What Does It Take To Have Beautiful Skin?

While not all of us were fortunate enough to have won the “genetic lottery” there are many, many ways we can improve our skin, and our overall appearance to actually BE more handsome or beautiful.

Most will agree, “beautiful skin” is skin that has few imperfections - no acne, or scars, no dark spots or red blotches. Beautiful skin always seems to glow.

Consumers today are bombarded daily with hundreds of ads and promotions, selling one product or another to give you “beautiful skin,”  but I’m here to tell you - if you don’t have a healthy body, you will never have really beautiful healthy, skin.

After years of suffering from acne, breakouts, redness and rashes and trying every skincare line I could find - I deiced to change my diet and see what would happen. I went on a RADICAL new way of eating healthy and guess what?  It worked!

It was really hard at first, I had to stop eating fast food, junk food, sugar, soda, candy, caffeine….  It took me over 6 months to slowly phase out all the chemicals I was injesting and relace that food with healthy alternative, like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, iced teas, water and fruit juice  - I tried to go as organic and natural as possible as often as I could

Along with the is change in my diet, I did other healthy things for my skin, like taking walks, going to yoga, epsom salt baths, using herbal facial masks and natural skin care lines with no chemicals.

Here are some great ingredients to look for in your natural skincare:

Oatmeal - natural anti-inflammatory and skin softener

Chamomile - a natural anti-inflammatory, reduces redness and inflammation

Rosemary - Natural antibiotic, anti-microbial, astringent (great for acne)

Aloe Vera - natural skin healer, helps repair damaged cells or acne scars

Lavender:  natural anti-microbial and astringent

Marshmallow ( the herb - not the desert)  - helps reduce redness and inflammation

Green Tea - helps repair cellular damage to skin cells

Vitamins - A, C, E - all help repair skin and nourish

After 6 months of my radical new diet and my heral skincare treatments, I was getting shocked expressions from friends sying how radiant and beautiful I looked, they couldn’t believe the change.

So I advice you to give it go - try to limit the junk in your diet and choose healthy alternative, I KNOW you will see beautiful skin in no time.

Five Top Ways to Age Gracefully

The biological make-up of our skin begins to show signs of aging as early as our 20s. Age shows not only on our face, neck and chest but all over. There are many ways to care for your skin and prevent premature aging. Following are five ways that you can age gracefully. These are things you can do in your daily life that will dramatically reduce signs of aging.

• Don’t smoke. If you do smoke, quit. We all know that smoking is bad for us and affects our body negatively. Smoking
  

  smoking causes wrinkles

  contributes to premature aging and many other health problems. The many chemicals in cigarettes influence the skin’s structure and dehydrate the cells, resulting in increased aging.

• Get some sleep. Research has shown that people who sleep regularly seven to eight hours a night are healthier than those who lack sleep or over sleep. Sleeping allows the body to repair cellular damage and recharge. To prevent signs of aging on the face, try sleeping on your back. Sleeping on your stomach or side can damage skin by slowing down circulation and weakening the skin’s elasticity, resulting in wrinkles.
  
• Sunscreen, use it, wear it, and love it. Wear sunscreen everyday-even on cloudy or rainy days, and even if you are just going to be outside a short time. We all know that the sun has harmful affects to the skin. Sun tanning and burning damage the skin, leading to premature aging. Sun exposure over time leads to wrinkles and ugly pigmentation spots. There is no excuse to not wear sunscreen, it comes in all forms and is formulated now to be lightweight and beneficial to the skin as well as giving sun protection.

• Hydrate and Moisturize the skin from the inside and outside. Hydrated skin is healthy and plump, looks moist and shows few wrinkles and lines. As we age our skin loses elasticity; using moisturizers with ingredients such as vitamins and minerals that help repair the skin is the best way to restore elasticity and prevent its break down. Drink lots of water to hydrate the skin internally and use a good moisturizer. Try intense facial moisturizer or zinc repair cream by Vivoderm.

• A healthy lifestyle and healthy diet can dramatically strengthen the skin and prevent premature aging. Fruits, vegetables,
  

  healthy diet and skin

  nuts and other nutrient- rich produce give the body strength to fight and repair damage. If you are good to your body from the inside out, you will have less external maintenance. Part of a healthy life style is getting exercise, so get up and get moving. Fit people also tend have less heath problems. Health problems can lead to premature aging of the skin by showing wrinkles and damage earlier than those people who choose to be healthy.

There is no way to prevent aging - it is inevitable, however there are ways to slow it down. Today there is plastic surgery and amazing skin care products to improve the look and feel of skin. But it’s never too late to prevent further damage so you don’t have to take the drastic measures of plastic surgery or spend tons of money on skin care later in life to have beautiful skin.

By Tiffany Oney

Tiffany Oney is a licensed esthetician, professional makeup artist and natural skincare authority.  She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in Communications Studies California State University, Long Beach and interning with Vivoderm Natural Skincare in Los Angeles, California.