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exfoliate

Should I Exfoliate in the Winter?
Clinique

Why You Should Be Exfoliating Year-Round

When people bring up exfoliation, it's usually in reference to the teeny bikinis and bare legs of Summer.
by

When people bring up exfoliation, it's usually in reference to the teeny bikinis and bare legs of Summer. Since exfoliation smooths things out and your skin is most exposed in the warmer months, this seems only natural. But it's just as important to bring out your sloughing treatments in the colder months, too, even though you're covered in layers. Here's why:

  1. Exfoliation helps dry skin. Those dehydrated, cracked hands that plague you in the Winter are easily remedied by regular sloughing. Pick up a scrub specifically for your palms, like L'Occitane's One Minute Hand Scrub ($22) to gently remove dead skin cells and restore your hands to their pre-Winter glory.
  2. Exfoliation keeps your pores clear. One of the more important parts of your skin care regimen is exfoliating, and many women let this fall by the wayside when it's cold. But keeping up your scrubbing is essential to making sure your blemishes stay away and your pores keep clean. Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Acne Treatment ($65) has the right ingredients to smooth away your blemishes.
  3. Exfoliation helps you absorb more moisture. Cold air sucks the moisture right out of your skin, but exfoliating away your dead cells makes your skin more accepting of lotions for warding off dryness. So scrub up, and then smooth on a moisturizer like Clinique Deep Comfort Body Butter ($28). Your legs will be radiant with hydration.
Beauty How to Make a Facial Mask with Kate Somerville

How to Make an At-Home Facial Mask With Kate Somerville

Kate Somerville has helped Hollywood celebrities like Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, and Demi Moore get glowing skin, and even if you can’t rush into her clinic, you can still get the same treatment at home.
by BellaTV

Kate Somerville has helped Hollywood celebrities like Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, and Demi Moore get glowing skin, and even if you can’t rush into her clinic, you can still get the same treatment at home. Watch our video as Kate shows you how to make a hydrating mask using yogurt, flax seeds and honey.

Anatomy of a Tattoo
FDA

Anatomy of a Tattoo

I am ever curious about how the human body works, and recently I pondered the permanence of tattoos.
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I am ever curious about how the human body works, and recently I pondered the permanence of tattoos. Skin is always shedding layers of dead cells (especially if you exfoliate), so how can a tattoo remain year after year?

Let's start at the beginning with how a tattoo is created. Tattoos are made by inserting pigment into the skin with an electrically powered solid needle that punctures the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute (makes me think of a sewing machine - yikes!!). The needle penetrates the skin by about a millimeter and deposits a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture.

When you look at a person's tattoo, you're seeing the ink through the epidermis - the outer layer of skin. The ink resides in the dermis - the second layer of skin, just below the epidermis. Dermis cells are far more stable than the cells of the epidermis, so the tattoo's ink will stay in place, with only minor fading and dispersion (spreading out), for a person's entire life!

Fit's Tips: FYI - tattoo parlors are NOT regulated by the FDA and not ALL states require tattoo parlors to be licensed. If I were you, I'd go to a place that is licensed and inspected by the state. The licensed places will definitely follow all the correct sterilization and sanitation procedures. Since tattoos involve needles and blood, you want to make sure there is little risk for the transmission of diseases such as hepatitis, tuberculosis, and STIs. These regulations may make tattoos safer, but it sure won't make those needles hurt any less!

Want to see some interesting tattoos? Then read more

Ingrown Hairs - Not a Fan
Hair

Ingrown Hairs - Not a Fan

When you remove unwanted hair from your body by waxing or shaving, you run the risk of ingrown hairs.
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When you remove unwanted hair from your body by waxing or shaving, you run the risk of ingrown hairs. I've had women tell me to never wax my bikini line ever, because those hairs are thick and curly, so they tend to get trapped inside the hair follicle and grow in crooked more often than say your leg hair.

I'm not going to let a little ingrown hair keep me from waxing. Oh no. Here's a tip I picked up from a waitress when I was out to dinner one night (really). She said she was way into waxing (don't ask me how we got started talking about that), and she waxed everything, including her armpits (ouch).

Her advice: To prevent those irritating little red bumps you get from ingrown hairs, you must exfoliate the area daily.

Now I'm not saying use something harsh like a sugar scrub on your sensitive parts - I much prefer using loofah gloves. They are gentle enough to use every day.

And exfoliating consistently to remove dead skin cells really helps prevent those suckers. So you can wax and shave all you want and get silky smooth skin without those annoying red bumps.

Gloves in the Shower?
healthy skin

Gloves in the Shower?

Is your skin screaming out for some love?
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Is your skin screaming out for some love? Why not answer its call with an invigorating exfoliating experience? Exfoliation is the skin's natural process of shedding dead cells. A new layer of cells is formed at the bottom of the epidermis (that's fancy speak for skin), and it pushes the old skin cells to the surface where they eventually dislodge and flake away. By adding exfoliation to your daily routine, you can assist this natural process at the surface to encourage newer, healthier looking skin.

My favorite exfoliation tool is these bath gloves from The Body Shop. They're rough textured loofah gloves with little loops on the ends so you can hang them out to dry. If you don't dry them, they could get moldy which is totally disgusting and stinky.

Just get them wet in the shower, lather them up with your favorite soap or body wash and rub them all over your skin. They're gentle enough to use everyday and you can even use them on your face.

Fit's Tip: If you have sensitive skin, you might want to use the bath lily instead. The material is a little smoother and more gentle.