Tips To Cure Your Skin

Don't you just hate those pimples popping up when they are least welcome. Like just before a big date. Or before a major presentation. It is even worse when the pimples spread all over your face. I know. I've been there. In fact, it was so bad that when I went to a doctor with a bad flu, the doctor treated me for acne instead.

Pimples begin when the pores in your skin get clogged up with oil, dirt and skin debris. Bacteria happily breeds in that concoction, infecting that pore, leading to acne.

To treat acne, attack the root of problem. The bacteria.

That brings us to these 8 tips.

1. Avoid touching your face with your hands.

Throughout the day, your hands come in contact with the world around you. Your hands touch surfaces like the phone, the computer keyboards, your bag, the table and basically everything around you. Picking up germs as you go along. Touching your face with your hands before washing them is a big No No. The last thing you want is to introduce more bacteria to your skin, leading to more pimples.

2. Keep your hair off your face.

Oily skin usually means oily hair. You have enough natural oil on your face. You do not need to add more oil and hair care products to your skin, which is what happens when your hair covers any part of your face. If you notice more pimples on your forehead, beneath your fringe, or along the sides of your face where your hair might brush against, your hair could be the culprit. You could keep your hair off your face by wearing it in a pony tail, or using hair clips to hold it off your face.

3. Wash your face 3 times a day with a good acne cleanser.

That's what a doctor told me. Another doctor told me that the problem with many people that have pimples is that they use cleansers that are too rich for the face. That doctor recommended a soap and water regime. Another recommended an antibacterial cleanser that was meant for acne.

4. Stick to acne skin care

What works on your best friend may not necessarily work on you. Especially if her skin is dry and your is oily. The latest richest skincare products might make her look radiant but they could trigger a nasty acne outbreak in your skin. If you have a problem with acne, stick to Acne skin care products.

5. Relax

Stress tends to trigger acne outbreaks. Does your skin act up more before an exam or a stressful event? Learn to relax. Take a long bath with a few drops of lavender oil in the bath water. Watch a funny movie. Read a favourite magazine. Talk it out with a best pal. Do whatever works for you to ease the stress.

6. Sleep

Your body needs sleep. Without enough sleep, even your skin acts up. Try to stop all work a few hours before bed time. When I had insomnia, I resorted to melatonin sleeping pills to help me sleep. That is actually the last resort. Better ways would be to exercise in the day so you can sleep better at night.

7. Stay away from pressed powder compact.

My friend's friend used a pressed powder compact to hide her acne. Instead, the more she used it the worse it got. Just think. By mid day, your skin gets oily. You take out the powder compact, and use that powder puff to apply pressed powder on your face. Now, your face would already have dirt, bacteria and oil on it. Pat your face with that powder puff and now that puff picks up the dirt, bacteria and oil. You put it back into the compact. The bacteria happily breeds in there. Then you take out the compact again and pat more powder, mixed with oil, dirt and bacteria onto your face, picking up more gunk, putting in more gunk into your compact. The cycle goes on. A better bet would be to use blotting paper to blot off the excess oil instead. Then you can throw the paper away after use.

8. Do not let bacteria breed happily in your make up tools. Wash all your make up brushes regularly, with soap and water. Then dry them completely before you keep them.

Oily, acne prone skin needs a lot of care. The bright side is that oily skin is slower to show signs of aging than dry skin. Take care of your skin and you'll probably look younger than your peers as the decades go by.

The number one natural beauty tip I can give you is to take your health seriously. In Chinese medicine, we know that natural external beauty is a reflection of inner health and well being. Often, the solution to external beauty problems is an internal one. That means foods and herbs. In the case of skin problems, herbs can be use to create creams or wraps and applied directly.

In Chinese medicine, we treat problems like acne, blemishes, and other skin problems, hair loss, and premature graying of the hair. Some of this you may need to see a Chinese medicine herbalist for, but some of it you may be able to deal with yourself. I’m going to give you natural beauty tip after natural beauty tip to help you do just that.

Natural Beauty Tip #1 – Eyes Lacking Luster

What does it mean? You can see it in babies and young children – bright, glowing eyes. Our oldest Chinese medicine classic (written between 200-500 B.C.) states that “the essence of the internal organs ascends to the eyes.” The Bible says something similar, “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.” Clear and glittering (shining) eyes indicate vitality of mind and essence. Dull, clouded eyes reflect a disturbed mind, and weakened essence – this often happens in people with long term and deep emotional problems.

How can you fix it? Well, first of all, if you have some emotional problems, work through it with a professional- either a counselor, therapist, or someone within your religion. This is one part of getting to the clear, vibrant personality that shines through in bright eyes. It may take a while to get there. Second, you can take herbs and eat foods that benefit the eyes.

Probably the best Chinese herb for the eyes is lycium fruit (gou qi zi). Other herbs are black sesame seeds (hei zhi ma), and privet fruit (nu zhen zi). Good foods for the eyes include shepherd’s purse, undried raspberry (fu pen zi), and animal liver.

Natural Beauty Tip #2 – Bags Under Your Eyes

Bags under the eyes indicate Kidney-system (root energy) deficiency, blood stagnation, or allergies. Respectively, the solutions are to increase energy and minimize overwork; get more movement and circulation; and find the allergy cause, eliminate it, and take anti-allergenic herbs and foods.

The Kidney-system energy is limited. If you overwork, have too much sex, or use more energy than your digestive system can produce, you’ll dip into this limited energy fund. This can lead to more than circles under your eyes- you can end up with premature aging and hair loss, impotence and infertility, and ankle, knee, and lower back problems. If that’s your problem, try to practice moderation, eat better, and take supplemental herbs and foods like black cohosh, Chinese chive, mutton, walnut, oysters, pork, dried rehmannia (sheng di), Chinese yam (shan yao), and horny goat weed (yin yang huo).

Blood stagnation can mean sharpn stabbing pains; clots and dark blood in the menstruation; irregular menstruation; and hard spots in the abdomen. If you have this, try celery, rose, yellow soybean, seaweed, mung bean, corn, eggplant, cucumber, and hemlock parsley (chuan xiong).

For allergies, get both IgG and IgE done for both external (skin test) and food allergies (blood test). If you find something substantial, avoid it! For food and herbs, try garlic, fresh ginger, royal jelly, chicken, beef, chestnut, astragalus (huang qi), kudzu vine (ge gen), and welsh onion (cong bai).

Natural Beauty Tip #3 – Acne

This is literally too much heat - your face has become a volcano just to let it out! Try mung bea, seagrass, seaweed, Chinese hawthorn (shan zha), Job’s tears (yi yi ren), and purple sage (dan shen). Avoid spicy foods, greasy foods, and fried foods. Try some raw vegetables, too.

Natural Beauty Tip #4 – Dry Skin

Moistening herbs and foods are soy, spinach, asparagus, millet, barley, salt, seaweed, apple, tangerine, pinenut, persimmon, peanut, pear, honey, oysters, and clams. A seaweed facial wrap would be nice, too!

Natural Beauty Tip #5 – Eczema

Try guava, clam, irish potato, he shou wu, wild chrysanthemum, mugwort, Job’s tears (yi yi ren), and asian dandelion (pu gong ying). Avoid spicy foods, greasy foods, and fried foods.

Natural Beauty Tip #6 - Psoriasis

Try turnip root leaf, vinegar, grapefruit, black plum (wu mei), cloves (ding xian), and dang gui (aka dong quai).

Natural Beauty Tip #7 – Prematurely Graying Hair

This can happen for two reasons- either you have a root energy (Kidney system) deficiency (for more information and solutions, see the Kidney deficiency information up under natural beauty tip #2), or you have what is called ‘hot blood.’ The second one happens with bleeding, nosebleed, skin ulcers, and urinary difficulties. For hot blood, take black soybean, processed dried persimmons, processed rehmannia (shu di huang), and dried rehmannia (shu di huang).

Natural Beauty Tip #8 – Premature Aging

This is another Kidney-system deficiency.

Try walnut, chicken, duck, he shou wu, Chinese ginseng, deer antler velvet (the deers aren’t harmed! Lu rong), astragalus (huang qi), lycium fruit (gou qi zi), horny goat weed (yin yang huo), caterpillar larva fungus (dong chong xia cao), and red date (da zao).

Reports show that over 90 percent of all adolescents and almost 25 percent of all adults suffer from acne at some time. Acne affects males and females worldwide, regardless of nationality.

The most effective methods to combat acne include a combination of prevention and better skincare.

Here are some of the ways you can use to prevent and treat acne:

1. Exercise.

Regular exercise can help fight acne by fighting off negative stress levels that can come from negative self-esteem and depression. But avoid wearing tight lycra and nylon exercise outfits. These synthetic fabrics that tend to trap body moisture and heat, creating an ideal environment for bacteria to grow. Stick to loose clothing made of cotton or natural blends, and keep your sports gear and equipment clean.

2. Safe Cosmetics.

To avoid pore-clogging and skin irritations that can contribute to acne, use products labeled "noncomedogenic" or "oil-free." Opt for "hypo-allergenic" perfumes and cosmetics to avoid allergic reactions and skin irritation. Coal tar derivatives, carmine and heavy cream in blushes can cause reactions.

Shimmering facial colors can contain a flaky mineral called mica that can cause skin irritations and clog pores. Use a lip gloss with a matte finish for less pore-clogging. The more the shine, the more then comedogenic content and the more your pores can clog.

3. Healthy Diet.

Studies show that diet does not play a role in either the cause or the treatment of acne. However, what is best for your body is best for your skin. So make sure you get enough vitamins, minerals and supplements that have been known and recommended to prevent and help conquer acne breakouts. These include

§Vitamin A or Retinol (High doses are toxic)
§Vitamin B Complex
§Vitamin C
§Vitamin E
§L-Carnitine
§Zinc

A good quality brand name multivitamin will probably have the recommended vitamins and minerals that you need to help with acne prevention. Drinking plenty of fluids throughout the day and making good, healthy dietary food choices.

4. Hormonal Treatment.

Hormones (or a lack of them) during later years - especially for women - can play a role in acne flare-ups and prevention. One recent study showed that about 50 percent of women have acne, referred to as hormonal acne, problems during the week before their menstruation.

Treatment options include topical retinoids, oral antibiotics and Benzoyl Peroxide for teen years. For adults oral contraceptives or hormonal birth control pills and hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) may be helpful for women, combined with systemic or topical treatments, prescription or over-the-counter products and medications.

5. Healthy Skin. Regimen

Avoid harsh scrubbing or over-washing, because this can cause possible skin irritation or possible over production of oil to replace what's washed off, clogging pores in the process. Use products with gentle exfoliation ingredients and skip products that contain alcohol.

6. Acne Products.

Some of the more popular products on the market that can prevent acne include:

§Benzoyl Peroxide
§Proactiv® Solution
§Salicylic Acid
§Retinoids
§Antibiotics
§Oral Contraceptives
§Anti-Androgens
§Isotretinoin (Accutane)

7. Shaving.

Shaving is actually an excellent way of exfoliating or removing dead skin to help with the prevention and spreading of acne instead of leaving the remains to clog pores. And for some light acne cases already in process, shaving can help rid whiteheads and blackheads from the face. Do not shave areas taht are sore or infected. Use a shaving cream for sensitive skin.

Shave with a sharp blade. Use gentle swipes instead of heavy pressure and go with the flow or "grain." A single-edged blade is better than a twin-blade razor. Electric razors may not shave as close to the skin, but they help with the prevention of acne and other skin breakouts and flare-ups better.

8. Stress.

Stress includes external and internal stressors. External Stressors are those that compromise your skin's ability to heal, like oily make-up and too much sun. Internal stressors like anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, depression and a variety of other internalized emotions, can trigger chemical reactions inside your body that can result in acne flare-ups and other skin irritations.

To combat internal stressors and prevent acne problems, get plenty of rest and sleep. Try to maintain regular hours. Keep a check list of "Things that Calm You" handy for stressful times, like reading a book, resting, listening to music, taking a walk, going out for an ice cream cone, etc.

Psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema, and any other skin problems are irritated very easily by most soaps. As a former psoriasis sufferer I would estimate I tried at least 30 different soaps hoping that would cure my psoriasis. I later discovered I was wrong and my psoriasis was only irritated from soap, but soap was not the cause of it.

If you have any form of a skin problem you may have feared taking a shower or bathing because of the dry, painful itch, and film left by using a commercially produced bar soap. Why is that? What causes the itch left by a bar soap and is there any way to cope?

Here are some tips to buying a better soap or cleanser that may not irritate your skin:

1. Glycerin is a good moisturizer. Glycerin is known to moisturize from the inside out, pulling in moisture from the outside environment. It's typically found in better quality, more expensive soaps like a hand made soap or good cleanser.

Lower grade, commercially produced soaps usually remove the glycerin and use more cost effective chemicals which are much more destructive to the skin.

2. Avoid any soaps that are granular. Granular soaps are terribly too abrasive for the skin of acne, psoriasis, eczema, and dermatitis sufferers. This abrasive soap may be okay to wash motor oil off your hands but not to scrub the acne-prone skin on your face.

I had acne as a teen and believed I could scrub long enough to remove dead skin cells to let my pores "breathe". It took little time to discover this was only irritating my skin. If you have beautiful, blemish-free skin a granular soap may not be harmful. However, gentle is the key for anyone who has any form of blemish or sensitive condition like psoriasis, eczema, or dermatitis.

3. Tea Tree Oil and Eucalyptus are terrific for cleansing. Tea tree oil is considered to have some of the best natural antiseptic / antifungal properties in the world. Eucalyptus oil has been shown to fight infection-causing bacteria, fungi, and viruses very effectively.

The reason I have found tea tree oil and eucalyptus to be so powerful in helping my psoriasis was because both were natural and complemented my skin. Far too many chemicals are added into many commercial soaps today that do their job of cleaning but strip away the skins natural moisturizers as well.

Although I no longer have psoriasis, I still use a specific blend of aloe, eucalyptus, and tea tree oil in a concentrated cleanser. Email me at michael@epsoriasis.net and I will tell you what it is and where to purchase it. (I don't personally sell it but can tell you where to find it)

4. pH balance of you skin is critical. Normal skin is naturally acidic with a pH in the range of 4.2 to 5.6. Most traditional soaps considered "mild" have a pH of around 9.5 - 11 which is too alkaline and may cause excessive dryness and irritation. These soaps traditionally remove the natural acid protection and extract the fats from the skin as well.

If you have eczema, psoriasis, or dermatitis your skin may be even more alkaline than normal in those affected areas. Using a low-grade commercially produced bar soap, which may be more alkaline, could lead to infection. If you prefer a bar soap try a hand made soap. It will be more expensive but it would be worth it if you saw results, wouldn't it?

Most cleansers may be more gentle because they are made not to disturb your skin's pH level. The skin is designed to protect itself by maintaining a more acidic pH level. Many commercially made soaps may rob the skin of it's natural acidic state,
leaving it unprotected.

5. Frequency of washing - don't overdue it. If you have acne you may have a difficult time with this one. If your skins excessively oily in your facial area it's could be because you are using a poor quality soap that's highly alkaline. By washing too much you may be stripping away the skins natural oil, forcing it to produce more.

I wash my skin once a day. I often see others recommending washing the skin up to three times daily. Washing this much is incredibly excessive for those of us with sensitive skin.

6. Pure Aloe Vera - the absolute best moisturizer. If you've ever had a severe sunburn you would know not to take a very hot shower. Don't consider your psoriasis, eczema, or dermatitis to be any less severe than sunburn.

If you find yourself in a situation where you're in terrible pain from skin lesions this may help. Before I found my psoriasis cure I used Fruit Of The Earth® Aloe Vera 100% Gel. This is the closest thing to a pure moisturizer that you will find. While I don't need this anymore because my psoriasis is gone, it helped tremendously when my psoriasis was very painful.

7. Natural. Most commercial "soaps" today are really detergents loaded with chemicals that irritate the skin and upset it's natural balances. I only use and recommend hand-made soaps or very mild cleansers. The best place to find these hand-made soaps and cleansers are alternative medicine retailers, health food stores and the internet.

The skin is no different than life in that you need balance to be at peace with yourself. You need effective solutions that will not cause extreme side effects. If you want to see an example of extreme un-balance examine chemo therapy. Many patient's undergoing chemo loose their hair, many get brutally sick, etc., because the body is not meant to go thru this type of intense therapy.

-- This information is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. You should seek prompt medical care for any specific health issues and consult your physician or health practitioner before starting a new supplement regiment, herbal therapy, or other self-directed treatment.