Know Your Skin Type

Once you enter a super market or a mall; there are a wide range of skin care products to choose from. There is a never before opportunity today, of using quality products for your skin.

An important factor to consider when buying products for your skin is to know your skin type and buy the one’s that suit your skin type. The effect is much better that way.

So what are the different skin types and how to identify yours? Here’s how –

Broadly, there are four skin types – Oily, Dry, Normal and Combination.

Oily Skin

The pores on the skin are larger and shine. If you wipe your face with a tissue, most of the time there is oil like residue. This skin type is prone to acne, pimples and blemishes.

Dry Skin

Skin feels tight. Little or no oil like residue when wiping with tissue. Skin is prone to flaking (cracks) and more sensitive to climatic changes. Pores are almost invisible.

Normal Skin

Skin is smooth and there are no signs of flaking. There is no oil residue when wiped with a tissue. Pores are barely visible in people with normal skin type. The complexion is usually radiant.

Combination Skin

This skin type is oily in your T Zone and dry in others. T zone the area covering your eyes, nose and forehead.

IDENTIFYING YOUR SKIN TYPE

There are a lot of ways one can determine their skin type.

1)  Wash your face clean with a cleanser. Dry yourself and wait for 30 minutes. Do not touch your face.

     2) Take some tissues and press them on different areas of your face; chin, nose, center of cheeks, outer cheeks, center of forehead, and outer forehead.

     3)  Examine the tissues for oily or flaky residue. You can determine your skin type as follows. 

  a) If the tissues stick, become little oily or translucent your skin is oily.

  b) If the tissues are oily only on T zones (center of forehead, nose, chin and center of cheeks), you have a combination skin.

  c) If the tissues are not oily but have flaky residue, you have a dry skin.

  d)  No oil patches and no flaky residues means you have a normal skin type.

       Now that you know what your skin type is, any product you apply or treatment you do will have it's true effect on your facial health. 

       Stay Beautiful. Stay Healthy. Stay Happy :) 

5 basics before you rush to a salon

Lets get straight to what matters - Visiting your beauty therapist, every month or every week alone will not make you beautiful. Real beauty begins with health and the real beauty remains grounded in health.

There are certain things one needs to inculcate in one’s routine to build the foundations to beauty. Yes, your life is busy. You get up, get your kids ready, cook, wash, clean and rush to office. You come back and the story is no different.

Here are some tips for busy women to start including in your routine to get healthy.

     1)   Decide to Change – Take a conscious decision to change your routine. Yes, you can’t change the duties you need to do. Life isn't fair for most of us and 24 hours don’t seem enough with commitments at home, work pressure, meeting deadlines and a long list of other to-dos.  But hey! Don’t give up on yourself. Decide to include a few things in your routine and you’ll see change and an increase in your confidence levels.

2) Eat – Yes. Eat. On time. More frequently. They say, you are what you eat. Everything you eat becomes a part of not only your inner being, but the outer fabric of your body as well. The healthier the foods are that you consume, the better your skin will look. The less attention we pay to what goes in our mouth, the more problems we may see cropping up with our skin.

Fruits, for example, work wonders to your skin. Pop in an inexpensive banana in your bag. Make it an everyday routine. Cut a water melon into two, scoop a few pieces into a blender, add some sugar if you want and sieve the mixture it. It’s all over in less than five minutes. The point is, to improve the fruit intake. And please don’t make junk food a habit.

Most of us are wedded to google anyway, research your way to better food for skin. Here is a useful link I found – http://www.seasonsindia.com/beauty/secretskin_sea.htm

      3) Water – Skin is an organ. Let’s realise this first. Just like any other part of the body. Your skin is made up of cells. And skin cells, like any other cell in the body, are made up of water. Without water, the organs will certainly not function properly or at their best. If your skin is not getting the sufficient amount of water, the lack of hydration will present itself by turning your skin dry, tight and flaky. Dry skin has less resilience and is more prone to wrinkling.

      Although, the direct link to water intake and skin health is debatable; drinking 8 glasses of water does not hurt.So, ensure you carry that bottle of water....and please finish it. J

      4) Sleep - While you're sleeping, the body's hydration rebalances. Skin is able to recover moisture, while excess water in general in the body is processed for removal. Not getting enough sleep results in poor water balance, leading to puffy bags under your eyes and under-eye dark circles, as well as dryness and more visible wrinkles. And here is the final blow – Not enough sleep accelerates the aging process. So instead of buying that age defying cream, finish up your work and hit the bed!

      5)  Hop-skip and jump – Well not literally. We tend to focus on the cardiovascular benefits of physical activity, and those are important. But anything that promotes healthy circulation also helps keep your skin healthy and vibrant. Try arranging time to go for a walk in the morning. The fresh air connects you with nature. And when we walk, nearly 200 muscles in our body are functional. It increases blood circulation and is like a treat for our skin.

That’s all for now folks! Up next is understanding what your skin type is and choosing your products and procedures accordingly.

Be Beautiful. Be Healthy. Be you.

Beauty is an Attitude

Hello All

Before I venture into the world of Skin, hair care and wellness; I’d like to express a few of my views.

1   1)   Fairness is not beauty - We Indians are obsessed with fairness. Well, being fair has nothing to do with beauty. Do you have a wheatish complexion? Don’t be worried about it. Check out the image below –Naomi Campbell was one of the only 6 super models of her generations and was regarded as one of the most beautiful women.

2   2)   Being beautiful is an attitude – Yes, it’s not what the mirror tells you. You FEEL beautiful. A large proportion of women I meet have given up on themselves. All it takes is to be a bit cheerful and change the attitude slightly. Feel good, try to be stress-free. Put in some efforts to make life around you better and you’ll be a new you!

3    3)  Dress well – Dress as if every day is a fashion show and the world is your runway. This message especially goes out to women with kids. I've noticed that once a woman has a child, life changes them so much that they pay no attention to themselves. Come on ladies, pamper yourself a little. You deserve it.

4    4) Be positive – Audrey Hepburn aptly put it – “make-up can only make you look pretty on the outside but it doesn't help if you are ugly on the inside – unless you eat the make-up.”

I promise this will be my last “bhashan.” J Will be back soon with “before you rush to the salon”

Have an awesome week ahead everyone! 

Why this blog?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said

“Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art”

At one point, I was jobless in a metro like Bangalore and the options were wide open.

The taste was in me, the Love of beauty. I decided to take up a course in Cosmetology and turn the taste into an art – To create beauty.

Two years down the lane, today, when I teach my lovely students and interact with other women; I find 3 facts –

1.  Everyone wants to be beautiful and healthy.
2. Most of them don’t know how to get there.
3. There is so much (mis)information around that it’s confusing rather than being educative.

This blog is a modest attempt to share the knowledge I gain.

Together lets create some beauty ladies!

Stay tuned...