Skin care advice you can use!   As promised, here is our second question and answer from Dr. Teri Dourmashkin, who holds a PhD in Health Education from Columbia University.

Question:  I have combination skin – what are your recommendations for skin care products for my skin?

Answer:  “Treating combination skin may take a little more effort than just having dry or oily skin. But with a few tips, it is easily manageable. In some cases, you may need to treat your oily and dry areas a bit differently. One option is to use a light weight moisturizer all over your face. This can work if you feel that it provides enough moisture for your dry areas. If not, you may need to use a somewhat richer and more hydrating cream only on your dry areas. This would of course require purchasing two different types of moisturizers. If your skin is really oily with dry patches, you can opt to only use your moisturizer on dry areas. In as much as many experts will tell you that even very oily skin needs a moisturizer, I do not think this is always the case. If you are 35 and over, I would recommend some type of anti-aging treatment. This could be either a very absorbent light weight cream with super hydrating properties (hyaluronic acid is a great humectant) or even a serum. You really need to listen to your skin. As far as cleansers are concerned, combination skin should use an oil free, yet hydrating cleanser (aloe is a great natural oil free moisturizer) that contains no detergent or fragrance. This type of formula will benefit both dry and oily skin. La Vie Celeste Restorative Mother of Pearl Exfoliating Cleanser is great for combination skin as well as dry and oily. There are some “all natural” cleansers on the market that are detergent free, but they are not always easy to find. Detergent cleansers (even found in some “natural” products) can be very drying for some skin types.”

Have a skin care question for Dr. Teri?  You can comment to this post with your question or send it to us at questions@hormones-beauty-health.com.

You can also visit Dr. Teri’s site at http://www.laviecelesteskincare.com/index.html.

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Skin care advice you must have starts with understanding sunburn.  A lot of us out there have suffered Sunburn at one time or another, but what’s the best way of dealing with it during the phases of a sunburn?

The first stage of sunburn occurs when you’ve been out in the sun for prolonged periods of time. Your skin will steadily turn red, and then look slightly damaged. When this happens, it’s because the UV Radiation from the suns rays is effectively killing the topmost layer of your skin, and sensing this occurrence, your immune system increases blood flow in the affected areas, opening up capillary walls so that white blood cells can come in and remove the damaged cells. The increased blood flow makes your skin warm and red.

Read the entire article!

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All natural skin care products – are they or are they not?  We were recently privileged to a question and answer session with a skin care advice expert, Dr. Teri Dourmashkin, who holds a PhD in health education from Columbia University.  We thought our readers would find her advice interesting and informative.  Here goes:

Question: Does all-natural skin care products really mean all-natural or do many people advertise as being all-natural when they’re really not?  Is there a government standard or is it up to the ethics of the seller?

Answer: “This is a great question. Because there are currently no standards for what constitutes “all natural,” there are companies who do advertise their products as being “all natural” when in fact they may not be. Some companies may not specifically state “all natural” on their packaging, but may word things in such as way as to lead the consumer into believing that they are “all natural.” For example, a brand may use phrases such as “made with natural ingredients.” How many natural ingredients is the million dollar question.

In one case, a product may only contain 2 natural extracts out of 50 or so ingredients. Technically, the labeling would not be false, but one could argue that it could be interpreted as misleading. There are some organizations that do set guidelines for what constitutes “all natural.” However, these are not enforceable agencies that can mandate what a company can or cannot say. According to some of these organizations, a product can be labeled “all natural,” if at least 95% of the ingredients come from natural sources. The other 5% may include synthetic ingredients but MAY NOT contain any artificial fragrance, petrochemicals or any ingredients known to be toxic. So, “all natural,” may not mean the same thing as “100% all natural.” In reality, a product that is 100% all natural may or may not be your safest bet, particularly if it is not properly preserved.

All products containing water must be properly preserved to ward off mold and bacteria. So, in answering your question, there are no government standards (the FDA does not regulate what goes into cosmetics or skin care) that clearly address what constitutes “all natural.” At the moment, it is entirely up to the ethics of the manufacturer as to how they market their products.”

Stay tuned on Wednesday for another question and answer from Dr. Teri on the subject of combination skin care advice!

You can read more from Dr. Teri on her site at http://www.laviecelesteskincare.com/index.html.

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Breast health is important to all of us and every morning I wrestle with whether I should have that wonderful, hot, sweet smelling cup of joy I call coffee. Well, feel guilty no more if you are like me, because Java and caffeine are chock-full of health and beauty benefits!

Health and Beauty Tip #1: Coffee is good for your brain! Those of us that are lifelong caffeine junkies may be less prone to develop Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases. Coffee actually contains antioxidants that may tamp down cell damage linked to Parkinson’s. The caffeine also blocks inflammation in the brain, which is associated with Alzheimer’s.

Health and Beauty Tip #2: Coffee is good for your smile! The caffeine in your coffee has antibacterial and anti-adhesive powers that may keep cavity-causing bacteria from eating your enamel. Drinking a cup daily has been shown to slash oral cancer risk by half, and compounds found in coffee may actually limit cancer cell growth and DNA damage.

Breast Health Tip: Premenopausal women who drink four cups of regular coffee per day experience a 38% reduction in their breast cancer risk, a study in The Journal of Nutrition finds. Coffee unleashes phytoestrogens and flavonoids that may stifle tumor growth. So drink up!

Skin Care Tip: Drinking two to five cups of regular coffee daily may help lower your risk for non-melanoma skin cancer by up to 17%. Caffeine may actually spur skin to kill precancerous cells, and it also inhibits tumor growth.

Our lesson for today ladies is to do your own research to find which of your vices helps or hinders your health and beauty, skin care, and breast health concerns. You just may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

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Can Vitamin D Support Breast Health? Part I of III
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Can Vitamin D Support Breast Health? Part III of III

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Health and beauty tips always start with what we eat.  I’ve always been one to multi-task wherever possible which is why I love including foods rich in antioxidants into my diet. It’s the best health and beauty tip out there! Including these nutritious little gems can help prevent heart disease and cancer, reduce blood pressure, and slow the effects of aging.

Health and Beauty Tip #1: Include blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries in your diet. They are rich in antioxidants and can help prevent cancer and heart disease.

Health and Beauty Tip #2: Add tomatoes to your salad on a regular basis. These little gems contain the antioxidant glutathione, which helps boost your immune system.

Health and Beauty Tip #3: Eat your broccoli and other vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. These vegetables contain a compound called indole-3-carbinol, a potent antioxidant that breaks down estrogen in the body and can reduce the risk of breast cancer and other estrogen-sensitive cancers, like ovarian and cervical cancer.

Health and Beauty Tip #4: Enjoy a glass of red wine at dinner. Red Grapes contain resveratrol and quercetin, potent antioxidants that boost heart health by acting as free-radical scavengers, reducing platelet aggregation and helping blood vessels remain open and flexible.  Resveratrol can also protect against cancer and reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases, gastric ulcers, stroke, and even osteoporosis.

Health and  Beauty Tip #5: Drink a cup of tea, green or otherwise. The antioxidants found in tea have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other diseases.

Health and Beauty Tip #6: Carrots are good for more than just your eyes. They are loaded with a potent antioxidant called beta-carotene. Also found in beets, sweet potatoes and other yellow-orange vegetables, beta-carotene provides protection against lung, bladder, breast, esophageal and stomach cancers; heart disease, and the progression of arthritis by as much as 70 percent.

So, the next time your mom or grandma tell you to eat your fruits and vegetables, remember they may be on to something. Including the right blend of foods and antioxidants in your diet can be the best health and beauty tip you can get.

Related Articles:
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Beautiful Skin Starts From the Inside Nutritional Secrets Everyone Should Know! Part II
Beautiful Skin Starts From the Inside Nutritional Secrets Everyone Should Know! Part III

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Health and beauty tips are something all of us can use.  Here are some designed especially for the busy mom.

If you are a mom, chances are you are also a busy mom. At the end of the day, it is often hard to remember what you did during the day to care for yourself, body and soul…..If you follow the following health and beauty tips everyday it will help you keep yourself in tip top shape to do all of the things you want to do.

Read the entire article!

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Beauty tips for my hair are always something  I keep my eyes open for because this time of the year is always a blessing and a curse for me. I have thick curly hair that, in the humidity, wants to do anything but lie down and obey my straightening hair dryer; so I look forward to the dry wintertime and that glorious lack of moisture that takes my dryer time from an hour down to 15 minutes.

As nice as this is, however, there is always that point where the lack of moisture in turn creates a static firestorm. So how does one tame the fly-away winter frizzes? What are the beauty tips for smooth winter hair?

Beauty Tip #1: Change Brushes! I bet you didn’t know that the type of brush you use matters. Well it does, stay away from the cheaper plastic brushes and invest in something a little more upscale. Upgrading to a bristle brush will make a world of difference in your battle with static!

Beauty Tip #2: Try a hair wipe! Similar in concept to the dryer sheet, these little wonders can take the excess static out of your hair with just one little wipe!

Beauty Tip #3: Moisturize! Not only is it a good thing to have hand moisturizer handy in the wintertime to calm the dry skin on your hands, it can also be the frontline weapon of choice in your war against winter frizz. Next time you grab a dab to relieve your itchy hands, run your newly moisturized hands through your hair to calm your hair down too.

Keeping wintertime hair gorgeous can be a real challenge. Remember the beauty tips above and keep those weapons on you at all times to win the battle. Good Luck!

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Ready for silky smooth hair?

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Beauty Secrets For Beautiful Moms!  We have some great news - We have been chosen to be an Expert Author on the BizyMoms site.

Check out our first article, Beauty Secrets For Beautiful Moms ( http://budurl.com/8xuk), which is currently the second most popular article on the site.

If you have a specific topic you would like us to write an article about, please comment to this post and we will address it immediately!

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Many skin care advice professionals will tell you that toner is a necessary part of your facial skin care regimen; others will tell you that it’s not.

Personally, I use a toner daily for a couple reasons – (1) there are many times when it removes makeup or residue that my cleanser missed and it’s evident on the cotton pad, (2) I like the way my skin feels after I use it.  But is it necessary, probably not.

Here are what some of the experts say:

“Toners just add an extra step and expense,” said Jeffrey Dover, MD, associate clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine.

“If skin feels too oily or you’re wearing a lot of makeup, a toner can clean away anything your cleanser has left behind. The newest formulas are alcohol-free and don’t strip skin of its necessary oils.” Bobbi Brown in “Bobbi Brown Living Beauty”

“Irritant-free toners are an excellent skin-care option for all skin types. They are fine as a cleansing step after removing the cleanser. Toners can also soothe skin, lightly moisturize it, and provide some antioxidant and anti-irritant protection.” — “The Beauty Bible” by Paula Begoun

What do you think?  Let us know!

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Life today is full of hassles, deadlines, frustrations, and demands which, for many people, are commonplace.  In small doses, stress is OK.  In large doses, stress has very harmful effects, i.e. heart disease, digestive problems, sleep problems, depression, obesity, autoimmune diseases, skin conditions, etc.

In reading a health article today I was surprised to find 4 symptoms that I would not have contributed to being a result of stress.

An Achy Mouth- A sore jaw may be a sign of teeth grinding, which can be worsened by stress.  If you find this to be a problem, talk to your dentist about a mouthguard – as much as 70% of people who use one reduce grinding or stop it altogether.

Painful Period Cramps- The most stressed women are more than twice as likely to get painful cramps as those who are less tense.  Researchers blame a stress-induced imbalance of hormones.  Exercise can soothe cramps and stress by decreasing sympathetic nervous system activity.

Weekend Headaches – A sudden drop in stress can prompt migraines, according to the Director of the Washington University Headache Center.  To help maintain your health and beauty, he says “stick closely to your weekday sleeping and eating schedule to minimize other triggers”.

Odd Dreams – Dreams usually get progressively more positive as you sleep, so you wake up happier than you were before bed.  When stressed, you wake up more often, disrupting this process and allowing unpleasant imagery all night.  Good sleep habits can help prevent this – try for 7-8 hours of sleep per night and avoid caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime.

Related Articles:
Read what the American Heart Association has to say about stress!
Check out our health articles for issues of concern to you!

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