Crows Feet

Crow's feet, laugh lines, and wrinkles- no matter what you call them- time, nature and our neglect plays a nasty trick on all of us. As we age, fine lines and wrinkles begin to appear around our eyes, radiating outwards. These are commonly known as crow's feet. Besides just getting older, our everyday lifestyle can aggravate the problem and cause premature aging to our skin. The skin on our faces stretches like a rubber band, thanks to something called elasticity. This means that it can return to its original form after being pulled or compressed -- pretty important when you think about how much we move our faces. Unfortunately, as we get older, our skin loses its elasticity. That's why we form wrinkles and certain parts of our body start to droop. One of the main reasons for this is that our bodies' production of collagen and elastin, two proteins responsible for our skin's elasticity, lessens with age.

CAUSES
Sun exposure, poor nutrition, frequent squinting, smoking, failure to use a effective anti-wrinkle cream and even sleeping on your face promote the formation of crows feet. Naturally, people who spend a great deal of time outdoors are at higher risk.

PREVENTION
Applying sunscreen, quitting smoking, consistently using an effective anti-wrinkle cream and wearing LARGE sunglasses and hats are the key ways to avoid crows feet. Even if you're already showing signs, it's never too late to stop them from getting worse.

REMEDIES
Prevention aside, once you have them, you'll need to deal with them head-on to either reduce their appearance or have them professionally treated to get rid of them temporarily.  

Here are some alternatives to treating crows feet:

Proper nutrition and a healthy diet- cheap, smart, lasting effects
Botox- expensive, effective, short term, painful
Face Lift- very expensive, effective, longer term, very painful, risky outcomes
Anti-Wrinkle Creams- effective, can be expensive, some better than others
Facial Exercising- questionable results, cheap
Chemical Peel- fairly expensive, very painful, short term benefits
Laser Procedure- fairly expensive, painful, short term benefits

Want more info on healthy and beautiful skin?

http://swissbeautyworkshops.blogspot.com

How to shape your eyebrows...

Thanks to Nikra (my most awesome daughter- in- law) for her help with this post. If you want to learn more about Nikra visit her blog at:

http://nikrasmakeup.blogspot.com/

Hey everyone! I had some requests on how to shape your eyebrows. If you've lost your shape and just can't get them to look right, let them grow ideally for about a month, then you are ready to get a fresh start :)

We all have different shapes of eyebrows so this is a very general idea of how to shape them, try to follow the instructions on applying the right shape to your own brows.

1. You are going to need tweezers, a razor blade, a little bit of moisturizer, and a ruler. Apply the moisturizer all over your eyebrow area, this will help plucking out the hairs easily and helps with the pain. You can also numb the brow area with ice if it is too painful for you. Let the moisturizer sit for 2-3 min before plucking. Then take it off. Place the ruler in the inner corner of your eye and anything that is outside of the ruler should be... GONE!

2. Draw a line with any eyebrow or eye pencil in the inside of the brow following your natural arch. Pluck any hair on and below the line. Place the ruler at the tip of your nose and make sure it passes through the corner of your eye. Your eyebrow should end where the ruler meets the eyebrow. Your brow shouldn't be any longer or shorter than that.

3. I like doing the upper part of the brow with a razor blade. You know, in order to prevent accidents, like when you pluck a hair or two where you shouldn't had and you get a huge hole in the middle of the brow!! Yeah, that's awful. If you use a razor that won't ever happen!  I do this by shaving the brows in a ^ shape with the blade. Make sure you place the blade completely straight on each side of the Point of Arch. (Look at the picture on the left).

And just like that you are done!  After all this it is really easy to keep up your shape, just pluck your little brow hairs that will come out and make sure to not get any of the long ones or that will change your shape. I usually shape my brows only once or twice a year. I try to keep the shape for as long as I can. You can also apply some color like I did in the last picture, but that is just personal taste. Have fun doing these :)

Want more info on healthy and beautiful skin?

http://swissbeautyworkshops.blogspot.com

Age Spots...

What causes AGE SPOTS? 

The sun does! Age spots are the brownish spots that, over time appear on your face and body as a result of the over exposure to the sun. As we age our skin is subject to more and more sun damage. Our skin has what is called ‘melanin pigment’ which absorbs sunlight and helps naturally protect our skin from UV rays. However as we age, our skin’s natural ability to fend off UV rays from the sun begins to deteriorate, and as a result, we see the development of age spots.
 

Sun Spot is More Accurate

Age Spots actually have nothing to do with how old you are, they have to do with how long you've been in the sun. 
 

Are they Cancerous?

The most important thing if you see any pigmented lesion on your skin is to not assume that it’s benign. If you notice a lesion on your skin, especially if it has any changes in color or shape, you should see a dermatologist to determine if they are cancerous or something to be concerned about.
 

Does Tanning Cause Age Spots?

Tan skin is not healthy skin. A tan is our body’s way of telling us our skin has been damaged, and its attempt to protect itself from further damage. As we undergo UVA and UVB light exposure from the sun’s rays or from tanning beds, we are damaging our skin, which will lead to age spots.
 

Prevention

Preventing age spots requires sun avoidance and sun protection. Sunscreen All Day, Every Day! I recommend wearing a sunscreen ALL THE TIME. Even if you already have sun damaged skin, it’s never too late to start. This will help prevent further damage and age spotting.
 

Treatment Options

Chemical Peels- very painful, expensive, repeated treatments required, somewhat effective

Laser Resurfacing-  very  painful, repeated treatments required, most expensive, effective

Intense Pulsed Light Therapy- somewhat painful, expensive, effective, the newest treatment

Bleaching Creams- effectiveness depends on formulation, no pain, least expensive

Want more info on healthy and beautiful skin?
http://swissbeautyworkshops.blogspot.com

Do Detox Teas Really Work?

Teas have been around for over 5000 years. It is a drink which has been renowned to soothe the body and mind. There are two types of tea: herbal and non-herbal. Detox tea falls under the herbal category. This type of tea is used to cleanse the body of toxins that may have accumulated in the body over years of abuse. The body is exposed to a vast array of different pollutants and toxins. These toxins can be absorbed in the body by what the person eats, drinks, breathes or is exposed to. Toxins can build up, leading to health problems, making the body more vulnerable to a host of diseases and ailments. The human is capable to removing these toxins from the body. However, with the amount of toxins that are stored in the body because of an unhealthy lifestyle, the body is unable to keep up.

DO DETOX TEAS REALLY WORK?
(NO) The detox products that we have now cannot "kill" the molecules of unwanted substances in your blood and other parts of your body. Maybe someday nanorobots will- but detoxes can't. We cannot kill toxins in our bodies with detox products.

(YES) Your body is a perfect self-cleaning system. Your body has a lot of natural cleaning "equipment" (such as immune system, liver, kidneys etc.) that work 24/7 to withdraw all unwanted substances including viruses, bacteriums and toxins from our body. 

BOTTOM LINE: Detox teas help our liver, kidneys etc. speed up the natural process of self cleaning...

HOW OFTEN SHOULD WE DRINK DETOX TEA?
 Detox teas are generally recommended to be taken one to three times a day. With that being said, you can also use 2 tea bags at a time as long as you do not use more than ten in one day. Detox teas should always be used as directed. They are generally not recommended for use by women who are pregnant or nursing. In other instances, they should not be taken for more than 30 consecutive days by anyone.

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Should you paint your nails while pregnant?

Recently a newly pregnant friend of mine took the day off from work to pamper herself. She decided to get a manicure and pedicure to help her relax and look pretty.

Up until recently, I'd always read not to get your nails done when you're pregnant. From what I understood there were toxins in the paint that could seep into the system through the nail. The chemical in question is dibutyl phthalate. 

That said, I also read a report online somewhere (sigh, and I'll never find it again now...) that suggested it was ok to get your nails done. According to the article it was actually all the dust flying around in the salon from the fake nails being buffed, etc. that could cause distress in the way of coughing, etc., but should have no lasting effects. Also, the chance of infection was still the main cause for concern as most nail salons simply aren't as clean as they should be.

The past few months I've been reading about nail polish companies removing certain chemicals from their nail polish because said chemicals were linked in studies to birth defects.

Others would say that there are more important things to worry about during pregnancy and that getting your nails done should be at the bottom of the list.

So what about you? Consider this a random poll. Did you paint your nails while you were pregnant?

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