Get Beautiful, Clear Skin

Wash your face only twice per day, morning and evening. Excess washing can cause irritation. You want to be as kind to your skin as possible.

Use only your bare hands to wash. A washcloth is irritating. Consider the act of washing as simply prepping your skin for medication, nothing more.

Pat dry. Do not rub dry. Rubbing the skin is irritating, and excess irritation can lead to more breakouts. Gently pat dry.

It's important to get good products that work and to give your skin time to respond.

Products you need:  a good gentle cleanser, a facial scrub, toner, a mask and a good moisturizer suited to your skin type (oily, dry or combination.) That's all you need for great skin and drink lots of water to keep your skin hydrated.


THE REGIMEN - (Nightly)

In the morning, you can skip step 4

1. Splash your face with warm water or apply a warm towel to open up your pores.

2. Gently wash your face with your cleanser in a circular motion with lukewarm water for about 2 minutes.

3. Wash off cleanser and pat dry.

4. Apply toner rubbing upwards. Use as many cotton pads as you require until it comes out clean. Apply a cold cloth to your face to close your pores. (skip the cold cloth if you are going to apply a mask).

5. Apply moisturizer. In the evening, apply liberally.


Once or twice a week (depending on the condition of your skin)

After step 1, apply cleansing scrub, (about the size of a nickel) and cleanse your face in a circular motion, paying close attention to the areas around the nose and lips (these are prone to dryness). Don't be too rough with your skin when scrubbing (it's not a dirty pot) be gentle yet firm. Scrub for at least 1 minute. 2 minutes if you have dry areas you want to concentrate on. Then continue with step 2.

After step 4, apply a facial mask. Leave on for 10 minutes. Wash off with cold water. Then continue to step 5.
If you don't have a mask, egg whites, honey, milk and oatmeal mixed with water to make a paste work well. ..

Visit this site for more ideas:

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/980423b.cfm

Happy Living - Skin care tips for black women

Good Luck and remember, stick with the regimen. Like everything else, it won't happen overnight, but it will happen if you give it time. Be diligent. It's your face, remember, it's the first thing people see.

Weight Loss

TIPS TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR WEIGHT LOSS GOALS

Exercise 3 to 5 days a week, preferably in the morning.

Find a routine you enjoy. Mix up your routine with cardio(aerobics), strengthening(weights) and stretching(yoga). This jolts your body into working harder and results in weight loss.

Strength training is very important. Women should really try to go for anywhere between 10 to 20lbs. Don't strength train everyday. Every other day is ideal, as you need time for your muscles to rest and recoup.

Eat small meals (approx. 6-8) meals a day consisting of plenty of fruits, vegetables. Eat by colour, greens, reds, blues, oranges, yellows.

On weekends, treat yourself. It's never a good idea to totally deprive yourself, you will resort to binging and that will result in more weight gain.

When grocery shopping, shop on the outer perimeters of the grocery store. This is where all the fresh food is located, fruits, veggies, breads, dairy and meats.

Don't grocery shop on an empty stomach, you are bound to buy junk food.

Get a measuring cup and start measuring your food. It might sound tedious, but after a while you will be able to measure your portions without the use of a measuring cup.

If you're Canadian, get the Canada Food Guide and try to design your meals according to that.
Get your free copy of the Canada Food Guide here.

Drink plenty of water, but also include fruit juices and dairy drinks.

Stay away from fads, low carb, South Beach, etc.

Follow a meal plan. There are some excellent meal plans online or sites that help you create your own. Search under meal plans.

Get an exercise partner, someone as motivated as you or even more...they will hold you accountable should your routine begin to fall by the wayside.

STAY AWAY from the scale. How much you weigh is no indication of how fit your body is or how healthy you are. Instead, go by how you feel and how your clothes feel on you.

Remember, this is a lifestyle choice not a fad.MM