Beauty Basics - Eight Tips For Naturally Beautiful Skin

Not sure what to look for when choosing cosmetics? Need some advice on taking care of your skin? Here are eight tips to help your skin look and feel its best.
1)Select moisturizers made with vegetable oils. The lotions, creams and body oils that you use should be made with vegetable oils, not mineral oil. Vegetable oils, (like olive oil, sweet almond oil, corn oil, etc.) contain fatty acids which help to moisturize and soften the skin. Mineral oil is derived from petroleum and does not contain anything that helps to nourish the skin.
2)Look for herbs and herbal derivatives in your cosmetics. Herbs and their derivatives (essential oils, extracts, infusions) contain natural chemicals which soothe, tone and help condition the skin. Two herbs which are especially useful in natural cosmetics are Lavender and Tea tree. The essential oils of both lavender and tea tree are gentle, natural antiseptics.
3)Once a week soak your feet in warm water, and gently exfoliate dead skin with a pumice stone. Follow up by moisturizing your feet with a natural foot oil or foot lotion.
4)Every week soak in a tub of bath salts. Salt, especially salts mined from the Dead Sea in the Middle East, are rich in minerals and help draw impurities out of the skin.
5)After a shower or bath, seal in moisture by using a body oil or lotion made from natural vegetable oils.
6)If you have blemishes and your skin is dry, moisturize your skin in the morning and at night with products that contain vegetable oils which are high in essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids help to soften and hydrate the skin and they can also help soothe minor irritations. Vegetable oils that contain large amounts of essential fatty acids are: corn oil, sunflower seed oil, safflower oil, borage oil, blackcurrant seed oil and evening primrose oil.
7)Look for toners and astringents that are made without ethyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol or isopropyl alcohol. These ingredients are solvents that are extremely drying to the skin.
8)Every time you wash your hands, moisturize them with a natural lotion or cream to help them stay soft.

Barriers to Self Care

For many women, the term self-care often becomes a foreign concept once motherhood occurs. Why?
I believe there are several key reasons why mothers find it difficult to take better care of themselves:
Time - One of the major barriers to self-care is the feeling that there’s just not enough time. Going from leisurely lunches with friends (before the days of motherhood), to sleepless nights, packed lunches and car pooling, is a huge adjustment. Often we are left feeling stretched for time.
Multiple Role Players - In today’s society, moms play multiple roles - everything from career professional, soccer mom and committee volunteer, to chauffeur and housekeeper. How can we find time for ourselves while juggling all these roles?
Guilt – Feelings of guilt play a huge part in why mothers spend little time taking care of themselves. Guilt can be associated with being away from our family due to work commitments, taking an hour to ourselves when there already seems to be so much to do, or by just trying to do something that is important to us and does not involve the family.
As moms, we believe that by being away from our kids, or not involving them in virtually everything we do, we are somehow not living up to our duties and responsibilities.
Perfectionism - The need for perfection in our lives is another barrier to self-care. Perfectionists are always seeking that ultimate feeling of having everything under their control, often not doing (or enjoying) anything unless it can be done perfectly.
Seeking perfection in our self-care may lead to not participating in it at all. Self-care can’t wait until everything else is perfect.
At times you will need to forego the housework, committee meeting or staying late at the office. Not all things can be completed before incorporating self-care into your day. For perfectionists, this concept is a difficult one, therefore adding to the neglect.
Lack of Support - Lacking a support system is a common reason many mothers do not participate fully in their self-care. Many women may not have the support of a partner or family members to help out in order to give them time to themselves.
Poor social supports and few friendships can contribute to the lack of connection women feel at times. This emotional connection is necessary for your health and happiness, and is also a major part of self-care.
Finances - Financial status may also play a part in the frequency in which women participate in their own self-care. Often mothers conclude that if only they had more money they would take better care of themselves.
As you can see, there are several reasons why we as mothers may put
self-nurturing at the bottom of our list. For our own health and happiness however, we need to start moving it up to the top.