The Art of the Bath

In the spa industry one of the fundamental treatments is the bath. In fact SPA is centered around taking in the healing benefits of water. The history of bathing for medicinal purposes, social gathering and peace of mind has been around since the Greek and the Roman days. These days we take baths to cleanse but the benefits go far beyond rinsing the dirt off such as:

Soothing achy muscles
Clearing out congestion and relieving pressure from a cold
Relaxation
Detoxifying the body
Taking time for yourself

Of course you do not need to visit a spa to take in these tremendous benefits (although that would be lovely too). At home baths are wonderful -I love to add hydrating bath oils or bath salts, put on a facial mask and really benefit from some nice quiet time. Check out this past blog on at home facials, you can do this all in the bath:

http://iheartskincare.net/2010/06/13/facial-101/

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It puts the lotion on its’ skin

If you are experiencing extremely dry hands, there is a great hand cream I love. My hands literally crack with dryness due to excessive washing combined with my dry skin. It feels like I am living in the Sahara Desert at times.

I love the Eucerin Intensive Hand Repair Cream, it is rich and super moisturizing. It even has AHA’s (alpha hydroxy acids) to help slough off the excess skin that builds up. I love the size of the tube as well because you can stick it in your purse or desk *or both-it is only around 5 bucks. It can be purchased at almost any drug store or market.  Sweet relief… until the next time you wash your hands-Oy.

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Happy St Patty’s!

Because of the holiday I wanted to represent a green product, one that is naturally occuring and not an artificial color. I tried another body wash  from the “YES to” line (check out this past post: http://iheartskincare.net/2011/01/06/whats-up-doc/ ). I loved my Carrot flavor and came upon the “YES to” Cucumber body wash, I love it! Great for sensitive skin and has some of the same benefits as the previous wash such as: Petroleum, SLS & Paraben Free.

The key ingredients other than organic cucumber are Green Tea,  Aloe Vera and Olive Fruit Oil-all great for sensitive skin. Love the price point at $8.99 too! You can find it at Target. Now where is my Guinness!!

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Winning?



 

Watching Charlie Sheen this past week on every TV channel I noticed his chain smoking. Got me thinking about the havoc cigarette smoking has on the skin. Visibly you can see the obvious markers of a long term smoker in the face: heavier wrinkles, thin lips and deep lines around the eyes.  At the cellular level DNA is damaged, this happens deep in the dermal layer of the skin. The cells are actually mutated because of the toxins and this is how wrinkles and even cancer is formed.

 

The newest research coming out explains how badly the damage can be, worse than we even thought before. The harmful effects of smoking can be compounded while exposed to the sun’s UV rays, which is why smoking is starting to become banned on the beaches. Second hand smoke is a danger also to be avoided. By this day and age we all know that cigarette smoking is terrible for our health and we should not smoke. I mean look at Charlie. Duh.

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