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!