Swathy and Sky

Eyes: Take Care of them to look young

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In the anti-aging series till now, I have talked about the importance of sunscreen to fight early aging and the notion of aging prevalent among us. Today, I would like to talk about Eyes. As we all know, they are among the first parts of our body to betray our age, if not given proper attention. Eyes give us a lot of trouble like dark circles, puffy eyes, wrinkles, crows feet and what not and make our life miserable. So, we will discuss about how to go on tackling them and achieve beautiful and bright eyes. You may have tried products on products to get rid of these problems but I am sure not many of you might have really found anything satisfying.

Dark Circles. The skin around the eyes is very thin. And, it has lots of blood vessels underneath which gives the skin around the eyes a naturally darker look. This darkness can be enhanced by factors like improper sleep or sleeping positions, dryness in the skin, heredity and many more.
  • I have stressed so much on the importance of drinking water or proper sleep. Start doing it today and experience some betterment in a week.
  • While sleeping, keep your head at a higher elevation so that the blood circulation is less in the face. This way, there may be a color lightening around the eyes.
  • Always splash your eyes nicely with cold water before sleeping and after waking up. This relaxes your eyes.
  • For those people who have dark circles due to hereditary factors, you can follow these steps but a permanent solution is not guaranteed.
Puffy Eyes. They are caused by excess water content around the eye areas. To reduce that, again I would advise you to sleep with head at a higher elevation. Now, you can reduce puffy eyes by taking care of your diet too.
  • Do not take excess of fluids at night, even water. Keep it to bare minimum.
  • Reduce the salt intake. Excess of salt in the body means increased capacity of retaining water. So, try to keep your salt intake to a minimum and try to reduce it everyday. Do not worry about the taste of food. It takes your taste buds only 15 days to get adapted to the new taste.
  • Reduce intake of sugar too.
Wrinkles. These are caused by dryness around the eyes or due to excess exposure to sun. They can also be taken care of through diet. You need a lot anti-oxidants in your body to fight the wrinkle causing free radicals.
  • Eat lots of green leafy vegetables, beans, olive oil, nuts and whole-grain bread.
  • Reduce the intake of meat and processed foods.
  • Also, reduce the intake of sugar. It is one of the causes of puffy eyes and pimples too.
  • Always go in sun wearing a sunscreen with an SPF of 15-30. Reapply every 2 hours.
  • Sleep on your back to avoid wrinkles. Sleeping on your sides puts pressure on your skin and creates wrinkles. Try a conscious effort to sleep on your back. I know it can be difficult for people who are used to curling up. But, its worth an effort.
  • If you do not wear glasses, get a pair of sun glasses with UV protection. They should have side covering too. This would prevent the entry of UV radiation anywhere near your eyes.
  • Do not squint. They are also causes of wrinkles.
  • Apply moisturizer on sunscreen on your eye area with your ring finger in a quick gentle sweep. Do not massage.
  • If you feel that having wrinkles is not bad, try stretching your skin to make them wrinkle free and have a look at your face. You do look younger. This would be your motivation to follow all the above mentioned points.

How to keep your nails long and strong?

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Today, I would like to share with you some facts about nail care. Nails are dead cells growing out of our fingers. So, there are no nerves in the nails and that is why, we do not have any sensation in the nails. But, while clipping your nails, you should be careful enough not to dig into your skin. Nails have two parts to be cared for. One is the nail plate and the other is the cuticle area which provides a covering to the nail. The cuticle area has two types of skin. One skin is the dead skin which extends on to the nail and the other is live skin which folds around the dead skin. So, while pushing back the cuticles or clipping them during manicure, one should be very cautious not to hurt the live skin. This live skin protects our nails from the nail infections. This was the overview of the nail structure. Now, I would like to share some tips to keep your nails long and strong and more importantly, the nails clean.

  • Dip your nails in olive oil (or your choice of oil) once a week. This is irrespective of the fact that you are doing manicure or not. Oil keeps your nails strong and the skin around the nails moisturized. It prevents the skin from cracking and peeling around the nail edges (which is very prominent in some people). If you can’t dip it in oil, take a generous quantity of oil and massage your nails and cuticles with it. You can even do this daily with a drop of oil. This is a great tip for brittle nails. You can use jojoba oil in place of olive oil. It works great.
  • Once a week, you can take some baking powder on a brush tip and start brushing your nails. That will turn your nails white and remove any odd colors on your nail.
  • Instead of clipping your nails, file them. But, file them in only one direction. If you do it in both direction, your nails get ragged and do not look good.
  • Do not use false nails. Better try growing your own nails.
  • Leave your nails free of any nail paint at least twice in a month.
  • While doing manicure to your hands, do not forget to take care of your nails. Do not let your nails dry. Moisturize them every time you apply moisturizer to your hands.
  • Your nails show your health just like your hair. So, good nutrition will keep them pink. Improve your diet to include more proteins and vitamins which are important for both hair and nails. Generally, the growth of nails and hair are a lot interdependent.
  • Since, the nails are just dead cells. So, there is no nail mask which you can apply. But, yes, you can whiten them in the same way you whiten your teeth. Rub lemon juice or strawberries. But, do not forget to apply oil afterward as they are very drying for nails.
  • You can place your nails in a bowl of milk. This would improve the look of your nails. This would serve as a proper manicure.

Benefits of Orange on Skin

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This fruit belongs to the citrus family and is best know for its astringent and toning properties. Oranges are a good source of Vitamin C which is known to improve the skin texture and color. They help restoring collagen in our body which is responsible for skin firming and preventing early aging of skin. So, daily serving of citrus fruits helps our body fight aging.

  • After eating orange, instead of throwing away the peels, dry them in sun and grind them. Store the mixture. And, use it as a body scrub.
  • Mix the above made scrub and milk or milk cream and apply on face. It gives an instant glow to your face. And, reduces the dark spots and blemishes on your skin.
  • If you do not want to go through the tedious step of grinding the peels, you can make a refreshing face spray using the peels.
  • If you do not use a face spray, simply pour boiling water on the peels and leave for a day. Next day, filter the liquid and store it in fridge. Apply the liquid on your face using a cotton ball. Let stay till it dries up. Your face will be firm and glowing.
    • You can use this liquid in preparing face masks. Use the liquid in a day or two.
    • You can pour this liquid in your bath water and enjoy a refreshing and rejuvenating bath. Your skin will smell fresh all day.
    • Use the liquid as a hair rinse to get shining hair. It also helps in removing dandruff.
  • A very innovative tip: Take the juice of 2 oranges and freeze it in an ice tray. Rub your face with frozen orange juice cubes. It will instantly freshen you up and lift up the tiredness from your face. The juice will give your dull and oily face an instant sheen. And, the chilled ice cubes will close and minimize the size of your pores. This also provides relief to acne prone skin and pimples.
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