This post has been contributed by Emma Lawson
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Skin changes as we grow older and it is a natural process of course, but most of what we consider natural aging is due to numerous other factors. Premature signs of aging can be avoided if we know what causes them and limit the exposure to these unfavourable factors. We cannot go back in time, but we can immediately slow down the process if we start taking better care of our skin. Here is what you should do. 

1.Stop sunbathing

As much as 80% of skin aging is due to the so called photo aging, that is to say, due to excessive and chronic exposure to UV radiation. Any intentional sunbathing means more wrinkles and brown spots. With the sunbathing season at its peak, you should learn how to protect your skin from the damaging sun rays. Wear a hat with a wide brim to protect the delicate skin on your face and cover up the rest of your body with clothes. If you are heading for the beach, apply a broad-spectrum SPF moisturizer with a protection of at least 30. Seek shade and avoid the sun between 11am and 3pm.

2. Stop smoking

Have you heard of the expression ‘smoker’s face’? This refers to distinctive facial characteristics of people who smoke. Toxic chemicals in cigarettes cause the wrinkles to occur sooner and they are deeper than with non-smokers. Smokers tend to have crow’s feet and droopy skin around the eyes, and sallow complexion. The only solution to this problem is to stop smoking immediately.

3. Stop heavy drinking

Excessive alcohol is bad for your health in general, but it first shows on your skin. In addition to the short-term redness, bloating and dark circles under the eyes, alcohol undoubtedly has long-term effects on our appearance. Alcohol dehydrates our skin and causes the wrinkles and other signs of ageing to appear prematurely. Although, red wine has powerful anti-aging properties as long as you drink in moderation. One glass of wine a day is a recommended dosage for women. Anything above that would be more damaging than beneficial.

​4. Stop eating junk food
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In order to stay young, your skin needs proper nutrients, just like your entire body does. Try to eat plenty of foods that contain antioxidants, like vitamin C, E, A and B, which are particularly important for skin nutrition. Fruits and vegetables are rich sources of these vitamins. Start with tomatoes, citrus, green leafy vegetables, and carrots. Lentils are also abundant in minerals that will preserve your youthful look. Make sure the food you eat is healthy and organically grown, as organic food does not contain harmful chemicals that damage the skin. Some studies also suggest that food that contains a lot of sugar can accelerate the aging process. Better find alternatives to sweets and chocolates.

5. Do not skip sleep

Beauty sleep is not just a figure of speech. You have probably noticed yourself that how you look on a certain day largely depends on how much sleep you had the night before. This is because skin repairs itself during night. You should never skip your eight hours of night sleep. 
Are you wearing sunscreen every day? How else do you protect your skin and your youthful appearance?

This gentle scrub, from the award winning Love System - Australian Bush Flower Essences, is natural and organic and is infused with the beautiful bush flower essences of Angelsword, Bauhinia, Billy Goat, Bottlebrush, Five Corners, Flannel Flower and  Fringed Violet.  The combination of these essences relases negativity and helps with acceptance.

When it comes to choosing an exfoliator we want to make sure that what we choose exfoliates and removes dead skin, but doesn’t leave it feeling irritated and red.  Using an exfoliator is a step that some of us, including me, tend to skip.   This isn’t  good thing as it leaves our skin looking dull if we don’t use a scrub to help remove old skin cells.   

With the skin nourishing properties of jojoba, arnica, ginkgo, aloe vera, ginseng and echinacea, this mask has a soft, creamy texture and the grains are light and non abrasive.

The scent of this scrub is crisp and light, containing sweet orange peel oil, lime oil grapefruit peel oil.  Using it makes me feel so clean and refreshed, perfect in the morning to gently wake my senses and also for the evenings to help clean the day away and put my mind in a state of calm.

It also contains the skin nourishing properties of jojoba, arnica, ginkgo, aloe vera, ginseng and echinacea.

This truly is a unique formula, connecting physical and emotional life, designed to                                                           nature and take care of you.

​                                                    Available at Australian Bush Flower Essences

Botani - pure skin plant solutons, is an Australian natural skin care company founded in 1998 in Melbourne, Australia by Naturopath and Herbalist Barbara Filokostas.  Barbara uses  the ancient wisdom of naturopathy, plants and natural beauty to formulate this luxury range of plant based skincare.   

Using only organic and pure  ingredients in this amazing botanical skin science, I was so lucky to be able to try the Acai Berry Active Antioxidant Serum.   The first thing I noticed when I opened the bottle was the amazing scent, I love berries, I love the taste, I love the fragrance and when I applied this serum the natural scent just had me right there.  When I looked at the ingredients I could see why, it contains Amazonian Acai Berry fruit oil, cranberry and  blackberry seed oils, so along with the beautiful natural fragrance this also packs a pretty big punch when it comes to treating my skin with powerful anti-aging antioxidants and vitamins.

On top of this, the serum contains Olive Squalene, Olive Squalene is a plant active derived from the olive pip, which has a molecular structure comparable to our skin.

Up until now I didn’t realise how important Olive Squalene was for anti-aging. It has the ability to cancel out the cell damaging effects of free radicals including ultraviolet light from the sun. It has been clinically proven to increase skin’s moisture levels by up to 50%.

​Everyone is born with Squalene in their skin. From as early as 25 years of age the Squalene production in our skin decreases, resulting in the dehydration that leads to fine lines, wrinkles and premature ageing. 
So now you see how important it is to keep the squalene in our skin replenished!

Unlike mineral oils, squalene is non greasy, so when it’s added into a product like this, it’s the perfect serum to apply before make-up, as it absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave any oily residue.  

The main ingredient, Acai Berry is an antioxidant powerhouse.  In skincare formulations, it can help protect the skin from environmental aggressors and delay the appearance of aging. 

Another interesting and effective ingredient is Bisabolol, an anti-infalmmatory derived from the German Chamomile flower. It helps to calm irritated skin, which is very good for sun damage, sun burn and healing scars.

I loved using this serum, I used it morning and night.  It left my skin feeling perfectly moisturised and silky soft. I felt as though it really penetrated into the fine lines in my skin, it felt very luxurious.   

Highly recommended!

Available at Botani. 

I came across this article on the best colour eye shadows for the colour of your eyes, I'm already a big Ere Perez natural make-up fan, the palettes are very flattering.   I've used these eye shadows for a while, they're very soft, smooth and long lasting.

This article has been contributed by Ella James.

Rosacea is a skin condition that can be embarrassing at times. It involves reddening of the skin around the face. This can be aggravated by extreme temperatures, spicy foods and sunbathing. These things are only believed to make the condition worse. The actual cause of the problem however, is not known and it is believed to be hereditary. However, it is possible to treat the rosacea condition in a number of ways. It is important that when you think you have the rosacea condition, you visit your doctor early so that you can discuss on a plan to control the condition. Do not wait until when your skin turns red and your confidence is affected by the condition. Here are some ways that can help you deal with the problem. Other major causes of rosacea are use of skin brighteners that have chemical that react with the skin. 

Mild Rosacea

This is a subtype of rosacea that is characterized by visible blood vessels, flushes and facial redness. This is a very advanced stage of rosacea and is difficult to treat. At this stage, one is advised to keep off foods and other factors that aggravate the condition. Such factors include spices and temperature changes. Apart from avoiding these factors, there are other ways that can be used to contain the condition. A personal doctor who understands your health issues is the right person to discuss with on a possible plan to treat mild rosacea. 
One way through which the condition can be controlled is by the use of the estrogen hormone to treat hot flashes. Patients with the condition can be given the hormone to counter the hot flashes caused by rosacea. This is a very delicate procedure and major decisions have to be made depending on the patient’s health history. Another issue of concern is that the hormone is used to treat hot flashes that mainly occur during menopause and not rosacea flashes. It is therefore just used as a remedy because of the nature of likeness between the two flashes. The major concern about using the estrogen hormone is that the therapy poses great threats of heart diseases, stroke and breast cancer. 
Apart from the use of hormone estrogen, beta blockers have been recommended for treating rosacea flushes and visibility of blood vessels. The use of these blocks to treat rosacea has not been tested and approved by the relevant bodies in America. Beta blockers have been used in the past as treatment for menopausal flashes, heart diseases and high blood pressure. 

Moderate Rosacea

This subtype of rosacea is characterized by facial redness and pimples on the face. There are oral medications and tropical treatments that can be used to reduce inflammation and break outs. Most of the medication used to treat rosacea can be used to fight inflammation and prevent redness of the face but cannot be used to kill bacteria. 

Severe Rosacea

This is the serious type of rosacea. The main symptoms include skin thickening and enlargement mostly affecting the areas around the nose. This type requires special care. Its treatment includes the use of oral and tropical medications combined with laser therapy. However, laser therapy is referred to as the best remedy for this type of rosacea. YAG and carbon dioxide lasers are the common types of lasers used for the treatment of severe rosacea. In some cases where laser therapy does not help much, the patient may have to go through surgery to remove the extra tissue. This case is worse and requires attention at early stages because the overgrowth of tissue around the nose may cause other life threatening complications like difficulty in breathing or collapsing of the nostrils. Most of the severe cases of rosacea may lead to lose in self-esteem which is a very serious issue. Patients are therefore advised to seek professional help in such cases.

Via: https://youtu.be/NyYa4935R0M

Conclusion

Most of the treatment for rosacea are just remedy to help the patient deal with the condition. In fact most of them are treatments used for other conditions that have similar traits as rosacea. Some of them have not been tested and allowed for use in treatment of rosacea by the relevant food and drugs regulatory bodies. However, the time taken to treat rosacea will depend on individuals and the type of condition.

​Author Bio:
Ella James is an aspiring author who is pursuing Health Services Administration degree from St. Petersburg College. She is an active contributor to Consumer Health Digest, which is a leading Health News. In recent years, she had the opportunity to review Joint soother. Get connected with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Great News!

SkinB5 is an Australian made natural acne treatment which doesn’t contain any harsh chemicals.

When I suffered from acne years ago I would have given anything to have come across a natural acne system such as this.

I turned to a very harsh acne system which made my skin terribly itchy and irritated, I remember my friends having the same side effects and stopping treatment. It was very frustrating and depressing.

One of the main ingredients in SkinB5 is Vitamin B5, which has proven to be effective at treating the production of sebum, the main cause of acne breakouts.

As I don’t have acne anymore, but I do have oily skin, blackheads and the occasional breakout, I also gave this to my sister to use to control her severe acne. We were both using it at the same time for different skin conditions.

We are both very pleased with the results SkinB5 had on skin and I am so happy that I can tell people that there is a natural system which can help them without having to turn to dangerous chemical filled acne products.

The beauty of this system is it also improves skin texture, tightens pores and gives skin an overall healthy feeling.

There are different packs available depending on the severity of your acne or you can purchase single products.

​The pack we used is the Clear Skin Starter Pack and includes - 

Acne Control Tablets - Extra Strength

The main ingredient in the tablets is Vitamin B5 (skin renewal, wound healing) along with zinc (heals blemishes), copper (cell renewal), silicon (formation of collagen)  Vitamin A (immune function & skin disease), Vitamin B3 (acne healing in clinical trials), folic acid (stress, anxiety, tension) and biotin (hair and skin health). All of these ingredients combined helps to control acne from within, the tablets balances hormones and strengthens the immune system.  As these are the extra strength tablets, my sister took these for her severe acne, the tablets are a large size, but she had no trouble taking them and believes that these had a major effect on healing her skin.

Acne Control Cleanser (Cleansing Mousse) 

Containing the soothing and effective ingredients of green tea (anti-bacterial), vitamin B5 (controls skin oil), aloe vera (heals damages tissue), salicyclic acid (removes dead skin) and bergamot oil, which has antibacterial properties.   A very light, but effective mousse which comes out in a handy pump dispenser. Thoroughly cleans and leaves skin feeling refreshed, skin feels tighter and the bergamot oil gives it a lovely light natural fragrance.

Acne Control Moisturiser

Contains aloe vera,  green tea, vitamin B5, jojoba oil (strengthens epidermis) and bergamot oil. A light and non-greasy moisturiser, perfectly designed for oily skin.  Absorbs in quickly and leaves skin feeling well moisturised.  Very good to wear under make-up and calms down inflamed skin.  I love jojoba oil, it combines so well with the other healing ingredients.   This a really soothing moisturiser and works very well on sensitive skin.

Acne Control Caplets

Each caplet contains vitamin B5, zinc, copper, silicone, nicotinamide, folic acid, biotin and the added benefit of the hormone balancing herb Vitex Agnus.    I used these caplets as I only have the occasional breakout and oily skin. If you have severe acne you could use both the caplets and extra strength acne control.  I used the caplets and found them to have a balancing effect on my skin, I think the Vitex helps out a lot in this regard.

5-Minute Skin Purifying Mask 100g

Contains French green clay (revitalises complexions, tightens pores), Australian Great Barrier Reef sea minerals (removes dead skin cells), Vitamin B5, aloe vera, bergamot oil and avocado oil (promotes cell regeneration, heals scars, age spots). Fast acting, only takes 5 minutes to wear the mask for it to have an amazing effect on skin.  I’ve been wanting to try a product containing french green clay for a while, as I’ve heard so many great things about the effects it can have on skin.  My skin felt amazingly soft after using this mask, it has a beautiful combination of ingredients. I love the gentle effect of the sea minerals on purifying my skin.    

All SkinB5 products are free of all of these nasty and dangerous ingredients which are contained in mainstream acne control products.

• PARABENS, SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE (SLS), SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE (SLES), SYNTHETIC FRAGRANCES, PETROCHEMICALS, SILICONES, MINERAL OILS, TRIETHANOLAMINE (TEA), DIETHANOLAMINE (DEA), UREA, PEROXIDE, ANIMAL PRODUCTS, AND NANO PARTICLES.

As my family and I can attest to how well this system works, I can feel safe in recommending SkinB5 to others.
Skin B5 is available to purchase at the SkinB5 website.