Homemade Cleansing Creams for you

Cleansing creams are used not only to lift the dust, but also to remove stale make-up. Make-up has a waxy base which cannot be properly penetrated and cleansed simply by using soap and water. A cleansing cream or lotion is essential for this. Cleanser should be applied with an upward movement and kept on the skin for about half a minute, so that it could dissolve the make-up. Then remove with a tissue or damp cotton wool. Remem­ber, stale make-up and the day's dirt and grime not only clog the pores of the skin causing blackheads, but also eventually coarsen the skin. Here are a few cleansing creams which are very easy and quick to make.

An Easy to Make Cleansing Cream

Ingredients:
1/2 tablespoon beeswax
1 tablespoon emulsifying wax
4 tablespoons baby oil
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon borax
1 tablespoon witch-hazel, and
a few drops of perfume

Mix the waxes and oils into an enamel bowl and melt slowly ill a pan of boiling water. In a separate bowl heat the water and borax until the borax is completely dissolved. Then add witch-hazel, but do not leave it on the heat too long otherwise it will evaporate. When the waxes have melted, remove both bowls from the heat and mix in water, stirring continuously. When the cream begins to cool, add the perfume. Beat until the mixture thickens and cools. Use of baby oil (which is a mineral oil) does not penetrate the skin and spreads easily and liquifies readily.

Rose Water Cleansing Cream

Galen, a Greek physician of the 2nd century, made this cleansing cream with the following ingredients:

1 ½ tablespoon beeswax or white paraffin wax
1 tablespoon emulsifying wax
4 tablespoons mineral oil
6 tablespoons rose water
½ teaspoon borax and
a few drops of rose oil (perfume)

Melt the waxes and oil together, and at the same time heat the water and borax and make sure that the borax is completely dissolved. Remove both bowls from the heat and pour water into the oil Continue stirring until a white cream starts to form. Add a few drops of rose oil when the mixture begins to cool. Carryon beating until the mixture thickens.

The First Step for a Good Make-up

The first step in caring for your skin externally, is cleansing. Perspiration, grease, dust, stale make-up, dirt and bacteria all collect on your skin and must be re­moved completely. As an artist prepares a canvas, a wo­man must prepare her skin for good make-up. The first step in make-up is cleansing.

Soap and water removes most of the impurities but it does not remove make-up completely, hence cleansing is required. Foundations and powders are designed to remain on the skin as long as possible. If you wear make-up during the day, the first step in cleansing your skin at night should be with a cleanser of some kind: cleansing cream, lotion, milk or just plain cold cream. The cleanser must be massaged into the skin with a light upward and outward movement, paying particular attention to the creases of the nose, under chin area, neck and ear lobes.

It is necessary that the cotton wool used for cleansing is moist, as dry cotton wool absorbs moisture from the skin. Repeat the cleansing process two or three times until the tissue is clean. The heavier the make-up you have been wearing the more times you will have to cleanse your skin. If your skin is too much greasy or blemished, you may follow your cleansing by washing with soap and water using a medicated soap and rinsing very thoroughly with clean water.

Simple Skin Care Tips for Heat and Cold Weather.

Intense cold and extreme heat have a bad effect on the skin. Probably the ideal climate for keeping the skin soft and smooth is a mild and wet one. Heat has a drying and ageing effect on all types of skins, with the exception of oily skin. As the natural oils begin to dry, the skin becomes lea­thery and tends to wrinkle. The leathery texture and brown pigment are actually the skin's own natural protection against the effect of ultra-violet radiation. The solution to this ageing problem is to replace the lost moisture with moisturizing your skin daily. Remember that a light, golden tone to the skin can be just as attractive as a deep reddish-­brown one. To prevent sun-burn the skin produces Melanin.

Exposure to cold also dries and roughens the skin. Sudden exposure to intense cold can produce blotchiness, hasten the appearance of thread veins on the cheeks and give the skin a flaky appearance. Moisturizing and make­up are the best protection in this case. Do not subject the skin to sudden extremes of temperature. This may produce scorch marks on the skin and cause chilblains.

Salt water is generally good for the skin if the salt is later removed with a fresh-water shower. Otherwise, the salt will make the skin excessively dry and may produce burning. Water from the tap can be good for your skin, depending on the type of your skin and the hardness or softness of the water itself. If your skin is extremely dry, washing your face in tap water will not be helpful, for the salts and calcium in the water will dry it further, Use a water softener when washing. Beware of using hard- water on the face. Use a softening substance such as bath salts or oil for bathing your body. For freshening the face spray in hot weather (mineral water is ideal) with a well washed spray bottle and direct it straight on to your skin.

Central heating and air-conditioning are both potential enemies of good skin. In such an atmosphere even a normal skin may rebel. Heavy foundation or make-up becomes doggy and if secretions build up underneath, spots result. It is wise to keep make-up to a minimum. Do not forget deep cleansing every night and use a cleansing face mask at least once a week to keep the skin fresh.

Simple Skin Care Tips for Various Types of Skins.

It is essential to know your skin for choosing the right skin-care routine. An easy way to discover what type of skin you have, is to wipe your face with a dry tissue early in the morning soon after you leave your bed. If there is oil on it. you have a greasy skin. If you have grease only in the centre panel, then you have a combina­tion skin. If there is no grease on the tissue at all, you have either a dry or a normal skin. To check a dry skin, wash your face with soap and water. If your skin is left feeling stretched or too tight, shiny and parched, it is dry. If the skin feels smooth, supple and elastic, it is normal. Normal­ly your skin will fall into one of these categories.

Normal Skin:
A healthy, normal skin is unblemished, velvety, smooth and supple, with no enlarged pores or flaky dead cells. There may be occasional pimples just before menstruation when increased hormonal activity causes the sebaceous glands to be overactive, but acne is certainly not a prob­lem for people with normal skin. In the morning cleanse your skin with plain water, soap and water, face-washing grains or rose water. In the evening remove all your stale make-up with cleansing cream, then apply a mild skin tonic. Always use a moisturizer in the day under your make-up.

Dry Skin:
Dry skin is flaky and dull looking, especially on the cheeks and around the eyes~ Even in the teens fine lines may appear on the cheeks, under the eyes and at the corners of the mouth. Dry skin has a tendency for broken veins, flakiness, dry patches, reddened and sore skin in cold weather. A dry skin needs a lot of care. The oil glands are not supplying enough lubrication to the skin and the skin becomes dehydrated.

If your skin is really dry, adopt suitable measures. If neglected, it turns into wrinkles and lines. Cleansing should be done with a cream, followed by a very mild tonic like rose water or a herbal infusion to remove the remaining traces of oil and to have the skin feeling fresh. Wash the dry skin with water and scrub. If you are afraid it will overdry your skin, use enough of moisturizer afterwards. Try washing with milk. Instead of soap, you can also use oatmeal or almond meal. Lubricating and feeding are -essential for this type of skin. Never go out without a moisturizer at night. If your skin is feeling particularly dry, restore it with a rich nourishing cream, then blot off the excess cream after about twenty minutes. The skin will have absorbed all the cream it can in ten minutes and the excess will only block the pores of your skin.

Greasy Skin:
A greasy skin looks shiny, thick, and dull colored. The sebaceous glands produce more oil than is needed, thus making the face greasy and enlarging the pores. It often has blackheads and is prone to acne. Greasy skin requires more cleansing than other skins. Grease tends to pick up dirt and grime which clog the pores and produce black­heads. Wash the face in the morning, at mid-day and in the night before going to sleep, with soap and water. In the evening remove all traces of make-up with a cleansing -cream. Use a mild skin tonic. The toning will improve the -circulation and the texture of the skin. Moisturizing a greasy skin is not essential, but you may use a non-greasy moisturizer only in the day.

Combination Skin:
Treat this kind of skin as two individual skins. This skin usually has dry cheeks and a greasy centre panel. Cleanse the centre panel with an astringent or strong skin tonic and the cheeks should be treated as you would treat dry skin.

Easy Tips for Healthy Skin

The skin is the largest organ in the human body, com­posed of cells which keep dying and being renewed all the time. The skin you had last year is not the same skin you 'have today. The skin consists of layers. The outer layer, called the epidermis, is a mass of cells in two levels.

The lower level of the skin is the living level and the upper level is dead. Beneath the epidermis we have the dermis, which is a jelly-like substance supported by bundles of collague fibres, and below this there is a layer of fat. Generally female skin has more fat which gives a soft and rounded look to the body. The epidermis is divided into five cell layers: the horny layer, the glossy layer, the granular cell layer, the prickle cell layer and the basel cell. The skin protects the body from bacteria, elimi­nates waste matter and breathes. The sebaceous glands which produce oil (known as sebum) keep the skin supple. Sometimes the glands overproduce sebum, giving us a greasy skin, and sometimes underproduce giving us a dry skin. The performance of skin in controlling water loss. and temperature in body is directly related to one's health.
The skin is one of the greatest indicator of good or bad health. The essentials for a lovely skin are: a well balanced diet, scrupulous cleanliness and skin care, regular elimina­tion, fresh air and exercise, sufficient sleep and serenity or mental stability.

Diet is also of vital' importance and no skin can be hea1thy without proper nutrition. Try to avoid too much of carbohydrates, sugar, fried and greasy foods, cakes. and alcohol which can cause blemishes and blotchiness on the skin's surface. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. The skin needs vitamins. Vitamin A aids circulation and a lack of it shows in drying, scaliness and a weakness of the epidermis. Vitamin B is recommended by many dieticians to clear the skin of spots and as an aid to healthy hair. Vitamin C is necessary to purify and vitalize the blood stream. Vitamin E makes the skin appear more youthful. The skin also produces Vitamin D through the action of sunlight upon it.

Drinking sufficient water (at least eight glasses a day) improves the complexion. But do not drink in between meals.

Eye Massage for Healthy Eyes

Do not rub the skin around eyes when you apply cream around them. The correct method is to start from the inner side of the eye moving towards the pulse spots. Exactly the same method should be applied for the upper lid. The correct method for the massage is as below:

• Pinch the eyebrows working from the nose out. Squeeze the eyebrows using the forefinger and thumb. This releases the eye tension and strain. Repeat seven times.

• Using the second and third fingers stroke around the eyes, applying pressure at the bridge of the nose and at the temples. Remember, do not pull or drag the delicate skin around the eyes.

• In the end, wipe off the residual grease, and apply a little skin tonic or mineral water, which makes your skin soft and glowing.

To maintain eye-health and lower eye tension, there are several easy exercises. For the self lubrication of eyes, either blink your eyes rapidly for fifty times or rotate eye­balls in a complete circle, first clockwise and then anti­clockwise, several times.

Beauty Foods for Blemished Pimply Skin

Camphor, sulphur, onion, garlic, curds, yeast, Fuller's earth, herbs and vegetable juices are all useful in treating a blemished pimply skin. Here are a few recipes (masks) which are very beneficial to such types of skin.

Camphor:
Camphor BP has a healing, soothing and tightening effect on the skin. Mix together 1/2 teaspoon oatmeal, 1/2 tea­spoon camphor BP crystals (or three drops of camphor spirit) and 1 teaspoon orange-flower water. Apply and leave on for 15 to 20 minutes and wash off with lukewarm water.

Two drops of camphor spirit when added to a mixture of one tablespoon tomato juice and one teaspoon honey make a strong astringent skin tonic. This tonic should be left on the skin for about 15 minutes.

To improve your skin and cure spots apply the follow­ing home-made skin tonic. Put 1 tabiespoon glycerine, 1/2 tablespoon borax powder, 1 cup distilled water and 3 drops camphor spirit in a large bottle and shake well.

Sulphur:
Make a paste of 1 teaspoon pure sulphur powder, 2 table­spoons Fuller's earth and 1 egg white. Use this mask every day to cure acne. Some people are allergic to sul­phur, so a skin test behind the ear should be conducted before use. If there is no reaction for a few hours, use this mask on the face every day.

Onion:
Mash and sieve the onion, and mix onion juice into paste with 1 tablespoon. Fuller's earth or kaolin and 1 teaspoon of honey. It is good to prevent blemishes and wrinkles.

Garlic:
Beat one egg white, then add to it the following ingredients to make a paste:

1 teaspoon kaolin
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon carrot juice, and
1 clove of garlic

Kelp:
Mix into a paste 1 tablespoon each of kelp and curd. Apply for 15 minutes daily to make skin blemish free.

Plum:
Mash the insides of 6 boiled plums and mix with a teaspoon .of almond oil. This mask is especially good for acne sufferers.

Once you have lines and wrinkles on the face, nothing except plastic surgery can help. Surgery treatment is too costly in our country. Massage, however, can help prevent new lines appearing on the face. Toning up the muscles by massage and by nourishing the skin with skin food bring the blood to the surface.