Monday 23 June 2014

NATURAL SKIN LIGHTENER….Only if you must!

The colour of our skin is determined by a dark pigment called ‘Melanin’ that is found in our skin, hair and the Iris of our eyes. Each person’s skin colour varies in shade from pale to dark depending on the amount of melanin their bodies produce.

Depending on your geographical location, your body produces the required amount of melanin to protect the skin from being damaged by the sun.

And the good news for darker women is that the more melanin your body has, the fewer wrinkles you are likely to have as you get older compared to a person with paler skin. They are also less likely to get skin cancer. This however does not take away from the fact that darker women too must protect their skin when they go out in the sun.

But as the saying goes, ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’.  If you’ve got light skin, you may want it a shade darker and vice versa. Most times it’s safer to just let things be. However there may be situations where we have dark patches of skin that we’re not comfortable with. If this is the case and you feel you must lighten your skin, do it the safe way…..chemical free.

This is a quick recipe for a Skin Lightening Face Mask, which with regular use (say once or twice a week), may help lighten skin with dark patches.

Wash your face before using this mask.

For this recipe you’ll need:

·         1 Lime

·         1 medium sized Tomato

·         A teaspoon or less of flour

Chop up a medium sized tomato and pop into the blender. Squeeze the juice of one lime and add to the blender. Mix this together. Pour out into a little bowl and thicken with a bit of flour. Rub this in circular motion all over the face or area to be lightened. Leave on for about 20minutes and then rinse off with cold water. Moisturise your skin as normal.

If you’ve got really sensitive skin, don’t leave on for too long as the lime may sting a bit.  Always be careful not to go out in the sun after using a citrus based skin treatment as the acid in citrus fruits will make your skin photosensitive(sensitive to the sun) and could cause sunburn.

Enjoy this; don’t expect overnight results and bit of patience would come in handy!

Thursday 22 May 2014

NOTHING LIKE A GOOD POLISH & A SHINE TO TURN BACK THE HANDS OF TIME!

I remember as a child, on Saturday mornings, my father would give his car a good wash. After the wash, he’d spend the rest of the day waxing and polishing it. He had different little tin jars with different coloured felt cloths for each jar. The TLC paid off because after a while, you could only tell the age of the car from its number plate!

Thankfully we don’t have number plates hanging round our necks but if we don’t start now to give our skin some TLC, our skin could easily become our number plates!

This weekend, we are going to give our skin a good polish and hopefully try and make a habit of it.
We don’t need tins of wax and felt cloths, just some simple milk and honey. This polish is also a good quick fix if you suddenly need to dash somewhere special and you think your skin could do with a quick lift.

A teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of full cream milk is all you need. Mix together in a little bowl. Use a cotton ball to rub the mixture generously all over your face and neck. Leave on for at least 15 minutes.  Rinse off and moisturise as normal.

This should give your face a real good shine for the weekend and an ageless number plate!

Have a lovely weekend

Wednesday 26 March 2014

WHAT HAVE YOU FED YOUR SKIN RECENTLY?


The first question I always ask the learners in any class or workshop I run is 'If you were shipwrecked and stranded on a desert island for weeks with no food in sight and all you managed to salvage from the wreckage was your toilet bag, would you eat your skin cream to stay alive?'  So far, the answer has always been 'NO'. I know that the chances of this happening are very slim, but we should give some thought to what we feed our skin.

It’s important that we take the time to read the ingredients of any product that goes on our skin as it eventually ends up in our blood stream. The way you read the nutritional contents of your food items when you go grocery shopping is what is expected when shopping for skincare products. Educate yourself on the ingredients contained in these products.

Every year our bodies absorb 2 kilograms of chemicals from chemicals found in skincare, make-up and hair products.
There are certain ingredients you should always be on the lookout for. Ideally, your skincare products should be free from synthetic chemicals and harmful ingredients.

A study published in 2004 (Darbre, in the Journal of Applied Toxicology) detected parabens in breast tumours. The study also discussed this information in the context of the weak estrogen-like properties of parabens and the influence of estrogens on breast cancer.* Although the FDA (US Food & Drug Administration) believes that “at the present time there is no reason for consumers to be concerned about the use of cosmetics containing parabens”, it’s still better to be safe rather than sorry.

I always say, stick to what you know you could actually eat; if it’s going on your skin, you ARE ‘eating’ it!

If you would like some more information on ingredients to look out for in your skincare products, contact me and I will send you a FREE TOXIC INGREDIENTS DIRECTORY. Read this Directory and next time you go shopping for your skincare products, think… ‘Would I eat this’?

We will be giving away FREE Milk & Honey Skin Serums with any order for our Green Tea Anti-wrinkle Face Mask made between now and Mothers Day!
To make any enquiries or to place an order for any of our edible skincare products, send us a message on The Skin Food Therapist on Facebook or on our website www.theskinfoodtherapist.com

*JOURNAL OF APPLIED TOXICOLOGY; 24, 5–13 (2004) Concentrations of Parabens in Human Breast Tumours

Wednesday 12 March 2014

DEFY AGE WITH GREEN TEA AND GANODERMA LUCIDUM (THE REISHI MUSHROOM)!

I’ve always believed Nature has blessed us with everything we need to stay healthy and radiant from the inside out. Even when it comes to slowing down the ageing process of our bodies. Well, guess what? Nature has provided us with Green Tea and Ganoderma Lucidum to help us defy time!
Green Tea is popularly known for its anti-ageing properties. When you drink it, the Polyphenols in the tea leaves go through your blood stream to your skin and help slow down the signs of ageing.
Ganoderma on the other hand is an ancient Chinese red mushroom that for thousands of years was given to the Emperors for longevity. It was popularly known as “The Elixir of Youth” or “The Immortality Herb”!

In a United States Patented invention (US Patent No. 7060286 B2 June 13 2006) it was shown that Ganoderma helps protects against the degeneration of skin cells. The related studies showed that Ganoderma helped to smoothen the skin, reduce wrinkles and had age defying properties.
The optimum benefits of these two herbs can be achieved both by drinking and topical application of the herbs.

From now until Mothers day, The Skin Food Therapist’s hand-made Anti-wrinkle Face Masks will be sold at 25% off! Each jar is especially hand-made to order.


To make any enquiries or to place an order, contact The Skin Food Therapist on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NayturesPlace or visit http://www.theskinfoodtherapist.com/store/p2/Anti-Wrinkle_Green_Tea_Mask.html for more information on this product.

Have a lovely week!

Friday 14 February 2014

GET YOUR LIPS READY FOR VALENTINES DAY!

Considering the fact that our lips have the thinnest skin on our bodies and have the least natural moisture, they don’t always get the right care and attention they deserve.

Care doesn’t mean the rigorous rubbing of lip balm during dry weather or a quick dash of lipstick for the ladies as you rush out the door in the morning. Like it or not, care of the lips should be part of your skincare  regime.  So here are some handy tips for your ‘lip care’ regime:

• Moisturise your lips daily with a good lip balm that is free of Menthol and Camphor as these tend to dry out the lips

• To get rid of dry, dead skin on the lips, rub in some Petroleum Jelly or lip balm and then gently brush the lips with a soft tooth brush or a damp flannel

• The lips are prone to sunburn so use a lip balm that contains sunscreen

• For quick hydration for overly dry lips, gently rub in the contents of a pierced Vitamin E capsule on the lips

• For the ladies, avoid using lip sealants as they contain a lot of chemicals. They also dry the lips and are not suitable for sensitive skin

• To treat stained lips, regularly rub the lips with Olive Oil. This also helps to keep them moisturised

• If you’ve got cracks at the corners of your lips, you may be Vitamin B deficient. Try eating so more whole grain food, red meat and green veggies

• A finally those tiny lines around the edge of the lips that show up when a ladies lipstick ‘bleeds’! The main culprit for this is smoking. If you do smoke, try to cut down or get help to actually quit. Line your lips and use a less glossy lipstick that won’t ‘bleed’. Keep your lips hydrated as stated above.

Take care of your lips and have a lovely Valentine’s Day!!

Tuesday 11 February 2014

ANTI-AGEING AVOCADO

Time flies ever so quickly. Like it or not, we are getting older every day. However, I've always believed that you’re only as old as you feel. Feeling young on the inside is a state of mind each individual has to work o...n. While you work on that, you can also very quickly whip up an anti-ageing face mask to take care of your skin on the outside!
After a good cleanse, a replenishing face mask will help to nourish and rejuvenate the skin.

Avocado is a very nourishing vegetable packed full with antioxidants. Its oils are very anti-ageing and a good way to keep those wrinkles at bay. It’s a real treat for dry or mature skin.
For this mask you’ll simply need half an Avocado and a teaspoon of Honey. (You can click on this link for a practical demonstration of this treatment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqr2NHEW1qc )

Take out the contents of half an avocado; mash it up with a fork in a little bowl. Add a teaspoon of Honey. Mix the paste until it’s nice and smooth.

Gently rub the mixture in circular motion all over your face. Leave on for about 15 to 20 minutes. The longer you leave it on, the better the results
Wipe off with a damp face cloth or wash off with warm water.
Your skin will feel soft to the touch after this.
Always remember that if it’s not good enough to eat, it’s certainly not good enough to go on your skin.

Have a good week!

Wednesday 5 February 2014

CHECK YOUR FIZZ LEVELS!

A recent study by US scientists has linked intake of fizzy drinks with violent assaults as reported by The Times and Natural Products Magazine. A cause for great concern I would say…


The research shows that drinking more than 5 cans of fizzy drinks a week is linked to significantly higher levels of violence amongst teenagers. One would imagine that similar effects would in some degree apply to adults too.
 
This weekend, try out this simple but healthy fizz free drink packed full with antioxidants and vitamins! All you need are:  

 
  • Half a glass of cranberry juice
  • Half a glass of carrot juice
  • A dash of freshly squeezed lemon

Mix these together and you’ll have a glass full of a fizz free, power packed health giving drink.

Cranberry juice is rich in Vitamin C and dietary fibre. Its various health benefits include preventing bladder and urinary tract infections, lowering bad cholesterol, fighting colds and preventing stomach ulcers and cancer. It also helps emulsify fat deposits in the body.

Carrot juice is rich in Vitamins A and C. It helps prevent heart disease, certain cancers, helps with eyesight, diabetes and helps reduce the risk of strokes. (Check Newsletter of 12/08/11 for more benefits of carrots).

Now which would you rather have; the good health or the violent streak?

Have a peaceful week!