Puffy Eyes? Turn a negative into a positive!

Who among us likes waking up to puffy eyes? I don’t, and I’m sure you don’t either! The puffiness I experience isn’t severe nor does it happen all the time, but on a morning when I wake up and see the puff there—I tweeze my eyebrows! It’s the best time to do this. Why? Because the skin is—well—puffed out, which makes grabbing those stray hairs much easier. And if you are one of those women who tend to over-tweeze, removing the hair on a morning when you have some edema (puffiness) is a good solution to end incessant tweezing.

 

You always want to treat the area you just tweezed. For those of you who are Yonka-Paris skin care product users, Juvenile is a great product to apply where you’ve been tweezing. It takes away the redness and soothes the skin, and it has antibacterial capabilities as well. If you don’t own Juvenile, use your toner (hopefully you have Yonka’s). Just apply some of the liquid where you’ve tweezed. If you don’t have either of the above, take a small piece of cotton or tissue and saturate it in cold water, then apply to the area. I wouldn’t use ice—it’s too intense for that delicate skin. But using something to calm the post-tweezed skin is a step not to skip.

Try this technique and see if you have an easier time with your tweezing rituals.

For more information, see: 

• Will my puffy eyes ever go away? Help! 
• Eyebrows: Should you wax or tweeze?
• Ice & Skin?—Don’t do it!
• Yonka’s JUVENIL—purifying concentrate and spot treatment 

Blackheads or Enlarged Pores?

I am loving the Yonka products, and I’m really happy with my choices from you. I have been doing the clay mask at least once a week—sometimes twice—and taking really good care with washing, toning, and moisturizing every morning and evening. Overall my skin is doing really well but I still feel like my pores are visible. I don’t know if they would be considered blackheads or just enlarged pores, and I’m wondering if there is any other product you would recommend to work with this or if this is just the way my skin is? 

Once pores are enlarged, they remain enlarged. The good thing is by keeping your skin clean (and super clean through using a clay mask), your pores are less likely to become congested; congestion can and usually does lead to enlarged pores. Because pores don’t shrink (a myth for sure), you may just be looking at slight enlargement of your pores vs. actual blackheads. If you look really closely, you should be able to discern between dirt and debris in your pores, which looking like dark dots or blackheads, and clean pores that seem enlarged (bigger than the surrounding pores).

I seriously doubt you have much enlargement—it really is not that common, although many people think they have “big pores.” Based on your wonderful program (you are an “A+” client!), it is also doubtful you have much debris in your pores. The clay mask you’re using (good for you) will get your pores cleaned out whenever you use it.

During your next facial I’ll talk with you about what I see. In the meantime, it sounds like your skin is doing well and that any enlargement you do see is nothing to be overly concerned about. Easy for me to say, I know!

For more information, see: 

• Enlarged Pores: Can they shrink?
• WHAT causes Enlarged Pores? Plus Q & A
• Blackheads & Whiteheads explained

Old skin/Young skin

Today I met a lady who asked me if I sold creams for old skin and young skin. I explained to her that although the simple answer might be “yes,” how I classify skin is first and foremost by the oil content, not age. Without knowing how much oil your sebaceous (oil) glands are producing (or not producing), you could wind up with a skin care disaster.

If you have oily skin and are 50 or 60 years old (yes, this is possible!) and you are using creams for “anti-aging” and/or mature skin, you might create an oil slick, or at the very least blackheads and possibly whiteheads. And you conceivably could be 25 and have true-dry skin in which case you would want a product that puts oil on your skin, even at that young age.

To help you understand your own personal skin type, see:

• Determining Skin Type 

To get a better understanding of my opinion of this (mature) skin “type” and also the aging process, see:

• Mature Skin explained
• Ageless Beauty—Part I
• Radiance—what makes a woman radiant

Taking care of your skin when you’re sick

I remember when I got it—the “crud” as some call it: chest and sinus congestion with laryngitis. Oh happy day! Not your normal cold, this lasted well over 10 days; ten days I couldn’t go in to work. I was simply too sick to do much more than lie around, drink fluids, and take medications (both allopathic, mainstream meds and “non-traditional” herbal supplements).

Being down for the count also meant I wasn’t washing my face morning and night and obviously not doing an at-home facial or even simply exfoliating. How did my skin look? In need! Adding to this, I had gone on a camping trip (where I caught the bug) the weekend before I got sick, so I wasn’t able to take great care of my skin in that situation either. What this all amounts to is my skin needed some emergency care.

Don’t despair. Whenever you are temporarily unable to take care of your skin—for whatever reason—you can do a few things on the back end to help your skin look its best going forward.

• Drink a lot of water. It helps clear your skin and keep your organs moving toxins along. Even if you aren’t sick but just aren’t—or haven’t been—taking care of your skin, drinking more water will benefit your whole body, including your deprived skin.

• Get back into your twice daily cleansing routine as soon as possible. Without giving your skin a general cleanse morning and night, you are asking for trouble eventually. When your circumstances change (you’re feeling better after an illness, for instance), be sure get back into your skin care routine, which also includes using a toner and hydrating with a cream(s). 

• Give yourself an at-home facial. This involves exfoliating and using a (clay-based) mask. The addition of the mask after exfoliation will help to revive your skin and put moisture back on the surface. 

• Exfoliate 3 days in a row. My exfoliator of choice: Yonka’s Gommage. Although exfoliating just one time (one day) is fine, if your skin is in need and especially if it’s breaking out, exfoliating for consecutive days will help to snap it back into shape. Exfoliation improves circulation, gets rid of dead skin and excess oil, and improves texture—immediately. 

• Get a professional facial. For some, this may not be possible, but if you can, do. During a facial your aesthetician will be able to assess your specific needs and give your depleted skin everything it needs. Please don’t go in for a facial while you’re sick. Doing this puts the professional in a position to get your illness, and if you’re sick—you should be home in bed!
  

Getting your skin back in shape after a temporary absence from regular care isn’t so hard to do. It just takes a few steps; some every day (like drinking water and restarting your skin care routine), some weekly (like exfoliating and doing a clay mask). With this extra attention after an absence of care, your skin will be glowing again in no time!

UPDATE: 

Being sick and unable to clean your face is a perfect application for a wonderful Yonka product that came out in 2015. Read this article to get more information: New WATERLESS Cleanser from Yonka: EAU MICELLAIRE.

For more information, see:

• Help for a winter (or any time) cold
• At-Home Facials—A DIY How-To
• All About Exfoliation

Follow your intuition—that little voice in your head

How many times have you heard the “little voice” in your head, only to disregard it and perhaps regret that decision later on? I can say for sure this computer glitch definitely has me wishing I had listened.

A while back, my mom sent me this great little backup device for my PC that was totally easy to set up—even I could do it. I moved it from my kitchen to my office to right next to my computer in order to trigger my memory to use it. Still, I didn’t. Now my PC [was] at the shop, and hopefully the technicians will be able to retrieve all on my hard drive, all I haven’t yet backed up. [All was retrieved and rescued in the end.]

My point is: Listen to that voice. It usually if not always knows the right path to take. And if you hear a warning over and over: heed it! It might be that all-knowing part of yourself trying to alert you to something that may be blocking your path up ahead.

I wish I had listened, but lesson learned—again!

Also see:

• Life in Transition: Take this moment for You
• Accepting what is—or else
• The Webs We Weave