Chocolate Sunscreen?

If you have a "bit of chocolate a day" habit, you might already have heard of some of the research surrounding the health benefits of chocolate, which in its purer forms has been tied to heart and metabolic health, and it's also a source of antioxidants. Now it turns out that it might be a skin protector too. 

 

A study in the Journal of Nutrition indicates that high-flavanol cocoa protects skin from UV rays. No, not when you slather it on the skin, but when you consuming it (a much more delicious option). 

 

According to the journal article summary, "One group of women ingested 326 mg/d of high flavanol cocoa, rich in the antioxidants epicatechin and catechin, and another group consumed only 27 mg/d over a 12-week period. At the end, the high flavanol group showed decreased sensitivity to UV light, increased cutaneous and subcutaneous blood flow, skin hydration and thickness, as well as reduced roughness and scaling."

 

This means that those who consumed the chocolate drink with higher amounts of flavanols suffered less significant burns than those who had a drink with less. For those of us who are dedicated to the use of foods rather than drugs for healing, this is another drop in the bucket of research indicating that pure, healthy foods can keep us healthier for longer. 

 

What this information does not mean is that eating a Kit Kat or Snickers bar every day is advisable. Processed chocolate candy that you find in the bodega, corner store or gas station contains very little cocoa, and what is there is low-quality chocolate grown in monoculture systems that are doused with fertilizers and chemicals. Not great for the Earth or your waistline, since it is then mixed with a lot of extra sugar, unhealthy fats and artificial flavors. 

 

What this does mean is that seeking out and enjoying a small to moderate quantity of organic, fair-trade (and raw, if you can find it) dark chocolate may very well assist your skin in protection and self-repair. While you will notice that this chocolate is a little more expensive (if you buy in bulk when it's on sale, it only ends up costing about 10-20 percent more than conventional, processed candy), you need less of it and it lasts quite a while.

How long will it take until I see the results of my skin care products?

This is the most common questions about skin care products. Whether you’re searching for an effective acne treatment, a way to minimize the appearance of lines and wrinkles, or a way to fade age spots and sun spots, when you purchase a skin care product, you want to see results. So how do you know how long it will take for your skin to start showing evidence that the product you purchased is making a difference in the look of your skin?  Here are a few ways to establish how long you should expect to wait before you see results from your skin care products.
Read the Label or Product Description
This information should be based upon the manufacturer’s own experience with the product.  If a product promises results, be sure to check to see if the results are backed up by clinical tests or research studies.
Healthier Skin Comes to the Surface with time
No matter how quickly a skin care product may show results, even if you see instant results, hose results are often temporary fixes for skin that is already damaged. The real benefits of any quality skin care product that you use will be changes you see over time as  the new, healthy skin that was below the surface of the skin comes to the top. This process may take weeks or even months depending on the depth of your skin damage.
Every Face is Different
As you select products and evaluate your results, remember that every face is unique and everyone has different skincare needs. A product that showed results in a week for one person may take several weeks for you or it may not even work at all for you. Give every skin care product that you try an ample amount of time to show you results, but be aware that not every product will work for every person!
Read the Reviews About The Products And Ask Questions
Many times, the people with the best advice on how long a product will take to show real results are the people who use it or the people who answer questions about it every day. Take some time to visit forums and skin care websites as well as to read online reviews of the product.
If you still have questions, you can contact a skin care specialist or customer service representative, we are open 24 hours a day.

Skin care: 5 tips for healthy skin

1. Protect yourself from the sun

One of the most important ways to take care of your skin is to protect it from the sun. A lifetime of sun exposure can cause wrinkles, age spots and other skin problems — as well as increase the risk of skin cancer.

For the most complete sun protection:

• Use sunscreen. Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. When you're outdoors, reapply sunscreen every two hours — or more often if you're swimming or perspiring.
• Seek shade. Avoid the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the sun's rays are strongest.
• Wear protective clothing. Cover your skin with tightly woven long-sleeved shirts, long pants and wide-brimmed hats. Also consider laundry additives, which give clothing an additional layer of ultraviolet protection for a certain number of washings, or special sun-protective clothing — which is specifically designed to block ultraviolet rays.

2. Don't smoke

Smoking makes your skin look older and contributes to wrinkles. Smoking narrows the tiny blood vessels in the outermost layers of skin, which decreases blood flow. This depletes the skin of oxygen and nutrients that are important to skin health. Smoking also damages collagen and elastin — the fibers that give your skin its strength and elasticity. In addition, the repetitive facial expressions you make when smoking — such as pursing your lips when inhaling and squinting your eyes to keep out smoke — can contribute to wrinkles.

If you smoke, the best way to protect your skin is to quit. Ask your doctor for tips or treatments to help you stop smoking.

3. Treat your skin gently

Daily cleansing and shaving can take a toll on your skin. To keep it gentle:

• Limit bath time. Hot water and long showers or baths remove oils from your skin. Limit your bath or shower time, and use warm — rather than hot — water.
• Avoid strong soaps. Strong soaps and detergents can strip oil from your skin. Instead, choose mild cleansers.
• Shave carefully. To protect and lubricate your skin, apply shaving cream, lotion or gel before shaving. For the closest shave, use a clean, sharp razor. Shave in the direction the hair grows, not against it.
• Pat dry. After washing or bathing, gently pat or blot your skin dry with a towel so that some moisture remains on your skin.
• Moisturize dry skin. If your skin is dry, use a moisturizer that fits your skin type. For daily use, consider a moisturizer that contains SPF.

4. Eat a healthy diet

A healthy diet can help you look and feel your best. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. The association between diet and acne isn't clear — but some research suggests that a diet rich in vitamin C and low in unhealthy fats and processed or refined carbohydrates might promote younger looking skin.

5. Manage stress

Uncontrolled stress can make your skin more sensitive and trigger acne breakouts and other skin problems. To encourage healthy skin — and a healthy state of mind — take steps to manage your stress. Set reasonable limits, scale back your to-do list and make time to do the things you enjoy. The results might be more dramatic than you expect.

End of summer skin care tips.

No matter how responsible you were about sun protection this summer, the chances are that your skin was exposed to UV rays more than usual. Even if you practiced responsible skin care and always used sun block or sunscreen, you still absorbed environmental damage from the sun. If you were less responsible, then you may have absorbed enough UV radiation to lead to age and sun spots in the future, premature wrinkles and even skin diseases. While you can’t travel back in time and stay out of the sun entirely you can help to undo some of the damage that carefree, relaxing summer days may have done to your skin.

Each episode of UV exposure that you experienced over the summer causes a surge in the level of free radicals in your system.  These free radical surges damaged your collagen, elastin or melanin—damage that cumulates and eventually results in older looking, damaged skin. Focus on a diet that’s rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. You may want to emphasize foods that are particularly high in antioxidants such as pomegranates, blueberries, acai, darker greens and even green tea. Getting stronger skin begins beneath the surface of the skin, so be sure to eat antioxidant rich foods and take antioxidant rich internal dietary supplements.

For the best results, though, you’ll want to combine an internal antioxidant diet with topical antioxidant skin care. MedPeel Superfruits Prevention skin care products are specifically developed to combine several powerful antioxidants and the power of Vitamin-C to topically boost your skin and restore a radiant, younger, healthy glow.  Promote better cell turnover and healthier skin with daily exfoliation products such as the Glycolic Micro Peel Scrub or Glycolic 10% Daily Exfoliator.

Enemies to your skin: what really causes damage and aging

Many factors and harmful habits can alter the protective function of our skin. Until recently it was believed that smoking and excessive exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays were the worst offenders. Now, however, it is known that pollution is equally harmful.

Polluted air

Pollution is inevitable in large cities. Traffic contaminates the air and pollution particles penetrate the skin and cause oxidative stress, the best known mechanism for causing cells to age. The pollution particles carried in the air, which include tiny specks of dust, enter the outer layer of skin cells. There they react to create molecules called free radicals, which can even alter the properties and structure of this skin layer. Fortunately, vitamin E is a potent antioxidant of lipids (fats) that acts to slow down the ageing of the skin.

What damages the skin, ages the skin

A recent study compared the condition of the skin of 400 women, aged between 70 and 80 years old and living in rural areas and large cities. The results revealed that women living in urban areas with high pollution levels had 20% more pigmented spots on their foreheads and cheeks. It was also observed that urban women had more pronounced wrinkles in the facial area around the nose and mouth.

Extreme temperatures

When the thermometer falls below 5ºC and humidity levels are extremely low, the risk of skin dehydration increases. Air conditioning devices further dry out the air and also release ozone, which, according to recent studies, can react with certain skin components to produce irritants. When humidity and temperature levels are very high, water loss through perspiration makes the skin appear damp, although in fact it needs more moisturizing to prevent it from drying out. As a general rule, temperature extremes have detrimental effects on the skin. Experts even warn that climate change, over the long term, could have negative dermatological repercussions in that it could lead to dramatic swings in annual temperatures in large parts of the world and increase exposure to the sun.

Harmful lifestyles for the skin

Smoking and alcohol cause premature ageing by reducing the supply of oxygen to the skin, while diets poor in fresh fruit and vegetables deprive the skin of essential nutrients. Similarly, tattoos, piercings and synthetic clothing can affect people with particularly sensitive skin, causing mild rashes or even serious infections. Readers can refer to the tips for a healthy skin provided in an earlier blog post.

So, some of the things we can do to limit the daily aggressions that make us seem older than we really are include giving up smoking, eating healthily, avoiding extreme temperatures and properly cleansing and moisturizing the skin to reduce the effects of particle pollution.

Sagging Skin As You Get Older

As you age, it's likely that you'll start to see changes occur in your skin, including on your face. What was once plump and healthy looking may become saggy and translucent. By understanding the changes in your skin, you can effectively seek out prevention plans and ways to treat your sagging skin so that it looks younger and healthier. As your skin begins to sag and age, you'll likely notice an increase in wrinkles. With saggy skin, you may notice folding and wrinkles, especially around areas on your face where you express emotion, like around your eyes and mouth. Collagen and elastin are naturally occurring structural proteins normally produced in the dermal, or underlying, layer of the skin. These proteins are believed to be crucial for keeping skin smooth, supple, and elastic. Though the body naturally produces collagen and elastin, production is said to decrease as one ages. Healthy production of these proteins are said to reduce signs of aging, particularly wrinkling, and sagging of the skin.

Some of your daily habits can intensify your aging and saggy skin, though, so it's important

to treat your skin well so that it stays looking younger. By avoiding skin damage, you can avoid sagging skin caused by most of all sun exposure. A combination of factors including collective sun exposure, diet, and tobacco use can accelerate the decline of natural collagen production. Chemical peels are best in boosting collagen and elastin production. This process will assist to smooth out fine lines and wrinkles, firm, restore, maintain skin's elasticity thus reduce the signs of aging.  

How to Deal with Menopausal Skin

After the steady run of relatively obedient adult skin, the Menopause can often feel like hitting the rollercoaster of puberty all over again.

As our hormones swing out of balance, so does our skin.

For an average of 2 years between the ages of 45 – 55, 80% of women will regularly experience hot flushes, insomnia, aggravated skin and night sweats.

While we can’t offer a miracle cure (let’s face it, who can?), we have got some top tips for relieving the most frustrating symptoms of Menopausal skin.

Hot flushes

The bain of the Menopausal female’s life, hot flushes can strike at any time and usually last for a few minutes.

While some may just feel a short sensation of extreme heat, others will suffer perspiration, faintness and even sickness.

During these hot bouts, the face, neck and shoulders flush red.

Applying a cooling and calming mist or cream to the skin will help relieve these annoying and oppressive symptoms.

Look for ingredients such as green tea, chamomile, hyaluronic acid that soothe, strengthen and protect reactive and flaring skin.

Keeping skin care in the fridge for a cool application can instantly reduce redness and dispel excess heat.

Dry, itchy and lacklustre skin

As Oestrogen levels drop, Collagen production slows down, and the skin needs a bit of extra help staying firm, fresh and toned.

An Essential Fatty Acid (Omega 3,6 & 9) supplement will help condition your skin from the inside out and promote a soft, supple and vibrant complexion.

To combat dry, itchy and aggravated skin, moisturise on a regular basis with an alcohol-free moisturiser and body cream.

Oil produced naturally by the skin that depletes with age, our Natural Squalane Oil is the ideal hydration boost for mature skin.

Insomnia

Though insomnia is not a skin complaint, it can have a direct effect on skin health.

Lack of sleep and the stress it causes often aggravates existing skin conditions and sensitivities, as well as contributing to a general tired, dull and unhealthy complexion.

Lavender is a great organic sleep aid. Keep some dried buds on your bedside table or dot a couple of drops of essential oil into your pillow for a soporific effect.

Also make sure Menopausal insomnia is not made worse by additional stresses and strains.

Yoga and meditation are ideal stress-busters. Try practicing a few gentle exercises before you go to bed to clear and calm your mind.

Addressing the Concerns of Darker Skin

Skin pigmentation conditions can be a problem for many of us especially brown skin
people of Asian, African, Latin or Native American backgrounds. While the natural pigmentation in brown skin provides many advantages, such as sun protection and slowed signs of aging, it is also more highly susceptible to skin discolorations.

Sometimes the cells that contain the melanin pigment are damaged or over stimulated. When this happens, the affected cells may begin to produce too much or too little melanin. Too much melanin causes darker spots or patches, while too little causes lighter spots or patches. These lighter or darker spots appear on the surface of the skin, and can be unsightly. There are a number of pigmentation disorders that affect brown skin. These include Melasma and Post Imflammatory Hyperpigmentaion.

For all individuals, it's crucial to wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen daily. Avoid the sun when possible, and wear protective eyewear, caps, hats and clothing.Chemical peels skin and lightening products is the ideal way in treating these conditions. Medium/Darker skin tones must be particularly careful when selecting a chemical peel due to the risk of post.