How to Get Beautiful, Healthy Glowing Skin?

Have you ever wondered how you can get beautiful, healthy glowing skin? The best route to healthy skin is to take care of what you have. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

The truth is that your skin takes a beating from the environment every single day.

Here are some of our favorite tips for keeping your skin fresh, glowing and healthy!

1. Stay hydrated, and drink plenty of water!

That doesn’t mean soda, caffeine or any other type of liquid even if it is low cal. Soda (even diet soda) has a high concentration of sodium. Sodium retains fluids. You need fluid that will hydrate and flush your body free of toxins. Make sure you are drinking at least 8 glasses a day!

2. Protect your skin from harmful ultra violet (UV) rays.

We all love the sun. We love being in it and we love having a beautiful tan. The truth is you can poison yourself with too much sunshine. UV rays cause skin cancer, and if that isn’t bad enough, it causes your skin to age faster than it should, contributing to unsightly wrinkles. If you must play in the sun, make certain you are using an adequate sun screen. Don’t leave home without it!

3. Apply your sun screen

Do apply your sun screen even if you only make a quick trip to the grocery store. Yes, you can get harmful UV rays even while driving your car!

4. When you purchase sun screen, make certain you are buying the right tool for the job.

There are different types of UV rays and they don’t all affect our skin in the same ways. The time of year also has a bearing on how much damage the sun can do to your skin. Altitude is another important factor. UV rays are more intense at high altitudes. Sunshine alone is not the culprit. You can do just as much damage to your skin (or in some cases even more) on a cloudy day!

5. Don’t forget sun screen for your lips.

They want to be healthy too!

6. Apply your sunscreen BEFORE going outdoors

Allow plenty of time for it to adequately absorb into your skin cells rather than just sitting on top of the skin.

7. Read the labels on skin care products.

The truth is that some ingredients may do more harm than good. The more ingredients are listed, the more potential harm they can do to your skin.

Here is a list of some of the common ingredients found in skin care products that have the potential to irritate your skin:

- Ammonia
- Balsam
- Bergamot
- Citrus juices and oils
- Coriander
- Eugenol
- Fir needle
- Horsetail

8. There are a few ingredients that are totally banned and should be avoided:

- Bithionol
- Mercury compounds
- Vinyl chloride
- Halogenated salicylanilides
- Zirconium complexes in aerosol cosmetics
- Chloroform
- Methylene chloride
- Chlorofluorocarbon propellants

9. Keep your skin clean.

Use a soft warm cloth. Skin does not require scrubbing. You will do more harm than good if you do.

10. Create your own facial masks.

Here are a couple of excellent masks that you can create with ingredients right from your kitchen: Oatmeal mask: Mix oatmeal with skim milk and apply. Eggs: A raw egg yolk makes an excellent face mask. Try adding a little honey to the egg yolk for a change of pace. Mayonnaise makes another terrific face mask and will leave your skin feeling very soft.

11. Moisturize dry skin with essential oils.

A combination of juniper, cypress, mandarin and grapefruit will work as an astringent that will leave your skin feeling tighter. If your skin is extra dry, premix the essential oils with a teaspoon of carrier oil (mineral oil) and ad ¼ cup of milk or a tablespoon of honey to give you added moisturizing.

12. Use an antioxidant cream.

You are bombarded every day with environmental toxins that attack the surface of your skin. In fact most damage to the skin can be attributed to free radicals. When you expose yourself to toxins like air pollution, free radical production increases. Apply an antioxidant cream to your skin before applying your sun screen.

13. If you have oily skin, only apply a toner in the T zone, your forehead and nose.

Is beauty really skin deep? The answer is yes and no.  It’s a paradox, isn’t it?  True beauty begins from the inside out.   Follow some of the useful tips as provided to you above and you will be able to regain that soft skin that you had as a child!

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