Beauty And You

Knowing your way around a makeup kit is a good thing, but the ultimate goal is to look naturally gorgeous  without piling on the products. Happy skin is healthy skin, and achieving that much-coveted natural glow means making choices that serve your skin well. Here we look at 11 simple tips for getting and keeping healthy, gorgeous skin.

1.Sleep tight: How much sleep you get -- or don’t get -- makes a significant difference to your skin. Up all night working on that presentation for work? Your skin will look pale and dull the next morning, with uneven tone and dark circles under your eyes. A full night’s sleep -- 7 hours will do -- nets you a brighter complexion and natural glow. The healing power of sleep works wonders for natural beauty.

2.Stress free: Stressed out? Your skin will show it with redness, breakouts and dry, flaky patches. Squeezing in some weekly yoga may not be possible, but do try to minimize stress as best you can. Have a cutoff time for work (no laptops or smartphones in bed, please). If you can, take 10 minutes every night to stretch, sit quietly sipping your favorite herbal tea, or doing whatever else takes your mind off the chaos of life.

3.Drink more water: The key to hydrated skin comes from the inside out. In warm weather, most of us think to drink more fresh water, since we may be perspiring, even when we aren't working out. But since winter air is especially (and subtly) drying, it's important to drink plenty of agua during the winter too. "Water should be consumed at room temperature or warmer," Arnett recommends, "and if you realize that you are quite dehydrated, add a small pinch of mineral salt to the water, which will help your body absorb it more effectively." 

4.Eat well: Diet has a profound effect on how the skin looks.  A diet full of refined flour, sugar and processed foods is a major culprit in uneven tone, breakouts and general lack of brightness. Giving your skin the nutrients it needs will help you get your glow back. This means saying sayonara to sodium-filled snack foods and pre-packaged meals, and instead getting lots of leafy greens, fresh fruit, colorful vegetables and whole grains.

5.Wear sunscreen: use sunscreen when you are going out.  When sunscreen is the outermost layer, it forms a nice shield against UV rays.  If you are using a chemical sunscreen, it's best to wait 20-30 minutes after applying before going outside so the UV filters have time to soak into your skin and form a protective layer. You don't have to wait for all-physical sunscreens. Sunscreens with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide actives are effective as soon as you put it on. However, since there are sunscreens with both chemical and physical UV filters, it's generally a good idea to apply sunscreen 15-30 minutes before sun exposure. 

6.Exfoliate : Regular exfoliation sloughs away dead skin cells and unclogs pores to reveal fresher, brighter skin. Choose which type based on your skin type: scrubs for oily skin, chemical exfoliators for dry or mature skin, and enzymes for sensitive or reactive skin.

7.Go easy on the salt: Salt balance is incredibly important, which is why if you're dehydrated, it can be a good idea to add salt (as detailed above). But if you normally eat very salty foods (think salami and deli meats, processed snacks and soup, or if you add tons of salt to dishes), you can knock your salt balance out of whack the other direction, which can cause dehydration (and soon after, stressed skin). So if you are a bit heavy-handed with the shaker, cut back. 

8.Ease up on the caffeinated beverages: Coffee and non-herbal teas contain caffeine, a natural diuretic, which can dry out your skin. Choose herbal teas or plain water to keep as hydrated as possible (without going overboard) and your skin will improve. 

9.Avoid moisturizers with petroleum: Mineral oil and petroleum jelly are both petroleum-based products, which means they coat the skin, but don't actually moisturize it (the top-level oil slick actually blocks your skin from making it's own oils). Over time, your skin becomes unable to function normally without the unnatural oil slick; your aim should be to encourage the natural, healthy sebum (oil) production in your dermis. 

10.Avoid soaps with sulfates: Naturally, you want to get clean when you wash, but you don't want to strip the naturally protective oils (sebum) from your skin. Sulfates, which make some soaps and shower gels foam up, remove your sebum, which you actually want to avoid. "If skin feels squeaky or tight after a shower, it's damaged," says Arnett. She suggests looking for cleansers without sulfates; "You can get clean without harsh detergents," says Arnett, who recommends , Alafia which I use, and Nourish(both available at Whole Foods) as brands that do the job safely (and are price competitive with conventional brands).  

11.Oil up: Adding oil, or an oil-based moisturizer to your body isn't going to make you more oily; it supports skin and doesn't block natural sebum production. Arnett recommends jojoba oil which "is the closest to skin's natural sebum and isn't greasy."coconut and sesame oil, and shea and cocoa butters (or combinations of these ingredients) also work well, depending on how much moisture you need (my dry skin loves shea butter).  Unless you have really oily skin, most winter skin can use some oil. Applying right after a warm shower will really help it absorb into skin. 

There are a lot of products on the market for all kinds of beauty routines. Most of these products are very expensive. Many of them contain ingredients that can cause allergic reactions for a large number of consumers. Here is a list of 10 effective natural beauty tips for you to try. They are extremely inexpensive and easy to use. And you don't have to try to decipher an ingredient label to see if there may be an ingredient that can be irritating to you.