Anita G

Aloe Vera for Acne Scars and Dark Marks

Growing up my aunt always kept Aloe Vera plants in her garden. I’d sometimes see her cut off a piece and take it into the kitchen but I never really knew what she did with it. I suppose I should have asked! It was only when I was in my teens that I learned about the healing properties of aloe vera for the skin. And it was only in my 20s when I tried actually using aloe vera for acne scars.

Aloe Vera is a species of plant that is used medicinally to treat skin conditions and digestive ailments. It is native to North Africa and has been used both topically and internally as a healing treatment for at least 6,000 years. Pure aloe vera gel from inside the stem of the plant can be used directly on the skin to benefit from the healing properties.

I discovered aloe vera as a skincare treatment when I was looking for products to get rid of the dark marks on my face, and a friend suggested I try aloe vera for acne scars. It’s a gentle and natural option to treat hyperpigmentation and obtain a fantastic skintone.

What makes aloe vera so good for acne scars?

Aloe vera contains natural anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that make it ideal for treating skin ailments. With its nutrient rich properties, aloe vera is a good at home remedy for treating mild to moderate acne and areas of mild hyperpigmentation, including acne scars and melasma. When aloe vera is applied on dry skin, it allows for skin tissue regeneration and promotes good blood circulation.

You can apply aloe vera directly to the skin or combine it with other ingredients to make a face mask. You can make a simple skin lightening face mask by mixing one honey with one part aloe vera gel. Apply it for 20 minutes before washing off.

If you’d prefer to use pure aloe vera without mixing it with anything else, you could apply the gel to your face before going to sleep and washing it off in the morning. Your skin will feel tight as the aloe vera dries on your face but continue doing this and you will notice that your dark marks begin to fade.

Where to Buy Aloe Vera

You can buy an aloe vera plant from a garden centre so that you can cut off a stem whenever you need to. Aloe vera plants are very low maintenance but if you don’t want to do that, you can buy 100% aloe vera gel from your local health shop or online. There are many products that contain aloe vera juice or gel but the best thing to go for is pure aloe vera gel that contains no additives or other added ingredients.

Click here to buy the bestselling 100% aloe vera gel from Amazon

Using aloe vera for acne scars is very effective but as with all natural ingredients, it does work quite slowly. If you want a faster method to treat your acne scars, you may want to consider using a skin lightening cream that contains natural ingredients such as Meladerm.

Find out more about Meladerm for treating acne scars and dark marks

5 Ways to Include Green Tea in Your Skin Care Regimen

DIY Skincare

This article was submitted by EJ Poole a wife, mother of 2 and It Works Global distributor residing in the state of North Carolina. Her favorite It Works products include the Ultimate Body Applicator and Hair Skin Nails Nourishing Complex.

Green tea, now considered a super-food has been a staple in traditional Chinese herbal medicine for centuries. Botanically it is known as Camellia Sinesis and comes from the same plant as the 3 other forms of tea: white, oolong and black. Green tea however, is not fermented during processing and for this reason it retains more nutrients.

Whether taking orally or applied topically, the benefits of green tea are numerous. Green tea is extremely high in antioxidants giving it potent anti-inflammatory properties. Antioxidants are also critical in helping to protect the body against free radicals; free radicals are a primary factor in premature aging. This is why green tea is often the primary ingredient in all the best skin care products.

Incorporating green tea into your daily skin care routine is easy and because of it’s popularity, it will also be relatively inexpensive.

1. As a drink: Although there are no definitive studies of how much green tea one must drink in order to experience the various health benefits, researchers agree that one to two cups of tea per day is a start. Keep in mind that green tea contains natural caffeine so you don’t want to go overboard. When possible, purchase organic green tea from natural food stores such as Wholefoods or specialty stores such as Teavana.

2. As a steam treatment: Steam treatments enhance circulation, increase perspiration (which helps to remove toxins) and is a nice way to open your pores and soften the build-up within them making it easier to remove. Instead of using just plain water, break open a green tea bag and empty the contents into your steaming bowl.

3. As a toner: Make your own skin toner by steeping a pot of green tea, allowing it to cool and then putting the liquid in a sterilized container with a lid or spray bottle. Apply with a cotton ball or spritz on your face as needed.

4. Adding it to your skin care products: Steep your tea bag in hot water for a roughly 30-45 seconds or enough time to allow the tea to soften. Take about 2 or so tablespoons and add it to your favorite cream-based facial cleanser and then mix it well. What you’ll have is similar to a mask, apply it to your face and leave it on for 5 to 30 minutes, then rinse.

5. Skin care products that include green tea: Whether for fighting acne or anti-aging, the best, most effective skin care solution systems all include green tea as a primary ingredient. After having tried some of the most expensive department and specialty store brands, I’ve found my favorite skin care products in the line by It Works! Global. You may be most familiar with the company’s Ultimate Body Applicator “body wrap” (which also contains green tea extract) but the skin care line which includes a facial mask, cleanser, toner, lip & eye cream, and both age preventing and age repairing moisturizers – are also wildly popular items. Green tea extract is a primary ingredient in all these products.

With a bit of effort, green tea can be seamlessly added to your existing skin care regimen. Try cleansing and moisturizing with green tea skin care products in the morning followed by a cup of green tea and weekly green tea steam treatments and facial masks.

How do you use green tea? Leave a comment below sharing your favorite green tea use!

Zap Unwanted Hair Away with Intense Pulsed Light Hair Removal at Home

Laser Hair Removal

With laser hair removal, you can now have flawless skin that’s free of unwanted hair without going through the fuss of shaving or waxing every few days or weeks. More and more people are opting for laser hair removal treatments and laser hair clinics are becoming more popular. A few sessions can rid you of unwanted hair for over 6 months or even permanently.

If you have tried laser hair removal before and would like further treatments but if you find going back to the clinic costly, there are home options available. Perhaps you’d like to try laser treatment but you’re uncomfortable exposing the body parts that you want to be treated. In this case, home laser hair removal is a great option. There are many home options available and Intense Pulsed Light hair removal is one of them.

What is Intense Pulsed Light Hair Removal?

This procedure, also called IPL, virtually employs the same method as laser hair removal but is milder. Light hits the hair shaft and root and targets the pigment called melanin. As the hair absorbs light, it converts it to heat energy. The growth cycle of the hair is disrupted and stops growing.

What are the advantages of using IPL?

It is faster and cheaper than laser hair removal.
It only operates with the wavelengths that are optimum for the destruction of hair follicles but aren’t damaging to the skin. This way, you work at greater energies than laser hair removal but minus the risks of blisters, burns, and UV damage.
The packets of light from the IPL wand are short in duration. Thus, you only feel minimal discomfort during the procedure.

What’s the best product for the job?

The Remington I-Light Pro is a popular options for those looking for a home IPL device. As the equipment targets melanin, it works best with black and dark brown hair and fair skin. After an initial patch test, perform the first 3 sessions every two weeks. Our body hairs have different growth patterns and since this technology works on growing hair, the regular sessions early on are important to target all hairs.

The side effects of any IPL hair removal home devices can include temporary burns and skin discoloration, but the risk of these can be avoided by following the instructions carefully and ensuring the treatment is suitable for your skin type before you begin.

Laser Hair Removal for Men

Laser Hair Removal

It may come as surprising news for some but according to recent surveys conducted, it is has been found that 70% of men have removed unwanted body hair in the last year! The pubic region is the most common, followed by chest hair, underarm hair and back hair. Laser hair removal for men is quickly gaining popularity as men look for longer term hair removal solutions. That’s right, folks, gone are the days when men considered such things as too feminine. The modern man has realized that his excessive body hair can be more of a turn off than a turn on.

The increasing popularity of male laser hair removal can also be attributed to the relative ease through which the procedure is carried out. As opposed to other methods, laser hair removal for men is the quickest and most importantly, longest lasting procedure around. Waxing your unwanted hair can be a very painful procedure (haven’t you seen the movie the 40 year old virgin?) and plus the hair tends to grow back in less than month and there is the risk for ingrown hairs. Daily shaving just isn’t efficient and then there’s electrolysis but ask yourself honestly would you be comfortable with dozens of hairs being plucked out simultaneously? No, right? And to cap it all off, the procedure can take ages as it only works a small area at a time. Removing your back hair sometimes requires as much as 50 hours of electrolysis. Who has the time for that?

Male laser hair removal is not only restricted to chest and back hair. Most unwanted hair can be treated with laser hair removal. Facial hair is usually an exception as you don’t want the laser working to close to the eyes. Laser hair removal removes such unwanted hair effectively, is often permanent and is not as painful as you might think. The pain of a laser has been compared to a rubber band snapping against the skin.

Laser hair removal methods make use of high intensity beams of light to destroy the hair follicle. This may not be easily achieved in one sitting and you will have to have at least 6-8 sessions to permanently remove your unwanted hair. Keep in mind though that this process may not be ideal for everyone and it is recommended that you first consult a dermatologist before you decide to get your unwanted hair removed (especially facial hair). Why? Well because the procedure may not be ideal for all skin tones and hair colors or for people taking certain medications.

But there’s no reason to worry just yet, these things don’t necessarily mean that you cannot have laser hair removal but some precautions will need to be taken and a different type of laser may need to be used. There’s no better way of removing your chest and back hair than to have them removed by laser if you want long lasting results.

If you’d like laser hair removal treatment but would prefer it in the privacy of your own home, at home laser hair removal might be an option for you. Home laser hair removal can still carry the same side effects so be sure to do your research before you buy an at home laser hair removal machine.

Laser Hair Removal for Dark African-American Skin

Laser Hair Removal

Many of us are tired and frustrated with unwanted hair growth and the temporary solutions to deal with it. And why shouldn’t we be? Anyone having to undergo sticky painful procedures of waxing or the bother of shaving every few days would probably agree that it’s a hassle. Most of us would love to have the perfect solution to permanently prevent unwanted hair growth and laser hair removal might seem like the most ideal solution. Although this system can be a little painful and expensive, it worked wonders on people with light skin tones and dark hair. But what about laser hair removal for dark skinned Asians and African Americans?

Laser hair removal for dark skin has been very difficult in the past because of how the lasers work. The laser light is absorbed by the melanin in the hair follicle and the follicle is destroyed so that the hair doesn’t grow back. The difficulty arises when it comes to dark skin or tanned skin because the laser is unable to distinguish between the skin and hair follicle and so the melanin in both absorbs the laser light. Here the melanin itself is in high concentration hence skin appears dark and so the skin instead of the hair ends up absorbing the light. As a result the laser is unable to pass through the epidermis of the skin to reach the hair follicle. This not only creates problem in achieving the best result but can also injure the skin. Darker skin has the potential to become discolored, develop keloids, or even burn.

However this has not stopped the process of laser hair removal for dark skin! Technological advancements mean that there are procedures that can be undertaken to ensure that laser hair removal on darker skin is safe and effective. Methods like cooling the skin can prevent it from being injured. That can be done with contact cooling, something cold that touches the skin such as two sapphire plates with water running between, or by using a chilled plate, or by a spray that is applied to the skin and cools the skin through evaporation thus preventing laser from burning dark skin. In addition to this, technicians use longer wavelengths. The reason for longer laser wavelengths is that melanin in the skin will absorb the short wavelengths, but longer wavelengths can pass through the skin to destroy the follicle. Despite the different varieties of lasers available a diode laser or nd:yag laser are best suited when it comes to laser hair removal for dark skin. In the hands of a skilled technician and with the help of modern techniques, people of Asian or African American origin can get rid of all their unwanted hair with laser treatment for hair removal.

Laser Hair Removal for the Underarms and Pubic Area

Laser Hair Removal

It cannot be denied that getting rid of unwanted hair is tedious. Shaving, and waxing may do the job, but in a week or two you’ll have to go through the process again. The risk of irritation, itching and ingrown hairs make the task far less appealing. But what can you do about it? You just can’t move around with your underarm hair on display à la Julia Roberts, right? Hair removal is a necessary annoyance but laser hair removal for the underarms, pubic area or any other body part can ease the hassle.

Thankfully, laser hair removal means you can have a way to permanently remove unwanted hair. This technology involves packets of high-energy light that target melanin, the pigment in hair, and disables the hair follicle altogether. While the effectiveness depends on factors like skin color, hair color, and hair thickness, 5 to 6 sessions of this painless procedure means you may never have to face the hassle of unwanted hair again.

Laser hair removal for underarms

Perhaps the most popular problem areas for women are the underarms. To confidently sport a sleeveless top, you have to make sure that your underarms are hairless. Laser hair removal for underarms is usually the first procedure that people try out as the concerned area is relatively small. Each session takes only about 10 minutes. However, the laser only works on hairs that are in their growth phase, so you may have to work around the growth pattern and return for a few more sessions to get rid of all unwanted underarm hair for good.

Laser hair removal for pubic hair

Laser hair removal on the genital area is not only for aesthetic reasons but it also holds several hygiene purposes. As sweat and bodily fluids can adhere to pubic hair, there is the increased chance of unpleasant odors caused by these fluids. Excess hair can also provide ideal conditions for bacteria, so one argument against pubic hair is hygiene.

The pubic area is highly sensitive. Shaving and waxing may inflame the hair follicles, thereby creating itchy and painful ingrown hairs. Your problem on bikini hair may be compounded as these ingrown hairs get infected. With waxing, it is a lot more common than you think! Laser hair removal on the pubic hair is the better long term alternative to shaving and waxing.