Beauty Tips

True beauty begins from the inside out. If you think today's obsession with beauty is something new, think again! Men AND women have been in touch with their bodies and beauty dating back as far as the ancient Egyptians.

The Egyptian's concern was based as much on pleasing the “gods” of their time as it was for personal adornment. Ancient Grecians displayed their vanity through elaborate hairdos.

Each hair do was a visual message letting you know their age, if they were married and how far up the socio-economic scale their class. The Romans followed up the same practices.

The ancient Chinese women enjoyed wearing jewelry as well, choosing gold and jade. Here is another example of a gemstone that was revered more highly than gold. Jade was available only to the very rich.

Beauty Tips

1. Stay hydrated, and drink plenty of water! That doesn’t mean soda, caffeine or any other type of liquid even if it is low cal. Soda (even diet soda) has a high concentration of sodium. Sodium retains fluids. You need fluid that will hydrate and flush your body free of toxins. Make sure you are drinking at least 8 glasses a day!
2. Protect your skin from harmful ultra violet (UV) rays. We all love the sun. We love being in it and we love having a beautiful tan. The truth is you can poison yourself with too much sunshine. UV rays cause skin cancer, and if that isn’t bad enough, it causes your skin to age faster than it should, contributing to unsightly wrinkles. If you must play in the sun, make certain you are using an adequate sunscreen. Don’t leave home without it!
3. Apply your sunscreen even if you only make a quick trip to the grocery store. Yes, you can get harmful UV rays even while driving your car!
4. When you purchase sunscreen, make certain you are buying the right tool for the job. There are different types of UV rays and they don’t all affect our skin in the same ways. The time of year also has a bearing on how much damage the sun can do to your skin. Altitude is another important factor. UV rays are more intense at high altitudes. Sunshine alone is not the culprit. You can do just as much damage to your skin (or in some cases even more) on a cloudy day!
5. Don’t forget sunscreen for your lips. They want to be healthy too!
6. Apply your sunscreen before going outdoors and allow plenty of time for it to adequately absorb into your skin cells rather than just sitting on top of the skin.
7. If you have red, watery eyes due to allergies, deal with them! There are plenty of medications available to eliminate allergy symptoms. Nothing will detract from your appearance faster than red eyes.
8. If you wear eyeglasses, make certain that they do not detract from your appearance. Eyeglasses should complement your eyes, not cover them. If your frames are unattractive, it means you had the wrong sales person. Try again.
9. If you can wear them, consider switching to contact lenses. Make sure you remember to remove them when swimming. You can easily lose them in the pool or worse, if you wear soft lenses you could contract a cornea infection that comes from a parasite found in water. The chlorine won’t kill it and the result of this nasty little dude is not pleasant. You are inviting painful corneal infection that could cause partial or total blindness.
10. Try buying different colored lenses. You might discover a whole new you behind blue eyes!
11. Better yet, check out lasik. If you are a candidate it might give you a whole new lease on life. Of course, it’s a treatment for nearsightedness only, but if that’s your reason for wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses, you might want to look into it. Just remember, even though the procedure is done with a laser, it is still a surgical procedure. Take your time and investigate to make certain that you visit a skilled surgeon who has completed many lasik procedures.
12. Take vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene to improve your sight and overall health of your eyes.
13. User a hemorrhoid cream to shrink puffy eye tissue. It will reduce the swelling almost immediately.
14. Slices of raw potato placed under each eye will reduce the dark circles.
15. Do not file the corner of your fingernails. It weakens, causing them to break and crack.
16. If your fingernails are brittle, it may be the soap you are using or a hand cream that is perfumed. Most perfumed hand creams contain alcohol, which will dry the nails, causing them to become brittle.
17. Are your nails cracked, brittle and breaking? Try drinking more water . . . yep . . . back to the water. At least 8 glasses a day . . .and that’s 8 ounce glasses.
18. Combat dry and brittle nails by increasing your vitamin A and calcium.
19. Have a problem hang nails? Try adding more protein to your diet. Throw in some folic acid and vitamin C as well.
20. Keep pumice stone handy so you can put it to work on those heels as you step out of the shower.
21. Use a few drops of essential oil in your next footbath!
22. Pamper your feet. Treat yourself to a pedicure!
23. Try a foot massage. It’s relaxing and rejuvenating. Try it on yourself or ask your partner and trade off. Everyone wins!
24. If your ankles and feet are swelling, it’s a sure sign you are holding fluids. Try to avoid sitting for long periods at a time and cut down on your salt intake.

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