3 Ways Your Environment May Be Causing Your Oily Skin
Oily skin is most often caused by skin irritation or hormonal changes, but sometimes the environment can play a role as well. If you recently had a change in life circumstances and your skin suddenly became oily, think about these possible causes and you may be able to pinpoint exactly what caused the changes in your skin.
Hot Air
You may have come across skin care advice urging you not to take showers that are too hot, to wash your face and hair with lukewarm water, and so on. The reason they give this advice is that the skin has millions of tiny sebaceous glands in it. These glands produce sebum, the oil that gives skin its softness and radiance. Heat overstimulates these glands, making your face slick and sticky with oil. To combat ‘hot air oiliness’, moisturize your skin. Moisture will counteract the effects of the weather.
Moist Heat
If it’s also humid, oily skin can become worst. Moist heat prohibits your body from cooling itself by sweating. When this occurs, the sebaceous glands become overstimulated and produce more oil. The moist heat can cause you to break out quite rapidly, and moisture by itself stimulates oil production even if it’s not particularly hot.The skin reacts to the strange air as though it were an irritant that needs to be flushed out, and it will produce copious amounts of sweat and oil in order to try and do so. Try to stay hydrated in this kind of weather; the sweating can dehydrate you.
Pollution
Polluted air is another irritant that causes the skin to try and flush out the foreign matter. Exhaust fumes, particles of dust and smoke, and other kinds of impurities can all activate the skin’s natural protections. If you suspect polluted air is causing your skin to misbehave, wash your face throughout the day with a gentle cleanser, drink filtered water to help your skin flush out the toxins and ask your employer to change the air filters more often.
Calm Skin Solutions
If it’s absolutely essential that your skin is calm and fresh, the best thing for you to do is to wash your face with cool water. This will help remove the impurities that are weighing down your skin and refresh you quickly and easily, without needing any special equipment or tools.
Mama’s Monday Favorite: Kind Fruit and Nut bars
Be kind to your taste buds. This bar is not like your traditional, “eat it because it is good for you, not because it tastes good” bar. This bar is absolutely delicious. I was a bit sceptical at first, but after a trusted friend recommended Kind Bars to me, I decided to give them a try. The first bar I tasted was the Fruit and Nut delight. After the very first bite, my taste buds tingled with delight. Bite after bite, I hurled the bar to my face. I felt like an infant who had tasted candy for the first time.
The ingredients in the Fruit and Nut Delight are all natural, gluten free and delicious. With only 180 calories per bar and a low glycemic index of 54 you can eat one a day without feeling guilty.
Other Kind Bars I like:
- Walnut & Date: This little bar will satisfy your sweet tooth. It reminded me of sweetened fresh walnuts
- Fruit & Nuts in Yogurt: This bar has replaced my traditional mid-morning snack of yogurt topped with granola.
- Almond & Coconut: Simple, tasty ingredients, need I say more?
Disclosure: MamasHealth did not receive monetary or product incentives for this review.
- Mama
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Toxins, please leave me and my smooching partner alone
If you really knew what was in that lipstick tube, you probably wouldn’t put it on your lips. Your favorite lipstick is probably exposing you and your smooching partner to toxic chemicals.
Mama’s Monday Favorite: Breville’s Dual Disc Juice Processor
One word: Amazing.
During the past 20 years, I’ve run through my share of fruit juicers. Some were difficult to put together, others were difficult to clean, and some just didn’t work. The Breville BJE820XL juicer is one of the best on the market. My favorite juice to make is a mixture of carrots, apples, and red beets. This juicer handles the compact structure of beets without sputtering
Want fresh juice for breakfast, and a smoothie with lunch? This commercial-quality juicer can do both. It has a second disc that purées soft fruits for 100% fruit smoothies. With this juicer, you’ll get the most juice out of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, from delicate berries to crisp apples.
- Mama
Simple Winter Hair Care Tips
The dry, cold air of winter can do terrible things to your hair, but it doesn’t have to. With these simple tips and tricks, you can protect your hair and look great all winter long, no matter how bitter the weather.
Protect Your Hair
Dry air, wind, and cold can all dry out your hair, making it dull and lifeless, as well as brittle. To avoid brittle, dull hair, make sure that you are securely bundled up, with your hair covered, whenever you go outside. Exposure to the outside air can turn healthy hair dry into unhappy, lifeless hair in just a few minutes. Be sure to wear a woolen cap that’s thick enough to block the wind.
Moisturize Your Hair
When you wash, use lukewarm water and moisturizing shampoo and conditioner to add back the moisture that you are losing to the atmosphere. Try not to wash your hair too often, since the natural oils from your scalp are excellent protective agents in their own right and you have no real need to strip them away unless they become stale or your hair gets dirty by some external cause.
Keep Hair Warm
This may seem obvious, but hair that is exposed to too much cold can become brittle and damaged. To keephair in its best condition, be sure that the cap you are using for a wind shelter actually does a good job keeping you warm. Highly chilled hair may need to be repaired with a session of deep conditioning. Use a warm coconut oil mask to give the hair body and fragrance while moisturizing it gently. The coconut oil is one of the best hair products known to nature, and in winter it is excellent because it is so useful and efficient at whatever it’s applied to. After one or two applications of coconut oil, your hair will be lush and thick.
Supplement these techniques with a certain restraint: refrain from excess amounts of stress and dramatic temperature changes during the holidays. Stress causes wrinkles, and it causes flyaways too. Indulging in a stressful activity can throw your hair’s chemical balance all off, meaning that you would need to go back and readjust it in order to calm your hair. Stay warm this inter, and look great!
- Mama
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U.S. Energy consumption: where our electricity comes from
Ever wonder where our electricity comes from? The U.S. ranks #1 in the world for per capital use of energy. This is a ranking we should not be proud of.
