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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Acne Treatment Tips


Acne is a broad term which includes blemishes, blackheads, and whiteheads. Acne can strike at any age. Effective acne treatments are sometimes difficult to find, and understanding acne and prevention can be frustrating. Here are some acne treatment tips that have worked for many.
Although acne isn’t life threatening it can be uncomfortable and hard on your ego. There has always been a debate about the actual cause of acne. The actual cause isn’t as important as finding a cure.
So is there a cure for acne. Well yes and no. There are many products available and for some they are a cure, for others they do not help. A cure is only a cure when you find a product that works for you.
Most acne treatments will take time to work. It usually takes around 8 weeks before you see any significant improvement so you are going to have to be patient. Once you’ve got your acne cleared up it’s important to continue with the treatment that’s working so it does not return.
If you have serious acne it is best to consult a dermatologist. However in milder cases you will often be able to get it under control by yourself just by preservering. Try these tips to conquer your acne.

Exercise
Regular exercise helps keep your whole body in shape. It builds your immune system and helps eliminate toxins from the body. It’s a great start to fighting acne.


Diet
You need to eat at least 5 servings of fresh fruit and vegetables each day. Fresh fruit and vegetables are full of nutrients that your body needs. They boost the immune system and are good antioxidants. They can work towards helping you get rid of the acne. Try to avoid refined sugars and fatty foods which have are not good for you or your skin. You also need to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day to flush your system of toxins.

Cosmetics
Choose cosmetics that are water based and hypo-allergenic. Avoid oil free products, coal tar derivatives, and heavy creams. Make sure you wash your skin thoroughly every night to remove makeup residue.

Hormones
Hormones can play a role in acne flare ups and they can be used to reduce outbreaks. Your doctor may decide to use HRT to eliminate or reduce your acne outbreaks.

Clean Skin
You need to avoid harsh scrubbing of your face but you also need to thoroughly clean your skin nightly. Use a mild cleaning regime every night. Once or twice a week you should also use an exfoliator to gently remove damaged skin and unplug pores.

Shaving
Is actually a great exfoliating treatment the removes dead skin. However you should never shave an area that is infected or inflamed. Always use a shaving cream if your skin is sensitive.

Stress
Can be a contributing factor to acne so try to relax and unwind. Emotions trigger chemical reactions in the body which can cause an outbreak.
You can help control your acne outbreaks by following these simple steps. What are you waiting for?


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What Would a Fashion Model's Diet Plan be

Have you ever wondered how the so-called super models manage to get in such good shape and stay trim, even after having a family?

Fashion models depend on their slim figures for their livelihood, so it's imperative that they always look good. Don't worry, I'm not suggesting that you should embark on a diet of leaves and nuts. I'm not an advocate of the size zero, but I'm sure you'll find it interesting to know what sort of diet a fashion model would choose.

The Fashion Models Diet Plan

A favourite way for models to look good is to "Cleanse" or "Fast". This is not a complete starvation diet, as it will include the intake of soups and fruit juices over a 3 to7 day period. It is more of a detox routine and is gernerally only carried out once or twice a year.

The benefits of this detox is to obviously rid the body of harmful toxins, such as preservatives and food additives together with inhaled smoke and fumes. It also gives the colon a chance to rid the digestive system of any fecal build up. The results can be dramatic as the liver and kidneys are able to repair and replace damaged cells instead of continuing to rid the body of toxins.

A typical "Cleanse" diet might consist of a combination of fresh carrots, celery, beet, spinach, apple, coconut, broth and juices. Citrus and tomato juices are too acidic to drink while fasting so these should be avoided. It's important to drink plenty of water during the detox and avoid consuming any unnecessary medications or supplements.

The advantages of a detox are weight loss, reduced body odour, shinier finger nails, stronger hair, reduced cellulite, a glowing complexion and more beautiful eyes.



After the detox, the typical fashion model will then begin her normal eating habits, which to some people may appear to be a "real" diet. However, it will simply be a healthy balanced diet, which might typically consist of the following:

---Breakfast (9am)
One boiled egg with a slice of wholewheat bread
A bowl of cereal with skimmed milk
Black coffee
Total 369 calories

---Lunch (12.30pm)
Turkey salad with balsamic vinaigrette
Cup of tea with skimmed milk
Total 320 calories

---Early Evening Snack (4.30pm)
Low fat Jell-O pudding
Total 100 calories

---Dinner (8pm)
Lean Cuisine chicken a l'orange with rice
2 slices of low fat cheddar cheese with wholewheat crackers
Total 448 calories

The total calorie intake for a typical day is 1237. The aim of the diet is to keep the daily calorie count below 1500.

This is a typical example of a fashion model's diet, which will also involve some form of aerobic exercises 3 times a week.

So, as you can see it's not at all what you might have originally thought. It's just a sensible eating plan and a sensible exercise routine. However, if even this diet seems a little too much to stomach, you could try a natural herbal diet remedy.

Here are the top 5 tips that fashion models highly recommend for staying in trim.

1. Decrease your alcohol consumption. Alcohol suppresses the body's ability to burn fat.

2. Eat more Black Pepper, Ginger, Chile Peppers. Spicy food helps speed up the body's metabolism.

3. Increase your muscle mass. Muscle burns fat, so adding 5lbs of muscle will help you burn another 250 calories a day.

3. Increase your vitamin B and Calcium intake. The B-Vitamins give you more energy and increase your metabolism.

4. Drink More Water. A healthy, well-hydrated body is important to flush out toxins and aid in metabolising fats

5. Increase your intake of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. Omega 3 fatty acids can help to balance blood sugar levels and control appetite.

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Do You Know These Hair Coloring Secrets ?

Coloring your hair is perhaps the quickest and most dramatic way to change your look. There are two types of hair dyes: permanent and semi- permanent, with variations of each.

A) Permanent Tints:

Must be mixed with hydrogen peroxide to lift hair color. The peroxide opens the hair cuticle so that the tint can penetrate the cortex and form the color. The higher the level of peroxide, the quicker and lighter the result.

B) Semi-Permanent Colors: They don't actually lift the color-you can either vary the tone within your natural highlights or go darker. The color can last up to 20 washes and will softly fade as you shampoo, causing no re-growth problem.

C) Semi-Permanent Vegetable Colors: Contain only vegetable extracts and natural ingredients, so no color is stripped from your hair. It is similar to henna but it doesn't coat the hair (adds shine though). This color sits on the hair's surface and will wash out after about 8 shampoos.

Different coloring methods suit different hairstyles, so get some expert advice when deciding which one to go for... Skin Tone: Your new hair color should complement your skin tone. Light-skinned people don't look good with very dark hair because it draws color out of their skin.

Blonde:

If you would love to be blonde, talk the process through with your colorist (or stylist) before you go for it. It should be relatively painless on virgin dark brown hair, but if your hair has been permanently tinted then the process will become a long saga. Never attempt this kind of dye job on your own for the first time.

Red:

Red is the sexy shade, for color that cries out for attention. Hair holds on to red-toned pigments well, so going copper-top can be easy for most people. But be warned-if you are blonde you will usually have to go two or three shades darker than your natural color to achieve a rich red (brunette), and it's not easy to reverse it.



Brown:

Brunette is always a safe choice as it suits nearly everyone. Varying the shade with highlights can achieve a huge range of looks. From chocolate brown and bronze shades to honey or dark blonde, combinations of natural tones gives incredible shine as darker-pigmented tints add condition to your hair.

Black:

This is by far the easiest color to accomplish because the molecules in black tints are larger and will cover all hair types very effectively. Caution is needed when using black, as it only tends to look good on people with darker and olive skin tones.

Some popular coloring questions:

* Will coloring my hair damage it?

Only if the wrong level of peroxide is used or you are over-processing (too many permanent colors are applied) your hair. If you constantly change your hair color, especially if you go from blonde to brown and back to blonde, you must regularly use deep conditioning treatments.

* What's better for my hair, semi-permanent or permanent color?

Semi-permanent color gives your hair a higher shine and enhances condition, but they won't lift natural hair color. Also, a semi-permanent tint will not cover large amount of gray hair (more than 50 percent).

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