Homemade Facial, Facials Mask Recipe at Home

WHY HAS A FACIAL?
Do homemade facials work? If you enjoy them they do. Taking an hour out for yourself is one of life's luxuries and a professional facial is so relaxing your face is bound to look better afterward. But what of the long-term benefits of a professional cleansing and facial massage?

Homemade Facial Recipe
For a basic homemade facial you can do yourself, simply follow these simple steps:

1. Cleanse with cream or foam, massaging the face with circular movements. Rinse with tepid water and a soft sponge. Blot the skin damp, not dry.
2. Exfoliate using a gentle granular or latex-based "gommage", concentrating on problem zones. Rinse and pat dry.
3. Massage with a nourishing oil or cream.
4. Apply a mask directly over your moisturized skin, to encourage the cream to penetrate further. Soak cotton pads in eye make-up remover, or use cold chamomile tea bags, and place over the eyelids. Relax for 10 minutes.
5. Remove mask and apply toner.
6. Moisturize with your regular day or night formula.

THE BENEFITS OF Home Facials
Certainly massage can help lymphatic glands clear swelling and puffiness, maintains Dr David Fenton of St Thomas's hospital, London. However, the afterglow is short term as it is due to a temporary blood circulation boost. He also believes that the effects of a firming home facial, which uses electrical currents to stimulate the skin, last only a matter of hours - days at most. And if you have very greasy, acne-prone skin, he suggests avoiding stimulating facials completely as they can aggravate sebaceous glands.
Professional beauty therapists argue that treating yourself to a facial is extremely worthwhile as it is usually the beginning of a better relationship with your skin. As facials arc invariably" diagnostic, therapists use products best suited to your skin type and recommend a program for home use.

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Importance of Moisture for Skin

Skin needs moisture - that's the bottom line. A water quota of no less than a healthy 60 per cent gives skin its smooth, plump, translucent quality, bathes cells with nutrients and keeps them soft and functional. A moisturizer's most basic job in supplement the skin's Natural Moisture Factor (NMF) (a cocktail of moisture-attracting humectants and preservatives), help preserve fluid in the skin's upper layers and prevent losses which hasten ageing.As environmental factors such as sunlight, central heating, wind, cold and pollution all encourage moisture loss, state-of-the-art creams are designed to buffer external aggression by reinforcing the skin's own barrier mechanisms.

In young, healthy skin natural oils and friendly flora preserve the slightly acidic mantle that keeps the barrier function of the horny outer layer intact. Overlapping dead skin cells form a scaly, water-resistant seal against dehydration. As skin ages, however, natural oil production drops and the skin surface becomes drier and less moisture-retentive. Surface scales roughen and gaps appear in the barrier, through which moisture can escape. As cell turnover also slows with ageing, it takes longer for replacement cells to reach the surface and repair breaches. A mal- functioning surface barrier leaves cells in the skin's lower layers vulnerable to damage. So, creams that help to reinforce the stratum corneum seem like the obvious answer. For, if the horny layer is doing its job, the deeper skin layers - where ageing begins - are more able to look after themselves.

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How to Protect Your Skin from Sunlight?

Skin colour depends on a natural brownish pigment called melanin. Melanin is produced by cells called melanocytes, situated at intervals between cells in the dermis. All skins rom Scandanavian pale to Ethiopian mahogany, contain the same quota of melanocytes, but the melanocyte cells of some skins are more efficient producers of melanin than others.

The function of melanin is to act as a natural sunscreen that absorbs and filters ultraviolet rays so they cannot reach and damage the dermis. Sunlight stimulates the melanocytes to produce melanin to stave off UV radiation. Consequently, people who originate from nearest the equator have the most efficient melanocytes, while those of Northern European origin have the most inefficient, and are therefore at greatest risk from sun damage. Freckles indicate unevenly distributed melanin and poor protection against ultraviolet damage.

Is It Worth Getting a tan?
Whereas moderate sunlight enables the skin to synthesize vitamin D, excessive sun is the single greatest threat to skin health. Dermatologists estimate that 80 per cent of lines, wrinkles, sagging and coarsening are directly caused by ultra- violet light. Countless comparisons between the weatherbeaten faces of octogenarians and their smoother, seldom exposed body zones show how a lifetime under the sun leaves its mark. Sunlight ages the skin and creates a potential cancer risk. it used to be thought that only the "burning" ultraviolet-B rays posed a threat. Now it is known that whereas 95 per cent of these short-wave rays are absorbed by the epidermis, 80 per cent of so-called "tanning' ultraviolet-A rays penetrate down to the dermis. Here, they undermine the skin's structure by distorting DNA and RNA at the cell's nucleus and distorting collagen and elastin arrangements. This damage is both cumulative and largely irreversible. Distorted cells reproduce inefficient mutations, resulting in an increase in the number of lines and wrinkles, a decrease in firmness and elasticity and an epidermis that no longer retains moisture as it should.

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How to Fair and Lovely Ideal

New Delhi, India (Womensenews)--Two attractive young women are sitting in a bedroom having an intimate conversation. The lighter-skinned woman has a boyfriend and, consequently, is happy. The darker-skinned woman, lacking a boyfriend, is not. Her friend's advice? Use a bar of soap to wash away the dark skin that's keeping men from flocking.

Hindustan Lever Limited, one of India's largest manufacturing and marketing conglomerates, discontinued two of its television advertisements for Fair and Lovely Fairness Cold Cream this month, after a year-long campaign led by the All India Democratic Women's Association. Increasing public criticism may be initiating a change in cultural attitudes towards skin whitening in India, a country where the fairness industry accounts for 60 percent of skincare sales, bringing in $140 million a year. The company is the Indian subsidiary of Unilever PLC, based in London.

In a memo to India's National Human Rights Commission, Brinda Karat, general secretary of the women's association, calls one of the ads "discriminatory on the basis of the color of skin," and "an affront to a woman's dignity," because it shows fairer women having greater job success based on their sexuality.

Fair and Lovely, one of Hindustan Lever's "power brands," is marketed in over 38 countries. Its frequently-aired ads typically show a depressed woman with few prospects gaining a brighter future by attaining a boyfriend or job after becoming markedly fairer (emphasized by several silhouettes of her face lined up dark to light). On its Web site the company calls its product, "the miracle worker," which is "proven to deliver one to three shades of change."
The ad targeted by the women's association shows a woman, whose father had lamented not having a son to support the family, landing a well-paying job as an airline attendant after using the product.

Hindustan Lever failed to respond to All India Democratic Women's Association's complaints, first sent in March and April 2002. The women's association then appealed to the Human Rights Commission, which passed its complaints on to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The government recently issued notices of the complaints to the company. Karat credits this intervention, rather than any "sudden awakening to the feelings that women have when they see those ads," with triggering the company's about-face. "We're not for heavy-duty censorship," she said, but "when the companies don't respond we have no alternative."

Fairness as an Asset
If there is evidence that public opinion has changed, it is not to be found in the Indian matrimonial ads, with their "grooms" and "brides wanted" sections that families use to arrange suitable alliances. These ads, hundreds of which appear in India's daily newspapers, reflect the country's remarkable diversity in their attempts to solicit individuals with the appropriate religion, caste, regional ancestry, professional and educational qualifications, and frequently, skin color.

Even in the growing numbers of ads that announce "caste no bar," the adjective "fair" still regularly precedes professional qualifications. A typical example shows that having a medical or graduate business degree is only part of the package: "Wanted really b'ful fair medico for h'some smart Doctor."

"Fair skin is considered an asset in India," said Rachna Gupta, a 38-year-old part-time interior designer. That's why, once a month, she goes to a busy south Delhi salon to have Jolen Creme Bleach ("lightens excess dark hair" the box says) slathered over her face as a fairness treatment. "It's not good for the skin," Gupta said, "but I still get it done because I am on the darker side and it makes me feel nice. Aesthetically, it looks nice."

However, the number of Indians who share Gupta's opinion that lighter skin is more beautiful may be shrinking. Sumit Isralni, a 22-year-old hair designer in his father's salon, thinks things have changed in the last two years, at least in India's most cosmopolitan cities, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Women now "prefer their own complexion, their natural way," he said.
Isralni says he prefers a more "Indian beauty" himself. "I won't find my wife to be fair, I won't judge her on that," he said.

Sunita Gupta, a beautician in the salon where Rachna Gupta gets her treatments, is more critical. "It's just foolishness!" she exclaimed. The premise of the ads that women could not become airline attendants if they are dark-skinned was wrong, she said. "Nowadays people like black beauty."

She goes on to cite dusky Indian female film actors Kajol Devgan and Rani Mukherjee as examples of her conviction, "If you are dark, then dark is the best."

Health Concerns Over Lightening Grow
The awareness that whitening products can damage the skin is growing. To respond to health concerns, "Fair and Lovely" has come out with an "ayurvedic" formula, a term referring to a well-known system of Indian herbal medicine. And at an upscale salon in Delhi, at a chain also owned by Hindustan Lever, Puja Sharma stresses to potential customers that her lightening facials are all-natural, using milk and fresh fruits like tomato and papaya. However, at four to six times the price of Rachna Gupta's monthly bleaching, this option finds fewer takers.
Even Gupta, a steadfast bleacher for over 15 years, admits the danger. "Two years back it was quite popular," she said. "But now I think they're focusing on less bleaching. It could harm the skin if it's strong."

So she checks the concentration of ammonia and continues her routine. "You have a small tingling kind of a feeling," she said. "It doesn't hurt too much."

Battling for Public Opinion
Betting that the fairness craze in India will continue, American and European companies are fighting for their market share. Popular western brands Avon, L'Oreal, Lancome, Yves Saint-Laurent, Clinique, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, and Revlon, offer whitening products. In addition, cheap knockoffs like "Cure and Lovely" are making the rounds.

Meanwhile, the Delhi-based Center for Advocacy and Research, which monitors media and conducts surveys on public opinion, has accused the industry in general of "unfair trade practices" and "using a social stigma to sell their products."

On March 11, Hindustan Lever, shortly after pulling its ads off the air, launched its "Fair and Lovely Foundation," vowing to "encourage economic empowerment of women across India" by providing resources in education and business. Sangeeta Pendurkar, the company's skincare marketing manager, announced that the company believed millions of women "who, though immensely talented and capable, need a guiding hand to help them take the leap forward." Presumably into a fairer future.

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How to White your Skin

Have you ever wondered why early childhood photos of many top celebrities show a much darker skin color then they have now? Have you also longed for a much whiter complexion? Then you should go for skin whitening treatments. Mainly the skin whitening ingredients works in two ways to give you a whiter skin: 1. By absorbing the UV rays, thus preventing the sun from darkening your skin. 2. By reducing the production of melanin, the skin pigment found in your skin which is responsible for skin darkening.

Most skin whiteners currently on the market contain ingredients (hydroquinone, ascorbic acid, kojic acid, arbutin, azealic acid, glycyrrhetinic acid (licorice extract)) that act as direct inhibitors of tyrosinase, the enzyme in the skin pigment cells (melanocytes) that make melanin.

Arbutin is a new type of skin de-pigmentation and whitening agents, an extract of Bearberry plant which produced by a solid /liquid extraction, an environmentally friendly process. Arbutin protect the skin against damage caused by free radicals, Arbutin is a skin whitening agent which is very popular in Japan and Asian countries for skin de-pigmentation, Arbutin inhibits the formation of melanin pigment by inhibiting Tyrosinase activity. It may be used to repress the virulence of bacterial pathogens and to prevent contaminating bacteria, it is also used for treating allergic inflammation of the skin . More recently, Arbutin has been used to prevent pigmentation and to whiten the skin beautifully. It can be used to whiten the skin, to prevent liver spots and freckles, to treat sunburn marks and to regulate melanogenesis.

Arbutin is very safe skin agent for external use which does not have toxicity, stimulation, unpleasant odor or side effect such as Hydroqinone.The encapsulation of Arbutin constitute a delivery system to potentialize the effect in time. It is a way to incorporate the hydrophilic Arbutin in lipophilic media. Arbutin give three main properties; Whitening effects, anti- age effect and UVB/ UVC filter .

There is an increasing awareness that vitamin C has a wide variety of role in human health. New therapeutic uses are being investigated daily, among recent discoveries is that Vitamin C can play important role in the health and beauty of your skin. Vitamin C as ascorbyl form has been tested extensively and reported in journal of American Academy of Dermatology to inhibit the production of the melanin (Melanin is the pigment which give the skin it's dark color), when Vitamin C inhibit the production of the melanin, a lighter and brighter skin will reveal in just few weeks.

Vitamin C does more than that also, vitamin C is required for collagen synthesis, which declines markedly in aging skin. As we grow older, we suffer diminished micro capillary circulation within our skin, which deprives our skin cells of the supply of vitamin C it needs for youthful collagen synthesis. The topical application of vitamin C in a skin-penetrating medium can dramatically enhance the availability of vitamin C for collagen production.

Vitamin C regenerates vitamin E in the skin. An antioxidant like vitamin E can only suppress a limited number of free radicals before it runs out of electrons to donate. Vitamin C regenerates vitamin E and enables vitamin E to provide sustained antioxidant protection in the skin's elastin fibers.

Vitamin C plays a vital role in skin repair. When your skin is injured, its Vitamin C content is used up rapidly in the scavenging of free radicals, and in synthesizing collagen to speed healing.
Glycyrrhetinic acid, isolated from Glycyrrihiza glabra (licorice) is widely used in cosmetic industry. Licorice inhibit tyrosinase activity of melanocytes without any cytotoxicity, it also showed that UV-B–induced pigmentation and erythema can be inhibited by topical application of 0.5% Licorice The anti-inflammatory properties of Licorice were attributed to inhibition of superoxide anion production and cyclooxygenase activity.

As a fungal metabolic product, kojic acid inhibits the catecholase activity of tyrosinase, which is the rate-limiting, essential enzyme in the biosynthesis of the skin pigment melanin. Kojic acid also is consumed widely in the Japanese diet with the belief that it is of benefit to health. Indeed, it has been shown to significantly enhance neutrophil phagocytosis and lymphocyte proliferation stimulated by phytohemagglutinin. Melanocytes treated with kojic acid become nondendritic with a decreased melanin content. Additionally, it scavenges reactive oxygen species that are excessively released from cells or generated in tissue or blood.

This tyrosinase inhibitor was isolated from a plant herbal extract. The plant roots from which paper mulberry was isolated were collected in Korea. The tyrosinase inhibition of paper mulberry was compared to kojic acid and HQ. The IC50, the concentration causing 50% inhibition of the activity of tyrosinase, was reported to be 0.396% compared to 5.5% for hydroquinone and 10.0% for kojic acid.

Melanostat is a peptide obtained by amino acid synthesis with a technique of Merryfield. It demonstrates an outstanding anti MSH activity experimentally investigated for skin lightening. The target of Melanostat the membrane receptor of alpha-MSH on the melanocytes, the B- MICR receptor, and its mode of action is a competitive inhibition of alpha-MSH, membrane receptors are blocked in a natural way. The anti-MSH is a molecule naturally present in the skin. It belongs to the system of regulation of the pigmentation. Melanostat counterbalances the formation of melanin and especially the synthesis of tyrosinase, key enzyme involved in the process of pigmentation. In the skin, alpha-MSH plays an essential role in the stimulation of the synthesis of melanin. This process is under the control of an anti—MSH, also naturally present in the skin.

Recently, researches performed on alpha- MSH enabled a detailed study of the structure and function of this molecule, so as the exact determination of its receptor. This receptor is B receptor, its scientific determination is MICR receptor. The study of these molecules enabled researchers to synthesize peptides with a similar (MSH-like), or antagonist (anti-MSH) activity.

The structure of Melanostat antagonist peptide of the alpha-MSH, is relatively similar to the structure of alpa-MSH. Because of this similarity, Melanostat acts while competing the receptors of alpha-MSH on the melanocytes. The action of Melanostat occurs before the action of the well-known inhibitors. Which acts on the intracellular enzyme system? Melanostat does not penetrate the cell because its competitive activity initiates on membrane receptors. Its action enables a natural and reversible blockage of the membrane receptors, without disturbing the physiological functioning of the cutaneous cells. Thus, Melanostat counteracts the formation of melanin and notably the synthesis of tyrosinase, key enzyme of the pigmentation process of the skin. The anti-MSH molecule naturally exists in the organism, and is involved in a system that regulates melanogenesis. It is activated in season changes. When sunshine is high, the amount of alpha MSH exceeds the amount of anti-MSH. The receptors for alpha-MSH multiply at the surface of the cells. The results are an increase of the synthesis of the melanin and the rise of the pigmentation of the skin. When the sunshine is low, anti-MSH exceed alpha-MSH. The receptors at the surface of the melanocytes decrease. The synthesis of melanin is not stimulated anymore, pigmentation of the skin decreases. Thus, alpha-MSH and anti-MSH play the role of accelerator or brake for the synthesis of melanin. Depending on the predominance of anti-MSH or alpha-MSH, the color of the skin evolves in a away or another.

The incorporation of Melanostat in skin lightening creams will place the skin in a physiological dominant anti-MSH situation. Its action is based on the reinforcement of the natural ability of the skin to counteract the activity of alpha-MSH. Melanostat has been investigated in vivo against alpha MSH: the darkening of the skin induced by alpha-MSH is assessed and expressed in percentage of change by comparison with the normal situation.

Retinol is the most important natural form of vitamin A. Vitamin A is the first vitamin to be used topically for the treatment of damaged human skin. Today, the term vitamin A is applied to retinol (Vitamin A alcohol), retinal (Vitamin A aldehyde) and tretinoin (Vitamin A acid). Vitamin A stimulates mitotic activity and the production of collagen - the stuff skin is made of. It is now known that the clinical effect obtained with high doses of vitamin A is necessary for normal differentiate and maintenance of epithelial tissues. Especially, retinol is held out as the new great hope for reduction of photo aging skin. Retinol or Vitamin A helps to renew and exfoliate the skin, giving a new lighter, beautiful skin.

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