Dry Winter Skin

Winter is upon us with all the harsh weather that can wreak havic with your skin. I love the change of seasons but how you handle your skin care will vary depending on the time of year. Dry winter skin is the result of being exposed to inclement weather that includes cold, rain and snow and harsh winds. You are going to have to take seasonal factors into account if you want your skin to look its best. Don't be discouraged. You can enjoy the seasonal changes with a few tips that will help your skin maintain its glow.

When you cleanse your face you want to be sure you use warm water, never hot water, and pat dry thoroughly. You don't want to step outside into freezing weather if your face is damp! Another factor to keep in mind is that if your moisturizer is water based this could affect your skin when exposed to the elements. A better choice is try to use an oil based moisturizer to help prevent dry winter skin. If you are prone to oily skin you may find it isn't a problem in winter or you can consult your doctor about safe products you can use that will keep your skin looking its best. And always remember to drink plenty of water. This keeps dry winter skin at bay and nourishes your skin from the inside.


Besides the harsh weather remember that the sun can still damage your skin in the winter when you least expect it. If you are going to be outside for any length of time and the sun is shining wear your hats and sunscreen for protection. If the winds are harsh use scarves to protect your face too.I still shudder over the horrific sunburn I got one Christmas snow skiing in Taos.  I looked like a raccoon when I took my goggles off. My skin was badly burned and peeled days later. UGH!


One of the products I like to use is Nivea body lotion but there are a wide range of beauty products to choose from to fight dry winter skin. Pamper your skin and get outdoors and enjoy the winter season.

Nivea Body Daily Lotion, Essentially Enriched for Very Dry, Rough Skin, 8.4 fl oz (250 ml) (Pack of 4)

Rosacea Skin Problem

Rosacea is a skin condition characterized by a severe redness on the face, usually the cheeks, forehead, nose and chin. It's nicknamed "The Curse of the Celts" because it generally affects Caucasians, most times women, and people who tend to be 30 to 50 years of age. Besides the redness on the face people may also suffer with watery eyes and in some cases pustules or pimples. However you do not treat this like acne.

The symptoms of Rosacea can be confusing as well as the triggers and people often don't know what they have. Hormonal imbalances don't seem to play a role in getting it but research is continuing. The symptoms can come and go and there is no known cure but there are treatment options. It is not contagious to others.

Some of the common triggers are hot weather, long exposure to the sun, stress and spicy food. Other foods you may want to avoid include dairy products, chocolate, eggplant and beans. Some fruits such as plums may trigger an outbreak as well as coffee. It is also recommended to avoid smoking and alcoholic beverages until the flare-up has passed. Different things can trigger problems for different people which is one of the reasons Rosacea can be so hard to control.

It is important to get treatment to relieve your symptoms and there are many options available to you. You can take medicines which can be topical or oral and there are also laser therapies available. Some of the oral medicines include steroids that have to be closely monitored by your doctor for side effects and are usually discontinued after initial use. The new laser therapies are very promising to help you cope with Rosacea skin problems that can't be helped with ointments or pills. You may to shop around for topical treatments first and see if this works for you.  

Skin Care and Beauty Books- Are they Right For You

Skin care and beauty books can be a great purchase to keep up on the latest products and techniques. Are
you interested in new tips and improving your appearance and the best skin care products for you.? If you are you may have turned to the internet or magazines but never really considered buying a book or you may be wondering if they are worth the investment.

When it comes to determining whether or not skin care and beauty books are worth the money there are a number of important factors that should be taken into consideration.  If you are looking for a skin care book that explains the proper application of make-up you may want to see drawings or pictures.  Not all books will contain detailed pictures or drawings. Also, is the book current or so outdated the products recommended no longer exist? This may be the problem if you pick the book up at a garage sale. Does the book cover your type or color of skin?

A good way to decide which skin care book to purchase is to visit the online book website There you can look at a large selection of books and read the reviews posted. You can even peek inside and see some pages of the book. This information will help you determine which book will be the best puchase for you for the best price.

Another advantage of a book is you actually have a resource you can easily refer to again, underline and highlight passages, take anywhere with you and easily share with a friend. As a long time lover of books I think having a "hard copy" is worth the price.

Natural Care For Your Lips

Fall is here and along with the changing season is my favorite game watching sport - football. I love the crowds, the school spirit and the testosterone driven game of football. Nothing beats attending a game in person, instead of watching it on TV, but you don't want to come away with chapped lips or a sunburn so you need to take care.

Your lips lack natural oils and melanin, the pigment that the rest of your skin has to protect you from sun damage. The sun combined with strong winds or cool weather can cause your lips to become chapped. Our instinct is to lick our lips but this just causes the lips to dry out faster. Here are some tips to help keep your lips smooth, sunburn free and kissable:

Frequently apply a lip balm or lipstick with a SPF of at least 15. You can go for clear or many fabulous colors.

Another alternative is an old standby, petroleum jelly, which works great for both men and women. And it is cheap too!

If you are in a pinch and forgot your lipstick, chap stick or lip balm you can run your finger along the edge of your nose and pick up a little oil this way to apply to your lips.

Now go out and enjoy the fall weather!Dr.Hauschka Skin Care Lip Care Stick .17 oz (4.9 g)

Sun Protection You Can Wear: Clothing – Jill Sung

This JUARA Girl's got it covered!

What should I wear? I go through this decision process on a daily basis – and there’s no limit to how many outfit changes I can make just to go to the grocery store… But what I should be thinking, and have been more, is how much UV radiation is out there and what’s the best way to protect myself from sun damage.  (For those of you just joining this UV foray, find out more about UV rays how to check the amount you’re receiving in last month’s blogs.) Moving on, did you know that clothes offer UV protection? It’s actually pretty easy to incorporate into your daily summer wardrobe.

UPF indicates how much of the sun’s UV radiation is absorbed. A fabric with a rating of 50 will allow only 1/50th of the sun’s UV rays to pass through. This means the fabric will reduce your skin’s UV radiation exposure significantly, because only 2 percent of the UV rays will get through.

Tightly knit/thickness: Lightweight and loosely-woven fabrics do NOT offer much protection from the sun. A white T-shirt provides only moderate protection from sunburn, with an average UPF of 6 (16% of sun’s rays pass through). On the other hand, a dark denim has about  UPF 1,700 – basically complete sun block. In general, clothing made of tightly-woven fabric best protects skin from the sun. The easiest way to check fabric protection is to hold it up to the light. If you can see through it, then UV radiation can penetrate your clothes – and your skin! And thicker fabrics such as velvet in black, blue or dark green have an approximate UPF of 50. Also, if it doesn’t cover your skin, it’s not protecting you! Long sleeves are obviously better than short sleeves…

Color: Darker-colored fabrics are more effective than lighter ones at blocking out the sun. For example, the UPF of a green cotton T-shirt is 10 versus 6 for white cotton.

Fabric Content: What the clothing is made of matters. Unbleached cotton contains lignins, special pigments that absorb UV. Shiny polyesters and even thin, satiny silk can be highly protective because they reflect radiation.

Activity: If your clothes gets stretched during activity, like yoga, the fabric will lose some of its protective ability because it becomes thinner and more transparent to light. Also, wet clothing can lose up to 50 percent of its UPF, so a wet T-shirt provides a UPF of only 3, allowing 33% of UV rays through to your skin. (Thanks to Skin Cancer Foundation for all their help!)

Not only can you buy high-tech sun protective clothing made of special weaves with colorless dyes that provide UPF of 15-50 protection, you can actually wash sun protection into the clothes you currently own, and for cheap! $2 buys you a colorless additive, Sun Guard, that provides a UPF of 30 (blocks more than 96% of UV) to your laundry for up to 20 washings!

Next up, what else to wear…with clothing must come accessories! What else can you do? Any more fun sun facts we should share?

Tags: clothing, fabric, SPF, sun guard, sun protection, sun protective clothing, Untraviolet Protection Factor, UPF, UV rays

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 10:06 am and is filed under Health & Fitness, Lifestyle, Products. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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Don't Forget Your Neck!

Have you ever met someone new and you were curious about their age? One of the easiest ways to gauge someone's age is to look at their neck. Like many women we often forget in our rush to get ready in the morning or tuck in for the night to lavish care on the neck area and our neck skin is a prime age revealer. Our neck skin has practically no oil glands and it is very vulnerable to dryness and sun damage. To help stop further damage to your neck start using your cleanser and regular moisturizer and apply with gentle upward strokes and do the same thing on your chest area. There are many great products on the market, the main thing is to consistently take care of this area and you will see improvement in the way your neck looks. And don't forget that you can always accessorize your outfits with lovely scarfs, jewelry or shirts with collars to hide any wrinkles or blemishes to this area.

Tips for summer pimples

Summer is here and it’s time to enjoy the warm weather and the long days of sunshine. But for pimple sufferers, summertime also means oily skin, blackheads and breakouts.

Why do we get more pimples during the summer? Sudden change in temperature and extended exposure to the sun can damage the skin. Also, sweat may exacerbate acne when salty sweat mixes with dirt and oil on skin which can irritate and clog pores. Only one or two days of hot weather can lead to pimples. A few changes in your skin care routine can ensure that acne will stay away.

1. Control oil by washing your face: Oil glands overwork with heat and humidity. To control oiliness, wash your face thoroughly with a foaming facial cleanser to get rid of the dead cells and dirt. Keep the cleanser gentle so it doesn’t overstrip and irritate skin, making it overproduce more oil. I love the JUARA Rice Facial cleanser which is sulfate and oil free, takes away makeup, dirt and oil but keeps skin super soft with the rice starch.

2. Choose the right sunscreen: Using a daily sunscreen is a must to avoid sun-damaged skin. But sunscreen may contain oil which is just as bad for the pores as sebum. Go for a noncomedogenic, oil-free sunscreen of at least SPF 15 (SPF 30 is even better), and make sure you put enough on! Check for UVA protection ingredients such as Avobenzone or Mexoryl. A fave: La Roche Posay’s Anthelios has a nice oil-free, light textured, water resistant sunscreen. Or try Paula’s Choice Essential Non-Greasy Sunscreen SPF 15

3. Lighten up your moisturizer: During the summer, go for a light-weight moisturizer, noncomedogenic and oil-free. Also, moisturizing lotions can be a good switch as they’re much lighter than creams. As an oil-free moisturizer alternative, try the JUARA Tamarind Tea Hydrating Toner – an oil-free, alcohol-free toner serum that hydrates skin, giving it a drink of water – and feels like silk!

4. Don’t wipe after you sweat, wash! Refrain from wiping your face frequently as you’re sweating because it can irritate acne, as dirt accumulates on your skin. Sweat should be washed away gently with a non-drying acne wash or with lukewarm water. Also, shower after working out or after you’ve been sweating.

5. Reduce sun exposure: Many people believe that the summer sun is good for their skin since it tends to burn off pimples, but prolonged exposure to UV radiation is dangerous for your health. Keep in mind that the sun simply burns the topmost layer of the face skin and doesn’t deal with the true causes of acne.

6. Eat more fruits: Try to eat at least 2 fruits a day to keep your skin healthy. Strawberries, Watermelons, and Mangoes are examples of fruits rich in vitamin A (control of skin cells) and C (protects collagen). Make sure your fruits are fresh to keep their antioxidants intact.

7. Drink 8 cups of water a day: A good hydration plays a major role in keeping your skin away from acne. Water also helps cells move nutrients in and toxins out.

8. Honey: Rubbing honey on your skin can help to get rid of the pimples. Honey is a powerful antibacterial agent and it does not cause unpleasant side effects such as dry skin, itchy skin or allergy. Choose a high quality honey, warm it, leave it on your pimples for 10 minutes and watch the results!

Summer is the season when our skin is the most vulnerable. The strong UV rays and sweat give your skin a hard time, which needs extra care.

So be sure to protect your skin and have an enjoyable pimple-free summer!

Products Recommended:

- Juara’s Rice Facial Cleanser

- Paula’s Choice Essential Non-Greasy Sunscreen SPF 15

- JUARA’s Tamarind Tea Hydrating Toner

- La Roche Posay’s Anthelios SPF45 or Anthelios XL

Tags: acne, blackheads, breakouts, juara, oily skin, pimples, summer

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 11:20 am and is filed under Beauty & Skincare. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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