Has the winter months left you brittle? Your hair, skin and even those precious lips that are …dry and chapped. With such extreme weather conditions, I’d say they’ve left you cracked up–literally. I’d say your skin needs some TLC: Tender - Lotion - Care

First let’s begin with your beautiful face; Use a creamy cleansing base that won’t compromise your skin’s hydrolipid barrier like most foaming cleansers. Your skin depends on this barrier to retain water; it is the skin’s waterproof seal that was never meant to be broken. However, mainstream skin-care regimens take care of that by destroying it. A non-abrasive creamy gentle cleanser like Mychelle Honeydew made honey enzymes to dissolve and soften dead skin cells, chlorophyll, sea weed, and algae to provide nutrients while cleansing.
 
Tip: Give your skin a rest from exfoliation, cut back to once a week.  
 
It’s time to up the moisture content of your morning and night routine and winterize the stratum corneum (the outer layer of your skin). Lotus Moon Cherry Blossom Healing Soothe (lotusmoon.biz) is formulated with Willowherb extract that can help reduce redness and inflammation. Plus it has horse chestnut and butcher’s broom extracts that strengthen capillary walls to support skin. If you are suffering from severe skin conditions or eczema, I would suggest Coconut Clean’s Healing Balm. It contains Kamani oil from Hawaii; an amazing traditional natural skin healing and rejuvenating herbal oil with anti-neuralgic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial & antioxidant properties.

Teresa Neumann the owner of Coconut Clean, gets the oil directly from a friend who grows it and processes it on the Big Island.

Check out Coconut Clean Natural Bath Products on Facebook!

Tip: wear gloves at night and use pumpkin repair hand lotion by Dessert essence. Wake up with softer more beautiful hands.

Dry Skin Eliminator
If the weather has kept you inside, you may like a homemade treatment mask. I call this the dry skin terminator. 

Recipe 
½ cup heavy cream
1 carrot, cooked and mashed
1 avocado, peeled and mashed
3 tablespoons of honey

Combine ingredients in a bowl, whisk together, then spread mixture over face, neck, and top of hands. Relax for 15 minutes and rinse with tepid water. (You may not want to answer the phone with this mask on - It’s very messy.)

If this seems like too much work, an over-the-counter one such as Aubrey Organics Jojoba Meal and Oatmeal with Rose Mosqueta Mask and Scrub is easy to apply. Be sure to keep the container’s lid tight. I made the mistake of not doing so, and it did not keep as long.

Hairapy 
We must not forget about your hair! Due to the seasons changing, your hair can become brittle and in need of moisture. I tried this pre-shampoo hair treatment by Burt’s Bees and loved the way it made my hair glossy and soft. Use one to two teaspoons of the Avocado Butter Hair Treatment (www.burtsbees.com) and leave on for 15 minutes. I recommend using a wide-tooth comb to pull product through hair for more even application. 

DIY - mash up half of an avocado and apply to hair. Leave on for 10-15 min.

Luxury Bath
While you have either mask on or both, why not soak your body in a milk bath? Cleopatra was known for this bath, and the results are ever so nice.

Recipe
1 cup dried milk
¼ cup orange peels
¼ cup lemon peels
5 drops of Lavender oil or calendula oil

Once you exit the bath, towel dry and within three minutes apply lotion while your skin is pre-moistened.

Tip - Using a humidifier can help replace the moisture sucked out of the air by your heater.
                               
Top the bathing experience off with a night cream rich in moisture. Try Aubrey Organics Rose Mosqueta Night Cream with Alpha Lipoic Acid (www.aubrey-organics.com), formulated with soy-based liposomes, micro capsules that deliver emollients and nutrients to your skin. End your routine with lip balm, I keep mine on my night stand ( I like Miessence, Coconut Clean and a capsule of vitamin E).

Take this quite time to enjoy and relax with a hot cup of chamomile tea and reflect on all the great moments and blessings God has done in your life this past year. God created beauty in all things; YOU are beautiful and wonderfully created. How great is our God to create extravagant blueprints of our faces, bodies, and the world. He is the greatest Architect, the Great I AM!

©2009, Shelly Ballestero

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 10:11 pm and is filed under Beauty by God. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.