Lips don't lie!

The thing with lips is that they don't have any natural oil of their own, and we will keep doing things that are detrimental, such as licking them or biting them. I know that heroines in 18th century novels used to bite their lips to redden them, but we don't need to do that now; that's what lipstick is for! So here is some info for you:

Dry lips can be caused by your lip balm or lipstick

Check out the ingredient list! If it says petrolatum and most of them do, then you may as well use Vaseline, it's cheaper and will be just as useless. (Did you know that some people are addicted to their lip balm?) This won't moisturise your lips, it will create a barrier on them. Use something moisturising.

You are not drinking enough water

Your lips will be dry, if you are. Set a timer to go off every hour and drink more water. It's free and it's great for your lips, your skin and you. Just do it! (As someone says...)

Lip-smackingly good...?

They might taste nice, but don't lick them, it will dry them out more. Bad idea, don't do it. Stopping this appalling habit is hindered if you use flavoured or scented lip balms, which encourage you to lick them! This is plain silly. Stop doing it now, please, and drink some more water.

Baby, it's cold outside!

Which means that it's probably warmer inside, and that lovely, cosy, central heating is wreaking havoc with your rosy lips. Talking of roses, you want them fresh and bud-like, rather than dehydrated petals, don't you? Look after them, then.

My prescription

Obviously, I use Dr Hauschka Lip Care Stick. It’s highly moisturising, and the beeswax part helps form an occlusive layer, to keep the moisturising Shea butter and almond oil on the lips. It even works for skiers. (Well, it needed testing, and, obviously, it was a hard job, but someone had to do it! I take my research very seriously.) 

If your lips are in a totally parlous state, then try this DIY method 

(as long as no-one else is around).

Put a layer of Manuka, or other honey on your lips. Rip off a piece of cling-film* big enough to cover your lips, not your entire face, because breathing is a good thing to do, generally speaking. Leave this for a while and your lips will look and feel much softer. Don’t be tempted to lick them though!

In the meantime, I have some Dr Hauschka Lip Care Sticks available free, with any order over £45, while stocks last! The normal RRP is £9.25, just for reference. So, if you need to stock up, why not get a freebie?

*Please note: I only use cling film for beauty purposes, never for food!

For regular updates, why not sign up to my emails?

http://www.theorganicbeautician.com/organic-beautician-newsletter

The trial of the century

Of recent months, I have been aware of a strange phenomenon: my husband, normally a mild-mannered, wouldn't-say-boo-to-a-goose sort of chap has been shouting at the radio, on a fairly regular basis. Normally this only happens occasionally when he listens to Any Questions, but I know that's not on every evening. It turns out that he has been listening to the Archers again.

I used to listen regularly, from a child in fact, because my mother was an Archers addict and my childhood was one of sacred silence at 7.05 for the fifteen minute duration. (Woe betide you if you spoke or even breathed loudly!) However, when the evil Vanessa Witchburn sent lovely Nigel falling from the roof of his ancestral pile, thinking that this would be a good start to the year, in 2011, I stopped in protest.

It's not that I disagree with them killing off characters; indeed, this can become a necessity when they want to leave, like John Archer, who fell under a tractor, so that he could pursue his career elsewhere. It's just that Nigel was sweet; unfailingly pleasant and jolly, with a penchant for dressing up in a gorilla suit and driving an ice cream van, and I feel that we could do with more people like that. There were plenty of characters I would have been happy to see the end of: snobby Susan Carter, Peggy Archer, Kate Aldridge, (the spoilt-brat hippy-child), or her equally irritating, carefully-enunciating mother Jennifer. Also Elizabeth, wife of the lovely Nigel, or her unbearably annoying sister, Saint Shula of Ambridge, or Tony Archer, who was a bit wet, or the incredibly joyless and exasperating Helen Archer. However, in reality, as someone wrote recently, awful things do happen to annoying people and Helen simply doesn't deserve what has been going on in her life recently, which is coercion and bullying by her despicable husband the allegedly charming RobTitchner. (The reason for my husband's increasingly loud invective.)

If you have been in a hut on an island for the last few weeks, Helen has just spent the last few months of her pregnancy and childbirth in prison, because she finally snapped and stabbed her utterly vile husband Rob. (He handed her the knife, I might add, and told her to kill herself. Charming chap.) Anyway, because Rob is a cunning and clever psychopath, most people have thought that he is just a caring and loving husband. He patently isn't, obviously, he's a manipulative swine, but that is only apparent if you are a listener.

Having walked through the kitchen, on various occasions, to see what the shouting was about, I found it too uncomfortably chilling to listen to the way that Rob's control has built up over hapless Helen, and her son Henry (who is currently in Rob's custody; someone go and fetch that child sharpish, please). Apparently I was not alone. There have been complaints about this, but also praise, because the portrayal of the recently criminalised coercive control that Rob has been exhibiting, has been advised on by women's groups, and they said that what happened in the end can happen in real life, "when Henry was threatened Helen did an ‘exploding doormat’ ". (It is unusual though, because, sadly, most women are the injured ones, rather than the stabber, which is what Helen became.)

We listened to the trial last night, which was mainly the jurors deliberating (and squabbling) and the jurors were a shocking blend of pleasantness and prejudice, including re-incarnated "Nigel", as Dennis, a rather prejudiced man, the not-so-lovely-this-time Nigel Havers, the self elected chairman, on a mission to get Helen banged up for good, (because these women are all unstable), Catherine Tate, who initially wasn't bothered, and the indomitable Eileen Atkins who singlehandedly fought Helen's corner, and talked the men round. (There were only 11 jurors, because one idiot tweeted about the case. Seriously!) Husband did have a grumble because he thought the men were all awful and he even got cross with Catherine Tate's Lisa, who thought Helen was making a fuss about nothing (turns out her chap was a total swine as well).

Anyway, Helen did walk free at the end, but this storyline could run and run, because psycho Rob still has Henry and I expect she'll will want her son back, but I'm not sure I can take any more of this emotional rollercoaster. (I had to anoint myself with Moor Lavender oil before going to bed, as I felt totally shattered.If I had any withers, they were wrung!) Still, it was an hour long episode, and it's available on Listen Again, if you can bear it...

Let's hope this story has helped many women in similar situations to recognise that they are not mad, and that coercive behaviour is not part of a loving relationship. In fact, the real hero of the hour is a chap called Paul Trueman on Twitter, who started the Helen Titchner Rescue Fund and has also caused an amazing sum of money to be raised for hospices in Helen's name. It stood at about £150,000, last night! 

I hope they go back to lambing and worrying about the wheat yield soon, though, because I'm not sure that I can cope with any more emotional distress at supper time!

One easy thing that will change your skin for GOOD!

Compressing your complexion for radiant skin

Compressing is an old fashioned remedy for many problems, and can help your skin immensely. It is used to great effect during the Dr Hauschka treatment, but can also be done at home to keep up the good work! All you need is a large muslin cloth and some warm water. Adding something sweet-smelling to the water does make the whole process more pleasurable and more effective, though! Herb tea bags or loose herbs can be used for their scent and healing properties, but I tend to use Dr Hauschka's Bath Essences.

How to compress

Use your large muslin cloth folded into a strip. Soak it in a sink of warm water, with a little something added to make it smell gorgeous and enhance the effect and general pleasurableness. Never underestimate the pleasure principle - if you make an activity enjoyable, you are more likely to repeat it.

I generally use Lemon or Spruce in the morning and Lavender in the evening.

For oily skin choose Sage or Lemon,

Sensitive skin will benefit from the soothing and water-softening properties of Lavender, which is also wonderful for any skin types in the evening, to facilitate a good night’s sleep.

Rose Bath is good for sensitive skin and general use

Sage is great for balancing those pesky female hormones and also for oily skin in men.

Spruce is particularly great if you have a cold or hay-fever, and is only available during the winter months.

Apply the wrung-out compress to your face, covering the whole of the face, with your little fingers beside the nose. It’s important to compress particularly the nose and chin, as this is where there is often more congestion.

Take a moment to breathe in and enjoy inhaling the gorgeous smell!

Then repeat this just below the chin, covering the neck, and once more, take the time to breathe deeply (which helps oxygenate the blood, and kick-starts the lymph).

Repeat on the face and neck.

Tailor the water to your skin condition; if you have oily skin you can use hotter water, if you have delicate, dry skin or rosacea, then you should use water which is just warm, not hot, although as your skin gets stronger, you will be able to use warmer water.

Please bear in mind that it takes considerably longer to describe how to do this than it does to do it. I spend longer cleaning my teeth than my face, and I am a beautician. 

You can read more about my approach to skin care by signing up to my regular newsletters here.

These instructions are part of the SkinCredible Journey, a month-long coaching programme for your best skin ever: The Skincredible Journey

Water water everywhere nor any drop to drink...

WATER

Come on. You know this one. None of us drink enough of the pure stuff. You have to drink more: it is great for the skin and the intestines, and if you drink enough water you will lose weight, almost without trying. The best way I have found, is to set a timer. (I use a kitchen one but you might be savvy enough to do this on your telephone.) Set it for every hour and at the top of the hour drink a small glass. I have been guilty of thinking at the end of the day, “Oh, I’m dehydrated” and then knocking back a pint (water, not beer!). This is not the way forward. Regular drinking, and not swigging, but sipping, is the answer. A timer is dead cheap and really makes a difference to me.

Best start to the day is hot water with a squeeze of lemon juice in it. This alkalises the body and kick-starts the liver, and as we all know, life depends on the liver.

So here’s a way to increase your intake:

You need:

A kitchen timer or telephone

A tap

A glass!!

Lemons

Drink a glass full, and then set your timer to go off in an hour, at which point you have another glass. [Rinse and repeat.]

It may be better not to drink with meals, as it can interfere with the digestive process, so while you are preparing meals is a good time to have a glass of water, though, and half an hour afterwards is fine. If you set a timer, you won’t forget!

Try and cut down on tea and coffee, and try herb teas instead. Pukka and Yogi both make some really great ones, and you can also use herbs from the garden to make up your own blend. During the summer, I make a blend up of whatever is in the garden at that time, and I always give my clients a cup after a treatment. If you treat yourself to a glass teapot that you only use for herb teas., it makes it more special and also means you have enough to share!

You can also “eat” water: salads like celery, cucumber and lettuce are all high in water and it’s an easy way to get more nutrients.

Putting the “I” into exercise

You might think this is a bit off topic for a skin care email, but bear with me, because it is relevant.

     Sometimes the world seems to be divided into gym bunnies and couch potatoes, although really most of us fall in the middle, and if you are a gym bunny, STOP READING NOW. This is not for you.

     Maybe it’s just me, but when I hear the word exercise, I want to hide behind the sofa, or on it, but if you asked me to go for a walk, I‘d be quite keen, as long as it isn’t raining, of course.  I just don’t want to think about having to walk 10,000 steps each day, or I start counting, lose count and give up. Yes, I know I could buy a pedometer, but I don’t want one, thank you.

     Children seem to keep active, though, (or the ones not plugged into electronic kit do) and maybe that’s because they have movement, not exercise. They get to hop, skip and jump about which is way more fun, and what I advocate. Why should they have all the fun? Hopscotch, anyone?

Skipping is completely exhausting. 

     If you’re a boxer, you can do it for ever, it seems, but after about a minute, I’m shattered, but that’s ok because there is this thing called HIIT (high intensity interval training) which means that you have to work as hard as you can for a short amount of time. I can do that fine, I just get bored after too long, so it suits me perfectly.

Hula hooping is great fun, far too good for those ungrateful children. 

     It’s good for your waistline as it firms the abs. You do have to do both directions, though, or you might get lopsided. Argos do a fab one, much better than the children’s ones; if you think you can’t hoop, try one of these. Best to use it outside, though, as it is quite weighty. And don't drop it on your ankles as you can get quite spectacular bruises. I speak from experience.

Jumping on a trampoline or for adults a rebounder is a total hoot 

     This is lots of fun, and recommended by NASA, no less, for returning astronauts. Apparently 10 minutes bouncing is equivalent to 30 minutes jogging, also much better for your knees, and your pelvic floor. Oh and your skin! Yes! Result!!

So why am I discussing movement?

Because it is vital for the health of your skin as well as the rest of it that you keep moving.  

     Movement increases circulation, which nourishes the cells, and also encourages the flow of lymph. The lymph system, unlike the circulatory system, does not have a pump (heart), so it works alongside the flow of blood. This is why you can get puffy eyes when you awake in the morning (especially if you slather on night cream. But you don’t, do you?)

     We have become a sedentary species, and the best exercised part of most people is the thumb – all that texting. So get moving for the sake of your skin as well as the rest of you.

I’m off to have a hoop now! Ta ra!

Goody bags

Have you noticed how sophisticated children’s parties have become? 

When I was little, we went to a friend’s house, and ate sandwiches, followed by jelly and ice cream. We played a few games, like musical chairs*, and then we went home, with some cake in a napkin. Now, they seem to take a gang of chums to a theme park/leisure centre/Venice and come back with a party bag full of vouchers and expensive stuff they don’t need. One of my daughters once came home with a Barbie in her party bag!  (She was delirious, I wasn’t!) It seems a bit unfair, really; why don’t we have parties like that when we grow up? Though, actually, I quite fancy playing musical chairs!

Well, I can’t organise a party for adults every month, (or maybe I could - there’s an idea!) but I thought a party bag might be fun, because why should the small fry have all the larks? So, I am starting a Goody bag scheme. There are many schemes like this available now, which send out all sorts of cosmetic testers, but mine will be solely Dr Hauschka, and will always include a full size product, as well as testers, so it will be excellent value for money!

What’s in it for you?

• A nice surprise each month to look forward to! 
• A great opportunity to try new products at a reasonable rate; in fact, the value of the contents of the bag will exceed the cost you pay. 
• You might even discover a new favourite.

What’s in it for me?

It helps me to have regular orders, as well as giving me the opportunity to introduce you to new products, and sharing ideas about how to use them. Every month’s bag will be different and there is no need to sign up to direct debit: if you decide a bag is not to your taste, then you just don’t order it.

How it will work

I will let you know what to expect in the next month’s bag, and you can decide if you would like to try it. If so, you pay online before the 26^th of the month, and you will receive the next month’s bag. It will cost just £21 for local bags which are collected - either from me or from Stroud, and £26 for posted bags. So, less than £5 a week, for a monthly treat!

The first bag will have a lemon theme

Perfect for this time of year: it will contain my favourite body oil – Lemon/Lemongrass and an information leaflet all about the various uses, as well as testers for you to try.

Remember, there’s no compulsion to sign up, it’s supposed to be fun!

Please email me if you would like to order May's bag:

jane@theorganicbeautician.com

*If we were really lucky we played Snapdragon? Ever tried it? Burning raisins in brandy! Excellent fun (- except for H&S people, I suppose).

The Skincredible Journey

The SkinCredible Journey.
Experience your best skin ever in just 30 days!

Your skin is not just a covering for your muscles and bones; it also plays a major part in your health and well-being, as well as impacting on your confidence and how you feel in your everyday life, both personal and business.

So many of us seem to wage a war on our skin: we nuke it with lasers and acid peels, scarify it with micro-blades and pointed rollers and scrub at it as if it were made of concrete. We rarely stop to consider whether it likes or even benefits this treatment. I am seeing a much greater incidence of adult acne and especially rosacea nowadays and I believe it is because we are so rough with our outer mantle. In my experience as a skin care professional, the majority of women, once they gain a deeper understanding of the structure and function of the skin, begin to treat it - and themselves - with more love, respect and kindness. Learning to care for your skin, to treat it with love and kindness, can have a major impact on other areas of your life.

Why should you invest in your skin?
If your skin looks good, you will feel more confident and can be more outgoing and sociable. Conversely, if your skin looks blemished, flushed or wrinkled, you might feel embarrassed or self-conscious about it and become more withdrawn and less gregarious. If you neglect it, perhaps you should consider what you spend on your hair, your bags or shoes! Your skin is way more valuable than these, and far less easy to replace!

Watch your complexion glow
Luckily, it is possible for almost everyone to have gorgeous, glowing, radiant skin, and if you would like to discover this secret for yourself, why not sign up to the Skincredible Journey? 

I created the Skincredible Journey as an affordable way for people to learn how best to attain and then maintain their best ever skin. 

The Skincredible Journey is a month-long hands-on coaching programme of skin care and nutritional advice which, if followed properly will give you a radiant complexion and a slimmer figure! 

Caution! You may lose some weight!
By being part of a small, exclusive group, you can learn how and why to care for your skin as well as the best foods to keep it looking and feeling healthy. Of course, our skin is a mirror of our own health, and the food that feeds your skin will be great for your general health too, so many people find that they also lose some weight when they follow my Skinfoods eating plan.

As part of the Skincredible journey, you will receive an incredible kitbag of Dr Hauschka products, including a month's worth of the magic potion that is Renewing Night Conditioner, as well as instructions, advice and an invitation to the practical Radiant Skin Session, where you can also see and try for yourself the 24 carat Gold I use in the Cleopatra facial.

Special offer for Early Birds
Sign up early and the Skincredible Journey will cost you less!
Early birds pay only £150 in two instalments, later sign-ups will pay the full cost of £175 Book your place at Jane@theorganicbeautician.com 
Places are limited.