Ask SOPHYTO’s Bioesthetician No.7: Menopause – General wellness tips

In the final post of the menopause series, SOPHYTO’s Bioesthetician Ishtar Magally shares some tips for optimising your skin’s health by maintaining general wellness during this time of hormonal imbalance.

Actions you can take to harmonise your raging hormones

Every single aspect of our lifestyle can affect our endocrine (hormone) system. The body functions as a whole and any disease/imbalance should be approached from an integrative point of view. Menopause is no exception. You can take the following measures to prevent/correct menopausal skin symptoms from the inside out:

Drink plenty of water (at least 8 glasses per day): in order to avoid Transepidermal Water Loss.

Eat your water: there is nothing better to keep your skin well hydrated than the water present in fresh fruits and vegetables.

Cut down on your alcohol and caffeine intake: they can both cause dehydration. For every glass of wine/cup of caffeinated beverages you have, drink an extra glass of water to avoid possible dehydration.

Exercise regularly: try to engage in some physical activity for at least 30 minutes 3-4 times per week. Exercise stimulates circulation and oxygenates our cells.

Quit smoking: women who smoke experience menopause significantly earlier than non-smokers.

Avoid xenoestrogens at all costs: they wreak havoc on your hormone levels.

Secure an adequate sodium intake (500 mg per day or less if suffering from hypertension) to maintain the right balance of fluids in your body: try to get your sodium from natural sources such as vegetables, algae/seaweed, dairy, poultry, etc. If using salt, Himalayan salt and Sea salt are the best options.

Eat organically: the hormones used in conventionally farmed animals can mess up with your endocrine system.

Get your estrogens from food sources: phytoestrogens are virtually present in everything we eat (fruits, vegetables, roots, grains, beans, nuts, seeds, seed oils).

Yummy yams: if you need to increase your progesterone levels, yams are the answer. Yams are a rich source of natural progesterone.

Make sure you get sufficient zinc from your diet (avocado, berries, banana, eggs, beans, fish, nuts sweet potatoes, spinach, etc.). Zinc is another nutrient which controls progesterone production.

Limit foods that contain high androgen and phytoandrogen levels like liver, beef, garlic, onions, oats, parsnips, corn, wheat germ, and pine nuts.

Get to bed by 10pm to keep your bio-rhythms in check.

Never self-prescribe: keep in mind that every single hormone replacement therapy, whether it is synthetic hormones, bioidentical hormones, homeopathy, herbal extracts, supplements, etc., should be prescribed by an expert in the field based on your very unique hormonal needs.

Practice meditation/relaxation techniques: stress can stimulate androgen production

The simple message is, don’t just sit and wait for your body to find it’s own equilibrium. In this day and age, it needs some help so take some action! Your skin needn’t have to deal with the ravages of menopause. By incorporating specific measures which support your physical, emotional and even spiritual health during menopause you will be providing your skin with everything it needs to continue glowing and functioning at its peak for the rest of your life.

Next time, Ishtar will be guiding us through the minefield of choosing SPF, so be sure to check back soon for that. In the meantime, if you have any questions for our lovely bioesthetican, feel free to drop her a line. Don’t be shy now, she really is very knowledgeable

Why Use Oil on Oily Skin?

A good question for anyone with combination or oily skin who has been afraid to touch oil based skin care products. For a start, natural plant-based oils are packed with vitamins and nutrients that our skin can use to protect, rebuild and nourish itself. For example Almond oil is high in Vitamin E and D, magnesium and calcium as well as oleic and linoleic essential fatty acids which vital for cell renewal.

Oils also promote the skin’s own rhythms and stimulate it’s natural activity. Something like Dr. Hauschka’s Normalising Day Oil, which has been specifically created for oily and acne skin conditions, is, as its name suggests, an oil for oily skin. Its formulation is non-greasy and light so those with oily skin will not feel as if they’re just clogging their pores. In fact it helps to regulate and normalise the skin’s own oil production and purify open pores.

If it’s a little scary to jump straight into a face oil you could start out using an oil on other, less oily parts of your body. Somewhat of an addiction lately, is my use of a rose hip based Aromatic Body Oil by Trilogy. Each time I pass the tester bottle in the So Organic shop I have to take a squirt and rub it into my hands, forearms and elbows (or as high up as I can reach!). I’m a converted body oil devotee and actually find it odd applying a cream based lotion to my skin. A good body oil absorbs well without leaving your skin feeling greasy or oily, oddly enough.

I’m glad now I dared to try the oil way. My skin looks smoother, more even and healthier for it, and it feels divine to rub in - no more sticky skin!

Post from: So Organic Blog

Prickly Heat Rash Prevention

Prickly heat is very common in the hotter times of the year. When it does occur, the natural instinct is to buy some type off-the counter readily available lotion or powder that is readily available at your local market and put it on the skin. This does help provide some measure of relief but is often only temporary and does little to stop the rash. You should remember that each of us has a unique kind of skin. Each one of us is allergic to different allergens at different degrees of severity and each of us will react differently. Hence, the patent lotions may not work for everyone and may actually worsen the rash.

You can prevent and stop prickly heat rash when you read more about how you can stop excessive sweating forever.

It makes sense that it is easier to prevent prickly heat rash than to cure it. If a person takes care of their personal hygiene by bathing regularly and removing excess sweat from their body, then heat rash can be prevented. Also, you should take the proper precaution to avoid triggers of excessive sweating:

Avoid tropical and tropical climates as much as possible
Do not over exert yourself during the hotter parts of the day as this causes you to produce more sweat
When sweat does occur, bathe or shower as soon as possible. If a shower or bath is not readily available, use a clean towel soaked in potable water to wipe away sweat and sweat residue
Try to use air-conditioning when possible. Where air conditioning is not available, be sure to keep rooms well-ventilated with fans.
Wear loose fitting, light colored, natural fiber clothing such as cotton.
Bath more than once a day in the summer and when the climate is warm and humid.
Drink plenty of non-alcoholic, sugar-free beverages. Water is still the best beverage to consume.

Following these steps can help you prevent prickly heat rash from occurring. If you use logic to avoid the situations that lead to excessive sweating, you can avoid heat rash completely.

Also see What is Prickly Heat Rash? and Home Treatments for Prickly Heat Rash.

Natural Remedies for Prickly Heat Rash

Prickly heat is very common in the summer months. When it does occur, the natural instinct is to get some type readily available cream or powder that is readily available at your local drug store and apply it on the skin. This does most of the time provide some measure of relief but is often only temporary and does little to stop the rash. You should remember that each of us has a unique kind of skin. People are allergic to different things at different degrees of severity and each of us will react differently. Hence, the patent creams may not work for everyone and may actually aggravate the situation.

Therefore, it makes good sense to use safer methods. Natural cures do not have the side effects of commercial products even if used a lot. The following is a list of some of the most useful home remedies for prickly heat to use in case of an occurrence of prickly heat rash.

You can prevent and stop prickly heat rash when you read more about how you can stop excessive sweating forever.

An complex but proven means to cure prickly heat is to buy a glass container, fill it with one quart potable water. Add about twenty-five cleaned and prepared gooseberries . Prepare gooseberries by washing to remove dust and dirt, cut off stem and tops, then lightly crush the berry preserving all liquid and solids. Cover with top . Let the gooseberries steep in the container over night. In the morning, the fruits will have become softer; mash them and stir the water. Let rest 30 minutes, then strain the liquid, discarding all the solids. Add sugar to taste and drink it. Try and take in as much as you can, as often as you can to quench your thirst. This cure helps by naturally removing heat from the body’s core temperature. The prickly heat is treated from within and should disappear in about seven days or sooner. There are other benefits from this beverage including improved digestion and diminished appetite.

Take the leaves of the Indian plum and mix some baking soda with them. Crush this mixture to make a thick paste adding only enough distilled water to create the right consistency. Externally apply this paste directly to the prickly heat rash. This natural remedy will begin to work immediately, relieving much of the pain and itching.

Drink lots of lime juice. Mix up concentrate from the freezer section of your grocer or just squeeze a lime’s juice into an 8 oz glass of water. Stir in a little sugar and mint to taste over ice. Not only is this a delicious warm weather refreshment, this beverage will naturally cool down your body’s core temperature.

For an added benefit, add sugarcane juice instead of plain sugar. Sugarcane juice is well-known to have cooling properties for the human body. Just one or two glasses of this mixture daily will help solve the heat rash problem in less than a week.

Mixing camphor oil to the extract of the neem tree makes a very soothing natural skin balm. Apply this lotion where the prickly heat has occurred. Keep this oil on the area for about half an hour and then have a bath with cool water, preferably mixed with colloidal oatmeal.

Colloidal oatmeal baths are renowned for its skin-soothing abilities. Blend 1 cup oatmeal (instant, quick, or slow-cooking varieties all work equally well – just use whatever you have on hand or like to eat) into bath water for quick and immediate relief from the itching and discomfort of prickly heat. This is especially helpful if the heat rash is in an area that is not conducive for applying ointments or topical lotions such as the buttocks, back of the legs, lower back or groin. For children, just use 1/3 cup of oatmeal.

Using a food processor with its chopping blade installed or a blender, mix together dry oatmeal on the highest speed setting until you have a fine, consistently-textured powder. Sprinkle the oats into a tub of cool to luke-warm water with the water running. Be sure to swirl the water swiftly until you have even distribution and the oatmeal has dispersed. Feel around the tub and break up any lumps that may have formed. Take care getting into and leaving the tub – it will be more slippery than normal. Sit or lie down, whichever is more comfortable and soak for at least 15-20 minutes. Take this bath once or twice per day – even more frequently under doctor’s order.

Watermelon – Eat it! Often! Not only does watermelon provide excellent nutrition, it cools off the body. And save the pulp! You can use the pulp of a watermelon – gently apply it to the areas affected by prickly heat rash. This will cool down the skin in that area and provide temporary relief.

Make a paste of cornstarch and water. Apply this past to the skin where prickly heat rash has erupted. Let the paste remain on the skin undisturbed for a half an hour. During this time, the paste will dry completely. Just take a cold to room-temperature water bath (with or without oatmeal as described above) and let the paste soften and wash away. Or you can just soak a towel and place over the affected area to remove the paste. Either way, your skin will cool down and you will notice quite a bit of relief from pain and itching for several hours.

In children, it is difficult to treat areas using anything that take time. Just sprinkle baking soda or unscented baby powder in the affected areas can provide good results. The gel of an aloe vera leaf provides comfort and healing. You don’t have to buy the actual leaf to get this natural treatment; you can get the leaf’s gel at better pharmacies, cosmetic shops and health food stores.

Also see What is Prickly Heat Rash? and Heat Rash Prevention

Anti Aging Skin Care – The Best Anti Aging Skin Creams and Antioxidants Skin Care

The truth is that most of the anti aging skin care products on the market just don’t deliver on their promises. That’s a sad fact since consumers are spending millions of dollars on these products without being able to identify the best anti aging skin creams.

Although most of these products have been dismissed by the medical community as mostly wishful thinking, some researchers believe the newest types of products may actually be onto something. Those products focus on anti-oxidants over more traditional approaches to fighting aging.

What are Anti-Oxidants?

You may not realize it but the same oxygen you need to breathe is also doing damage to your skin. When the oxygen hits other chemicals in your body they can be oxidized which means they lose some of their electrons. The result is known as free radicals – these are molecules that are now traveling through your body in search of electrons that will make them whole again. When they take away an electron from your tissue or other parts of the body, that part is left damaged.

In fact, science now knows that it is oxidation caused by an increased consumption of oxygen during exercise that causes our body to feel sore afterwards. Oxidation has also been linked to some types of diseases, possibly even cancer.

Anti-oxidants are molecules in your body that prevent oxygen from stealing those electrons thus it stops oxidation in your body and can prevent the problems associated with the anti aging skin care process.

Oxidation & Your Skin

Your skin is particularly at risk to the damage of oxidation. When those free radicals attack your skin cells and tissue to replace their missing electrons, the result is damaged skin and an aged appearance.

On the bright side, our bodies already contain some anti-oxidants which work hard to reduce the damage caused by these free radicals. One of those chemicals is Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). In our fight to reduce the effects of aging, this chemical is one of our greatest assets.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that when you are exposed to UV light that light begins depleting our store of CoQ10. In fact, it is usually the first anti-oxidant we lose thanks to UV rays. Without this valuable anti-oxidant in our body, free radicals are able to move freely through our bodies doing damage to tissue and cells.

Best Anti-aging Skin Creams

Don’t despair about the future of your skin, however. Many of the products researchers are now considering to be the best anti-aging skin creams actually supplement our supply of CoQ10. Basically, these products replenish our stocks of this valuable anti-oxidant so it can continue to wage its war on free radicals.

In the research that has been done so far, skin creams and products that contain sufficient concentrations of CoQ10 have demonstrated the best anti-aging results when compared to other products making similar promises. That’s what has finally given researchers and the medical community some hope in finding the best anti aging skin creams.

SOPHYTO Organics is revamping its skin care again!

We love, love love getting your feedback - good and bad. Over the past 12 months since we launched SOPHYTO Organics skin care we have gathered all your comments on packaging, formulas and anything else you want to share with us.

First, we redesigned the packaging for our beloved Polyphenol Skin Drops to make application easier and now we’re doing the same to Skin Energising High Potency Concentrate and Purifying Active Mask.
Both new containers allow ease of application and we’ve also re-named the formulas
from your suggestions so the product clearly reflects what it does.

So, the Skin Energising High Potency Concentrate will hence forth be known as Multivitamin Skin Drops. Why? Well, because it is packed with organic vitamins and prebiotics which deliver potent anti-ageing benefits with high precision and accuracy, right where you need them most.

The lightweight formula helps stimulate and maintain cellular activity to “energise” the skin and target dull, ageing skin conditions revealing a glowing, plumped and smoother complexion and eye area.

Key ingredients used in the Multivitamin Skin Drops include high-grade Japanese yeast-fermented CoQ10, bio-fermented hyaluronic acid and Vitamins B1, B6 and C-Ester to help protect the skin and delicate eye area from pollution and changes in the environment; and organic dandelion and burdock, which acts as an anti-inflammatory.

SOPHYTO’s Multivitamin Skin Drops work in perfect unison with the Polyphenol Skin Drops to provide antioxidant and vitamin-enriched skin protection against the ravages of modern life.

The Purifying Active Mask will now be known as Marine Peptide Brightening Treatment… because, yep you guessed it, it’s packed with lovely things found below sea level. This luxurious pearl-coloured whitening serum is formulated with organic Japanese micro algae which instantly lightens the complexion.

The Marine Peptide Brightening Treatment contains specially developed chelating minerals to brighten, oxygenate and re-mineralise aged and UV-damaged skin, to reveal a fresher, more radiant-looking complexion; the marine elements provide high concentrations of peptides, lipids, amino acids, vitamins A, C, B1, B12, E, PP, K, D and trace elements.

So, in a nutshell. Your opinions really do count! Keep ‘em coming, now…

John Masters Organics Launch New Skin Care Range

The John Masters range of products has long been a leader in the organic hair care market. Though a little biased (only because I adore using his products) I think the New York hairdresser has hit the nail on the eco organic head when it comes to his hair care range; they work like no other organic or non organic products this beauty blogger’s tried.

But, with the launch of the John Masters Skin Care Range, the question is: can he do it, naturally, for skin also?

The team at John Masters have sourced some interesting organic ingredients (like linen, radish root and rye extract), used innovative ideas (a toner for face and hair) and drawn inspirations from all over the world to create this new line.

The range is characterised by subtle natural fragrances and organic formulations with active ingredients to make these product a luxury for the skin but also truly work effectively. The line is one of the first to use two innovative natural preservatives: radish root extract and aspen bark extract. These act as all-natural anti-microbials to help these products stay effective for longer (an issue for many chemical-free brands).

Many products in the line possess the USDA logo (the US organic certification body like the Soil Association), and all the ingredients are either organic or approved by EcoCert (the EU body that examines the environmental-friendly attributes of raw materials).

So does John Masters expertise in organics transfer from hair care to skin care? You betcha - superior quality matched only by some of the other premium organic brands in the industry and his own hair care range.

The new range includes:

• Rose Foaming Face Wash
• Rose & Aloe Hydrating Toning Mist
• Rose & Apricot Antioxidant Day Creme
• Firming Eye Gel
• Jojoba and Ginseng Exfoliating Clean
• Lavender Hydrating Mist for Skin and Hair
• Green Tree and Rose Hydrating Skin Serum
• Pomegranate Facial Nourishing Oil
• Linden Blossom Face Crème Cleanser
• SPF 30 Natural Mineral Sunscreen
• Vitamin C Anti-Aging Face Serum
• Moroccan Clay Purifying Mask
• Mandarin Maxim Moisture
• Calendula Hydrating & Toning Mask