Dehydration and the Skin
09/29/2008 In Skin Care 101 by bien-être
Did you know that almost everyone, even oily skins can be dehydrated on a regular basis?
Every day, our bodies use gallons of water for normal everyday functions. Most of this water gets recycled, but we lose about 2.5 to 3 quarts of water per day through normal elimination, sweating and breathing. If you exercise or live in a humid climate, you may lose another quarter.
Experts recommend about 8-10 glasses of water per day for you body to function. However, I believe that this the bare minimum. It does not account for extra water loss through stress, lack of sleep, caffeine or alcohol consumption, sweating, etc. Drinking an extra amount of water will help when dealing with these activities and daily stresses.
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Ask-an-Esthetician answers
09/13/2008 In Ask-an-esthetician answers by bien-être
Thank you for your great skincare and wellness questions!
Find all the answers here and check back to see updated posts, as they may answer your questions before you even ask.
*Do you have a question that has not yet been answered here or on the bog? Visit the “ask-an-esthetician” page of our web site and ask away!
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Essential Oils and Skin Care
09/07/2008 In Non-Invasive Skin Care Techniques that Work by bien-être
Use of Essential Oils in Skin Care
Essential oils have been used for thousands of years in many different cultures and civilizations, everywhere from Ancient Egypt to Bali. Doctors and healers have used these precious extracts to aid in healing, softening, disinfecting, fragrancing and beautifying the skin.
The term ‘aromatherapy’ was formally introduced by a French chemist named Rene-Maurice Gattefosse in 1928 after he discovered that topical application of lavender healed a burn on his hand.
Dr. Jean Valnet was next in line, studying the use of essential oils to successfully treat psychological disorders in 1964, and Marguerite Maury followed him to establish the reputation of that practice.
There are two main ways we use essential oils therapeutically:
- Topical application: The tiny molecular weight of an essential oil allows it to travel very easily through the pores of the skin and into the body. The essential oil will have a specific effect on a system of the body, or on the skin itself. Since essential oils are soluble in oil and alcohol, they are perfect for use in skincare products (like creams and lotions) (more…)
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Ultrasound Facial Therapy
09/06/2008 In Non-Invasive Skin Care Techniques that Work by bien-être
Ultrasound has been used for many years in the medical field. Recently it has become available as a skincare tool as well. Ultrasound is the use of sound waves which penetrate the skin and bounce off of or absorb into skin tissues, resulting in gentle exfoliation and deep cleansing through vibration, ingredient penetration, and stimulation of healthy collagen and elastin.
It is a technique that uses high frequency sound waves and their echoes. The technique
is similar to the echolocation used by bats, whales and dolphins, as well as SONAR used
by submarines. These waves penetrate the skin and are absorbed into the tissues as a
source of energy, which:
* stimulates body cells
* penetrates products to the cell wall
* expands the space in which the cells exist
* stimulates and expands the cell membrane
* improves local blood and lymph circulation
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Healthy Exfoliation – part 1
09/05/2008 In Skin Care 101 by bien-être
Why do we need to exfoliate?
Cellular turnover
When we are younger, our “dead” or mature skin cells migrate to the surface of our skin and slough off on their own every 14 days or so. As we age, this process slows down in order to prevent the epidermis from thinning too much due to a decrease in antioxidants produced by our body. However, we now know that we can supplement our bodies and our skin with antioxidants from plants. So if we are supplementing our system properly, our epidermis doesn’t have to slow it’s natural exfoliation process. Unfortunately, evolution hasn’t quite caught up with this newfound knowledge, so we are taught that in order to keep the same rate of cellular turnover we had when we were younger, we need to exfoliate. Exfoliating our skin will help to send a message that the epidermis needs more skin cells, and so the cellular turnover process is “jump started”.
Ingredient penetration
After we exfoliate our skin (or remove the outer most layer), we clear the way for nutrients to be absorbed
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