Spring into HEALTHY SKIN
by Kathy Stephens
ow that spring is here and nature is blooming, it’s the perfect time for extra-healthful skin care. Skin stays youthful and healthy with consistent morning and nightly cleansing, using clean, botanical skin-care products.
N Masks are a great way to feed and nourish our skin, the body’s largest
organ. They also help tighten, brighten and hydrate the outer layers of skin tissue. And most masks can be made at home with many fresh fruits and vegetables.
Besides masking, our skin radiates and shines when we are internally happy and harmonious. Now that winter has ended and spring is here, getting outdoors, breathing deeply and walking in the sunshine can lift our spirits, helping us shift away from winter energy. Consider walking to your local farmers’ market to pick up fresh fruits and vegetables for the food on your plate and the skin food for your face. Cucumbers, parsley, apricots, avocado, watercress, berries and fresh herbs, to name a few, along with raw, organic honey, added to organic, whole-milk yogurt can make you feel and look great from the inside out.
Kathy Stephens is a master esthetician who has been working to holistically heal the mind, body, and spirit with organic, handmade botanical products for 28 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. To find out more or to make an appointment, call 510-232-0641.
SPRINGTIME MASK 1 Tbsp organic, whole-milk yogurt 1 tsp raw, organic honey Handful of organic parsley
½ organic cucumber (remove seeds) 2 organic dandelion leaves
Juice from ½ lemon Optional: avocado, whole-leaf aloe vera, papaya
Blend veggies and lemon juice in a food processer or blender, then mix into yogurt and honey.
Cover face and neck with mixture and leave on for 15 to 20 minutes. This mixture makes enough for a few masks and will keep in the refrigerator.
Each day, the average woman uses a dozen products containing 160 chemicals, while men ap- ply about 80 chemicals to their bodies. However, 64 percent of beauty product users say they use at least some “natural” items.
~ Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry, by Stacy Malkan
layer. Natural abrasives include oat- meal and sugar granules, while fruit sugars and fruit acids, from pumpkin, apple or papaya, for example, pro- vide natural chemical peels. Look for products with fruit-derived exfoliates or make your own (Jacknin recommends
Skin-Care-Recipes-and-Remedies.com). Take advantage of professional exfolia- tion and facial treatments by estheti- cians and spas that use professional product lines with plant-based ingredi- ents.
The final step in any skincare rou- tine is sun protection. Wearing essential clothing, including hats, sunglasses and long sleeves, and staying out of the midday sun are dermatologist Dattner’s first choices for protecting skin from rays that can age and damage it. When in the sun, wear a mineral-based sun block such as zinc oxide, which stays on top of the skin, rather than getting absorbed, and forms a physical barrier to both UVA and UVB ultraviolet rays. Also, watch out for nano-minerals; these have been broken into particles small enough to be absorbed by the skin during the manufacturing process, with possibly harmful results, accord- ing to Dattner, Loux and other experts. Unfortunately, the U.S. government does not require that nano-minerals be listed on labels, so consumers must do their own research.
What about makeup? As Loux points out, the skin absorbs 60 percent of what goes on it, and many cosmet-
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