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What are the various skin types?
The main kinds of facial skin types can be
categorized as follows:
Oily Skin
The pores of the skin are generally large
and visible with a coarse or thick texture.
The skin feels oily to the touch and tends
to be more prone to acne.
Dry Skin
The pores are generally fine with a papery
thin texture that feels dry to the touch.
Normal Skin
The pores are visible but not large. The
texture is neither fine or thick and it
neither feels dry or oily to the touch.
Combination skin
Many persons have what can be called
combination skin. This means most areas are
normal while some areas are oily.
Dryness is often localized on the cheeks
while the nose, chin and forehead tend to be
oily.
How does aging affect the skin?
With age the amount of subcutaneous
(under-the-skin) fat is reduced resulting in
a looser look to the skin.
Skin sags because of a loss of collagen and
elastin, proteins responsible for the skin's
elasticity, tone and texture.
Collagen forms the structural network of our
skin and gives skin its strength and
durability.
Elastin is similar to collagen but is a more
stretchable protein which maintains the
skin's elasticity. It provides the matrix
that holds individual skin cells in place.
Together, collagen and elastin permit the
skin to stretch, then regain its original
shape.
With age, the skin's collagen begins to
deteriorate, causing the skin to become
thinner and sag. The elastin breaks down and
causes wrinkling.
Pregnancy, poor health or nutrition, aging,
gravity, being overweight, excessive sun
exposure can all contribute to skin that is
loose and sags.
What is the remedy for sagging skin and
wrinkles?
Certain herbals extracts are known to
improve the firmness and elasticity of skin.
Vitamin E is also known to slow the aging of
skin.
Creams are available combining these
ingredients along with moisturizers.
What are age spots and is there any remedy?
Age spots are flat, gray, brown or black
spots that occur on more than 90% of
fair-skinned people past the age of 50.
They range from freckle-size to a few inches
in diameter.
They are most common on skin areas most
exposed to the sun.
Real age spots don't become cancerous and
require no treatment, although sometimes
they can look like cancerous growths.
One advanced skin formula contains maximum
strength hydroquinone which gently fades
darker skin and age spots.
Can
anything be done for varicose veins?
Varicose veins or 'spider' veins are
enlarged veins that look blue and bulging in
the legs.
The veins become twisted and swollen because
of impaired blood flow through the veins
through a faulty valve.
The condition is rarely dangerous, but many
feel conscious of them due to their
unsightly appearance.
Laser therapy may remove smaller
varicosities while more severe cases can be
treated with injections or the veins can be
'stripped out' with surgery.
Alternatively, a painless method using a
cream rich in vitamin K can produce good
results. The cream builds healthier, thicker
skin layers so the appearance of varicose
veins is greatly reduced.
What is Aloe Vera?
Aloe Vera is a cactus-like plant with green
dagger-shaped leaves.
The leaves are filled with a clear, viscous,
bitter, shining gel made up of 96% water and
4% containing 75 known substances.
Out of over 200 species of aloe plants, only
4 are considered to have any nutritional
value for animals and humans.
Out of these 4, Aloe Barbadensis Miller is
the most potent and nutritious.
From ancient times peoples have recognized
the ability of Aloe Vera to speed up the
healing of wounds and burns while relieving
itching and swelling.
The Aloe has an amazing ability to
rejuvenate and rebuild the skin by helping
the process of cell division and discarding
dead cell tissue.
Additionally it is excellent as a
moisturizer by maintaining the natural
moisturizing agents in the skin, even
drawing moisture from the air around.
It is even able to penetrate below the outer
surface of the skin so it's effects go deep
down, not just on the surface.
How can good Aloe Vera skin products be
identified?
Some of the processes used by manufacturers
can severely reduce the effectiveness of the
Aloe.
Heat pasteurization for example can remove
many of the Aloe's natural healing
properties because it basically 'cooks' the
Aloe.
Cold stabilization on the other hand retains
100% of the plant's healing properties.
Good quality Aloe Vera products have the
Aloe as the FIRST ingredient. Many products
on the market have water as the first
ingredient, indicating the Aloe gel has been
watered down.
A high grade Aloe gel will be completely
clear.
Facts about the skin
Skin is the largest organ of the body,
accounting for 12 to 16 percent of the
weight of the body.
It covers an area anywhere between 12 and 20
square feet.
Water accounts for 70% of the chemical
composition of skin and protein 25.5%.
Skin replaces itself about every 27 days.
It continuously produces a horny protective
cover of hardened proteins which process is
called Keratinization.
At the same time it is constantly shedding
the outermost layer of dead cells which
process is called Exfoliation.
The skin performs many complicated essential
roles:
-
It regulates the body temperature by
evaporating water.
-
It protects the body against invasion from
microorganisms and against losing fluid
and drying out.
-
It is open and permeable enough to allow
an exchange of warmth, air and fluids.
-
It acts as the sensory organ for our
delicate sense of touch.
The structure of skin
Skin is made up of three layers.
-
Epidermis - top layer
-
Dermis - middle layer
-
Sub cutis - bottom layer
Epidermis
The epidermis is the thinnest skin layer -
at a maximum 1 millimeter.
This layer is thickest on the soles of the
feet and the palms of the hands and thinnest
on our eyelids.
The epidermis also produces the hair,
toenails and fingernails.
The epidermis consists of three interwoven
types of cells which protect us from
ultraviolet radiation, form part of the
immune system and intercept foreign
substances that try to pass through the
skin.
The epidermis also contains cells that
produce the pigment melanin which determines
the color of the skin.
The epidermis has numerous nerve endings
which make the skin into a sensory organ
detecting warmth, cold, light, taste and
touch.
The skin also shows emotions such as when
fear causes the skin to grow pale or
embarrassment causes the skin to glow red
with blushing.
Dermis
The dermis is a thick, supple, sturdy layer
of connective tissue which makes up about 90
percent of the skin's thickness.
It is filled with a dense meshwork of
collagen and elastin fibers, two connecting
types of proteins. (See section on aging above.)
This meshwork supports lymph and tiny blood
vessels that nourish the nerves, muscle
cells, sweat and sebaceous glands and hair
follicles and allow the skin to 'breathe'.
This layer contains glands which make the
special protective oil for the skin.
These glands are found at the base of each
hair follicle. They secrete an oily
substance called sebum which waterproofs the
hair and lubricates the skin.
When these glands overproduce, blackheads
and pimples form, the bane of adolescents.
The dermis also has the sweat glands which
cool the body.
This layer absorbs most of the substances
that penetrate into the skin.
Sub cutis
The sub cutis is the deepest layer of the
skin, composed primarily of fat.
It manages the skin's functions of feeding,
excreting and heat exchange.
The fat cells serve as a heat insulator for
the body, act as a shock absorber against
mechanical trauma and help give the skin
resilience.
Among mammals, only humans and marine
mammals such as whales and dolphins have
this subcutaneous layer of fat.
Sweat glands originate in this layer and
excrete waste matter through perspiration
and also control the body's temperature by
perspiration evaporating from the surface of
the skin.
"Goose-flesh" bumps occur when the fine
layer of muscles found in this layer
contract.
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