Skin Care 101

You skin has to function at its best as it is the most important tell-tale of your health and vitality.

Therefore, you have to support your skin in any which way you can. There is no need to go overboard. Just follow this easy skin care routine:

In the morning

1. Compress your face by adding three drops of an essential oil (lavender, bergamot, pine, eucalyptus, or sandalwood) into a basin of warm water and stir. Place a clean facecloth in the water, lift it out and squeeze lightly. Place the cloth over your face and press. This soaks the surface of your skin, allowing the essential oil to penetrate and the cleansing action of the cloth to gently exfoliate. Repeat four times.

2. Apply nourishment booster of your choice over entire neck and face. 

3. Apply nourishment and good protection - a good plant-based moisturizer is the best.

In the evening

1. Apply cleanser to remove all traces of make-up and the day’s grime.

2. Compress your skin again four times as already described above.

 3. Apply nourishment booster of your choice over entire neck and face.

Weekly

1. Use a gentle scrub on the skin.

2. Apply a nourishing mask.

Danie de Villiers - Freelance writer

Dealing with Cold Sores

Cold sores are caused by a common virus, which produces a painful blister, which then turns into a sore, mostly on the lips or around the mouth. 

Cold sores are usually triggered by stress, sunburn or immune system not on par.

To avoid cold sores, or to heal one lies in taking care of yourself and strengthening your immune system.

What to do

It is imperative to increase your vitamin B levels as this will help your body to deal with daily stress. It is to your advantage to opt for a full vitamin B complex supplement.

Increase your intake of leafy green vegetables and whole-grain foods which are good sources of vitamin B. 

It is advisable to take a good antioxidant which will also help to keep the body more resistant to infection.

Essential oils of lavender, tea tree, manuka and myrrh promote antibacterial and antiviral relief. Dab one drop of any of these essential oils neat onto the cold sore.

In conclusion, cold sores are highly contagious, so extra care should be taken around people to avoid contact with the blister.

Danie de Villiers - Freelance Writer

How to Make Organic Beauty Creams at Home

Most day to day beauty products contain dozens of ingredients, including many chemicals that once researched begin to worry some of us that we put them anywhere near our precious skin. If you're concerned about the chemicals added to cosmetics and beauty products, but don’t have the money for the expensive designer organic labels, why not make your own?

Many organic beauty product recipes contain fewer than ten ingredients, and you can make them without needing a degree and without having to go out and buy lots of special equipment. As long as the ingredients you use are organic, the product you make will be organic.

Essentially a cream is a softened mixture of water and oil. You'll need a few basics to make your own cream at home, these are as follows:

• 4 ounces base oil

• 1 ounce of beeswax

• 2 ounces of distilled water

• 1 teaspoon of essential oils

• 1 vitamin E capsule (optional)

The beeswax acts as an emulsifying agent, and helps to blend the cream together to form a cream. When selecting an essential oil to use, popular base oils include jojoba oil, olive oil, and even sunflower oil. If you are feeling confident or want to experiment you can substitute the distilled water for a herbal tea of your choice or even rosewater. The Vitamin E oil is included to help preserve the cream and to extend its shelf life. If you didn’t want to use Vitamin E oil you could use grapefruit seed in its place.

If you are feeling brave and wanted to change the cream slightly there are additional ingredients you could include, such as Shea butter or coconut butter, and essential oils. Adding butter to your cream can give your homemade product a richer consistency and will also add to the nutritious and moisturizing properties.

How to make the cream:

The first step in the cream-making process is to blend and melt down the oils and emulsifiers. Using the ingredients above, mix together, the base oil of your choice with the beeswax and melt it over a low heat on the stove or in the microwave. Wait for the beeswax to melt and then slowly add in the distilled water whilst whisking with an electrical whisk or hand blender. Once mixed, finally, add the essential oils of your choice and vitamin E oil (extract this by puncturing the capsule and squeezing out the contents). Make sure you stir the cream thoroughly and ensure the oils and vitamin E is mixed in well.

If you did decide to add butter to this cream recipe, you will need to reduce the amount of base oil you use to keep the oil-to-water ratio the same. If you do not keep this ratio the same, the cream will be either thicker or thinner depending on what exactly was added. The butter is added when you add the oils and beeswax and should be heated so it can melt down.

The recipe above not only saves you money but also leaves you with a fully organic (providing you used organic ingredients) face cream.

It also opens up a whole world of cream-making possibilities. You could use any base oils, emulsifiers, and butter along with any floral waters or hydrosols of your choice. You can tailor make any organic, homemade creams to any part of your body or to help address any specific skin problems you might have.