beauty

There are a lot of things you can do for your hair and with your hair to make it more attractive, and more manageable, but it is important to realize from the beginning that you have to work with what you've got. There is no way to change your genetic inheritance, and it is fruitless to worry about it. No woman is ever satisfied with her hair. When it is straight, she wants it curly, and when it is wavy, she wants it straight. The color is either too light, too dark, or too drab, and she either has too much or too little of it. what type are you? Straight hair is often strong and beautiful hair. It can be lank, in which case you should work it with a `stripping' shampoo which will enlarge the shaft of each hair and make it look fuller. If it is lackluster, go for a conditioner to make the scales of the cuticle lie flat and enable hair shafts to reflect light better. Straight hair is often good blunt cut and worn not too long, or tied up in a twist, a braid, or a chignon. Curly hair needs to be carefully cut, for this can make all the difference between its looking fantastic and frizzy. It is best not to impose a particular style on your hair, but rather to go with the natural swing of things. If your hair tends to be wiry, you can correct this by using a softening conditioner. Thin hair must never be allowed to get greasy, for excess of oil on it will only make it look limp and lank. It is usually best to have it cut in a short style, and it is useful to shampoo it often using a shampoo that contains no conditioners, and then use a volumizer - a spray or gel containing polymers which you apply to wet hair before blow-drying. The heat from the dryer swells the polymers that cover the hair shaft, making it look thicker. This will give it bounce and fullness. Blowing it dry helps increase the fullness too. Fine hair is delicate hair, but it is usually beautiful hair, too, like a baby's. Unlike thin hair, which is caused by a paucity of hair shafts, fine hair is made up of hair shafts of small diameter. You have to be particularly careful about what you do to it, because fine hair is the easiest of all hair types to damage from chemical treatments such as coloring or by using shampoos that are too alkaline, or by exposing it to heat or even the sun. Fine hair does well on protein shampoos and needs to be cut superbly and worn short unless you have a great deal of it. Volumizers are useful here, too. Thick hair is a blessing, although few women who have it realize this - particularly if their hair is curly. In this case, you should probably not wear it too short, or it can be unmanageable. Thick hair is the easiest to handle and the toughest. It will withstand chemical treatments and coloring far better than any of the other hair types and may not even need a conditioner at all when it is washed. If it is straight and you decide to have it chemically curled then you should expect the waving process to take at least a third as long again as it usually does, because the hair shaft is big and tough to break down. But the effects can last you as much as a year, where anyone else's will have to be renewed in a few months. hair loss Each day, you can expect to lose between 100 and 200 hairs. So you shouldn't be discouraged when you look down at the pillow in the morning to see a few lying there. This only means that new hairs will quickly be growing. That is, provided your hair is not coming out by the handful. Sometimes, as a result of sudden shock, hormonal change, or illness, large numbers of hairs are lost all at once. Even this is nothing to worry about unduly, so long as whatever triggered the loss is either past (as in the case of childbirth) or being corrected with a relaxation technique and dietary supplements for undue stress or illness. the cut is the thing A good cut is more important than any other single factor when it comes to the way a head of hair looks. Everyone is an individual, and hairstyling that doesn't take this into account is worse than second-rate. Changing your cut or style every year or two keeps you from getting stuck in a time warp and can lift spirits like nothing else short of falling in love. hair cosmetics perms There are two types of perms: acid-based which are soft and used to give a subtle lift at the roots to create an illusion of fullness; and the conventional alkaline perms. Acid or `body' perms don't last as long as the rest and need to be redone every three or four months. They are more natural and soft-looking, adding fullness and swing to hair without heavy curls. caring for processed hair Provided your hair is healthy and you look after it well after a perm, there is no reason to worry about its condition being spoiled by the waving. A perm will add a lot of body to lank hair and can often improve an over-oily condition as well. Once your hair is waved, it is more vulnerable to damage than ever before, so there are a few special precautions you need to take in order to preserve its health and sheen. For instance only use acid-balanced shampoos when you wash your hair, and always apply an acid rinse such as lemon juice in water. Protein treatments are particularly good for permed and colored hair. Also, instead of brushing 50 strokes a day, cut it down to 20. If your hair has been bleached or tinted, it is a good idea only to have an acid wave especially designed for bleached or damaged hair. They don't last so long, but they do ensure that the hair remains in good condition. straightening hair Aside from chemical straightening, there are also some short-term but simple ways to straighten hair. It can be done by blow-drying with a brush to smooth it out or by washing your hair and then wrapping it wet around your head in a circle, like a cap, fastening it with clips and letting it dry. Then, when it is dry, you simply comb it out straighter. You can use hair straighteners, and you could always use the old-fashioned and very efficient method for long, curly hair -  simply ironing it with an electric iron. Spread the hair out on a board, keep the iron on the lowest setting, and go over it gently from roots to ends. But the same applies as for blow drying and using heated rollers - be careful not to put too much heat on your hair. Burnt hair is irretrievably lost. a change of color One of the simplest and most effective ways of changing your appearance is to change the color of your hair. As we get older, the color of hair tends to fade so that a once shimmery golden mane or deep mahogany tresses can become lackluster and dull. Hair coloring these days is effective and reasonably priced and can look even better than most natural hair - provided, of course, it is done correctly. There are two categories of hair colorants: permanent colorants, which cannot be washed out, and the temporary and semipermanent, which can be used to highlight and intensify your own hair color. temporary colorants These are the easiest to use. They coat the cuticle of the hair with color that washes away with the next shampoo. You can get temporary highlighting shampoos and color rinses in a great variety of colors and most of them have a shine-promoting pH, too. But what you can do with them is limited, for while they will darken the hair - say from blonde to red or to black - they are really designed for minor color changes only. If you try to go too many shades away from your natural color, they tend to streak and give uneven coverage and also they cannot make your hair lighter. semipermanents Like the temporaries, they, too, coat the outside of the hair shaft and so are not good for drastically changing hair color. Nor will they lighten. Some of the semi-permanents are `color baths' which penetrate the hair so that they last up to a dozen shampoos. What they are good for is touching up hair that has just started to go gray, highlighting your own natural coloring, and making gray hair look shinier and more attractive without really changing its shade. If you use one, be sure to use a pH-balanced shampoo and a lemon and water rinse afterwards. permanents There are three kinds of permanent hair colorants: vegetable dyes such as henna, metallic dyes such as those used to gradually cover gray hair, and the aniline dyes or oxidation tints, which include most of the colorants used professionally in salons. vegetable dyes Henna will give brunette and black hair a lovely reddish glow.  The darker your hair the more chestnut is the effect. Lighter hair goes Titian. Henna does not do well on mousy hair, as the resulting tone is usually an unattractive orange. It should never be used over a tint, is no good on gray hair, and can be very drying to any hair, so it is better to avoid it if your hair is already dry. The only color of henna you should use is red which in its natural, powder form, is a pale green. The standard way of using henna is to add hot water to make a creamy paste and then put this on the hair and leave it for up to one hour. Daniel Galvin, Britain's top colorist, who is an expert in the use of herbal hair colorings, uses a different method and gets beautiful results. He adds hot black coffee to the powder, mixes it into a paste, and then adds the juice of a fresh lemon and the yolk of an egg. The coffee brings out the depth and richness of the hair color, the acid in the lemon accelerates the reddening, and the egg yolk keeps the mixture moist and easy to maneuver through the hair. Sometimes he also adds some 10 per cent peroxide to lighten the whole effect. Chamomile, another herbal colorant, has a gentle lightening effect on hair and is wonderful for `sun-streaking' blonde and light brown hair. But you must be patient, for it takes several applications and plenty of time to work. It is not useful for brown hair or dark hair, but it will gently lighten red and works beautifully on all shades of natural blonde. The herb also adds shine to the hair. You can make a chamomile rinse to use after each shampoo (as the last rinse) by taking 2 tablespoons of dried chamomile flowers and tossing them into a pint of boiling water. Simmer for fifteen minutes, strain, cool and use as a final rinse (you can make enough for several rinses and refrigerate it for up to ten days). You leave the rinse in your hair and towel it dry. metallic dyes These are often called color restorers. They deposit metallic dyes and salts of various metals such as manganese, cobalt, silver, and copper on your hair shaft, which gradually darken the hair. But hair dyed this way does not perm well, nor is its condition very good, as this kind of dye tends to make the hair look a dull, flat color. Metallic dyes have to be removed completely, with the use of a special preparation, several days before waving or tinting with a permanent colorant. Because of their many disadvantages, I think they are best avoided. THE ANILINE OR OXIDATION COLORANTS The most permanent (and the most successful), these dyes are included in a number of products for coloring hair such as tinting shampoos, highlighting shampoos, and the single-step and double-step permanent colorants you can buy in packages at the chemist. They are permanent dyes, because the artificial pigment is made to penetrate into the cortex of the hair shaft. There it stays. How this happens is most interesting. Tiny molecules of colorless dye are mixed with a "developer" such as hydrogen peroxide and then put on the hair. The hydrogen peroxide opens up the imbrications of the cuticle, and the molecules enter through them into the cortex. Once inside, they react with the oxygen from the peroxide (a very unstable substance), which spurs the molecules of the dye to oxidize and combine, forming larger molecules. In the process, these new and larger molecules develop the desired color, but they have now become so large that they can no longer pass through the cuticle, so they get stuck on the inside. There are more than 50,000 aniline dyes, each different in shade, thanks to slight changes in arrangements of their molecules. They are potent and effective. They are also potential allergens, since about one woman in ten cannot tolerate an aniline dye without reacting adversely to it. This is why it is important, whenever using a permanent colorant on your hair either at home or at the hairdresser, that a patch test be done first. The anilines can even cause blindness, so they should never be used to tint eyelashes or eyebrows. If you have your hair dyed with an aniline dye, you must wait at least a week before having it permanent-waved or straightened, and you must use a pH-balanced shampoo and conditioner every time you wash it. One of the advantages of the anilines is that tinting limp, straight hair can often make it more manageable, since the peroxide in the dye disturbs the cuticle just enough to give the hair some body and eliminate its lankness. In this category of hair colorant you will find shampoo tints and highlight shampoos, which can be used at home to cover gray if there is too much of it, to lighten hair a couple of shades, to add depth, or to highlight hair that is drab and dull. You put the products on as you would an ordinary shampoo and then leave them in the hair for a few minutes while the peroxide and dye does its work, and then rinse off. They are simple to use. The single and double-step tints also fall into this category. They are the dyes most frequently used by hairdressers. If you want to change the color of your hair dramatically, you should have it done professionally. There is quite an art to color mixing and application (I know women who literally fly 5,000 miles to have their color done by someone who is a real master at it). Although there are some excellent products available for home use, if it were my hair, I would still shun them and head for a salon that specializes in color. The single-step tints are a mixture of aniline dyes, peroxide, and ammonia in an oil base. They are applied carefully to sectioned hair, starting an inch or so away from the roots to the end. The hair is left to sit for a few minutes and then the root area is done. The hair is rested for another half hour or so. These dyes can change the color of your hair to almost any other color, but they are not successful in changing very dark shades to blonde. For that, you need a two-step tint, which bleaches out the existing pigment in the hair shafts in the first step and then adds dye separately in the second. All aniline dyes and bleaching procedures have to be touched up often as the roots grow out, particularly if you change the color drastically from your normal hair shade. They also cause considerable damage to the hair shaft. If you have your hair tinted with them; you must look after it using a pH-balanced shampoo and conditioner and having a protein treatment every couple of weeks. HIGHLIGHTS One of the best and most easily manageable ways of changing your hair color is to have it highlighted or lowlighted. This involves the same procedures as the single-and double-step tinting, but instead of being done all over your head, they are done only on some strands or areas. Highlighting and lowlighting are particularly useful for older hair that has darkened or faded. Highlights can bring new life to a head of hair by lightening some of the strands, but they create no harsh lines between the tinted and natural hair at the scalp, as total dyeing does. Lowlights add a color slightly darker to some strands. They are done just as highlights are by wrapping strands of hair in foil-covered bunches, letting the color develop and then being washed out. Both highlights and lowlights look natural and as they leave no hard-edged margins at the roots so they only need to be redone three or four times a year. This means that you don't need touchups more frequently than every two or three months. There are an enormous number of techniques used in highlighting. Some of the most interesting involve three or more colors put into the hair to give a remarkably natural look. SPECIAL CARE FOR BLEACHED OR TINTED HAIR The golden rule for processed hair is to stay out of the sun. The sun does harm in two ways: It dries out the hair, and it alters the color. Keratin needs water to stay soft and flexible. When too much water is lost as a result of sun or of using heated rollers or of blow-drying too often, then its fibres crack and split and the hair becomes so dry and brittle that it breaks off. It also loses its shine. Sunlight does strange things to hair color by oxidising it. It can turn it greenish or very brassy, or simply make the tint go flat and gray. If you are going into the sun and your hair is bleached or tinted, wear a hat or a towel wrapped around it. Even virgin - that is, untreated - hair needs protection from sunlight. You can use one of the sunscreen products especially made for hair or simply rub in some of the high-protection suntan lotion you use on your body shampooing it out at the end of the day. WHAT ABOUT CANCER RISKS? There is some indication that about 1 percent of the chemical hair dyes used on hair will penetrate through the skin and be absorbed into the bloodstream. The question is, what damage will they do? Professor Bruce Ames, at the University of California, has tested 169 hair dyes on bacterial cells to find out if they cause mutations to the cells. Of these, 89 percent were found to be mutagenic. Although all carcinogens (cancer-causing substances) are mutagenic, not all mutagens are carcinogens, nor do we know if the same results will occur on human cells. The people most at risk from exposure to hair tints are those hair colorists in salons who use them daily without wearing gloves (something you should never do). It is unlikely that cancer risks are very great for the average woman who has her hair tinted. If you are uneasy about it, use one of the semipermanents or herbal dyes instead.

Ask Any Cat Talk to a vet about the poor condition of your pet's coat and you will get the same answer - change his diet or give him supplemental vitamins and minerals, or both. They know well that the strength, gloss and beauty of an animal's coat depend on how close his diet comes to providing, not just adequate, but optimal quantities of essential nutrients. It has taken until quite recently for trichologists and doctors to realize that a similar approach to the treatment of human hair can yield the same remarkable improvements. They've started asking, for instance, `What might be done to stop the kind of changes that happen to hair as the body ages?' And they have begun to formulate nutritional approaches to a lot of other annoying hair problems such as dry brittle hair and dandruff. The Magic Foods for Hair Two foods are of enormous help to hair in protecting it from age-related changes: liver and sea vegetables. Liver is rich in vitamin A - essential for healthy skin and for the proper functioning of the scalp's sebaceous glands. It also contains a good quantity of many of the B-complex vitamins which help guard your hair from premature loss of color and preserve its sheen and strength plus many of the essential minerals which are needed to maintain a full shining head of hair. Sea vegetables - seaweed of all varieties - are the single most potent strengthener of hair (and incidentally nails) you can find in nature. They are veritable treasure houses of essential minerals, including organic iodine as well as the B vitamins, and vitamins D, E and K. You can buy many kinds of dried seaweed to use in vegetable dishes, soups and curries. You can't find a better helper for hair anywhere. Alternatively you can buy kelp tablets to take with each meal. If you opt for the tablets it is important to take enough, since they are not drugs or even concentrated pills, but simply a dried vegetable product. Most people find that 4-6 300 mg tablets with each meal brings enormous benefits to the look and strength of hair within six to twelve weeks. Like all nutritionally based approaches to good looks, kelp tablets take time to work their wonders. Remember it may have taken years for a body to become depleted in essential minerals which shows itself in poor hair condition, a few weeks to restore it to a healthy balance is not long to wait. Cysteine for Hair Protein Hair is 97 percent protein which your body makes out of amino acids, eight of which are essential - they must come from the foods you eat. One of these amino-acids - cysteine - is of particular importance to hair. It can be made in the body from another amino acid - methionine. But this conversion takes two vitamins - folic acid and B12 - both of which are not always in good supply, particularly among people who have lived on the typical western fare. Some dermatologists and nutritionists find that giving the single amino-acid cysteine in its free form (that is not part of a long chain protein molecule) to people that have thin hair or hair in poor condition can make it strong and thicker and more lustrous within a few weeks. Cysteine occurs naturally in good supply in eggs. In supplementary form it should always be taken with vitamin C in a ratio of one part cysteine to at least three times as much vitamin C. Stress and Hair Loss Alopecia areata marked by circular bald or thinning spots on the head of women and men can be the result of acute extreme stress. It is said to be particularly common in women who have trouble expressing anger and who have a tendency to depression. It can be treated internally by a diet high in the anti-stress vitamins, vitamin C and the B-complex vitamins, and by learning a technique for deep relaxation and practicing it regularly. Externally it is treated by rubbing phenol, minoxidil or dinitrechlorobenzene (DTB) on the scalp. Other causes of hair loss include a hyperactive or sluggish thyroid, infection with a high fever, surgery, anemia, iron deficiency, crash dieting and excessive massive doses of vitamin A.

Theoretically, having beautiful skin is simple. Take one part clear young skin, add the forty or so known nutrients from fresh foods eaten as much as possible in their natural state, and mix together with exercise for overall tone and proper breathing for good oxygenation of cells. Put in a dose of fresh air and a pinch of stimulation now and then. Stir well and you've got a recipe that will last for years. That's the theory. In practice, however, things can go wrong: an early wrinkle, acne, dryness, roughness - that's when you need help from special cosmetics, vitamins, and treatments. when skin dries out the cause Dried-out skin usually comes from under-active sebaceous glands, which don't produce enough of this important oily fluid to lubricate the skin and protect it from excessive water loss. It can also be the result of being exposed to excessively drying weather conditions, central heating, or air conditioning. Another, rarer, cause is being on a diet too low in essential fatty acids, such as a fat-free slimming regimen. Excessive dryness of the skin also occurs in people who, unknown to themselves, are suffering from deficiencies of vitamin A or C or any one of several of the B-complex group. prevention and cure Use a water-in-oil emulsion on your face night and day to protect against excessive water loss, by trapping the water in the outer layer of the skin and preventing it from being given up into the atmosphere. Ensure that you get enough essential fatty acids in your diet by using olive oil in your salad dressings and cutting out convenience foods full of junk fats. Consider taking supplements of vitamins A and D in the form of fish liver oil, or drinking fresh carrot juice a couple of times a day and taking some EPA and DHA in supplement form along with GLA. Try putting GLA in the form of borage oil or evening primrose oil directly on the skin too. You need to leave the oil on the skin for only fifteen minutes; then you can remove the excess with a tissue. Vitamin E taken internally and rubbed on the skin from capsules is often helpful too. Other helpful things include a humidifier, weekly steaming of the skin followed by an oil massage, and mineral water sprayed from an atomizer before applying your moisturizer or treatment products. Don't wash your skin with soap. Don't use any skin product containing alcohol. Use a mask for dry skin. Use aromatherapy oils you mix yourself to contain the essences most useful for dry skin, such as geranium, chamomile, rose, sandalwood, lavender, and ylang-ylang. Always choose an oil-based makeup foundation. the oil crisis Oily skin, or seborrhea, is the result of overactive sebaceous glands: it usually occurs due to a hormonal imbalance in the body. Occasionally a diet too high in fats and fried foods or refined sugar can contribute to the condition, as can too much stimulation of the sebaceous glands by heat, the sun, or skin-care products. Studies show that people on diets slightly deficient in some of the B group of vitamins rapidly develop whiteheads, blackheads, and oily hair and skin. prevention and cure Treatment for seborrhea has changed in recent years. Dermatologists used to think the way to deal with the condition was literally to dry out the skin. Dermatologists now realize that oily skin is not the tough and robust stuff they once thought it was. They have found that the use of drying agents in cosmetic products in most cases only treats the problem temporarily by removing excess oil at the expense of worsening the condition in the long run. Attempts to cover it up and to cover up acne with heavy, drying makeup are generally unsuccessful too. The new approach is different, but it may take time for you to get used to it if you are still thinking in the old way. Instead of using harsh products on your skin, buy a mild, lotion cleanser without any drying agent for cleansing and removing makeup. It should be an oil itself or an oil-in-water emulsion. Rub it on gently with clean hands, then wipe it off completely with tissues before rinsing with fresh, cool water. It is important to remove it all. You don't need a tonic or a freshener, but if you want one, make sure it contains no alcohol (alcohol is also a drier). During the day, wear a water-in-oil moisturizer and forget the heavy foundation. Instead, as soon as the moisturizer has had a chance to set, powder your face with double the amount of powder you would usually use, dust off the excess, then spray the face with a fine mist of water (preferably spring water from an atomiser, but you can use ordinary water in a spray bottle so long as the spray is very fine). Now blot with a tissue and then powder again. This will keep your skin looking fresh and matte as well as calming the flow of oil from trigger-happy glands. It will also help gradually to shrink the size of your pores. Then, throughout the day, every three or four hours or whenever necessary, you can repowder, and you'll never end up with the ugly, cakey mess oily-skinned women usually get. Also, stay out of the sun. Sunbathing may dry your skin for a while, but when indoors weather comes you will find you're faced with the results of the same situation: over-stimulation of the sebaceous glands by ultraviolet light, which results in all the problems you have been trying to get rid of. From a nutritional point of view, if your skin is too oily, don't eat fatty foods or fried foods and do eat plenty of raw green vegetables and B-complex vitamins from wholegrain breads and cereals, and liver. The B vitamins (particularly B6, niacin, and B2) in these foods are vital in the treatment of excessively oily skin and the acne that often accompanies it. Vitamin A and beta-carotene can also be useful in treating skin that is too oily. It can be taken together with vitamin D as fish liver oil, or in higher doses on its own as well. Vitamin C, potassium, and calcium have also been reported helpful. ultrasensitive and allergic skin the causes The word allergy means `altered response' in Greek. If you are allergic to something, this means that your body has come into contact with it and instead of reacting normally to it or not at all, it has reacted with hostility, resulting in raised, red, itchy splotches on the skin. An acute reaction occurs within seconds or minutes after coming in contact with the allergen. You can inhale it, say in the form of a hair spray, or you can take it in through your skin as a face cream or a makeup product. There are also delayed reactions, which come about only after a few hours or even days after coming into contact with the allergen. prevention and cure Apart from nutritional therapy to strengthen the whole organism against allergic reactions, the only effective way to deal with skin sensitivities is to be careful about what you put on your face. Get to know the hypoallergenic cosmetics - skin-care and makeup products made without known irritants. Most are inexpensive yet very good and specially formulated with ingredients that have little likelihood of causing problems. The prefix `hypo' means `less'. Hypoallergenic products are designed to be less reaction-producing than other cosmetics. They are fragrance-free and leave out such common troublemakers as aluminum salts, wool fat, and phenol. For immediate relief, skin inflammation usually responds well to calamine lotion, simple witch hazel, and some poultices made with herbs such as calendula. One of the best to use is comfrey, whose very name denotes healing in Latin. It contains the natural anti-inflammatory substance allantoin, which is often used in skin ointments. Make a comfrey compress by pouring half a cup of boiling water over half a cup of the dried herb. Let it cool to a bearable temperature, near body heat, then put the wet herb on the face. Cover with gauze and lie down for fifteen minutes while it cools. This kind of compress will also reduce the pain and swelling over a bruise or a pulled muscle, as well as calm inflamed skin. when acne strikes the cause Although it is more common among teenagers than among any other age group, acne, an infection of the sebaceous glands, can occur at any time in life. It shows up as blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, and pustules that occur on the face and neck, back and chest. The cause of acne is still not completely understood, and the recommended treatment tends to vary. Many people with acne are victims of a food sensitivity or allergy - the most common allergens being wheat, milk, or preservatives and colorings. And when the elimination of waste via the alimentary canal is inadequate, often wastes are eliminated through the skin. Finally, stress and emotional upset are often implicated. prevention and cure Look to your diet first. Eliminate sweets, sugared soft drinks, and fatty foods such as nuts and fried foods. A diet in which at least 50 per cent of your foods are eaten raw often does wonders for even long-term acne, provided it is used in conjunction with the proper external care and vitamin and mineral supplements where necessary. It is essential to keep the skin clean, removing dirt and excess oil or waxy sebum regularly, using gentle, pH-balanced soaps or detergent cleansers. Skin should be washed in warm water at least twice a day and steamed twice a week to encourage the release of waste matter. Of course your hands should be immaculate so as not to encourage further infection. Topical agents are often helpful. Retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A acid (available only by prescription) applied to the skin is one of the commonly used and generally effective treatments for acne. Sometimes dermatologists use the antibiotic tetracycline, usually administered in doses of 250mg twice a day. In many cases this has dramatically reduced the acne, but there are disadvantages to antibiotic treatment, too. Because of the stress aspects of acne, both regular exercise and meditation or deep relaxation can be helpful too. stretch marks the cause Stretch marks occur frequently on the abdomen and breasts of pregnant women and on the thighs, hips and buttocks of women who have been overweight - particularly women who are deficient in zinc, vitamin B6, or both. A sudden increase in weight or volume of an area of the body or the swelling of breasts and abdomen in pregnancy results in these unsightly lines, which are difficult to eliminate. prevention and cure Ensure that you get adequate zinc, silica and vitamin B6 in your diet - if necessary by supplementing it. Women who are on the Pill are particularly susceptible to deficiencies of these two nutrients. If you gain weight or become pregnant, treat your skin from outside with preventative measures by rubbing on an aromatherapy oil for your skin type twice a day or by the use of cocoa butter. There is supposed to be no cure for stretch marks once they are formed, for the consistency of the skin itself in that area has changed to resemble scar tissue and therefore remains permanently disfigured. What I have seen is that old stretch marks improve greatly with aromatherapy treatment and connective-tissue massage, which appears to bring life back into the tissue by increasing circulation in the area. But while I have seen them fade greatly - enough for the woman to wear a bikini again without fear of looking ugly - I have never known them to disappear completely. blackheads, whiteheads, and pimples the causes A blackhead consists of a solid plug of oil that clogs the pore and then blackens due to oxidation on exposure to the air. If it is left alone it will simply stay there in the skin. Blackheads do not cure themselves. A whitehead looks like a tiny white lump on the skin. Once formed, it will remain unless the chemistry of the oil follicle changes, in which case the whitehead turns into a pimple. prevention and cure Blackheads on oily areas of the face (such as around the nose and chin) that are not inflamed can be removed easily by first steaming the skin to open the pores and loosen the oil material. Then gently, with scrupulously clean hands and the tips of your fingers wrapped in facial tissue, you can ease out the plugs. Never use your nails. Finish off the treatment with the application of an antiseptic cream. If you have many whiteheads it is best to follow nutritional and treatment advice for oily skin. The elimination of a dormant whitehead can only be done by a professional. Besides care in keeping skin clean and nutritional prevention of excessively oily skin, little should be done with a pimple other than to allow it to take its course. don't let age get under your skin Nothing betrays age like the state of your skin. When you are young, it is thick, glowing, soft and elastic. As the years go by, a number of changes take place. To slow down this process and to keep a young healthy skin as long as possible you have first to retain a young, healthy body. This is a total, ongoing process depending on good nutrition, stress control, exercise, and protection from the environment. There aren't any shortcuts. But the good news is this: these skin aging changes appear to be not so dependent on the passage of time as they were once believed to be. There is much, therefore, you can do to retard them. to tan or not to tan A tan is a protective reaction. It results from the formation of melanin, the skin's natural pigmentation produced by special cells whose action is triggered by exposure to ultraviolet rays. Every woman has a unique capacity for melanin production, depending on her genetic inheritance. Dark, thick, Mediterranean skins produce more melanin. This is why they will turn a darker brown than the `English rose' skin, which produces far less. There are some important things to remember about tanning and how to protect your skin from aging and cancers: There is no way to get a safe tan. Never use a sunbed.  They filter out UVB burning rays but let the UVA in deep.  They are automatic aging machines. SPF numbers don't tell you about UVA protection from wrinkling and aging.  Most only deal with UVB protection against burning. For the safest protection from aging and burning read labels.  Shun chemical sunscreens in favor of physical sunblocks - products based on micro minerals such as titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, which do not absorb the sun's rays or react with your skin. Apply a sunblock a quarter of an hour before going out into the sun. Water resistant products are not what they seem.  Their effectiveness is compromised by sweat and swimming.  Reapply them often. If you are using or have used any kind of AHAs, Retin-A/Renova or any other pharmaceuticals on your face, wear a hat which shades your face as well as a physical sunblock and don't spent a lot of time outdoors. Never get sunburnt.  The damage it causes continues to get worse for 24 hours after the initial burn appears, and when severe it can last a lifetime. Think twice before taking oral contraceptives or HRT.  Use of these hormone-based drugs is correlated with a three times greater risk of melanomas in women under 40.  they make you prone to irregular pigmentation - age spots- as well. Take a tip from the Arabs, who know a lot about sun protection.  Cover your body well when you plan to spend long hours outdoors.  Always wear a hat. Use one of the excellent new non-reactive, mineral-based makeup products on your face (such as Jane Iredale) which lasts all day, looks natural, covers your skin and reflects UV rays for extra protection. forget the cigarettes Smoking also makes skin age rapidly. This is probably because of a substance called benzopyrene, which is found in cigarette smoke and which uses up the body's supply of vitamin C rapidly, making it unavailable for the support of healthy collagen. So the skin wrinkles earlier. The skin of smokers wrinkles and ages up to twenty years sooner than that of nonsmokers. But the problem with cigarette smoke doesn't end there. For it is not only the smoker whose skin can suffer from it. So can the nonsmoker's. She may take in considerable quantities of benzopyrene, tar, carbon monoxide, and other irritating substances just by being in a room with others who are smoking. Some dermatologists concerned about the dangerous effects of cigarette smoke on skin recommend that every smoker supplement her diet with additional vitamin C at a rate of 25mg for each cigarette she smokes. But if you are serious about preventing aging, give up smoking altogether - no matter how difficult it seems, and no matter how many excuses you can make for yourself about why you think you can't just now.

Some of the simplest techniques for supporting your body’s elimination processes also happen to feel wonderful and can bring delicious relaxation in their wake. Your body is working hard to get rid of all that stored waste, so treat it gently and give it some attention. Your mind will benefit too. Your two day apple fast is a not to be passed-up opportunity for some bodily indulgence of the first order. Skin brushing is now frequently recommended by health practitioners and has a long history for health and healing in the annals of European natural treatments. It is a particularly helpful technique to use during a detox, and can do wonders for your skin used daily afterwards. Skin brushing acts both superficially to draw out wastes from the skin, and deeply by boosting lymphatic drainage (more of this later) and helping to break down congestion in areas where the lymph flow has become sluggish and toxins have collected. It improves the look of skin, helps eliminate cellulite, and tones the whole body. It is an extraordinarily gentle yet powerful technique, and it feels wonderful. Using a natural bristle brush, preferably one with vegetable bristles and a long handle (available from pharmacies, natural beauty shops and health-food stores), go over the surface of your body once with long sweeping motions. Brush across the tips of your shoulders and upper back, then down over the neck and shoulders and down the arms and over the hands – always working in a downwards direction and covering the surface of the skin once. Now brush down over the trunk and tummy and down the back until you’ve covered every inch of your upper body. Then, beginning at the feet, brush upwards in the same long sweeping motions up the legs, front and back, and up over the buttocks. Do this slowly and enjoy the feeling of having the skin of your whole body gently exfoliated. Always brush your skin with a dry brush and never brush your face. How much pressure you put behind the brush should depend on how strong your skin is, your age, and how much stimulation it is used to. Go easy to begin with. Your skin will soon become fitter and then you will be able to work far more vigorously. But you should never go too hard too quickly or you risk being counter productive and will miss out on the benefits of steadily increasing skin firmness and fitness. Skin brushing encourages better circulation, brings energy into ‘deadened’ areas of flesh, smooths and softens skin, and encourages better lymphatic drainage. You are also sloughing off dead skin cells with the brush, so encouraging new cells to come to the surface and make the skin of your whole body glow. detox test Being your body’s largest organ and one of the most important for elimination (almost a third of your body’s wastes can be eliminated through the skin), skin that is brushed regularly yields up the most amazing quantity of rubbish. You can check for yourself just how dramatic is the skin’s elimination of wastes by performing a practical experiment with the help of a flannel. Every day before your bath or shower, brush your skin all over for three to five minutes. Then take a damp flannel and rub it all over your freshly brushed body. Hang the flannel up and repeat the process with the same flannel the next day. After a few days, the smell of the flannel will be quite revolting thanks to the quantity of waste products that have come directly through the skin’s surface. Just think how much better off you are without them.

Clay is a pelloid—from the Greek word pellos, meaning mud. The pelloids are a class of earth substances derived from magma deposits. Amongst natural materials, they are unequalled for their therapeutic and health-promoting properties. In Europe they have been used for generations to treat skin, to heal pain and deep cleanse the body by drawing wastes through the skin's surface. Some pelloids are taken internally in small quantities to clear the body of heavy metals and toxic wastes. In short, these substances found in nature are not only some of the most useful tools for bringing great radiance to body, mind and spirit. They can also be some of the most inexpensive yet powerful treats and treatments on the planet. ANCIENT HEALING POWER Pelloids are formed by the earth through biological and geological processes over long periods of time—at least 20,000 years. They are made up of both organic and inorganic elements. The ‘mostly-organic' pelloids include the sapropelic bituminous muds, and the moor or turf pelloids from places like Techirghiol Lake near the Black Sea, or Neydharting Moor in Austria. These pelloids form the basis of some of the best natural treatments in the world for arthritis, rheumatism, and gout. They are also wonderful for athletic aches and pains, as well as for eliminating stiffness from creaky bodies. TRANSDERMAL TREATS & TREATMENTS Moor Bath treatments are ideal for any rejuvenation program. Use them consecutively for 7 to 21 nights just before bed. Here's how: Immerse yourself for 15-30 minutes in a tepid bath to which 2/3 of a teacup of Moor Bath has been added. Top up with hot water when necessary. Afterwards, don't dry yourself as you normally would. Instead, pat yourself down gently and go right to bed. Should you get any of the residue from the bath on your sheets, don't worry; it easily washes out. European scientists at the Institute of Balenology in Bucharest, and at other centers in Europe and Russia, have studied the actions of pelloids using biochemical, histochemical and clinical methods. Examining the properties of the aqueous phase of moor and turf pelloids, they have discovered that these liquids stimulate oxygenation of cells and enzymatic activities in the body. They are able to boost endocrine system functions without interfering with the balance between different glands, and they dramatically improve overall circulation. Used in a bath or directly on the skin, such pelloid extracts penetrate the skin. Adding them to your bath after a hard game of squash or a long work week in which stress levels have been high can both calm you and regenerate your vitality, while they improve the look and feel of skin all over. VOLCANIC DETOXIFICATION The best known pelloids are those which contain mostly inorganic elements—the clays. Therapy using clay, both internally and externally, has a long history. The Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans used these earth treatments internally to improve health, and externally to treat athletic aches and sprains, and to make skin and hair look and feel more beautiful. Ancient physicians including the Arab Avicena, Galen the Greek anatomist, and Paracelsus all prescribed clay internally to clear their patients' ailments. During the First World War, every Russian soldier was issued 200 grams of clay in his food rations. The French had it added to their mustard knowing that it helps protect the body from amoebic dysentery, which was then so widespread. Great German naturopaths such as Adolph Just used clay to make poultices for wound healing. The practice of using specific clays internally as a means of detoxifying the body and increasing natural energy levels is very much alive amongst doctors who shun drugs in favor of more effective natural treatments. Clay comes in many varieties—from kaolin, the pure white powdery stuff that goes into cosmetic products—to the heavy black clay used in the Middle East to treat wounds and bruises. Each has specific qualities and is best for particular purposes. Together they have a number of remarkable things in common. All clays contain a wide range of minerals and trace elements such as silica, magnesium, titanium, iron, calcium, potassium, manganese, and chromium. These minerals and trace elements are important in the dynamic healing and cleansing actions clays can exert on the body. Clays carry a negative electrical attraction for particles which are positively charged. This is one of the main reasons why it is so good at cleansing both the skin's surface as well as the digestive tract. MEET BENTONITE Bentonite, the medicinal powdered clay also known as montmorillonite, comes from deposits of ancient volcanic ash. Used internally, it absorbs heavy metals, pesticides, and other poisons, carrying them out of the body like a sponge. It is the electrical aspect to bentonite that gives it the ability to bind and absorb toxins. The clay’s minerals are negatively charged while toxins are primarily positively charged. Bentonite is made up of an enormous number of tiny platelets, with negative electrical charges on their flat surfaces and positive charges at the edges. So, when combined with water, the clay works on waste products the way a magnet, does when exposed to metal shavings. Bentonite has an enormous surface area to volume ratio. A single liter bottle offers a total surface area of an amazing 960 square meters. Clays which the Europeans and Americans use for internal cleansing are mixed with water, often the night before, then taken by mouth on an empty stomach—usually one teaspoonful in half a glass of water—once to three times a day. These clays are very fine. They are able to pick up many times their weight in positively-charged particles. In Europe, fine green clay is most often used internally in this way. In America and Britain, it is usually bentonite. The greater the surface area, the higher a clay's capacity for picking up positively-charged wastes. Ramond Dextreit, a French expert in the use of clay, claims that the purifying capacities of the green clay he uses are not limited to its actions on the digestive system. He insists that, used in this way, the clay is even able to absorb impurities suspended in the body’s fluids, like blood and lymph as well, and eliminate them. EXPLORING CLAY HEALING If you have not before used these internal clays, it’s best to start with one rounded teaspoon daily, mixed with a small amount of pure water. Observe the results for a few days, then gradually increase the dosage to no more than three teaspoons a day, in divided doses. Drinking clay can be an annual spring cleaning of your gastrointestinal tract or it can be a symptom-focused, self-care method. It’s a real boost to radiance on just about every level. Here are some of the best and purest products: Yerba Prima, Great Plains, Bentonite, Detox Great Plains Bentonite is specially formulated to provide the maximum benefits of bentonite. Great Plains is a mineral source dietary supplement that traps and binds unwanted, non-nutritive substances such as herbicides and other potentially harmful substances so that they do not remain in the body. Buy Yerba Prima, Great Plains, Bentonite, Detox Now Foods, Solutions, European Clay Powder For oily skin, mix 1 tablespoon of NOW European Clay with one teaspoon of water. For dry skin, add a few drops of NOW Jojoba Oil and/or NOW Lavender Essential Oil to the mix prior to applying. Thoroughly cover the face and neck avoiding sensitive areas and the eyes, allow to set for 15-20 minutes, rinse off and apply moisturizer. Buy Now Foods, Solutions, European Clay Powder Neydharting Moor Body Bath This can be hard to come by in Britain at the moment but it is well worth the search. In the US you can order it from Amazon.com: Neydharting Moor Nature's Code, Skin. Health. Life. Body Bath, 32 Oz Buy Neydharting Moor Body Bath

Beautiful skin vibrates with energy. All twenty-one square feet of it. Skin is not only your largest organ. It is a multi-dimensional interactive system of information, molecules, energy, cells, and genetic messages determined by the health of your body. In fact our skin is completely dependent on the body’s living matrix for its radiance. Learn to feed it well and your living matrix will function at a high level of order. Your skin becomes regenerated and rejuvenated no matter what’s your age. Who ever said it’s not possible to turn back time? THE BIG THREE There are three little-known nutraceuticals to turn to when your skin needs extra help. They represent a magnum force against aging, wrinkles and skin problems. They form the core of a wide-based anti-aging, anti-inflammatory antioxidant army, working to protect the integrity of the living matrix. The big three work wonderfully together. They also work well when taken with the more common antioxidants from alpha-lipoic acid, grape seed extract and Co-enzyme Q10 to vitamin C and zinc. TAKE SULFUR Sulfur is the third largest elemental component of your body. The hottest item in offices of savvy plastic surgeons these days is a unique form of sulfur known as MSM—methyl-sulfonyl-methane. At the top of the list for extra support, MSM is a superb free radical scavenger. It neutralizes free radical molecules that damage skin. Found in every tissue of your body, MSM concentrations diminish with age. So they need to be supported by the right kind of diet and supplements after the age of 25. MSM is also found in rainwater, the sea, and all living organisms. It exists in especially high concentrations in raw vegetables, fruits, and sea foods. Even the cocoa plant from which chocolate is made is a good source. But, unless your diet is composed primarily of raw foods, it is highly unlikely that you are getting enough MSM for optimal health and beautiful skin. The crème de la crème source of sulfur for the human body, MSM slows the loss of collagen, stabilizes connective tissues, and helps clear toxic buildup both on a cellular level and in the body as a whole. MSM is light years ahead of other forms of sulfur. It is completely safe as well as highly effective. Even people who are “allergic” to sulfur-drugs and sulfite-based food additives thrive on it. GREAT NAILS AND HAIR Sulfur is the most beautifying of all the elements. Even the curliness of hair depends on it. It regulates the sodium/potassium balance, bringing in nutrients and oxygen to cells and neutralizing wastes. Every time your body clears destructive chemicals, it uses sulfur to do this. MSM provides elasticity and healing repair to skin tissues. It can even alter cross linkages, smoothing out scars. It is not only useful as an internal supplement essential for beauty. As a prime free radical scavenger, this form of physiological sulfur also helps rid the body of allergies. It even helps protect the lining of the digestive tract from parasites and pathogens. This is most important for skin, since when leaky gut or dysbiosis occurs in the digestive tract, our skin suffers. If you have a tendency to acne, you can break out. If your skin tends to be dry, this can make it drier and give the face a colorless, lifeless look. Sulfur is also essential for strong cartilage, for bones, and to build keratin—the fibrous protein out of which your hair and nails are made—as well as for virtually every function of the skin. With extra MSM, your nails grow faster and stronger. Your hair gets thicker and shinier. A good dose of MSM is 2000 milligrams (2 grams) for each 60 kilos of weight a day. Start with 500 mg per 60 kilos of weight and work up. Use together with half that amount of vitamin C (so if you take 2 grams of MSM take 1 gram of vitamin C). POWER FOR LONGEVITY The second master nutraceutical for skin is carnosine. Carnosine is not to be confused with the amino acid L-carnitine which transports fatty acids into the mitochondria of cells so they can be turned into ATP. Carnosine is a dipeptide—a two-part protein—made out of the amino acids beta-alanine and L-histidine. Like MSM, it is a natural metabolite in your body as well as a powerful antioxidant. It occurs in particularly high concentration in long-lived cells like nerves and muscles. Carnosine levels also decline as our bodies age. In muscles, its concentration falls by more than 60 percent between the age of 10 and 70. Carnosine both rejuvenates old cells and extends the functional life of skin’s building blocks—DNA—as well as its lipids and proteins. As such, it is identified as an “agent of longevity”. This amazing dipeptide also clears toxicity. When chromosomes are exposed to high levels of oxygen, carnosine is the only antioxidant known to protect them from oxidative damage. It rejuvenates connective tissue and speeds wound healing. Carnosine may eventually prove to be an important key to dissolving AGEs and destructive cross-linking of collagen after it has occurred, but it is too soon to tell for sure. THE CARNOSINE PARADOX Carnosine addresses the great paradox of life—the fact that the elements which support life—glucose, lipids, oxygen proteins and trace elements—also destroy it. This nutraceutical binds toxic metals so your body is able to eliminate them safely. Carnosine both supports life and protects from its destruction. It guards cells and protein tissues from oxidation damage. It prevents glycosylation—the process that produces AGEs to build up leading to collagen cross-linking, wrinkles and sags. Research studies in Australia confirm that carnosine increases the longevity of fibroblasts—the skin cells responsible for producing collagen. It also extends the Hayflick limit—the maximum number of times a cell can divide before dying—by a remarkable 20 percent. Because of its ability to repair protein tissue, Russians use carnosine, with great success, in a special form called N-alpha acetylcarnosine—or NAC—in eye drops to eradicate cataracts. It improves your overall skin condition and is able to treat tough leathery skin as well as help prevent many age signs on the face. Used as an oral nutraceutical, the recommended dose is 50 to 200mg of carnosine a day taken on an empty stomach. In the case of carnosine, more is most certainly not better. Doses above this amount can actually be less effective. BEAUTY’S GOLDEN THREAD The last place you might expect to find a golden thread in the tapestry of living skin is in a special form of vitamin B3—nicotinamide or niacinamide. This form behaves quite differently than the well-known nicotinic acid which causes hot flushes when swallowed. As far back as 1968, Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling published research reporting success in the treatment of psychiatric patients using moderate doses of niacinamide together with ascorbic acid. Nicotinamide has long been used both topically and orally for its anti-inflammatory abilities. It has a stunning ability to reverse many aspects of skin aging when used internally and even externally when used as a component of skincare products: As a precursor to electron carrier substances in living cells—NAD and NADP—nicotinamide enhances energy production within the living matrix. It takes part in many metabolic pathways including turning glucose into ATP making fatty acids important for skin beauty, and metabolizing proteins. It increases collagen synthesis by stimulating the activity of fibroblast cells, prolonging their life, and protecting them from senescence. It decreases skin inflammation by inhibiting the release of histidine, triggering the production of anti-inflammatory mediators. It enhances the synthesis of lipids important for good cell walls and overall skin health and beauty. It diminishes wrinkling. It repairs DNA when skin has been exposed to too much UV light, electromagnetic frequencies or chemical pollution. It helps fade age spots and helps prevent the formation of new ones. It plays a central role in blocking genetic messages that result in skin cell aging. BANISHING FREE RADICALS If, in addition to the three master nutraceuticals—MSM, nicotinamide and carnosine—you might want to use one more nutraceutical with first-rate antioxidant properties. You can’t do better than thiotic acid—also known as alpha-lipoic acid—ALA. The “universal antioxidant”, this sulfur-based, vitamin-like substance is an important cofactor in the production of cellular energy. When it is not in sufficient supply, muscle mass shrinks and skin’s energy is reduced. ALA protects DNA and mitochondrial membranes, inhibits inflammation and remodels collagen. Thiotic acid is used as a drug in Germany because of its ability to enhance sugar metabolism. A unique free radical scavenger, thiotic acid is both fat- and water-soluble. This means it travels easily across cell membranes to quench free radicals, both inside and out. A very small molecule, ALA works together with other antioxidants to recycle them. When vitamin E quenches lipid peroxidation, a new free radical is formed. Thiotic acid reduces that new radical, turning it back into Vitamin E so it is ready to fight the battle for yet another day. It does the same with vitamin C. The usual internal dose of ALA is 100 mg taken twice a day with meals. ALA is an excellent nutraceutical. I use it when I am traveling or am under a lot of pressure from work. It’s great stuff. But it doesn’t hold a candle to the magnum force the “big three”—MSM, nicotinamide and carnosine—have to offer when used together. If you are going to explore the power of nutraceuticals for skin, I suggest you begin with this combination, then work your way down the list, adding ALA and others if you feel you need them. And what is so wonderful is this: Making use of the Big Three can not only transform the look and feel of your skin. Thanks to the power of the body’s living matrix, they can regenerate and rejuvenate body, mind and emotions as well. Now Foods, MSM, 1000 mg MSM (Methylsulphonylmethane) is a natural form of organic sulfur found in all living organisms. This natural compound, researched since 1979, provides the chemical links needed to form and maintain numerous different types of tissues found in the human body, including connective tissue such as articular cartilage. While MSM is a natural component of almost all fresh fruits, vegetables, seafood and meat, food-processing methods reduce sulfur levels, making supplementation more important than ever. NOW MSM is tested to meet a minimum 99.7% purity level. Order MSM from iherb Paradise Herbs, L-Carnosine L-Carnosine is a proton buffering neuropeptide consisting of alanine and histidine (beta-alanyl-L-histidine). It is normally found in the brain, innervated tissues, the lens of the eye and skeletal muscle tissue. Current scientific research suggests that L-Carnosine has the ability to protect cells against oxidative stress that can cause premature aging and cellular damage. L-Carnosine has heavy metal, free radical and active sugar molecule scavenging activity (helps prevent glycation of proteins). Order L-Carnosine from iherb Thorne Research, Niacinamide The B vitamin niacinamide, also known as nicotinamide, is one form of vitamin B3. It acts as an antioxidant, inhibiting free radical formation, and has been shown to promote pancreatic beta-cell regeneration. Niacinamide has been found to stimulate GABA (an inhibitory neurotransmitter) receptors without binding to the receptor sites, thus creating a sedative-like effect. High amounts of niacinamide have been documented as being beneficial in protecting joint cartilage cells. Niacinamide has also been used in support of several dermatological conditions. Order Niacinamide from iherb Doctor's Best, Best Alpha Lipoic Acid Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) is a fatty acid that functions like a vitamin, although it is not classified as a vitamin. As a coenzyme, ALA plays an important role in the metabolism of glucose that produces energy in cells. ALA also has antioxidant properties and thus is important for controlling free radicals. Because it is soluble in both water and fat, ALA is sometimes referred to as the "universal antioxidant." Order Alpha Lipoic Acid from iherb

Cellulite makes everybody uneasy - from the woman who worries about her orange peel thighs to the British or American 'obesity expert' intent on proving that fat is fat, cellulite is nothing more than a figment of foolish women's imagination, and what any woman with lumpy thighs should do is get down to a good old calorie-controlled diet to shed it. Even staunch feminists who write hard-hitting polemics about the coercion of women by the beauty industry get het up about cellulite. It is, they insist, something invented by fashion magazines to make women feel bad about themselves. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of women with the problem bemoan their fate at having contracted a "nonexistent" condition and hope that if only they spend a little more money or endure a little more discomfort from one of the high-tech treatments - being pricked with multi-injector syringes or subjected to brutal pummeling for instance - it will make her legs smooth, sleek and svelte. banishing disbelief I've seen medical papers from all over Europe and America on cellulite, its cause and its development as well as proposed solutions to this lumpy bumpy flesh which can mar the thighs of even the leanest women. As of this moment literally hundreds of medical references to cellulite exist, some of them going back a hundred and fifty years. Next time someone tries to tell you you are imagining pea d'orange thighs smile knowingly and ignore them. None of the theories, analyses and descriptions of elaborate chemical treatments for cellulite have the full answer. In part this is because cellulite is a difficult condition to study in vivo - within the body of a woman who has it - since this means performing a biopsy of the tissue which is a painful medical process. In part it is because cellulite is a many-facetted syndrome with no single cause and no single effective treatment.

Pain is what many of us fear most. We all know the misery that can come from a sore back, a throbbing headache or toothache, not to mention children’s earaches. All too many also know the immobilizing pain of migraine. Herbs and essential oils can reach out and help when pain strikes, and without the upset stomach and muzzy heads that over-the-counter treatments can bring in their wake. We’ve all done it—picked up something too heavy or twisted awkwardly—and suffered the pain of an indignant back. Essential oils really come into their own with back pain; use them to relieve muscle spasm and ease your mind. Essential oils of sage, thyme and rosemary all contain thymol and carvacrol, which are excellent muscle relaxants. Rosemary has the added advantage of being anti-spasmodic. Clary sage is also used traditionally to ease the pain of a pulled back. You can mix a few drops of one of these essential oils with a couple of tablespoons of almond oil, coconut oil, or walnut oil. Either massage it into the sore spot yourself, or allow someone you trust to do this gently for you. A warm bath will also help ease the tightness out of strained back muscles. Put a few drops of essential oil of rosemary or clary sage in the bath, plus 2 cups of industrial grade Epsom salts—simple magnesium sulfate—which you can find at a pharmacy in kilo packages or order much more cheaply over the net in big 25kg bags. Allow the essential oils to vaporize on the steam to help you relax all over. Stay in the bath for half an hour, topping up with warm water, to let the Epsom salts do their muscle-relaxing work. Then get out of the bath, dry yourself gently, and crawl into bed or lie down for 30 minutes with a good book. For my family, Epsom salts in huge bags are always in good supply. Aaron and I take an Epsom salts bath daily. It’s a practice which is not only health enhancing but deliciously pleasant.

There are many other powerful helpers readily available to give a hand with banishing cellulite. Some of my favorites are: The Cactus Connection Another powerful adjunct to breaking down cellulite and keeping your system clean is drinking the biogenic—life generating—juice of the aloe vera plant. Aloe vera is a beautiful cactus. Used externally, you will find nothing better than pure aloe vera juice as a base for your own anti-cellulite treatment (see below). Used internally, it appears to help detoxify the body in general, enhance digestion so that wastes do not build up in the system, and improve the quality of micro-organisms in the large intestine, which help protect immunity and keep the body clean. But it is useful against cellulite in other ways as well, thanks to its being rich in proteolytic enzymes. These enzymes appear to help with the breakdown of necrotic, hardened, protein-based connective tissue that is essential to eliminating cellulite, although that remains to be proven. It has, though, been recently discovered that aloe vera juice enhances the development of capillaries and circulation in general, reduces water retention and inflammation, and speeds up cellular reproduction in skin. In order to make use of aloe vera’s healing properties, you either have to use the juice fresh from the cut leaves of a cactus which is at least four years old, or it has to be carefully processed at extremely low temperatures to preserve its biogenic properties. Find the best aloe vera juice you can, keep it refrigerated and use it within a month. While beating cellulite, take a small glass of pure low-heat processed aloe vera juice on rising, between breakfast and lunch, and between lunch and dinner, as well as just before you go to bed. Silica Silica plays an essential role in the development and maintenance of cellulite-free flesh. When there is an adequate supply in your body, this brings a high level of support to the metabolic pathways responsible for the production of strong new collagen, elastin and ground substance in skin. A woman’s daily requirement of silica is rather high, at 20-30mg. Organic matter in the soils should, by rights, break down readily available inorganic silica in the ground and render it available to us through the foods we eat. Unfortunately, high-tech farming methods have destroyed much organic matter in our foods, so that our fruits and vegetables are now depleted of silica. Modern food processing then tends to remove even the little that is left. As you get older, the amount of silica present in your body decreases year by year. There is only one, extremely rich source of organic silica known to man: horsetail. Never take powdered horsetail, as it is extremely irritating to the intestines and very little of it will be absorbed by your body. Find a good natural organic silica supplement instead. Most women notice a difference to their hair and nails within 3 to 6 weeks of beginning to take between 2 and 6 tablets of organic silica a day. The benefits on the inside to connective tissue will be happening at the same rate. Plants from the Depths Another source of plant complexes particularly useful in banishing cellulite and re-establishing good body ecology is the sea. All seaweeds—from kelp to dulse, to nori and kombu—are rich in the minerals which your body’s metabolic processes require to function properly. A good supplement of sea plants which have been collected from unpolluted waters and then ‘atomized’, or broken into very fine particles, can offer another source of important metabolic support on any anti-cellulite regimen. Seaweeds tend to have very hard cells walls, and unless these plants are extracted or their cell walls are exploded, much of the metabolic treasure they contain remain unavailable to the body. They are also, of course, delicious to eat. Buy them dried and crumble them onto soups and salads. DIY Cellulite Lotion The active ingredients in the best of the cellulite creams, lotions and oils include a number of potent herbal extracts to help enhance circulation, encourage fat burning, restore integrity to damaged capillaries, decrease water-logging and improve firmness. They include things like silica derivatives, free-form amino acids, herbal extracts from butcher’s broom to horsetail, and even caffeine, which, when applied in the right form to the surface of the skin, has been shown to stimulate fat burning. All of these products need to work with a whole body program, and most of them are expensive. You can make one of your own at a fraction of the cost. It is true it won’t have a sweet cosmetic smell like the others and, because it contains herbal extracts which are brown in color, you will need to be careful not to stain the white bathroom rug when applying it. But it works a treat. Here’s how Take 1 small bottle of aloe vera liquid (350ml). Add to it 25ml of liquid extract of fucus vesculosus and 25ml of kola liquid extract. Shake well. Keep refrigerated. Apply twice a day to cellulite-prone areas of the body after a bath or shower, then, using one of the special anti-cellulite gloves, mits or rollers available in most pharmacies, gently go over those areas of your body.