Beauty Tips Guides

For years upon years we have been told to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. And for some reason, the magic number of 8 should also be the number of ounces in that glass we drink.

This has become known as the 8 by 8 rule, but the funny thing about it is that no one knows where it came from. No one knows who came up with this rule and no one is even quite sure of why we should follow it other than the usual water is good for you spiel.

For people with dry skin, the myth was perpetuated. All over on websites you will see under the rules of how to take care of your dry skin: Drink more water. There have been several answers to this drinking of water. Supposedly drinking more water will moisturize your skin; that is the biggest claim. Except drinking more water to moisturize your skin is a complete and utter myth. So why do people keep saying it if it is unture?

The reason people continue to claim that drinking water will help your skin is because skin care myths tend to spread like wildfire. Water is a good form of moisture, and your skin is made up of individual cells. It seems only natural that drinking up a lot of water, which your body requires anyway, will transfer over to your skin, thus getting it more moisturized from the inside out and help stop your dry skin problem.

However, it simply does not work this way. It sounded perfectly logical and it seemed as though everyone was saying it, so it must be true, which is why people continue to say so. Just like sites continue to say that facial exercises will help rid you of winkles when in fact, it has been proven that facial exercises will do the exact opposite.

Dry skin is usually the result of outside elements. Though dry skin can be present due to the intake of certain medicines and dealing with certain illnesses or conditions, such as psoriasis, the majority of the time skin is dry due to wind, sun, dry conditions, and other skin irritants.

That is why you must treat your skin from the outside first, as that is where the damage is being done. Adding moisture with lotions and creams and sealing it in will help your skin, not simply by drinking more water. If that were the case, all of us with dry skin would not still have a dry skin problem.

Even though drinking water will not help your dry skin problem, water is a necessary element for survival and keeping healthy. We need to drink water for a variety of reasons and it can help our bodies overall, even if it is not the one cure all for dry skin. People who are active or as people age, they become more susceptible to dehydration and need to be sure to drink more water to keep hydrated.

If you have been constantly drinking water in the hopes that it will help your dry skin, you may be a little disappointed, but you can ease up now. The only true way to help your skin is to avoid hot, lengthy showers, use moisturizers, and in general, use a good skin routine to baby your skin in order to keep it soft and healthy.

Always be sure to use sunscreen before you go outside in the sun, and carefully bundle up during winter, taking care of lips and hands as they are very vulnerable during winter months. Drink water when you need to, but not because it helps dry skin.

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When you see botanical extract listed on the ingredients label of your product, you automatically think of natural, good for you things coming from various plants. The thing a lot of people forget is that just because a plant extract is tossed into a product, that does not necessarily mean it is organic, nor does it mean the extract is always better than a synthetic ingredient.

Essentially, a botanical extract is a specific part of a plant that has beneficial properties and is carefully removed from the area of the plant; leaves, flower petals, etc., and is then often stabilized, joined with preserves, and had other unnatural things done to it. The simple fact is that the ingredient listing leaves these processes out. The ingredient is still in there, never mind what was done to it.

However, these processes are not necessarily bad for you. A few products may be entirely organic and not need a great deal of processes in order to get the desired results. With all the wonderful and useful plants out there, such as witch hazel, licorice, green tea, grape seed, lemon, sesame oil, and many others, you have to decide which you want on your skin.

There are equal amounts of usefulness for synthetic ingredients as much as their organic counterparts. After all, companies are not going to start using harmful plants in their products (unless of course, they manage to isolate a particular helpful part). It is important to remember that assuming all plants in nature are healthy and great for your body. Poison ivy anyone? There are just as many plants that can make you sick or severely irritate your skin as there are plants that can help it.

It is also important to note that just because a company has put a botanical extract of some kind into their products it does not mean that product is going to do wonders for your skin or hair. Instead, try reading up on botanicals and the different things they can do. This can help give you some insight into why a company has put particular extracts into a product and whether or not it will benefit you.

Different extracts have different uses. That is the great thing about botanical extracts, they have all sorts of possible uses and there are several that have been found to be particularly helpful, so do not write off botanical extracts just yet. You simply need to find products that use them to their fullest in order to get yourself the best benefit. Companies that toss them into products simply to be able to claim that it now has shea butter does not mean they are using a great deal of shea butter or that they are even using it to add to the product.

Various uses include some of the following extracts. Emollients, which are extra helpful to dry skin as a heavy duty moisturizer, can include extracts from marigolds, sesame oil, and avocado oil. Astringents help to close up pores and can include willow bark and witch hazel. Humectants help trap water to the skin and prevent more from escaping, and emulsifiers help to blend agents that normally separate like water and oil. A popular emulsifier is beeswax. Some extracts are simply used to help your skin feel cooler, more refreshed, and more relaxed, such as yarrow, meadowsweet, aloe vera, orange flower, and several more. Some botanical extracts also combine properties and can give you multiple uses.

Whatever botanicals you might find in your product, try to find out if they are there to help your skin, hair, or other beauty areas, or if they are there simply to make the product look a certain color or smell a certain way. You want a product that will get you the most use out of botanicals, that way even if there is a synthetic ingredient that does the same thing, you can go organic and get the same results.

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Dandruff is a fairly common scalp problem these days, though it mostly seems to affect adults. Is it possible for it to affect our children, and if so how exactly do you treat it? Do you use the same products you use on adults? Is the scalp of a child more sensitive than an adults scalp?

It is possible for children to get dandruff, and often many parents simply do not know what to do about it.

Children and Dandruff

Dandruff is more common in adults and in people who are just in the early stages of puberty; however babies and children can also get the irritating condition.

You will know if your child has dandruff as they will constantly scratch their head and the white flakes will be clearly visible. An itchy scalp could also be a symptom of head lice so be sure not to mix the two conditions up.

It is not clear as to what actually causes dandruff. Some parents think that the cause could be down to the fact that they do not wash the shampoo out of their hair well enough when they do it by themselves. Obviously to stop this, supervision is required in order to make sure that they do rinse the shampoo out completely.

Other people believe that the cause of dandruff is a type of fungus which makes skin cells grows faster than usual, causing a lot more dead skin cells to be clearly visible on the scalp. These flakes then mix with hair oil and the flakes generally get bigger.

There are other conditions as well as head lice and dandruff, which could be causing an itchy scalp. These include dermatitis which is often confused with dandruff, and ringworm. So, the best possible way to tell if it is dandruff or not, is to visit the doctor and get a proper diagnosis.

How to Treat Dandruff in Children

Treating dandruff in children is generally the same thing as treating dandruff in adults. It is always better to wash the hair frequently, usually every day, with a mild shampoo. This helps to remove all excess oil, yet it is mild enough to keep the essential oil that the hair needs in order to prevent it from becoming dry.

Products should not be used on hair, such as hair gels. Not many children wear hair products anyway, but just in case you are thinking of putting anything in the hair of your child for special occasions or anything, it is always better to avoid it if they have dandruff. This is because it clogs up the hair and causes even more lumps than the dandruff does.

A healthy diet is the most natural way to treat dandruff in children. This is obviously sometimes extremely hard to do, as children love nothing better than to eat junk food and food which is high in sugar. Exercise is never usually a problem with children, and most do seem to get more than enough so that should help to get rid of dandruff too.

Getting a little bit of sunshine every day also seems to help, though you should always be protected when you go outside into the sun. Failing that, there are some specially designed dandruff shampoos which can really help.

Overall dandruff is treatable both in children and in adults and the products used to treat them are often the same for all ages. It is never a nice condition no matter which age it targets, so always aim to treat it as soon as possible to stop it affecting your life too much and turning into something a little more serious.

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