What are you using on your face at the moment?

The weather has suddenly changed from blissfully warm to icy cold. I can’t believe that I was sitting beside the sea in Lyme two days ago, warming in the sun, and now I am back in tights and cardigans. All too easy to adjust one’s clothing requirements, but what about our faces, which bear the brunt of changing weather, central heating and pollution? It would seem sensible to adjust one’s skin care routine as one does one’s wardrobe, but I am constantly amazed that not only do women not do this but that many of them are still using the same products they were using ten, or even twenty, years ago! Yet, the skin is a changing organ, and how we care for it needs to change according to its current requirement; after all most of wear different clothes from what we wore when we were younger (I do still rather hanker after a Ra-Ra skirt, but would prefer to avoid the 16-61 syndrome!) The skin’s condition changes, often quite dramatically, throughout life, and its vicissitudes, and it makes sense to give it optimum care by changing how we treat it accordingly.

A client recently told me that she has been using Normalising Day Oil for the last ten or so years. Here is the official description for NDO which is now called Clarifying Day Oil (presumably for the purposes of clarity!)

“Clarifying Day Oil is a fast-absorbing daily moisturiser which balances excessive oiliness, refines the appearance of pores and reduces the appearance of blemishes, for a calm, beautiful complexion."

So while it might be suitable for a teenager with acne, it is not necessarily so great for a woman of 36, with dry patches and incipient wrinkles, who might benefit from a more hydrating cream rather than a drying one. I suggested that she tried Rose day cream for her (now) dry skin and to layer the oil on top when she went running, for extra protection, as she loves it so much. Her skin is much happier now, and looks healthy, moister and less stressed, which of course means she is happier with it and less stressed herself.

I suppose the moral of this story is to see your local Dr Hauschka Esthetician regularly, so she can have a good look at your skin; you get the maximum benefit of her expertise and treatments and your skin can look its absolute best. Unlike other facials, it is safe, and even recommended, to have a Dr Hauschka treatment before a big event, as you will not experience breakouts but just gorgeous healthy skin - the “radiant glow” - that is the trademark of Dr Hauschka devotees.

Clearing Acne with kindness?

Such a bore, skin complaints.  Usually when you need to look your best, you end up feeling self-conscious and unattractive. Not that we should be obsessed with appearances, as what is inside is of far more relevance, but sadly, we do tend to notice the externals first. Nowhere is this more self-evident than our teenage years, when we desperately want to look good, are often feeling very, very insecure and to top it all off, our complexion lets us down with a wodge of red angry spots and enough oil to power the central heating system for a week (now there’s an idea..!) Most people, faced with this situation retaliate in an ever-escalating war of attrition, using steadily stronger methods of subduing the skin, with precarious results. Doctors may offer anything from antibiotics, to ro-accutane and for the lucky girls, the contraceptive pill. These do work for some people some of the time, but are not ideal by any means, and there are often side effects, not least of which is that when the medication is stopped, the symptoms often reappear.

 In my experience, the answer lies in being kind to your skin; not scrubbing it and stripping it of oil, but gently cleansing and nurturing it and healing it with kindness. Now before you throw your zit cream at the screen, hear me out a little longer. I recommend a simple and gentle cleansing routine which starts with warming the face up in order to increase the circulation and also open the pores, which may be blocked. When the face is warm, an application of Cleansing cream, no scrubbing! - followed by a cool compress, toning with Clarifying toner, and then - and this is the one that throws some people - a gentle application of Normalising Day Oil.

Oil on oily skin may seem a non-sequitur but think about it; what happens when you strip the oil? It rebounds with more! So, by adding some healing oil, like Dr Hauschka’s Clarifying Day Oil, we are actually calming the skin down, so it can relax and doesn’t feel the need to produce more sebum, as it can sense that there is oil already on the surface. In effect, your skin becomes more self-regulatory, and starts to find an impulse for healing itself.

I always advise gentle cleansing, because the scrubbing and exfoliating that most people do can seriously damage the acid mantle, as well as spreading infection where there are already blemishes. Cleansing with a “press and roll” movement, on the other hand, encourages the pores to be cleansed right down to the bottom, and if done correctly, from the top of the face downwards and from the centre outwards, means that the lymphatic pathways are being followed which brings into helpful action the body’s own internal cleansing. Generally, working with the body is better than working against it, and your skin will really thank you for respecting your body’s inherent wisdom. 

For more information, please click on the following link:

http://www.theorganicbeautician.com/treatments/clarifying-treatment

Love your cellulite!

It looks like we can thank Vogue magazine for introducing us to cellulite, as they first used the term in the 1920s "Like a swift migrating fish, the word cellulite has suddenly crossed the Atlantic.”

Before this point women were not generally as scantily clad in public and so would not have been thinking about how their skin looked; in fact they probably had more relevant considerations such as, how to get hold of contraception, their financial dependency and whether they were ever going to get the vote. Nowadays, however, cellulite is a multi-million pound industry, with even very young girls worrying about whether they have a thigh gap or not, and why is it dimpled? Well, medical opinion seems to err on the side of it being normality; after all, 85-90% of post-adolescent women seem to have it, so can it really be a problem? It has even been described as an "inappropriate term used by women to describe curves which they judge to be too plump and not very aesthetic”.

The presence of cellulite is thought to be dependent on sex, and race and one’s genetic bio-type; if your mother had it, you probably will, but as your mother was female, she probably did have it, as oestrogen plays a part in its development and women have more body fat than men – for good reasons, such as storing energy for a possible pregnancy. Women and men store fat differently, as we all know, not only do we have more body fat, but our bands of connective tissue are differently structured: in men, the bands are thicker, more numerous and form a crossed pattern, in women there are less of them and they are vertical, enabling fat to pucker and poke through. Well, lucky us! (Even if you are really skinny, you will probably have some layers of fat between your skin and muscles, so you will still have it.) So, really, it appears to be a natural condition to women, and nothing to get so worked up about; basically, if you have breasts, you probably have cellulite, so let’s embrace it and cosset it! Most men don’t notice it, and are not even aware of its existence on us. In fact, men are programmed, by nature, to like curves, not coat-hangers! Also, remember that our daughters see how we feel about our body and mimic it; let’s try to ensure that they grow up with healthy body images rather than “issues”!

If it is really getting you down, though, there are a few easy things you can do which will tone the skin and make it less noticeable:

·         Eating lots of vegetables (ideally raw) and drinking plenty of water will help your skin to look better in any case, and help reduce any oedema which can accentuate cellulite.

·         A light tan can make your skin look healthier, and means that you are getting some of that all-important vitamin D from the sun.

·         Having a cold shower after your regular hot one really does tone the skin up, and I speak from experience here!  Just think of it as standing under a mountain waterfall:  try to enjoy it and in time you will miss it, if you don’t do it!

·         I like to use Dr Hauschka Lemon and Lemongrass Oil on my thighs and legs, as it has a gorgeous smell and makes my legs look and feel beautiful. (Any that is left can be used on the ends of your hair, which makes it smell lovely and seems to condition it well!)

Please, treat your legs with love, rather than loathing; after all, they carry us around all day, on unsuitable shoes most of the time, and then are berated for looking like something that Rembrandt or Reubens would have loved to paint! Love your cellulite, massage it gently with the finest organic ingredients, and you will start to notice it less, and love your body more!

 www.theorganicbeautician.com

New look and names for old favourites

A new look and new name for some old favourites

Some of the wonderful Dr. Hauschka face care products are being re-named, for the sake of clarity, really. Some of the old names seemed to be direct translations of the German names, which can sometime be a little clunky in English, and obviously it has been decided that this doing, together with the updated new look to the branding. I think the Regenerating Range in particular looks very alluring, though I can't help wishing that the spelling of moisturising was done the English way. (I wouldn't go as far as King Lear and say "Thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter", but I do feel that it is overused sometimes.)  You can have a look at the new packaging here: https://www.facebook.com/TheOrganicBeautician
What do you think of the new look and names?

Former Name	New Name
Cleansing Clay Mask	Clarifying Clay Mask
Cleansing Milk	Soothing Cleansing Milk
Daily Face Care Kit: Normal, Dry & Sensitive Skin	Revitalizing Face Care Kit: Normal, Dry & Sensitive Skin
Daily Face Care Kit: Oily, Impure Skin	Clarifying Face Care Kit: Oily, Blemished and Combination Skin
Daily Revitalizing Eye Cream	Daily Hydrating Eye Cream
Eye Contour Day Balm	Eye Balm
Eye Solace	Eye Revive
Facial Steam Bath	Clarifying Steam Bath
Intensive Treatment 01 for Acneic Skin (up to age 25)	Clarifying Intensive Treatment (up to age 25)
Intensive Treatment 02 (age 25 and up)	Clarifying Intensive Treatment (age 25+)
Intensive Treatment 03 for Hypersensitive Skin	Soothing Intensive Treatment
Intensive Treatment 04 for Mature Skin	Regenerating Intensive Treatment
Intensive Treatment 05 for Menopausal Skin	Intensive Treatment for Menopausal Skin
Moisturizing Day Cream	Revitalizing Day Cream
Moisturizing Mask	Hydrating Mask
Normalizing Day Oil	Clarifying Day Oil
Pure Care Cover Stick 01-03	Coverstick 01-03
Regenerating Body Moisturizer	Regenerating Body Cream
Rejuvenating Mask	Revitalizing Mask
Rhythmic Conditioner, Sensitive	Sensitive Care Conditioner
Rhythmic Night Conditioner	Renewing Night Conditioner
Toned Day Cream	Tinted Day Cream
Translucent Bronze Concentrate	Translucent Bronzing Tint

Rosacea

These days I seem to see so many people with Rosacea, yet twenty years ago, I didn't know anyone who had it, so it seems to be a very modern phenomenon. It is hardly surprising; women nowadays have so many assaults on their bodies and skin, from Xeno-oestrogens and other pollutants in the water, to antibiotics and pesticides in the food we eat. That is before you even think about the shed-load of chemicals that are permitted to be in our skin care, shampoo and shower gels!  And don’t forget the cocktail of allopathic drugs, coffee, alcohol and cigarettes. Other things which are more face specific are interventionist “beauty” treatments such as peeling, laser resurfacing, AHA peels and exfoliation. (Exfoliation always makes me think of defoliation and Agent Orange, which is not a great comparison.)

In my opinion, anything that interferes with the top layer of the skin is asking for trouble. The acid mantle, which is finely balanced at the best of times, is apt to be damaged or destroyed by any of the foregoing options, which can then lead (depending on your skin’s inherent tendencies) to dryness and irritation or excessive oil production and spots. Neither of which are consummations devoutly to be wished, I fear! The epidermis is very, very thin, and varies in thickness from 0.05 mm on the eyelids to 0.8 ± 1.5 mm on the soles of the feet and palms of the hand, so any scrubbing action is going to disturb something this thin, and yet we are constantly advised to exfoliate almost religiously.  Now, I haven’t exfoliated my own face for about 15 years, and my skin is way better than it was when I was younger! This is because the top layer of dead cells, which we are told to remove, are protection for the new young cells. You might think that you want to see the shiny new young cells, but just as no sane person would leave a tiny baby out in the midday sun without a bonnet and sunshade, your own baby cells, sensitive and immature as they are, also need protection.  We treat ourselves and our faces in ways that are so unkind; we would not treat another person like that, and we need to find kinder ways of caring for ourselves and our faces in particular. Being much gentler with our complexion can help avoid or ameliorate sensitive skin conditions.

When I see a new client with Rosacea, my first aim is to decrease inflammation. The skin is hyper-reactive, over-sensitive and inflamed; it needs calming down.  After a Relaxing foot-bath, I achieve this with very gentle cleansing, soothing oil mask, and rejuvenating mask to encourage the skin to heal itself. Very gentle lymphatic stimulation with brushes is also part of the healing process.

With rosacea, unlike acne which can be cured, there is no real remedy; it is a question of managing it. Inflammation in the skin can often reflect inflammation in the body, and efforts can be made to reduce this, via diet. Wheat, sugar, alcohol, coffee, chocolate and, for some, meat, are all triggers which can worsen this condition, and so great attention should be given to reducing their consumption. Some clients are reluctant to address this, but if you think about the average diet: toast or weetabix for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, pasta or pizza for supper, you can see that there is often a heavy bias in favour of wheat-based meals. Replacing some of these with safer options can mean that healing is more rapid. (Plus you will probably lose weight, if that is something you need to do.) 

The other problem that some people have is that they want an instant cure! They may have had this condition getting worse for 15 years, they may have tried laser resurfacing, and thread vein electrolysis, but they want an Esthetician to sort it out today, please, in an hour or so! Now I did once have a miracle cure, but the woman concerned had only had the condition for a couple of months, she was just 30 and was very receptive to the home care routine and improving her diet. (It wasn’t initially great for business, as she didn’t need to come back for more treatments, but she did tell a lot of people about it.) However, this was a very unusual occurrence, and generally women who have this problem only try a natural treatment after they have exhausted the mainstream routes, which means by the time I see them, their skin is really confused. They are often very sensitive individuals who are embarrassed by their skin; one poor woman said that she wished she could wear a burqa! There are some obvious things to watch out for, the food items mentioned about, and some mineral make-up can also trigger this condition in women who have never had it before: beware in particular of Bismuth Oxychloride; it often causes sensitivity. 

Try amending your diet and see what happens! If you want a healthy wheat/dairy free breakfast, here is a #skinfoods one I recommend and enjoy myself. 

Soak 1Tablespoon of Buckwheat overnight with 1T sunflower seeds, ½ T linseed, 7 chopped almonds in rice milk*or warm water or apple juice. In the morning, you can add some blueberries, raspberries or grated apple (or all three!), pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, 1 T maca powder, hemp seeds and sweeten with manuka honey or maple syrup. If you use frozen raspberries for convenience, put them in the night before as well. This contains rutin, which helps strengthen capillaries, as well as being anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant, omega 3,6, & 9 fatty acids, and assorted other goodies which are great for your skin and your mood! 

For lunch try a mixture of green salad leaves, add some protein: chicken, fish, goats or sheeps cheese, and sprinkle with more seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, hemp, chia, poppy sesame or gomasio or furikake (which has the added bonus of seaweed in it) Dress with extra-virgin cold pressed olive oil and lemon juice or cider vinegar. Then try and eat something sensible for supper. Oh, and don't forget to go gently when cleansing!

 *I don’t recommend soya milk. Ever.