How to Keep Your Skin Healthy This Fall!

 
Fall brings changes in all of nature. The shorter days and cooler nights signal the end of the growing season.
The trees shed their leaves and all vegetation begins the end of the cyclic process of production.
Our body is part of nature and is affected by the changing weather, diminishing daylight and temperature variations.
In fall we spend less time outdoors and more time indoors, wear more clothes thus preventing the skin to breathe and shed.
Skin usually becomes dryer in the fall as the body goes through the natural cycle of the season. Every person’s skin is different depending on their diet, hormones, color, and all the things that make us each unique!
What is good for one type may not be good for the other...but the tips below are good for every skin type and are for the body only, not the facial skin.
1. Gently Exfoliate, Weekly– Exfoliating gets rid of the dead skin and frees it up to continue its natural cycle of shedding. It keeps the pores free from the buildup of dead skin.
Do’s: Use a natural exfoliating material such as Ramie, Hemp, Cotton or Loofa. Using one of these products with soap works great.
Plantlife has bamboo and hemp bathing essentials which are excellent for exfoliating. You can also use wet or dry scrubs (stay tuned for easy, inexpensive ways to make your own scrubs) but make sure they are gentle!
Don’ts: Don’t use those cheap plastic scrubbers, they tear down the skin.
Don’t use chemical ridden exfoliating products. Know your ingredients.
Don’t use salt scrubs. Salt scrubs are drying, irritating and add no nutrition to the skin.
Don’t exfoliate the face (masks work better for this tender skin).
Don’t over exfoliate and scrub too hard – it’s not necessary!
2. Wash Daily with Gentle, Chemical Free Cleansing Products – Why is this important? Products that contain chemicals and synthetic ingredients will strip the skin’s natural oils and further dry it out. They add no value to the skin. Also, glycerin based soaps (they are usually clear in appearance) are very drying because of the added glycerin. Plantlife’s products are gentle and contain the life giving properties of the fresh plant based ingredients.
3. Moisturize Daily – When most people think of moisturizing, they think of slathering on the lotion after bathing…and then reapplying if the skin is dry. I did this for years and wondered why my legs always looked like alligator skin. Lotion has its place but it isn’t for keeping the skin supple and moisturized.
The best way to keep the skin moisturized is to use oil! Yes oil… it will keep even those hard heels soft! I recommend using oil in the shower immediately after washing while the skin is still warm (the pores are open) and still wet.
You only need a small amount rubbed into your skin daily to get maximum results. And there’s no need to use lotion (except on the hands from washing during the day).
4. Use Household Products Free from Fragrance and Chemicals – The less you expose your skin to the constant barrage of chemicals, the better. Our body’s largest organ is the skin and it’s responsible for protecting our body, keeping the body at just the right temperature and allowing us to feel touch!
The skin absorbs what it is in contact with. A good example of this is medical patches that are topically applied to the body…the medicine is absorbed through the skin!
Statistics show that the average woman is exposed to over 15 chemicals before she leaves the house in the morning.
Just think about the amount of products in our daily lives that are ridden with fragrances (usually synthetic which contain phylates along with many other chemicals) such as laundry detergent and fabric softener.
Our poor skin is exposed all night with our sheets and all day with our clothes! Using scent free products are better but chemical free is the best.
There are some great products out there. Using chemical free products might even make you feel better…but that is another topic!
Take care of your self this fall, there is only one you!