There’s a comprehensive article by Alisa Miller on how to maintain a healthy skin at any age over at RNCen+ral.com.

It’s important to remember that your skin is a giant organ, and just like the heart or lungs, you need to take care of your skin to ensure it performs at it’s peak. When your skin is healthy, you feel better and look younger. You also work to prevent more serious illnesses such as skin cancer. The fifty tips below will help you improve your skin and keep it healthy no matter if you are fifteen or sixty-five.

Good beauty advice with a medical edge.

Read it here.

Natural Secrets of Beauty — Part 5

Adapted from “Secrets of Youth and Beauty” by Daniele Ryman.

The jawline and neck are very delicate areas. They are the first places to show your age.

However, essential oils combined with massage can work wonders.

Use the following oil to massage into your neck and jawline. Always use upwards movements and gently lift, pinch and hold the skin to help tone and lift it.

Sandalwood Neck Oil
10ml (1 dspn) jojoba oil
8ml (1 1/2 tspn) avocado oil
2 capsules borage oil
4 capsules wheatgerm oil
10 drops essential oil of sandalwood
5 drops essential oil of bois de rose
2 drops essential oil of either petit grain or orange
50ml bottle

Mix together in the bottle and shake well. To help penetration of the oil, place a hot cloth on your face for a few minutes.

Apply every night until used up — this recipe gives enough for two to three weeks’ supply. Repeat the process two or three times a year.

Keep in the fridge or a cool place.

Now this really is beauty on a budget. Dr Fredric Brandt — the Botox man — says that just by eliminating sugar from your diet, you can look ten years younger in ten days.

And it isn’t just by losing weight : “In a nutshell, sugar hastens the degradation of elastin and collagen, both key skin proteins. In other words, it actively ages you,” he claims.

In a new book, 10 Minutes/Ten Years: Your Definitive Guide to a Better and Youthful Appearance, Brandt says he saw a remarkable change in his own skin when he dropped sugar from his diet. He lost 20lb in weight, but also gained a new “glow, radiance and elasticity” in his face. Within a year, his body had changed as well.

“I’m really lean and have the body of a teenager, although I’m in my 40s … Believe me, it’s cheaper than a facelift.”

He continues, “The sugar triggers a process in the body called glycation. This is where the sugar molecules bind to your protein fibres — those wonderfully springy and resilient collagen and elastin fibres — which are the building blocks of skin.”

However, just by overheating starchy foods or grilling them, the sugar content mutates producing Advanced Glycation End products, AGEs, which do immense harm to the skin.

This is quite a complex book, so if you’re really interested in its message, we suggest you read it in detail.