Are you done with commercially produced beauty products and plan to prepare your own natural skin care products at home? Today, we will explore the advantages of some common natural skin care ingredients so that you can decide which ones you will want to use more often.

1. Honey: Honey is full of anti fungal and antimicrobial elements. It can also be used as a natural moisturizer. If you don’t want chemicals in your moisturizing procedures, then honey is perfect.
2. Apple juice: Apples are packed with antioxidants and vitamin B. Apple juice is regarded as a great, but gentle cleanser that does not dry your skin.
3. Bentonite clay: Bentonite clay has been used for so many years and it remains one of the greatest cleansers. It easily gets rid of dirt and sebum built up from your skin pores.
4. Marigold: Marigold is famous for its anti-inflammation elements, making it an excellent ingredient for the preparation of natural skin care creams that can be applied after overexposure to the sun. Marigold serves as an excellent repair ingredient for damaged skin.
5. Camphor: Camphor if full of anti-bacterial properties, but is extremely powerful and thus, it should be used sparingly in natural skin care recipes. Most commercial beauty products are checked so that the concentration of camphor is 11% or below.
6. Beeswax: Beeswax is used in the preparation of natural skin care recipes to help in locking in the skins’ moisture. When it’s mixed with a cleanser it ensures that some natural moisture of the potion remains next to the skin’s surface.
7. Lemon juice: Lemon juice helps in cleansing the skin and getting rid of any impurities that are deeply embedded into the skin tissue. If you’re looking for something that is constrictive and delivers fast results, then lemon juice is perfect.
8. Caffeine: Caffeine is used in natural skin care products because of its skin tightening properties. It also reduces those fine lines that appear on your skin.
9. Grape skin: Naturally, grape skin contains resveratrol which gets rid of any impurities on the skin and also helps in maintaining your skins elasticity.
10. Jojoba oil: Jojoba oil serves as a moisturizer and it also aids the other ingredients in a concoction to get deeper into the skin.
11. Sage: Sage is packed with antimicrobial properties and can be used as a mouthwash.
12. Kinetin: Kinetin has been tested severally and found to have lots of anti-aging properties.
13. Lavender: A great addition to natural skin care recipes. Lavender is also full of awesome scents that will make your lotions and creams smell better.
14. Milk: Milk is always a welcome addition to any natural skin care recipes due to its fat content, which is a natural skin moisturizer.
15. Olive oil: Works just like jojoba oil by letting all the other ingredients get deeper into the skin for optimal results.
16. Aloe Vera: Aloe Vera enhances the superficial hydration of the skin and it’s also great for its anti-balding effects. For people who want to regulate their sebaceous glands, they will highly benefit from the use of aloe vera.
17. Pomegranate: Pomegranate is an excellent choice for making natural skin care sunscreen. It also helps in slowing down any premature skin aging.

Pregnancy is a time when the woman’s body undergoes many different changes. These changes in the body often need special treatment and care. Pregnant women often have to deal with acne, rashes and blemishes during pregnancy. Others have visible changes in their skin color, causing dark patches on the face. These symptoms that occur during pregnancy aren’t often discussed, but are very common.

A certain rash that is common during the last half of the last trimester, is seen often in woman carrying for the first time or woman carrying multiple babies. This skin condition is called Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy or PUPPP. This common pregnancy rash starts at the belly and spreads to her arms, ankles, and the inner thigh area. When this rash occurs, expectant mothers should see their doctors to rule out any serious conditions like Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy or ICP, which is caused by liver failure.

When your doctor has confirmed that the rash isn’t due to ICP, you can start treating the PUPPP rash if that is the correct diagnosis. Exfoliating the area can help make you more comfortable, but you shouldn’t take a hot shower or bath because it will cause your skin to become too dry. Use lotions after you have exfoliated and try your best not to scratch yourself. Sometimes cortisone creams work well, but if not, ask your physician for a mild medicated cream.

Also, ask your doctor if you can safely take Bendryl or other histamine blockers to control the itchiness. Some other options to try are tea tree oil, and diaper rash creams. PUPPP appears around the last three weeks of pregnancy, and the worst of the rash lasts around 2 weeks. The upside is that the rash will fade away after delivery. So if you are experiencing this common pregnancy rash, use lotions, creams, and warm baths to soothe your skin and your sanity.

Aloe Vera has proven to be an effective treatment for a variety of conditions and illnesses. In recent health news, aloe vera has expanded its influence as it has been noted as an effective natural remedy for lightening skin, among some other household items.

Darkened skin, or hyperpigmentation, is a problem plaguing many. It is usually harmless and is caused by an excess production of melanin, the pigment responsible for producing color in the eyes, hair and skin. Perhaps the most common cause for hyperpigmentation is sun exposure. As such, it is most often found on the face and back of the hands, as well as other areas that are exposed to the sun. Hyperpigmentation is also associated with aging. As the body ages, the production of melanin becomes less controlled and darkened skin- or “liver spots” may form. Darkened skin may also appear during pregnancy, termed Melasma, as a result of hormonal changes in the body. Darkened skin can also be caused by inflammation and skin injuries (such as acne). While the majority of the causes for darkened skin are benign, hyperpigmentation can also be associated with a number of diseases and conditions, including Addison’s disease, Cushing’s disease, and Mercury poisoning to name a few.

Hyperpigmentation can be treated using prescription creams containing bleach to fade the dark patches of skin. Laser treatments are also available, though they may not be effective in all cases (in fact, in some cases laser treatments may make things worse).

For those of you averse to using bleach as part of your daily skin care routine, there is good news! Nutrition and Diet news has suggested using household items, such as Aloe Vera, as a natural remedy for lightening skin. For best results, apply the aloe vera to the darkened patches of skin twice daily for a minimum of 14 days. Other household products you can use include milk, watercress herb, potatoes, sodium tetraborate, fresh lemon extract, apricot and tomato.

For more information about the rejuvenating qualities of aloe vera, visit http://www.NaturesFactoryProducts.com

CDTA supporters of stimulating the natural production of antioxidants claim that natural antioxidants provide better protection against the damaging effects of free radicals than taking antioxidant supplements. One concern this group has is that the triggering mechanisms for the production of natural antioxidants can be desensitized by the over use of antioxidant supplements. The belief here is that a continuous production of natural antioxidants brought on by very mild activation of the Nrf2 protein is the healthiest possible state for human body. Anything that disrupts this does more harm than good. They also claim that the natural antioxidant production may be disrupted by taking too much of known Nrf2 activators such as curcumin or resveratrol. Some supporters in this group believe that current antioxidant over-supplementation has already created serious health issues.

The main proponents of CDTA support the idea of taking significant amounts of readily available external antioxidants such as vitamin C, E, and other supplements. Many of them recommend taking one or more grams of Vitamin C daily. They believe this can safely reduce the amount of cellular damage free radicals generate. The good news is that some research actually does support this claim. The not so good news is that the concerns of the pro natural antioxidant camp are not being taken seriously. It is also true that, by focusing on a few well known antioxidants, too little attention is being paid to the role antioxidants play in the body.

Humans utilize numerous (1000s) types of antioxidants and their variants. Each antioxidant’s biochemical reactions with different kinds of free radicals are unique. A few antioxidants, such as Vitamin A, C, and E are popular and are well known. Most others such as Uric acid, best known for its association with gout, are much less well known but are equally important. Using this antioxidant as an example, Uric acid, which in humans happens to have the largest blood concentration of all antioxidants, is responsible for over half of the antioxidant capacity of human blood serum. Uric acid can reduce oxidative stress caused by high-altitude hypoxia. A great many antioxidants that counteract free radicals also inhibit viruses and bacteria. Most of this CDTA related antioxidant research is only reported in technical journals but the research itself suggests that lots of interesting anti-aging tidbits being put on the shelf for future study or are under reported.

The human body has several enzyme systems that fight free radicals by using antioxidants (vitamins A, C, E, and the mineral selenium) we can only get through our diets and/or by supplements. Vitamins A, C, and E are also essential nutrients. Dietary deficiencies of these antioxidants can cause specific diseases and possibly lead to other chronic and/or degenerative health problems. A Beta-carotene (vitamin A) deficiency can cause night blindness. Vitamin C deficiency can cause scurvy. Vitamin E deficiency can causes nerve conduction problems. In the U.S. a diet rich enough in fruits and vegetables (6 to 8 daily servings) can prevent such deficiencies and is highly recommended. In reality such an ideal diet may be difficult to maintain. This presents a strong argument for supporting the use of at least a few antioxidant supplements.

Bickering among advocates of CDTA has left us with several pressing unanswered questions. Should we rely on naturally produced antioxidants and limit our use of external antioxidant supplements? What are the correct antioxidant supplement dosages you need to slow down the aging process? At the moment there are no agreed upon standards to go by.

CDTA tells us cellular damage is cumulative. This may mean the real answers are relative; i.e. they will vary depending on how old you are. It is a well established fact that the efficiency of many of the body’s homoeostatic mechanisms declines with age. If you are getting older, say over 60 years of age, your natural antioxidant defences are slowly weakening. How long can you rely on them to adequately protect you? The efficiency of the body’s digestive absorption of many foods, including the trace minerals that the natural antioxidant systems require, slowly decreases with age. At a certain point in life an increase in antioxidant supplements and/or supplemental digestive enzymes may really be helpful. Several of the antioxidants produced in our body are becoming available in the supplement market.

The current interpretation of CDTA’s vague approach to anti-aging is that to slow down the rate at which cellular damage accumulates you should increase your daily intake of dietary antioxidants (fruits and vegetables) and perhaps take some unspecified amount of various vitamins and anti-aging supplements. With increasing age you may need to increase your intake of vitamins and antioxidant supplements. Until the experts agree on supplement dosages you will have to diligently research any supplement you are interested in.

There are hundreds of health supplements available on the market. Many scientific studies on the benefits of any given health supplement are at odds with each other. Some claim taking supplements has benefits while others claim there are few or no benefits, or that supplements may even be harmful. The vitamin and anti-aging supplement business has become a 23 billion dollar industry that is not being regulated very well. This has allowed the market to become full of overpriced products that may have few real benefits. You need to be careful. In my next article I will wrap things up by summarizing the status of current approaches to anti-aging treatment.

It can be tricky finding the best over the counter firming cream, especially since 9 out of 10 of them fail to work properly. But knowing what kind of ingredients to look for before buying an over the counter firming cream can greatly improve your chances of success.

So what needs to be in an over the counter firming cream in order for it to tighten up your skin and make it more youthful looking? Well, there’s a few things…

For your face and neck especially, it’s good to use potent, yet gentle ingredients to tighten up the skin. One such ingredient is Rigin(TM). A big reason why sagging skin and wrinkles form is because of an overabundance of cytokines. But Rigin(TM) is clinically proven to restore normal cytokine secretion levels to make it look naturally younger, improve the skin’s firmness and elasticity, and rehydrate it.

Rigin(TM) has even been said to be better at balancing the secretion of cytokines in the skin than DHEA, which is known as the ‘youth hormone’.

Natural Vitamin E has also been proven to play a vital role in reversing the effects of aging on the skin. It reduces the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, stretch marks, and age spots. It also protects your skin from harmful free radicals and oxidative stress, both of which make it easier for sagging skin and wrinkles to form.

But perhaps the most important thing an over the counter night cream could do is stimulate the production of collagen and elastin. These are the two most important structural proteins in your skin, and they are responsible for keeping it elastic, tone, and firm.

As you grow older though, your body produces less and less of these proteins, making it much easier for sagging skin, wrinkles, stretch marks, and other unattractive signs of aging to form.

To keep your skin tight and tone, getting an over the counter firming cream that stimulates the natural production of collagen and elastin can work wonders on your skin. In fact, nothing can really help smooth out sagging skin and wrinkles more than this.

The only natural ingredient I know of that stimulates the regrowth of collagen and elastin is CynergyTK(TM). This ingredient is virtually unknown in the skincare work seeing that it’s developed by a small niche company in New Zealand. But word of it on the Internet is sure spreading fast. That’s actually how I heard about it myself.

Here’s the last point I want to make. Don’t think that the only place you can get an over the counter firming cream is at your local pharmacy. The Internet my favorite place to look for skincare products. This way, you can actually learn all about a product before you decide to buy it, and you can sure learn more about a product on the web than you ever can by reading it’s label at the store.

Using an over the counter firming cream that contains the best ingredients that science and cell rejuvenation technology has to offer is by far the fastest way to firm up your skin and keep it youthful looking for years. Just make sure the over the counter firming cream you go with has EFFECTIVE INGREDIENTS (like the ones listed above) in HIGH CONCENTRATIONS to maximize the results you get using it.

Lupus is a complex autoimmune disease that generates a wide variety of symptoms. The symptoms produced by lupus may range from mild to severe and generally occur in flares, unpredictably aggravating or ameliorating over time. Some of the common symptoms of lupus are: pronounced fatigue, pain and swelling of the joints, skin rashes and fever. At skin level, lupus often causes the occurrence of the “butterfly rash”, which appears across the nose and cheeks. Although the butterfly rash is the most common rash characteristic to lupus, the disease can cause many other different types of rashes located in various regions of the body: face and ears, scalp, neck, arms, shoulders, hands, chest and back.

The autoimmune disease can also produce symptoms such as chest pain, increased sensitivity to sunlight, alopecia (hair loss), anemia or leucopenia (decrease in the number of red blood cells, respectively white blood cells), and paleness or cyanosis of the fingers and toes (due to poor oxygenation of the body extremities). Patients with lupus often suffer from headaches, vertigo (dizziness), decreased vision, poor concentration, psychological conditions (depression) and sometimes even seizures and faints. The progression of the disease is unpredictable and symptoms may come and go unexpectedly. Over time, patients with lupus may experience different sets of symptoms, occurring in flares and varying in intensity and duration.

When lupus affects the lymphatic system of the body, the most common symptoms of lupus are swelling and pain of the lymph nodes throughout the body. Most cases of lupus either affect the lymphatic system, the musculoskeletal system or the skin. When lupus affects the musculoskeletal system, the most common symptoms are muscular pain, fatigue, swelling and stiffness of the joints. When confined to the skin, lupus commonly generates rashes, inflammation and irritation of the skin.

Lupus often causes kidney affections such as nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys), interfering in the process of excretion and determining the accumulation of toxins inside the body. Lupus patients who also suffer from kidney impairments usually require strong medication treatments in order to prevent the occurrence of serious complications.

In many cases, lupus affects the circulatory system of the body, causing inflammation of the blood vessels (vasculitis), anemia or leucopenia (decrease in red and white blood cells). Lupus may also lead to the occurrence of thrombocytopenia, a decrease in the number of platelets in the blood, condition that interferes in the process of blood coagulation, increasing the risk of bleeding.

When lupus affects the central nervous system, the most common symptoms are dizziness, headaches, temporary memory loss (amnesia), decreased vision, or neuropsychological problems (depression, unpredictable behavioral changes). Some of these previously mentioned symptoms aren’t solely caused by lupus; often they occur as a result of emotional stress and prolonged lupus medication. The majority of these symptoms can be reversed by interrupting the treatment or reducing the dose of medication.

At pulmonary level, patients with lupus may suffer from pleuritis (inflammation of the interior lining of the chest), condition that causes pronounced discomfort and pain, especially when taking deep breaths. Patients with lupus are also very susceptible of developing pneumonia. At coronary level, patients with lupus may suffer from coronary vasculitis (inflammation of the arteries that deliver blood to the heart), myocarditis and endocarditis (inflammation of the heart itself) and pericarditis (inflammation of the heart protective membrane). If discovered in time, the implications of lupus at coronary level can be efficiently reversed with medical treatment.