Facial skin care is more a matter of discipline than anything else. A facial skin care routine is what you need (and you need to follow the facial skin care routine with complete seriousness). So let’s check what comprises an effective facial skin care routine. Well, very simply, a facial skin care routine can follow the following 4 steps:

1.Cleansing

Cleansing is the first thing in facial skin care routine. Cleansing helps in removing dust, pollutants, grease and extra oil from your skin, thereby preventing damage to your skin. Just spot your face and neck with a good cleansing lotion or cream and gently massage it into your skin using upward strokes. Use a soft face tissue or cotton wool to wipe your face in a gentle patting fashion (do not rub). Cleansing should be done at least twice a day i.e. morning (as part of complete facial skin care routine) and evening (on a standalone basis). Water soluble cleansers are the best for inclusion in your facial skin care routine.

2.Toning

Toning is the next in a facial skin care routine. However, this is the optional part of the facial skin care routine. Mostly, proper cleansing can compensate for toning. Toning helps remove all traces of dirt, grease and excess cleanser. Instead of making it part of your daily facial skin care routine, you can using toning occasionally i.e. when you have been exposed to particularly harsh environment/pollution.

3.Exfoliating

Exfoliation is again, kind of, optional step in everyday routine for facial skin care. However, exfoliation is necessary at least once a week (or twice, depending on the skin type and the environmental conditions). Exfoliation finds its place in facial skin care routine because of the natural tendency of skin to replenish the skin cells every 3 or 4 weeks. As a facial skin care technique, exfoliation helps in removing the dead skin cells that block the pores, thus assisting the skin in the natural process. However, excessive or harsh exfoliation can cause damage to your skin; so you need to balance it out.

4.Moisturising

The next thing in facial skin care is moisturising. In fact, moisturising is the most important part of facial skin care routine. Moisturisers prevent your skin from getting dry. Dry skin is really undesirable since it cause the upper layer skin to break, leading to dead skin cells. Again, use light upward strokes to make the moisturiser more effective. Moisturisers work the best when applied on warm and damp skin. So do not try to remove all the moisture in the previous steps of facial skin care routine.

Besides the normal facial skin care routine, you should also exercise the following for facial skin care:

• Use proper make-up remover instead of just washing it away
• Pay heed to your skin type and the environment, when choosing facial skin care products.
• Before you start using a new facial skin care product, test it by applying it on a short patch of skin e.g. ear lobes.
• Never rub your skin too hard.
• Use sunscreen lotions for protection against sun.

Facial Skin Care

Because of the exposure it receives, the skin on your face is the most delicate skin on your body. Your facial skin needs special care to stay young, healthy, and beautiful.

1. Clean Your Face Gently

Toothpaste can be very irritating to the skin around the mouth. So brush your teeth before cleansing your face to remove any toothpaste residue that may be left on your lips and cheeks (You should use a natural toothpaste free from toxic Flouride- “Jasons” brand works well. Next, splash your face with lukewarm water and smooth about a quarter-size amount of a mild, natural cleanser over your face. You may use a washcloth or facial cloth if you wish, but fingertips are gentler on the skin. Use circular strokes to lightly massage the cleanser into your skin. Rinse the soap from your face with lukewarm water, and blot your skin dry with a clean, soft towel.

2. Use Toner Sparingly

Skin toning products often contain drying products, such as alcohol or acetone, that can be irritating to sensitive skin. Avoid using a skin toner if your skin has become dry and delicate over the years. However, a natural skin toner like the product “Oxy-Skin” will bind water to the skin and provide extra cleansing and moisture. This product would be useful for someone with dry or oily skin.

Use skin toner on freshly cleansed skin. Apply toner to a cotton tissue rather than a cotton ball as a tissue is less absorbent and you will end up using less toner on your face. Gently smooth the tissue over your face and allow the toner to dry.

3. Apply Eye Cream

The skin under your eyes is more delicate and sensitive than the skin on the rest of your face. It is the first part of your face to show signs of aging. An natural eye cream or serum can help to protect this fragile skin, even out skin tone, minimize dark under eye circles, and even temporarily tighten fine lines.

Use a pea-sized amount of eye cream (Parfait Visage) and apply to your skin with your middle finger. This finger will apply less pressure than your index finger. In a clockwise motion, smooth the cream from the center of the undereye area to the browbone and over your lids.

4. Moisturize Liberally

A good moisturizer is one of the foundations of an effective skin care routine. Use a moisturizer right after bathing to seal moisture into your skin. A moisturizing product that is not made especially for the face may be too heavy and it may leave the face looking and feeling greasy. Creams and lotions usually are the facial moisturizers of choice for a couple of reasons, as they contain some water and are lighter on the face. And many creams and lotions are humectants, an oil-free class of moisturizer that binds water to the skin so its effects are longer lasting.

Massage a nickel-size amount of facial moisturizer between your fingertips and then smooth over the skin on your face and neck using upward and outward strokes. Pulling down on your skin will aggravate the effects of gravity.

5. Protect Your Face

The best way to prevent unnecessary sun damage is to protect your skin from exposure to the sun. Excess sun exposure can cause damage to your skin in the form of freckles, roughness, age spots, wrinkles, and cancer. Skin cells can repair themselves to a certain degree even after they have been overexposed to ultraviolet light, as long as further exposure is avoided. So it is worth taking the precautions to protect your skin from sun at any age. Ultraviolet rays barrage your face even when you least expect it: in the car, at the bus stop, and even walking in and out of the house. Use a natural sunscreen product everyday, even if you don’t plan on spending a lot of time outdoors.

Facial Skin Care Tips

Don’t wait until bedtime to remove dirt, makeup, dust and pollutants from the face. If you’re in for the night, wash your face as soon as you get home for the day and apply eye cream and moisturizers.

Avoid soda, coffee and other caffienated beverages. These drinks dehydrate your body and rob moisture from the skin. Instead, make sure you drink plenty of purified water throughout the day. Water helps to plump your skin with moisture and it improves circulation. Try to drink enough water that you are never actually thirsty. I recommend a “Wellness Water™” purification system.

Use sunscreen everyday, not just when you are headed to the beach. It’s never too late to start protecting your skin from the damaging effects of the sun. Wearing a sunscreen with at least SPF 15 everyday can protect your skin from premature aging, wrinkling, and age spots.

Facial Skincare Tips: Scrubs, Masks, and Exfoliation

Your skin is your body’s largest organ. It’s also the first thing that most people notice about you. It shields your bones, muscles, and blood vessels. Skin is so vital, so why do people not take better care of it?

Not drinking enough water, going out in the sun without sunscreen, and using harsh chemical products adds to the damage. There are a myriad of products on the market nowadays to help you keep your skin healthy, among them masks, scrubs and exfoliation products.

Before settling on a skincare regimen, you have to know what skin type you have. If you’re lucky, you might have normal skin – not too dry or too oily, but just right. More people will have combination skin where there are parts of the face and body which are dry and other parts oily. Or, you might just be all oily or all dry skinned. No matter which type skin you have, there are products made specially for you.

Facial Masks: Facial mask products can be found for any skin type or condition. Do you suffer from acne or blackheads? There are facial masks that you apply, let dry dry and then peel off. Dead skin covering blackheads will become unclogged which helps clear them up. There are also facial masks that you apply and allow to dry, like mud masks. When you are done, you wash your face with warm water to remove the mud mask.

Mud masks have a number of benefits, including oil control. You skin will glow with health, not shine with oil. The impurities in your skin’s pores are removed by the mud mask, and appearance of those pores will be minimized. Pimple growth is lessened and blackheads dissolve and wash away.

Scrubs and Exfoliaters: You can consider exfoliating like using very fine sandpaper for your skin. You will be using a mildly abrasive material that buffs away dead skin cells, leaving glowingly healthy skin in its place. Exfoliating has several benefits. First, old dead skin cells making your complexion dull are scrubbed off, leaving new fresh skin cells. Additionally, after exfoliation, it is easier for skin to absorb moisturizers and other skin treatments.

If your complexion is normal to oily, exfoliating is helpful three to four times a week. For drier skin, exfoliation should only be done one to two times a week maximum. You should establish a skincare routine that includes all of these products, and adds a cleaner and moisturizer. You will keep your skin healthy far longer and feel better as well.

Fast And Furious Facial

It doesn’t matter if you are a stay at home mom, or a corporate professional. You need to keep your appearance at it’s best all the time, and that can be a hard job. But what if you don’t always have the time to go to a Spa for a professional facial? I’ve got just the solution for you.

Today, many Spas provide what is know as MicroDermaBrasion. With this technique, a Spa technician exfoliates the dead layers of skin from your face by using a system similar to sandblasting, but on a much, much smaller scale. With the dead layers of skin removed from your face, it now reveals the fresh new skin underneath. This can give you the appearance of a face lift, without the cost or the surgery.

Most women who undergo MicroDermaBrasion, find that afterwards their skin is sensitive, irritated, and sometimes swollen. Not to mention a professional Spa treatment takes a appointment, and can cost generally between $150 -$600 dollars. So what can you do for yourself that’s just as effective, is quick, and not expensive at all? It’s called a lemon salt scrub. Here’s what you will need.

Ingredients:

1. One Small Lemon
2. Four Tablespoons of Fine Sea Salt

If you don’t have a lemon, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice is fine, and if you can’t get hold of finely ground sea salt, table salt will do as well.

Cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice of one half into a small bowl. Then put the four tablespoons of fine sea salt in, and mix well. You want a solution with the consistency of oatmeal. Then take a few fingertip full of the solution and rub in into your face and pores, making sure to scrub gently as you go. Leave on for five to ten minutes, then wash off with cold water.

You will find your skin is softer and smoother than before, with a nice warm glow, and it cost you less than a few dollars, and no more than 15 minutes from start to finish to obtain. Now you can duplicate at home, or anywhere for that matter, what the Spas charge so much money to provide, at a fraction of the cost, and look great doing it!

Homemade Facial Mask Recipies

Try some of these proven facial mask recipies! Each treatment has its own duration that you should leave the mixture on for. When complete, rinse off with lukewarm water unless the recipie states otherwise. These provide proven results, so many professional spas use identical (or similar) treatments. Make sure that before applying any facial mask blends, the face should be washed and cleaned with a mild facial wash. Best of all, they are all natural and can do no harm to the skin. Sample a homemade facial mask; you might be amazed with the results.

Basic:

1. Got egg in your face?
- Beat one egg white
- Add three to six drops of lemon juice
- Smooth it out all over the face evenly
- Wait for at least five minutes for the mixture to dry and spread on a second layer
2. Honey mask
- Combine two tablespoons of alcohol, two tablespoons of water
- Add 100 grams of warm honey
- Smooth on the face; keeping it on for at least 20 minutes
3. Milk: it’s good for you!
- Combine 1 tablespoon of nonfat instant powdered milk, 1 teaspoon unflavored yogurt
- Add half a cucumber, peeled and sliced in small peices
- Put all ingredients in a blender and mix until pasty
- Spread all over the face, keeping it on for at least twenty minutes
4. Oatmeal: it sticks to more than your ribs
- In a blender, blend together a tablespoon of oatmeal, two tablespoons of powdered nonfat milk
- Add one egg white and half a cup of orange juice.
- Apply unto face and let it stay for twenty minutes.
5. Oatmeal: another method
- Mix together an egg white, a teaspoon of orange juice
- Add two tablespoons of instant oatmeal
- Apply to the face and leave on for twenty minutes
6. Honey and milk
- To a beaten egg white, add in one half teaspoon of honey
- Add lemon juice, fresh milk and flour
- Spread to the face and keep it on for twenty minutes and rinse with cool water
7. Chamomile
- In blender, combine about one teaspoon finely crushed and dried chamomile flowers, a teaspoon of fresh mint finely chopped
- Combine with tablespoon of honey and an egg white
- Smooth on to face, keep on for twenty minutes
8. Go bananas
- Mash about half a banana and combine it with a tablespoon of orange juice
- Mix in one tablespoon of honey
- Keep the mixture on for fifteen minutes
9. Sour power
- Combine half a cup of honey, a tablespoon of lemon juice
- Add two tablespoons of cooked instant oatmeal
- Smooth onto face and wait for thirty minutes before rinsing
10. Cucumber delight
- Mix into a blender a combination of one mashed banana, and half of cucumber
- Drop in a tablespoon of honey and half a cup of lemon juice
- Spread over the face and rinse off after thirty minutes.

For skin lightening:

1. Glycerin
- In a bowl, whisk together one egg yolk, one teaspoon of honey
- Add a teaspoon of glycerin
- Smooth onto face and rinse off after two hours
2. Papaya delight
- Mix together one egg white and a cup of mashed papaya
- Add a tablespoon of lemon juice and two tablespoons of sour cream
- Refrigerate before applying to the face
- Rinse after an hour.
3. Lemon and lime
- Bring to a boil a quarter cup of lemon peel, a quarter cup of lime peel, and lemon leaves
- Steep for five minutes and add a tablespoon of lemon juice, two tablespoons of oats
- Add a tablespoon of wheat germ
- Let cool, then apply on the face
- Rinse off after 30 minutes
4. Papaya and honey
- Blend together two tablespoons of honey and half a cup of mashed ripe papaya
- Smooth on the face
- Rinse off after twenty minutes
5. Carrots and papaya
- Mix together an egg yolk, three tablespoon of mashed papaya
- Mix in three tablespoons of cooked and mashed carrots
- Leave on the face for thirty minutes
6. Baby soft skin
- Whisk together half a cup of lemon juice, an egg white
- Add three teaspoons of powdered infant formula
- Leave on the face for thirty minutes and rinse off with warm water, followed by cold water.
7. Carrot concoction (the 5 minute facial)
- Blend in half a cup of carrot juice, cooked oats
- Add half a cup of wheat germ and two tablespoons of lemon juice
- Smooth on the face and rinse with warm water after 5 minutes

For healthy glow

1. The linden mixture
- Bring to a boil and steep for five minutes a mixture of orange juice and linden flowers
- When cooled, add in two tablespoons of lemon juice, two tablespoons of yogurt and a teaspoon of honey
- Leave onto the face for at least thirty minutes and rinse off with warm water and cold water for the final rinsing
2. Garden freshness
- Boil and steep half a cup of parsley and lemon leaves inside half a cup of lemon juice
- Mix in three teaspoons of infant formula
- Leave on the face for an hour
3. OJ does it
- Combine three tablespoons orange juice with half a cup of honey
- Smooth on the face and leave for thirty minutes
- Wash off with warm followed by cold water.

For oily skin:

1. Olive oil
- Combine an egg yolk, a tablespoon of honey
- Add a tablespoon of olive oil and half a cup of oatmeal
- Leave on the face for fifteen to twenty minutes and wash with warm water
2. Tomatos
- Combine a cup of oatmeal with three tablespoons of non fat milk
- Mash or use blender on tomatoes and add to mixture
- Leave this mixture on the face for an hour and wash off with warm water
3. Strawberry delight
- Boil and steep lemon leaves
- Add in half a cup of oatmeal, three tablespoons wheat germ
- Mash half a cup of strawberries and mix in
- Smooth on the face for an hour and wash of with warm water

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Tags: Facial, skin care