Growing up, I loved old Hollywood. I was watching a documentary and saw Bette Davis dipping her face in a sink full of ice cubes. This was a tried-and-true beauty ritual of many actresses and actors, including Paul Newman. I right away ran to the freezer; grabbed all the ice cubes I could find and tried it for myself! It felt shockingly cold, but it was invigorating and gave me an extra “glow”. Okay, granted I was in the 1st grade, but it did make me feel very glamorous. Maybe it’s the Swedish in me, or growing up in the cold Santa Cruz Ocean, but I’ve always loved the powerful feeling of the cold.
Today, Crotherapy, ice baths and freezing facials have been gaining more and more popularity and media attention.
So why does the cold feel so good and how does it create health and beauty?
Let’s start with our beauty sleep.
Sleep cool. Over a 24-hour period, our body temperature naturally peaks and declines. While we sleep, our bodies naturally cool down. Helping your body get to that lower temperature faster can encourage a deeper and more restorative sleep time.
This deep sleep will allow your body to release more melatonin, one of our best anti-aging hormones. Another perk! Studies show that sleeping in a 60-67 degree room makes you burn more calories than while awake, and can inspire your body to burn more calories the following day.
Air conditioning can create a dry and dehydrating environment, so I recommend keeping a bedroom cool by opening windows, sleeping naked, using light bedding, running a fan, and keeping your feet out of the sheets. You can also purchase a “cooling pillow” to help naturally draw the heat away from your body.
Cooling ingredients in skincare create comfort and beauty.
Sensitive skin especially loves feeling relief from heat and discomfort. Whether it’s caused by rosacea, post treatment inflammation, eczema, dermatitis, etc., there are products that can deliver the cool! Peppermint, violet-Viola Odorata Extract, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil, and menthol are extremely effective. When topically applied to the skin, menthol produces a cooling sensation by blocking a current along the nerves responsible for detecting temperature, triggering a response in nerve endings that makes the body think it’s cooling down. Cooling ingredients can also improve the flow of blood to the skin causing a temporary plumping effect. Love the plump! Starting to see now why cold is such an essential beauty tool?
Another point to consider when it comes to the power of cool; many products heat up their ingredients to be able to mix them to achieve a certain texture or to bottle the product more efficiently. This, just like when we over heat food, can kill vital nutrients and change the product on a molecular level. Do your research on how your product is created.
CryoFacial: Next level skincare.
This is the “Bette Davis ice dip” on steroids!
Benefits:
–Reduces inflammation, which supports our own anti-aging mechanisms.
–Relieves edema/swelling. AKA puffy face.
–Makes your pores look tight and your texture smooth and firm.
–The treatment creates a vascular reaction that enhances the penetration of products, creating better hydration and performance of topically applied vitamins and nutrients.
It not only stimulates collagen but also the Queen of Youthful Skin: elastin.
Cold promotes cell repair, making it a game changer for healing, especially post-procedures. The treatment flushes your skin with healing blood and nutrients making it feel revitalized.
How it works:
Therapies that use cold temperatures stimulate circulation.
The cold causes the blood vessels to contract and then dilate. This improves the oxygen and nutrient supply to the skin’s surface, making it appear more youthful.
Skin cooling increases the amount of neurotransmitters in the nerve fibers. This speeds up the metabolism and enzymatic cellular processes.
Therapies that use cold stimulate the release of good growth factors, including cytokines. The signs of aging in the skin can be attributed to a breakdown of collagen and elastin, which gives way to fine lines and wrinkles. Studies show that when the surface of the skin is cooled during cryofacials that the layers beneath are disrupted, and respond by increasing production of elastin, collagen and anti-aging growth factors. This results in brighter, firmer skin as it regains elasticity.
The anti-inflammatory responses of the skin by this cold are also a very effective in caring for chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis, dermatitis, and eczema.
Self-care.
You can do many things at home during your beauty routine to benefit from the effects of cold.
Don’t want everyone to know you just injected your lips?
Ice rollers have been popular in Asia and Europe for years, and are now gaining popularity in the States. Retailed Cool Globes are filled with water and gel that you keep in your fridge or freezer and can be used to relieve inflammation in general but are very beneficial following clinical procedures such as lasers and injectables, especially for the extra vascular lip area. Just lightly roll the globes over the entire face and neck or just apply in a specific area.
Big night/Big pimple? Use an ice cube!
Ice reduces the redness by diminishing swollen tissue and any possible weakened capillaries. It can also help to reduce the production of excess oil and acne-causing bacteria. Wrap the ice cube in some gauze soaked in witch hazel for 3-5 minutes.
Too much fun in the sun?
Soaking in a cold ice water bath can provide instant relief. Not only will it alleviate the heat and swelling, but also slightly numb the pain and soothe irritation. Add a cup of apple cider vinegar or an oatmeal bath recipe with some organic chamomile oil and you will feel instant relief.
Have morning after eyes?
Cold Eye Rollers to the rescue! Because blood pools around the eyes and causes dark circles, specially designed cold eye rollers can restore a healthy appearance by reducing swelling and inflammation. Applying a great eye gel with vitamin K will give you even better results.
Keeping it cool.
Simply keep certain products like gel masks, eye treatments, toners and spritzers in the fridge! You can also create your own mask. Try making a mask consisting of Greek yogurt, cucumbers and strawberries. Using cooled products is a simple way to make your skin feel amazing and awake. It can also add to the life and vitality of many products.
Go ahead, enjoy these last days of summer, and just remember to stay cool.
With grace,
Mia Belle
Photo courtesy of LiveBoxMagazine
Being in the sun is an important and enjoyable part of many people’s lives. You don’t have to give up the outdoor activities that you love, just stay protected and educated.
We want to protect our skin to avoid inflammation, hyperpigmentation, and oxidation from UV radiation that activates matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), enzymes that beak down elastin and collagen. Mineral SPFs are becoming very popular among consumers. I recommend Zinc Oxide as a healthy and effective option. Zinc Oxide is a healing mineral with anti-inflammatory properties that is used for sun protection. It helps to reflect both UVA (aging) and UVB (burning) rays, making it a broad-spectrum sunscreen ingredient. Upon application, zinc oxide particles sit on the outermost layer of your skin, where they scatter and absorb ultraviolet radiation, protecting your skin below. In non-nano particle form, it is considered to be safe for all ages and skin conditions. It’s important to make sure the zinc oxide in your sun protection is NON–nano zinc oxide. A nano particle will enter the blood stream but a non-nano will not. Chemical sunscreens, containing nano particles, will enter the bloodstream and that is why DNA altering ingredients like oxybenzone have gotten such a bad rap.
Powdered sun protection, such as Colorescience, is a great option because it’s not sensitive to the heat. Liquid sun protection degrades in heat but the powder stays stable. I keep a tube in my car and apply to my hands while I’m driving. It’s also great since we have to reapply our sun protection throughout the day, we can just powder up versus having to layer on liquid sun protection every 90 minutes!
Did you know that you can also drink your sun protection? Internal sun protection has been mainstream in other countries and it’s now becoming known here in the United States.
Introducing antioxidants like zeaxanthin and lutein are effective at neutralizing free radicals generated by sun exposure and their unique properties help filter out harmful rays. Further sun protection can be provided by EPA which reduces your skin’s sensitivity to UV rays and significantly reduces UV-related skin inflammation.
In clinical trial results from Bend Beauty’s supplement, participants using “Bend Anti-Aging Formula” saw a significant increase in skin resistance to UV burning and damage. At four weeks of use the increase was 39% and increased to 83% after 8 weeks of use.
Drink up, powder up, and enjoy the summer all while staying healthy and beautiful.
-Mia Belle
Photo courtesy of LVBX Magazine
POWER TO THE BROW!
The way humans read/scan other human faces is beyond fascinating. The space between our eyes, the length of a nose, the bow of a lip, all create a reaction in the human mind. We will observe, take in data and create an idea of that person coming from our understanding of spirituality,politics,aesthetics,community,intellect and our past experiences. Next time you look at a face, allow yourself to be conscious of how you're taking that person in!
View:
http://www.attn.com/stories/3987/eyebrows-and-feminism?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=internal
So happy to have been able to help celebrate Francesca Camp in Malibu's article on her skin treatment "face camp".
The product was created around the amazing helping properties of niacin on the skin. I've used vitamin B complexes to heal wounds, balance out acne, and smooth out scars and fine lines. It's also part of many of my body treatments. Great for cellulite!
Read below to check out Derm NZ's info on test recently done on the use of B complexes.
And check out face camp @ http://www.francescacamp.com/feel-the-burn.html
xo
-Nicotinate, has been shown to be effective in clearing acne. In a controlled clinical trials nicotinamide gel was found to be as effective as topical antibiotics. The study concluded that the anti-inflammatory properties of nicotinamide may have contributed towards its success in acne.
Nicotinamide also reduces facial sebum production.Nicotinamide gel is marketed as an over-the-counter treatment for acne in Canada, Australia, NZ, UK, USA and Ireland.
Nicotinamide has anti-aging benefits. It serves as a precursor of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP), which are co-enzymes essential for numerous metabolic pathways. These co-enzymes play a key role in the metabolism of glucose, cellular energy production, and synthesis of lipids. The levels of NADH / NADPH (the reduced forms of NAD and NADP) decrease with age, and topical nicotinamide appears to reverse the decline.
In multiple clinical studies, topical nicotinamide improved fine lines and wrinkles, hyper pigmented spots, red blotchiness, and skin sallowness (yellowing) as well as elasticity. One study showed nicotinamide to increase the skin's production of ceramides, which are natural emollients and skin protectants, thus improving skin hydration.
Nicotinamide is well tolerated and often can be used by those who cannot tolerate topical retinoids or fruit acids.
Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is a major risk factor for skin cancer development. The mechanisms by which UVR leads to cancer are complex including direct damage to DNA and effects on the immune system. Nicotinamide has been shown to enhance the repair of direct and oxidative DNA damage in human keratinocytes and in human skin. A reduction in skin cancers has also been observed in high-risk sun-damaged patients treated with nicotinamide.
LEGS July 21 2015
WANT FLAWLESS LEGS?
1. Exfoliate.
-Get a professional scrub at a spa on a regular basis.
-Use body lotions with AHAs.
-Use a body scrub regularly. Apply your body scrub in the shower, making sure the skin isn't too wet- this will weaken it's effectiveness.
2. Circulation
-Yoga and pilates create blood flow and helps strengthen the connective tissues, keeping everything tight and right.
-Purchase a "Belle Core" body buffer. Not only does it exfoliate, but it helps with circulation, and the appearance of cellulite.
3. Internal
-"ATP Formulation" with niacin helps support vein health and cellulite.
-Eat apples- they're high in rutin. Rutin has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, vasoprotective (protective of blood vessels) and antithrombotic (protection against blood clots) properties.
4.External
-Use lotions or serums with vita K. This will help with the appearance of the veins.
-High performance topicals. "CBF" serum will help repair stretch marks and prevent laxity by stimulating good collagen.
Transform your bathing ritual into a beauty ritual!
Sprinkle in some rose petals, goat's milk, ghee or my favorite bath salts - Ormaus Bath:
Ormus Bath Salts are a blend of rare, ancient, highly mineralized pink salts – Pink Himalayan, Bolivian Rose,Peruvian Pink – & Dead Sea Salts. This bath salt mixture is naturally high in super-conducting ormuz elements and infused with frankincense & rose oils.
Make this an elevating ritual for your body, mind & spirit!
xx
- The Wandering Aesthetic
