- Easy Ways to Green Your Beauty Routine for Earth Day
- Aging hands can reveal age more quickly than facial wrinkles
Easy Ways to Green Your Beauty Routine for Earth Day
April 14, 2009
A recent interactive graphic from Newsweek indicated that the average woman spends $449,127 on beauty throughout her lifetime. Doesn't that seem excessive to you? So many of the beauty products we buy are unnecessary, and it's easy to see why: fashion magazines promote each new lotion, wrinkle cream and mascara as completely essential, and better than its predecessor. This can add up to a lot of waste. How to green a beauty routine? Here are some suggestions.
Use less, and make it last.
- Pay attention to packaging. Consider the packaging of your products-teeny-tiny lotions and creams may come in portable packages, but it's better to buy a larger size. Or, buy products that come in concentrate.
- Single-use makeup and pore wipes should be avoided, when your washcloth will do the trick. You could also consider a non-disposable razor.
- Use every last drop of each product-many people will throw out a lotion or lipstick when it still has a few days' worth of product left. Use a lip brush to get the last bit of lipstick out, and cut open bottles to mix your old shampoo with the new.
- Pare down the amount of products you use with some multi-purpose suds. Sprig recommends Perfect Organics Body Wash, which does triple duty as a body wash, bubble bath and shave lotion. There are several tints that work on both lips and cheeks.
- Instead of pitching them, fix your broken or unopenable cosmetics. Rubbing alcohol can fix a broken palette, and aerosol cans that are missing a nozzle can be replaced.
- Make your haircuts, manicures and facials last longer with these tips from Real Simple. Stretching the length of time between treatments will save you money, too.
Purchase organic and all-natural.
- You don't have to go to specialty shops for all-natural ingredients. Victoria's Secret is one of many major retailers that carry an organic line. Lush's products are all-natural, handmade, not tested on animals and have eco-friendly packaging. Products by Tom's of Maine and Burt's Bees get high rankings in the GoodGuide.
- Support green causes with your purchasing power. Kiehl's has chosen to support Waterkeeper Alliance, a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving community waterways, with their Superbly Restorative Argan Body Lotion, made with fairly-traded organic oils. Celebrities such as actor Adrian Grenier and musician Erykah Badu have designed the product's labels, and 100 percent of proceeds up to $100,000 go to Waterkeeper.
- Or, you could choose to support a local business by checking out the homemade soaps at your area famer's market. Etsy also has some beautiful, all-natural options (chronicled by The Soap Bar blog).
Make your own products.
- Rubbing pineapple rinds on your face can have anti-aging effects. The acids in the rind can help slough dead cells and brighten skin.
- If you'd love to get an all-natural summer glow, here's a recipe for homemade tanning oil (but, uh, you know that tanning is bad for you, I assume).
- When you're done with a teabag of green tea, save it to use on your eyes when they are a little puffy.
- Vinegar, the most versatile of household products, can be used to: stretch your nail polish out, clean your scalp, soften your hands, control breakouts and soothe your sunburn.
- For dry, damaged hair, mix olive oil with some banana, avocado or berries, and put the mixture in your hair. Wrap it in a towel, let it sit 30 minutes, and rinse.
- Soften skin with one of the best-known home remedies: oatmeal, yogurt and honey.
Sources from: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/fresh-greens/2009/04/14/3
-easy-ways-to-green-your-beauty-routine-for-earth-day.htmlAging hands can reveal age more quickly than facial wrinkles
April 12, 2009
It seems we've been preconditioning to think of the face as the most obvious indicator of age. Plastic surgeons have made a fortune withs face lifts, botox, and skin treatments that they promise will mask the relentless march of time. It turns out that that a better clue to a person's age is revealed when the aging patient signs the check for the medical procedure - it seems the hands are the best, and most obvious clues, to a person's age.
The hands receive much less attention that the face as a woman (or a man) ages. The skin covering the hands is thinner and more vulnerable to the first signs of aging. Collagen in the hands is minimal, and as collage in the hands decreases ( a normal part of aging) the hands begin to lose their youthful fullness and begin to reveal the veins and bones that are prominent on older hands.
The thin skin on the hands also begins to wrinkle early, revealing the crinkles associated with aging. Also, most folks tend to forget the hands when apply sun screen-preferring the face, back and legs for full protection. As time goes on, this leaves the hands vulnerable to "liver spots"-another sure sign of aging.
Preventative solution
As with most skin care, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In this case, applying hand cream which contain growth factors for collagen are recommended. Some suggested brands are Regeniskin, SyCream and SkinMedica. And beyond the expensive treatments, always apply sunscreen to the back of hands before going in the sun.
Sources from: http://www.examiner.com/x-6577-Little-Rock-Family-Health
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