of your skin as can environmental factors like: air conditioning, central heating, chemicals, detergents, excessive water contact, soaps, sun, and wind. Of course, there are many other environmental factors that affect your skins dry tendencies, but these are the most common.

Dry skin is best alleviated through routine use of good organic moisturizers or emollients. Lotions are usually not very effective because they contain alcohols and actually result in drier skin. Because many man made chemicals have a tendency to irritate the skin and often cause further dying, we recommend that you use certified organic moisturizers or moisturizers that you have made at home, using organically grown ingredients.

Buying organic ingredients keeps toxic chemicals like pesticides and man made fertilizers away from your skin. You may want to check out some of the recipes we have in our Organic Skin Care section. You should use moisturizers at least twice a day (sometimes more often) and always apply moisturizer after contact with water. This should be applied to damp skin in order to help trap moisture and alleviate dryness.

Another good way to help your skin is to soak for 15 to 20 minutes in a warm bath that has 2 cups of magnesium sulfate in it and apply a good moisturizer. The magnesium sulfate does wonders for skins rejuvenative abilities and dead skin cells are easily removed after such a soak. Magnesium sulfide also draws toxins out of the skin, helping keep the skin free of irritants.

These characteristics combined with a good moisturizer create an excellent combination for relief of dry skin. Soaking like this 3 times per week will help keep your skin free of toxins and dead skin cell build up.

You should always use mild, non irritating cleansers. Harsh soaps will only further dry your skin. For extremely dry skin, you may need to use emollient soap substitutes, which cleanse the skin without use of detergents. Do not be surprised to find that your emollient substitute for soap does not lather. Because of the lack of detergent in these, they will not lather but they do cleanse the skin.

Bath oils are very useful in helping dry skin; bubble baths are not. Bubble baths use detergent to create the bubbles and detergents have a drying effect on the skin. Bath oils are an excellent way to trap moisture from your bath close to your skin, helping to alleviate dryness. When you get out of a bath with bath oil, smooth your damp skin all over, then pat dry so that you do not rub the oil off of the skin.

Take care with fragranced oils, natural fragrance is generally non irritating, but many man made fragrances are irritating do to man made chemicals in them. One example of a natural fragrance which can be used in bath oils is lavender essential oil, which is also very relaxing. However, essential oils are actually concentrated extracts of a plants natural juices, they are not necessarily oils, so the use of essential oils should be for fragrance, not as a bath oil alone.

When choosing products, remember that thicker is generally better for dry skin. Thicker products are generally able to stay on the skin for longer periods of time, allowing a slow absorption of conditioning agents into your skin. Moisturizers and emollients should always be in a cream or ointment form for severe dry skin.

By taking care in choosing skin care products, you can give your dry skin some relief, but you should also consider your diet in order to replenish fluids from the inside. Everything that we have given you here is a form of relief to dry skin, but none of it is permanent. To experience long lasting relief, you will need to do it from the inside through the foods you eat and the amount of water you take into your body.

Louise Forrest has created the ultimate FREE Health & Beauty guide. Find out how you can gain access to FREE natural skin care articles, tips and techniques at http://www.NaturalElements.co.uk
Learn how you can help care for your dry skin at www.NaturalElements.co.uk

Okay, I was reading some articles today and one of them suggested that I take just one of my skin care products, any type, and list the ingredients in it, then see how many of them are toxic.

I chose a product manufactured by a well-known skin care company which is based outside my own country. Obviously the product is not exactly cheap and is actually highly regarded by many of my friends. It does what it claims to do. Here is what I found about my favorite product.

My products ingredients are:

Water; non toxic, because it is listed 1st, I know that there is more water in this product than any other ingredient.

Glycerin; non toxic, acts as a humectant when mixed with water, can actually draw moisture from the air. If it was used pure, it would actually dehydrate the skin because it attracts moisture so well.

Cetyl Alcohol; non toxic, often used to help the texture but can work as a moisturizer when mixed with certain ingredients.

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride; non toxic, natural fatty acids used to help keep moisture in the skin.

Denatured Alcohol (written as alcohol, denat.); toxic if swallowed, often causes dryness and irritation in skin.

Mineral Oil; conflicting reports so it hard to determine whether this is toxic in my product or not.

Dimethicone; trap any allergens, debris or toxins on the skin because of its coating action, because of this, it accelerates the aging process.

Glyceryl Stearate; non toxic, gives product a pearly look and smooth texture, helps smooth skin.

Cyclopentasiloxane; non toxic, helps products to spread easier.

PEG 40 Stearate; toxic, used to help keep two liquids together that will not mix, like oil and water, used in spray on oven cleaners.

Cyclohexasiloxane; not enough chemical tests have been done on this to positively rate it, but from information that is known, the chemical seems to be non toxic.

Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil; non toxic, acts as a natural preservative as well as an anti inflammatory agent.

Ceramide 3; non toxic, chemical compound which acts like natural ceramide in the skin.

Biotin; non toxic, vitamin H (a water based B complex vitamin), helps renew skin cells.

Fragrance; multiple chemicals can make up fragrance, without knowing the exact chemical makeup, you cannot know whether it is toxic or not.

Carbomer; non toxic, used to thicken the product.

Sodium Hydroxide; toxic in high concentrations, no information on toxicity in the small concerntration used for skin care products, used to neutralize acid.

Phenoxyethanol;seems to be non toxic in the small concentrations used for skin care products, works as a preservative and microbial chemical.

Methylparaben; seems to be non toxic in the small concentrations used for skin care products, works as a preservative and microbial chemical.

Ethylparaben; seems to be non toxic in the small concentrations used for skin care products, works as a preservative and microbial chemical.

Propylparaben; seems to be non toxic in the small concentrations used for skin care products, works as a preservative and microbial chemical.

Butylparaben; seems to be non toxic in the small concentrations used for skin care products, works as a preservative and microbial chemical.

Isobutylparaben; seems to be non toxic in the small concentrations used for skin care products, works as a preservative and microbial chemical.

Although, I found lots of discrepancy in the information on my products chemicals, I listed information that I could find with non biased sources. I have to say that I found many skin care manufacturers that emphasized the good points in the chemicals and many radical groups that emphasized only the bad points.

I tried to take both of what these groups said if I could not find a non biased source of information on a certain chemical but I did not list claims that could not be proven (for instance, some chemicals are sited with possible links to breast cancer, but it has not been proven).

I have to admit that I was surprised at some of the chemicals used in my favorite skin care product, but I was glad to find that most of these chemicals are not as bad as the radical groups want you to believe. So, now it is your turn. What are you applying to your skin?

Louise Forrest has created the ultimate FREE Health & Beauty guide. Find out how you can gain access to FREE skin care articles, tips and techniques at http://www.NaturalElements.co.uk
Learn how you can help care for your skin at www.NaturalElements.co.uk