Tips and helpful information if you wear foundation

What foundation do you recommend to your clients? Which brand?

I am frequently asked that question. There are so many different products and colors of foundation and so many different colors and types of skin. Even if there was a brand I thought was good, it wouldn’t work for everyone. That is one reason why I don’t recommend any company’s foundation. But it’s mainly because I don’t want to promote something I don’t think is a good thing for the health of the skin in the first place. I understand some women want to or have to wear foundation, but I do not have one product to recommend.

If you have to wear foundation, try a water-based product vs. an oil-based foundation. The oil-based product will stick inside the pores more than a water-based type. Many times when I have a client who comes in for a facial with an oilier foundation on her face, it will take me more than the normal two cleansings to get it all off. Sometimes I see small bits of foundation sitting in the pores after cleansing and even exfoliating during the course of a facial, which indicates she is probably not getting her skin clean at home. I always let my client know if she isn’t doing enough to get her skin clean—namely getting all the makeup off.

Cleaning at least twice at night is in order if you wear makeup. The first cleanse is to get the makeup off; the second cleanse is to get your skin clean. Without doing at least two cleansings, you are increasing your chances of getting clogged pores—at the very least.

When a foundation has a label that says it doesn’t clog pores, does that mean it doesn’t clog even if you wear it all day long, or is there a time limit?

There is no time limit for how long a foundation can stay on your skin without clogging your pores. Just know that whether you are wearing an oil-free coverup product or not, if it is sitting on your face all day long, it is contributing to clogging on some level. Be sure to get it all off every day. Also try to do The Extras (exfoliating and using a clay mask) once to several times a week to ensure your pores are getting sufficiently and regularly cleaned out.

Can I use my spray toner over my foundation during the day?

It would be more beneficial to spray your toner on before applying foundation or powder. If you spray afterwards you may set the makeup further into your pores. Why? The moisture from the toner will bind with the makeup and then set or harden onto your skin. Spraying toner throughout the day if you aren’t wearing foundation or powder would be a great thing. You’ll get the benefits of the toner whenever you spray.

For more information, see:

• Mineral Makeup: a better alternative to foundation
• The Basics 1-2-3 Program for proper skin care
• MYTH: Foundation is good for your skin

Yonka’s CREME 28—hydrating cream for dehydrated skin

From Yonka headquarters:
Creme 28 Protective and Hydrating Cream shields against environmental aggressors and effectively alleviates dehydration. Aromatic essences, humectants, and emollients work together to rebalance dehydrated skin. 

By stimulating the skin’s ability to repair, the epidermis feels smooth and velvety. This cream seals in essential moisture and provides lasting softness. Creme 28 infuses the skin with protective “hydralock” phyto sources to guard against harsh weather—wind and cold. It reduces lines and fatigue traces resulting from dehydration. The complexion is vibrant clear and smooth to the touch.

Quench your complexion with this vitamin-charged hydrating cream moisturizer that protects and hydrates the skin with age-prevention effects. Its non-oily formula softens rough spots and lines caused by skin dehydration, making it the perfect anti-aging ally for dehydrated skin. Its use is also recommended after sun exposure, after dehydrating acne treatments, and to repair skin that is irritated by extreme dehydration.
 
This vitamin-rich hydrating day cream is a precious ally for all skin suffering from dehydration. A restorative day moisturizer that battles the after-effects of harsh weather.

Although Creme 28 is marked for “dehydrated skin”—dry and oily alike—I usually only recommend this hydrating cream to those with normal to true-dry (oil-dry) skin.

People with oily skin who are also dehydrated, I recommend using Gommage and then a moisturizer for normal to oily or oily skin. Creme 28 is wonderful, but truly for drier skin types, not just for anyone with dehydration. If you use this cream and notice your skin is breaking out or seems congested (with clogged pores) when it wasn’t before, you probably produce enough oil and therefore don't need Creme 28.

Please read through some of my blog posts (a few are listed below) to better understand the difference between “dry” (true-dry) skin and dehydration. The difference between the two is crucial to understanding how to best take care of your skin, no matter its “type.”

With all of that said, Creme 28 can and will take away the “taught” feeling of dry and/or dehydrated skin.

Essential ingredients:

• PCA, plant glycerin—hydrating
• Vitamin F—anti-dehydrating
• Olive oil, lecithin—nourishing, protecting
• Allantoin—soothing
• Vitamin A—regenerating
• Vitamin E—antioxidant
• Yonka “Quintessence” (essential oils of thyme, lavender, cypress, geranium, and rosemary)

Directions for use:

In the morning and/or evening:

• After cleansing and spraying on Yonka Lotion toner
• Apply a pea-sized dollop of CREME 28 over face and neck
• Then use eye cream

For more information, see:

• Is Your Skin Truly Dry or Just Thirsty?
• Dehydrated Skin explained

The Importance of Drinking Water—your life depends on it!

Water is essential to all life. But do you know why? I am including an article I found a long time ago on the importance of water. I was unable to locate the author, Bob Hoffman, who deserves every bit of credit for this well explained and easy to understand information.

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All Life Depends Upon Water
by Bob Hoffman

All life depends on water. Breathing, digestion, elimination, glandular activities, heat dissipation, and secretion can be performed only in the presence of water solutions.
 

The role of water in metabolism, in assimilation, in regulating body temperatures, and in nourishing the tissues explains why we cannot survive very long without adequate amounts of water.
 

While the average person (128 pounds for women, 154 pounds for men) in the temperate zone may “get along” on six pints of water daily if he or she is only moderately active, two to four times as much are needed during periods of vigorous exercise or work, particularly in hot or humid weather. When I had my biggest day as an athlete, competing in 13 races in one day, finishing not worse than third in any one of them, I weighed 167 to start, 154 at the end of the day. By coincidence, I averaged a loss of a pound a race.
 

Almost without exception, a domestic animal, horse, cow, pig, dog or cat, will upon arising take a drink of water if it is available. The custom of early morning drinking of water should be universally followed.
 

Most people do not drink enough water. When taken by the glassful, a fair measure is consumed, but when drinking fountains are present, a drink is usually a small mouthful.
 

With every meal, about a pint of saliva, which is over 99 percent pure water, is secreted by the salivary glands of the mouth and swallowed to make possible the digesting of food.
 

Approximately 96 percent of one’s perspiration is water, so when I lose an average of four pounds in an hour of weight training and running, I have lost mostly water, but the other four percent represents a loss of calories and fat also.
 

The quantity of water excreted by the kidneys is almost in direct proportion to the amount of water taken into the body. The quantity eliminated by the kidneys varies from three pints to one gallon daily, although in certain forms of physical irregularity, notably diabetes, as much as three gallons of water is eliminated in 24 hours.
 

Increased elimination by the kidneys will lower blood pressure. R. Lincoln Graham, M.D. who spent his life practicing hydrotherapy instead of drug therapy, stated that “...thus it is a very splendid rule in all conditions of excessive blood pressure, to drink on an empty stomach, large quantities of water, which will result in excessive stimulation of the kidneys, long after the water is eliminated. In this respect water is a remedy without a rival.” When a doctor finds that the diastolic blood pressure is very high, he looks for kidney trouble.
 

More water in the system is a great help to elimination. When there is too little water in the system, it is taken first for necessary processes and there is not enough to materially aid elimination. The stool is hard and dry, and defective drainage, which many authorities call “the disease of disease” is the unfavorable result.
 

It is so much better to have too much water in the body than not enough. The kidneys will eliminate any surplus with surprising speed, but nothing but harm to the efficiency of the body will accrue when there is not enough water.

You will notice that we say drink more water. Not more sugar laden soft drinks or more coffee. Most soft drinks are strictly a chemical product. When the sugar is not used in their manufacture, only a synthetic sweetener, the manufacturers of such products advertise that the drink contains less than one calorie. This indicates that it indeed has no food value. Good water is the best answer.
 

The Department of Agriculture book on water states, “How far most of us have strayed from the old family spring. Generations of men and women have grown up without experiencing the joy of satisfying their thirst from cool, sparkling spring water.”
 
You will be wise to drink more water, much more water. Too much water is not harmful, as the kidneys remove the surplus, but too little water can indeed be harmful to the body, which of course is YOU. 

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For more information, see:

• Tips to help you Drink More Water!
• Constipation anyone?
• WATER! How Eight Glasses A Day Keeps Fat Away