It’s been said that by age 20 you have the skin you inherited,  by age 40 you have the skin you deserve and by age 60 you have the skin you’ve earned. Whether you need to maintain your skin, preserve your skin or repair your skin, it’s never too early or too late to talk to your skin care therapist about designing a skin care regimen that’s just right for you.

In order to keep your beautiful  black skin radiant there are at least 8 known enemies that you would want to be conscious of:

Smoking -If you notice the skin of smokers they have a puckering of skin around their mouth and fine squinty lines around their eyes. It will also cause discoloration to your lips.  Smoking constricts your blood vessels,  it restricts the oxygen to your skin and it gives a cool grey color to your complexion.   It actually eats up the vitamin C which is necessary for collagen formation in your skin.

Pollution – It’s been said that the solution to pollution is to avoid it whenever possible .  If you live in cities that have heavy smog or you exercise outdoors you’re opening your skin up to a polluted environment. Pollution affects your skin in the same way as smoking.  Pollutants are even found in your food, so wash your fruits and vegetables to remove them.

Dry air – If you work in the typical climate controlled office, 9/10 times you’re experiencing dry air in the environment.   Your skin starts to feel as though it’s  thirsty, so a good way to combat this particular challenge would be to keep a spray container with rosewater(a drop of essential oil into water, shake well to blend) handy so that you can mist your face.    When you know you’ll be flying, Rosewater in a spray mist bottle  would be good for misting your face to keep hydrated.

Weight loss or weight gain- Although your skin has great elasticity it’s not a rubber band, so if you stretch anything too many times it will eventually loose its  firmness.   Yo-yo dieting can have the same affect on your skin.

Exfoliation and over zealous cleansing- Wash cloths and facials scrubs are designed to exfoliate your skin while cleansing. But if you scrub your skin in the same way you scrub soap scum from your shower, you’re going to irritate it and create conditions like uneven skin tones,  bruises and possible swelling. Exfoliate, Yes, but with products that are designed to give your skin a gentle exfoliation treatment while you use a”soft” touch.

Alcohol – No matter how good it  makes you feel temporarily,  alcohol is not a good choice when you’re taking care of your beautiful black skin.  Alcohol dehydrates you from the inside out, it taxes your liver and it eats up all of your vitamin B.

Constipation – Whatever  you take in should exit with regularity. Toxins can build up within your body if you’re not eliminating regularly but they must find a way to escape.  All too often the path of choice is your skin. So when you see blackheads, pimples or dark patches, this could be a sign of toxins backing up in your body. So drink plenty of water and eat lots of fruits and vegetables that have lots of fiber to keep your system running smoothly.    This will allow your skin to look smooth and radiant also.

Sunlight– Excessive exposure to the sun can lead to dry, wrinkled, blotchy, leathery looking skin(Yes some African Americans can look like rubber chickens). For some of you it will even give your skin the appearance of looking as though it’s been burned.  You need your daily dose of Vitamin D but the sun is at it’s hottest points between 10:30 AM and 4:30 PM.  If you can get your sun bath in before or after this time line it would be great but if you can’t, wear a sunscreen with an SPF 15 … SPF 30 would be even better.

While enemies will always be in your environment, when you know how to handle them, your skin will benefit from your care.

Dedicated To Your Beauty!

Juliette Samuel

Esthetician/Publisher

NYRAJU Skin Care

http://www.nyrajuskincare.com