Beauty Tips

Treating Age Spots

• Over-the-counter stain-lightening creams such as Superfade contain a dilute amount of bleaching agents such as hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide. (Darker spots may need a stronger solution.) Before you use skin-lightening products, carefully read the manufacturer's instructions.

• Apply the juice of a lemon to the spots at least twice a day. Lemon juice is mildly acidic and may be strong enough to take off the skin's outer layer and remove or lighten age spots.
• Blend honey and yogurt to create a natural bleach that can lighten age spots. Mix together 1 teaspoon of plain yogurt and 1 teaspoon of honey. Apply, allow to dry for 30 minutes, then rinse. Do this once a day.
• Coat your spots with aloe vera gel, taken straight from the leaves of a living plant (shown at right), if possible. Cut the leaf and squeeze it to extract the gel. The plant contains chemicals that slough away dead cells and encourage the growth of new, healthy ones. Apply the gel once or twice a day.
• A remedy for removing age spots is to wipe them with buttermilk. This contains lactic acid, which gently exfoliates sun-damaged skin and pigmented areas.
• Mix a little bicarbonate of soda with enough of a 50:50 solution of hydrogen peroxide (available from pharmacies and some supermarkets) and water to form a gritty paste. Dab onto age spots, allow to dry, then rinse off and pat skin dry.
• Strawberries make a gentle, effective treatment mask for fading age spots and lightening freckles. Mash 1–2 fresh strawberries and mix with 2 teaspoons of cream to make a sloppy paste. Apply mixture to clean skin, leave for 15 minutes, then remove with a warm, damp face washer and pat dry.

 

Stop Steaming

Skip the long, steamy showers and opt for shorter, cooler sprays. Long, hot showers strip skin of its moisture and wash away protective oils, says Andrea Lynn Cambio, M.D., a New York City dermatologist. So limit showers to ten minutes and keep the water cool.

Sip on Soy

Take 160 milligrams of soy isoflavones per day or pour soy milk over your cereal. Soy consumption may support skin health by supplying high-quality protein needed for building and maintaining collagen, the material essential to connective tissues.

Keep it Simple

Keep your beauty products clean and simple, particularly if you have sensitive skin. Stay away from products with color, fragrance, or those that produce bubbles or have “antibacterial” on the label, says Dr. Cambio. These can all irritate skin.

Drizzle with Olive Oil

Smooth a couple of drops of olive oil over your face, elbows, knees, and the backs of your arms every evening. The oil contains monounsaturated fat, which refreshes and hydrates skin without leaving a greasy residue.

Pick a Good Moisturizer

Select a moisturizer that contains skin-repairing humectants. Is that a new word for you? Humectants attract water when applied to your skin and improve its hydration. Good ones include glycerin, propylene glycol, and urea. Also look for skin products that contain alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs), compounds that help reduce wrinkles and improve dry skin, acne, and age spots. AHAs, which naturally occur in grapes, apples, citrus, and sour milk (think buttermilk or yogurt), work by speeding up the turnover of old skin cells, making skin look younger.

Lather Up With a Loofah

Use a loofah daily to keep ingrown hairs and scaly skin under control. While in the shower, gently scrub bumpy or scaly skin with a circular motion to remove dead cells. For extra-smooth skin, sprinkle a few drops of an alpha-hydroxy product on the loofah before scrubbing.

Smell the Roses

Take rose hips every morning to help build collagen. Rich in vitamin C, rose hips (available at drugstores) can help keep skin smooth and youthful. Follow label directions.

Pop Vitamin Pills

Take a high-potency multivitamin every day. Many nutrients are vital to healthy skin, including vitamins C, A, and B. The most reliable way to get them all every day is to eat well, as well as take a daily supplement.

Baby Yourself

Use unscented baby powder to keep areas where skin meets skin—like the inner thighs, underarms, beneath large breasts—clean and dry. This is important to prevent a common skin condition called intertrigo, which occurs when such areas remain moist, fostering the growth of bacteria or fungi.

Flash Freeze

Apply ice wrapped in a towel to dry, itchy skin. A few minutes on, a few minutes off. Allow the moist cold to relieve your skin and draw warming blood to it, but don’t let your skin get so cold as to sting or hurt.

Drink Tea

Brew a pot of tea, chill, then store in the fridge and drink throughout the day. Tea, as you probably know, is a great source of antioxidants, molecules that fight the free-radical damage caused by sun exposure and cigarette smoking. One Arizona study, for instance, found that the more tea people drank (particularly tea with lemon) the less likely they were to develop squamous cell skin cancer.

Follow the Seasons

Switch moisturizers every time the seasons change. Your skin needs more moisture in the winter than in the summer. So the same day you bring those sweaters down from the attic for the winter, buy a heavier moisturizer. When you trade in the sweaters for shorts, switch to a lighter one.

Sneak in a Secret Ingredient

Add a teaspoon of grapeseed oil to your toner. The oil acts as an anti-aging serum by helping your skin cells repair and rejuvenate themselves, suggests Gina Michele Bisignano, a model and beauty expert in Los Angeles.

Spritz it On

Use a spritzer with rose, sandalwood, or bergamot essential oils mixed with water. These oils are great for hydrating the skin, says Melinda Minton, spa consultant and health and beauty expert in Fort Collins, Colorado. To create an herbal spritzer, mix a few drops of essential oil with water in a small spray bottle and spritz on your face whenever your skin needs a little boost. Your skin is more pliable when it’s hydrated, so a spray helps stave off frown lines and general movement wrinkles. The hydrator also keeps pollutants out and keeps your skin’s natural lubricants in. An added bonus: Your makeup will stay on longer and look more natural.

Keep it in the Family

Use a single family of skin-care products. If you buy and use lots of different skin-care products, there’s a good chance some contain the same ingredients, thus making them redundant, says Cara DeCenso, an aesthetician at Ajune in Manhattan. And some brands just aren’t very compatible with others, though you’d have no way of knowing that until you already paid for and opened them.

It’s no wonder that lips can get as parched and cracked as old shoe leather. If you want to keep them kissable, give them some protection.

Bring Out the Balms

Dairy farmers use Bag Balm to keep their cows’ udders soft and comfortable. Humans have found that this product, formulated with lanolin and petrolatum, (the stuff in petroleum jelly) soothes a chapped kisser. You can find it in drugstores or order it on the Internet.
Another all-natural salve is Burt’s Beeswax Lip Balm, which contains beeswax, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, lanolin, vitamin E, peppermint oil, and comfrey extract.
Some people swear by Cloverine salve to relieve chapped lips. (It also works on chapped hands.)
When you’re alone in the house, olive oil or Crisco will help to soften and moisturize chapped lips quite nicely. In fact, any vegetable shortening will do.
If you have vitamin E capsules on hand, puncture one and apply the oil to your lips.
Petroleum jelly is a tried-and-true chapped-lips remedy. For the healing power of petroleum jelly with more staying power, try Aquaphor, a heavy cream available in the drugstore’s skin-care section. It tends to stay on longer than petroleum jelly. Like Bag Balm, it contains lanolin.

Moisturize from the Inside Out

If your lips are continually chapped, drink eight 250-mL glasses of water a day—more, if you can. While this won’t prevent dryness, it will keep it from getting worse.

The Power of Prevention

Apply a balm with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15 before you go out into the sun. Lips need just as much sun protection as the rest of your skin. (Off-limits...if your lips turn red and itchy. Some people have an allergic reaction to lip balms that contain sunscreen.)
A dark, creamy lipstick helps protect lips from the sun and keep moisture in.
When indoor air is very dry, prevent chapped lips by running a humidifier in your bedroom while you sleep.
Try eating more foods that are rich in vitamin B, such as whole grains, nuts, and green vegetables. Lack of B vitamins contributes to chapped lips in some people.
Avoid licking your lips. Your saliva may momentarily provide a coating of moisture, but it evaporates quickly, leaving lips drier than before. And the saliva contains digestive enzymes that dry out tissue.
Stay away from balms that contain phenol or camphor. They’re very strong antiseptics that induce a major lip drought.
Don’t give a child lip balms with exotic flavors. Kids tend to eat the flavored varieties right off their lips, which further aggravates the chapping.

 

Where in the World Do They Come From?

Varicose veins are twisted swollen veins that are most often found in the legs. They develop when the one-way valves that allow blood to flow from the veins of the legs back to the heart don’t close completely. This permits some of the blood to pool in the leg veins, causing them to bulge.
If you have varicose veins, you’re not alone. Although women are more likely to get them than men, more than half of people over age 50 have them. After 50, the skin supporting the veins—and the veins themselves—lose their elasticity, contributing to the condition.
Any condition that places additional pressure on the leg veins, including obesity, constipation (due to straining on the toilet), pregnancy, or standing for long periods, can contribute to varicose veins. Doctors aren’t always certain what causes them, but they believe that some people inherit a tendency to the condition. Having a history of deep vein thrombosis (in which a blood clot forms in a large vein in the leg) may also be a cause of severe varicose veins.

Skin Deep or Serious?

For most people, varicose veins are more a cosmetic concern than a serious medical problem. But in other people, weakness in the walls of the blood vessels—in addition to the faulty valves—causes blood to seep into nearby tissue.
If the skin near a varicose vein becomes discolored or you have a sore that won’t heal near one of them, see your doctor promptly. Advanced varicose veins can lead to skin cancers, dangerous vein inflammation, and clotting problems. Rough contact with an affected vein can cause severe bleeding.

How Can You Get Rid of Them?

Many people with varicose veins make lifestyle modifications to ease discomfort. But others choose surgery.

The Low Down on Surgery

There are several ways to surgically treat varicose veins. After these procedures, blood in the treated vein finds a healthier vein to flow through. In sclerotherapy (used for spider veins and small varicose veins), the doctor injects a salt solution into the affected vein, causing it to shrink and eventually be absorbed by your body. Sclerotherapy is an outpatient procedure. For more severely affected veins, a surgeon makes cuts near the affected veins and either ties them off (called ligation) or removes them altogether (called stripping). These surgeries are performed in a hospital.

Question: What causes free radicals?
Answer: Free radicals form when oxygen interacts with certain molecules in the body.

Drink water to keep your body hydrated.

Q: What if I don’t like water?
A: Try green tea (which also contains antioxidants) or herbal tea.

A toned, fit body looks more youthful. Do cardiovascular, strength  and stretching exercises.

Q: What if I hate the gym?
A: Go for a walk, run or bike ride outside for the cardio component, but steer clear of a home workout. “Too close to the fridge,” says Ron Zalko, owner of Ron Zalko Total Body Fitness and Yoga in Vancouver

Your body renews  and regenerates itself while you sleep.

Q: How much sleep do I need a night?
A: The average adult needs six to eight hours of sleep each night.

Avoid the sun—ultraviolet rays can damage and age your skin.

Q: Do I need to wear sunscreen all year?
A: JoHanne Doyon, makeup artist at a Montreal modeling agenc recommends a moisturizer or foundation with sunscreen to wear all year because UVA and UVB rays can still penetrate even when it’s cloudy.

Foundation can hide a multitude of imperfections.

Q: Who makes age-defying makeup?
A: Both CoverGirl and Revlon offer age-defying products—foundation, powder and concealer.

Highlights a shade or two lighter than your natural colour will help disguise grey hair.

Q: Why not dye your whole head?
A: You can, but the grey will then grow in as a block of colour, so you have to keep on top of it if you go this route.

Eat Well
Your body may be a temple, but when free radicals come calling, they cause cellular damage that can lead to aging and disease. To fight back, you need to eat foods that contain antioxidants, which combat free radicals. There are different types of antioxidants—such as vitamin C, vitamin E and carotenoids—explains Bonnie Conrad, registered dietitian and workplace health and development consultant at Capital Health in Halifax. Blueberries, strawberries, oranges, red and green peppers are good sources of vitamin C. Dark leafy vegetables (broccoli, romaine lettuce, kale, spinach), whole grains and almonds are good sources of vitamin E. And dark green and orange veggies, such as pumpkin, squash and carrots, contain carotenoids.

Drink Water
Let you in on a secret. Drinking water is like drinking from the fountain of youth. It keeps your body hydrated and your skin soft and supple. Drink throughout the day because if you feel thirsty, you’re already starting to become dehydrated, warns Conrad.

Get Moving
A toned, fit body just looks more youthful than a flabby one. Exercise, along with diet, will help you create a beautiful body. To get the best results, you’ll want to do cardiovascular, strength and stretching exercises, says Ron Zalko, owner of Ron Zalko Total Body Fitness and Yoga in Vancouver. Try the treadmill or a spinning class for cardio, weights for strength, and yoga or pilates for stretching. At a minimum, plan to work out three times a week for one hour. Give it six weeks and you’ll start to see results.

Get Your zzzz’s
It’s not called beauty sleep for nothing. During sleep the body renews and regenerates itself, according to the Better Sleep Council of Canada. The blood supply to your muscles increases, for example, allowing your body to recover from physical stresses. Tuck in for the night because getting six hours of solid sleep is better than eight hours of fragmented sleep.

Use Sunscreen
In addition to the health hazards they cause, ultraviolet rays from the sun can age your skin. Too much sun can also cause discoloration (a darker pigmentation) and sunspots, notes JoHanne Doyon, makeup artist at Montage, a modeling agency in Montreal. When you go out, make sure to use sunscreen (chemical protection) or sunblock (a physical barrier) to reduce the amount of UVA and UVB rays that penetrate the skin. A sunscreen or sunblock with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 is typically adequate for everyday activity, but you may need a higher SPF if you’re going to be active or in a very hot location.

Try Age-Defying Makeup
Okay maybe this isn’t entirely natural, but foundation can hide a multitude of imperfections (colour inconsistencies, redness, etc.); trouble is it will also accentuate wrinkles and pore size. The good news is some makeup companies now offer age-defying makeup. “These age-defying products contain ingredients that smooth out pores and fine lines, so they aren’t as visible, and they contain light-reflecting minerals that reflect light in areas around the eyes, as opposed to soaking in light,” Doyon explains.

Update Your Haircut or Colour – or Both
Still wearing the same hairstyle you had 20 years ago? This will date you, according to David Lake president/owner of Sweeny Todd’s Creative Hair Design in Toronto. For a more youthful look, get a current haircut that suits you now and go shorter as you get older. Colour can also come to the rescue when grey starts to appear. For example, adding some highlights that are a shade or two lighter than a brunette’s natural colour will help disguise grey hair. “You’re making the eye look at the other colours,” Lake explains.