Tips for Proper Body Care

The skin on your body can be your most visible asset; that’s why spas devote an entire service especially for treating the skin.  Your state of health is also readily observable on your complexion; if your body gets its proper nutrition, your skin feels smooth and supple to the touch.  It also radiates with a subtle glow.  If you have unhealthy smoking and drinking habits, or get irregular and insufficient sleep, your skin is the first to suffer, and is left dry, rough, and even flaky.

Having healthy skin begins with nutrition.  Make sure that you have a healthy diet, with plenty of fruits and vegetables, and juices in the meal plan.  Oranges, sunflower seeds, papayas, whole grain cereals, and green tea are excellent sources of vitamins and antioxidants which help maintain your skin’s healthy glow.  Stay away from junk food which only has an accumulated harmful effect on the body.  Taking vitamin supplements, especially vitamin E for the skin, and vitamin C which is an antioxidant, can help renew dead skin cells, or rejuvenate aging skin.  Your body also needs to be sufficiently hydrated all the time so it can keep up with water loss from the day’s activities.  Drink plenty of water, at least a liter a day, and your skin will immediately benefit from the result. 

The sun’s rays are helpful in giving your body a healthy dose of vitamin D, but too much exposure to it can accelerate the skin’s aging process.  It is better to expose yourself to sunshine in the early hours of the morning to get its benefit, and if you have to go out in the afternoon, protect your skin with an application of sunscreen.  The usual recommended SPF rating for all skin types is 15, but you may choose one with a higher rating if you live within tropical climates.  Apply the lotion at least thirty minutes before going out, and apply a fresh layer after every two hours to maintain the protection.

Though you can never really reverse the skin’s aging process, you can help in renewing it through exfoliation.  Your skin naturally sheds off its worn layer every month, and is more frequent when you are at a young age.  As you mature, it will need some help in removing its old layer, in order to make way for a new one.  Using a body mitt or a scrub in massaging the skin in a circular motion will help in achieving this purpose.  Weekly exfoliation maintains your skin’s suppleness and promotes blood circulation.

 

A person’s hands probably reveal more about his or her personality more than any other body part.  Indeed, people with soft, sensitive hands make a statement by implying that he or she takes great pleasure in keeping proper hygiene.  Relationships, whether casual, business-oriented or romantic, depend to some extent on hand contact to strengthen physical ties.  This could be in the form of a handshake, or a mere pat of reassurance.  With this in mind, you need to keep your hands properly taken care of since they are not merely your basic tools of utility, they can also be used to express affection with involved gestures.

Your hands are quite sensitive to irritants and harmful chemicals if they are exposed to these for prolonged periods.  It is important then that you wash them after handling any chemical, even if it is non-toxic.  Usually, a good washing with the use of soap and warm water will the do the job effectively, although you should try to avoid detergents, as they may contain ingredients which are too harsh on the skin.  After washing, use a coarse cloth fabric to scrub away any residue which may be left behind. 

Moisture is the main key to taking proper care of the skin on your hands.  Commercial moisturizers are particularly helpful to this end.  Regular application of a hand lotion will maintain the suppleness of your hands; there are a variety of products to choose from, and some are even vitamin-enriched to provide your hands with rejuvenating nutrients.  Because oil glands are significantly less abundant here than on the face, you’ll need to apply lotion on them more regularly then you would normally do on the rest of your body.  To soften rough palms, you can use a mix of equal parts of glycerin and lime juice as a homemade remedy.  Scars may be reduced by rubbing a lemon peel on the affected area.

After cleaning and moisturizing the skin, you can give your hands some much-needed pampering by exfoliating the dead skin cells off of them, and massaging the muscles to soothe the tension which took its toll on the day’s stressful routine.

Finally, make sure you take measures in giving your hands proper protection from the elements and from any untoward mishaps.  Use rubber gloves in washing the dishes or doing the laundry; use thicker and padded gloves when handling gardening tools or in doing woodwork.  Wear gloves which are sufficiently insulated and with cotton lining, such as mittens or hand muffs, whenever you go out in cold weather or in the winter time.

 

Although a usually neglected body part, your feet are also in much need of proper care.  The feet suffer a lot as a result of improper posture, wearing the inappropriate shoe size, and insufficient foot hygiene.  You can jumpstart your feet’s hygienic regimen by treating it to a foot spa.

The foot spa is an all-around treatment for your feet, which includes cleansing, moisturizing, and exfoliation.  Begin the treatment by soaking the feet in a tub of warm water (you may add a few drops of shampoo and also vegetable oil to achieve a scented and cleansing solution) for about a half hour, and then scrub them with the use of coarse but soft mitts.  Give them a good soap rubbing before rinsing, and then apply moisturizers to complete the routine.  Do this once every two weeks to maintain the good, healthy condition of your feet.  For best results, try using a pumice stone in the exfoliation part, and use foot cream instead of a regular moisturizer as an after-treatment application.

Scars may also be removed with a citrus fruit peel rubbing, done twice a day for at least seven minutes.  To soothe swollen ankles, soak the feet in a tub containing a solution of four tablespoonfuls of epsom salts and very warm water.  Cracked heels may be remedied with an application of a mixture of melted paraffin wax and mustard oil.  Apply this treatment every night before going to bed, and you’ll see positive results within a month of use.  You may also try a rubbing of coconut oil, followed by soaking the feet in lukewarm water for half an hour.  After toweling the feet, apply a salve made out of a half lemon squeeze, henna, and the extract of the hibiscus flower.

 

The skin on your elbows and on your knees requires extra care because they have the least number of oil glands, in comparison to other areas of the skin.  This is the main reason why they quickly tend to get rough and dry, and most of the time the end result is a darker shade in skin tone when compared to other parts, such as the face.  The dark complexion on the joints is due to the accumulation of dead skin cells and dirt.  There is no need to fret, however, as there is a very good chance that you may even up the skin tone on your joints – just put these tips to the test.

First, you have to exfoliate the skin, in order to properly shed of the dead cells. Using a pumice stone, rub the area in a brisk, firm motion.  You’ll see an improved result within five minutes of scrubbing.  But make sure that you don’t rub too hard or too long, since you might over do it and expose the top layer of the flesh in the process.  After the scrub, bring back the moisture on the skin either with an application of regular lotion, or a homemade moisturizer.  Most herbal oils are great at achieving this end, such as coconut, olive, or rosemary oil.  As long as you make the applications frequent, the skin on your knees and elbows will revert back to their healthy color.

You can hasten the lightening of the skin tone by applying a solution consisting of fresh cream, a dollop of turmeric powder, and a few drops of essence of basil leaf.  Use this mixture on the dark areas before going to bed, and then rinse it off as soon as you wake up.  Positive results of this treatment are observable after a week of use.  You can also try an alternative by using a paste made out of besan flour and lime juice, leaving the application for a half hour before rinsing.  Cutting a lemon in half, and placing each half on each elbow or knee, will result in a similar bleaching effect.

 

The nails on the hands and feet are of particular importance to women, although the practice of proper nail grooming is also catching up on men.  The usual way of taking care of them is through a manicure and pedicure, either done professionally or through do-it-yourself means.  These treatments not only clean nails and give them back their luster; they also maintain the healthy condition of the cuticles.

A manicure is an intricate and usually time-consuming procedure; due to this, the treatment is much more appealing to women.  The materials and equipment needed for a thorough manicure include cotton balls, nail paint remover, an emery board, bottles of polish, a bottle of base coat, towels, a bowl of warm water, and a bottle of top coat.

The first step is to remove the old nail polish down to the last residue, with gentle swipes of a remover on a cotton ball, then file the nails to the desired shape with an emery board.  If they are kept short, keep the shape close the natural curve of the finger; if they are rather long, try going for pointed, but rounded shape.  Soak your hands in a bowl of warm water with added drops of almond or coconut oil for fifteen minutes, or up to the point when the skin begins to wrinkle.  Towel the hands dry, and proceed by removing the cuticles stuck in between the nails.  With the use of a pusher and cuticle remover, delicately push back the cuticles off of the nails in quick, short strokes.  Apply a base coat of either matte or colorless polish to each nail, and then leave about ten minutes to let it dry out.  Follow this with two subsequent coats of the polish of your preferred color, and as soon as the last coat dries out, apply a final top coat or sealant.  Give the nails a quick whisk away from you, to even out the application.

A pedicure is usually done in complement to a foot scrub, and is more or less treated as an afterthought of sorts.  The reality is that this treatment is important in proper foot hygiene.  Filthy nails are more prone to fungi and bacteria outbreaks, the main culprits to pesky athlete’s foot and smelly feet.  In this sense, a good pedicure not only serves as a beauty statement, but a hygienic measure as well.  A pedicure treatment is similar to that of the manicure, but you’ll need to add more potent disinfectants and scenting additives to the soaking solution.  Adding hydrogen peroxide, rock salt, and a sachet of pedicure shampoo into the soaking solution is enough to effectively cleanse and deodorize the feet.