Health and Beauty Care Truths

Aloe After Sun Gel – by Banana Boat.Banana Boat has a really gel on the market. Honestly, if it’s good enough to sooth burnt DRY SKIN and sun damaged skin, why wouldn’t it be good overall or all season long. It’s natural, it’s cheap and it leaves your dry skin feeling moisturized all day long. The skin moisturizing gel is a little goopy at first, but after you rub onto your dry skin it feels great. I apply it on wet/towel damp skin (right after the shower), let my legs air dry, and it makes my skin feel really soft. You can get a 16 fl oz bottle for about $8.00, and last a really long time!

Udderly Smooth - udder cream, This dry skin lotion is really good. It doesn’t smell the greatest. However, it’s cheap and it really leaves your dry skin feeling soft and smooth. This skin cream bottle is cute, it has cow spots all over it, hence the Udderly sMOOth. The directions say wash under teat parts thoroughly before each milking – this is funny. But you can find this creamin your local Wal-mart, Giant food store, etc. in the “HUMANS” skin cream aisle. Cetaphil – dry, sensitive skin treatment Moisturizing lotion – fragrance free (non-comedogenci) made by Galderma. This stuff is ok, if you are using it for your hands, feet and legs. I wouldn’t recommend this for your face, as I started to break out, maybe from the skin lotion clogging the pores, I don’t know exactly why, but it’s best used on your harsher body parts, not so much for the delicate dry skin areas.

Dr. Scholl’s for her. This ultra overnight foot cream is really good. It states it softens and moistrizers the toughest skin overnight. This may be true liotion might be completely true without any other products, but I also use a puma rock on my foot in the shower, this helps to remove the tough dry skin, so the cream can work better. I will put socks on to help the moisture penetrate longer, then it would if you let your bed sheets rub it off when you sleep.

To find out more about Skin Moisturizers, Lotions, and Creams for Dry Skin visit www.healthand beuatycaretruths.com

Okay- I have tried a ton of “fashion” diet plans, pills, exercices. and nothing really works.  The latest and greatest weight loss product I have tried is Crave Relief (instant aromatherapy).  You can buy this at Bath and Body Works.  They have a whole line of Instant Aromatherapy products.

This weight loss product is a bunch of crap. You are suppose to roll it on the inside of the wrist and rub wrists together to activate, hold wrists up to nose and breathe in deeply- this claims to stop cravings, and reduce calorie intake.  The smell of this weight loss crave stopping serum, is nothing but a good smelling blend of Grapefruit and Sweet Fennel - which makes you hungry because it smells delicious.

Gold Bond Ultimate  Healing Skin Therapy lotion ,with Aloe.  This dry skin lotion has Aloe, which helps heal dry skin problems.  It also contains vitamins such as A, C & E.  This Dry skin lotion penetrates fast, with a non-greasy feeling, and leaves the skin with a fresh clean scent.  I love, love, love this dry skin lotion.  I have  a 5.5oz bottle on my desk at work.  This leaves your dry skin feeling soft, smooth, and smelling great.  My hands are still protected when I wash them.  I only have to apply this skin lotion to my dry hands about 2 times in an 8 hour period. 

Gold Bond Ultimate Healing dry skin therapy lotionhas 7 Intensive Moisturizers.  The best part is, it “heals” the cracked dry skin. This lotion does more than just give you temporary relief, this lotion gives you long lasting healing protection.

You can apply this healing skin therapy lotion to hands, cuticles, feet, elbow, knees, and problem patches on your legs and other areas.  I wouldn’t suggest using this on your face, as the skin is more sensitive and it would probably just clog the pores and make you prone to acne.

 To learn more, log onto www.healthandbeautycaretruths.com

I have to say, I love Burt’s Bees health and beauty product line. I not saying all their beauty care products are wonderful, but most skin care, and lip care products that I have tried, I love. Burt’s Bees makes a whole line of healthy and beauty products for hair, skin, lips, feet etc. I just tried their shampoo which I’m not to crazy about, it doesn’t leave my hair feeling soft, which I don’t like. However, they have a hand balm for dry skin, which is really good. It’s called Burt’s Bees Beeswax & Banana Hand cream. It smells really good, and leaves the dry skin on your hands feeling really smooth. However you can only use this hand cream at night, as it’s very greasy, and you wouldn’t be able to do much if you applied this hand cream on during the day. When the dry skin on my hands are really bad, I usually apply this skin cream on at night before bed. I suggest using health and beauty spa gloves (which you can pick up at Ulta), so you don’t get the grease all over your pillow. This will allow the skin cream to penetrate the moisture into your dry skin.

Other Burt’s Bees products that I have tried.

I like a lot of Burt’s Bees lip balms, mositures, and hand lotions. However, the face Deep Cleanising Cream (Soap Bark & Chamomile) stings the crap out of my face. I tried it a few times and thought I was going to burn my face off. So, I thought well maybe my face needs to get used to it, so like a dummy I tried it another night and again - nope still felt like I was having a chemical peal - and it doesn’t smell that great either.

If you like Burt’s bees check out this website: http://www.rei.com/product/751050

You can also get Burt’s Bees health and beauty products at your local, Walgreens, CVS, Wal-Mart, Ulta beauty supply stores. Burt’s Bees offers starter packs on a lot of their products, you will find a good deal on their health and beauty products, you just have to keep your eyes open, while shopping.

Ahava -
Made by Dead Sea Laboratories, Mineral Body lotion (body treatment). This body lotion can be used on your face, arms, legs, neck, anywhere you have dry ski. They fact that I can use this Skin Lotion on my face is what sold me - usually if you use those all over skin lotions, I would break out in a rash or pimples from clogging my pores, but not with Ahava skin lotion, this stuff is awesome. Ahava is really good for my dry skin (hands, feet, elbow, and knees). Ahava skin lotion comes in a 8.5 oz pump bottle. Which you can get for about $16.00 on the web. I have yet to find a retail store that carries this skin lotion. While I was on the site where I purchased Ahava, I also bought this other hand lotion (wasn’t sure is the Ahava skin lotion was going to work on me or not), called Phyto Care by Dr. Grandel (pictured to the left) - this is another dermahand balm that I use once at night and my hands are still feeling soft in the morning.

If you have dry skin and looking for a really good skin lotion that you can apply to any dry spot on your body, I would go with Ahava. All the dry skin lotions (prescription or non) did not work on me and I was still stuck with dry skin that stung when I washed my hands, or had to have band aids on, because the dry skin just wouldn’t heal.

Another hair extension method is called Dinky Links. It is the same APPLICATION process as HairLocs, however I do not like the actual hair that they sell. The hair is poor quality, static, and very thin. You would need to use double the locs that hairlocs would use, to even come close to the same effect. Their shells are OK, they come in different sizes and colors. You can buy everything you need to do it yourself- I don’t think there are many hair salons using Dinky Links (wonder why). Anyhow, you can purchase the links, the hair, the tools, and instructions off of http://www.hairlaboratories.com. Again, the hair itself sucks, it’s thin and I do not recommend it. When I used HairLocs, I bought the Dinkly Link shells to do some maintenance on my hair for those in-between visit to my Salon . I guess you get what you pay for. (Thumbs down)

HAIRLOCS

Most the celebrities use hair extensions- and we all want flowing beautiful long hair like them, right??? Who wants to have thinning hair? Well, if you have $150.00 per hour and $8.00 dollars per strand than you can look like one of those high paying celeb’s. Let me tell you, the hair extensions I used were awesome- took care of that hair thinning problem. Silky, long, thick, straight hair extensions, the color matched perfectly, and they were 100% human hair. There were only a few downfalls, the hair would get real knotty in the shower. A lot of conditioner is needed - but don’t let the conditioner touch the roots where the hair extensions are, because if gets under the loc you are prone to having the locs slide. They are supposed to last approx 3-5 months, but mine didn’t. I have very thin hair (a lot of hair, but thin), and I guess my hair gets oily quick - so either the locs would slide faster or slide off altogether. The straight hair extensions maintenance appointments were the worst, I had to sit in a chair for 4 hours as the stylist would take them out and put them back in. Nothing is scarier that seeing your own natural hair fall out - when she was done removing all the extensions. I thought I had thin hair before, don’t look in the mirror after they take out the human hair extensions. You will not like what you see. I was use to the thick hair, then when I saw my natural thin hair; it spooked me.

How the System Works: The locs are tight and hold any hair that would naturally shed (over a period of time) in with the hair extensions (you see minimal shedding in-between maintenance). Upon removal of the extension all the hair that shed in the 5 months of wearing the locs would come out. I thought I was going to have a heart attack the first time I went for maintenance. Anyhow, the Hair-Locs, has the best quality hair extensions you can buy. It was a sad decision for me, after about 6 months and 3 maintenance appointments later, I decided I couldn’t keep it up. I have 3 kids, a house a car, and I had more important things to spend $1,400.00 every few months. Not to mention the hair that I lost, when wearing the hair extensions. This made me have thin hair (temporarily). That is why I invested in Kevis thinning hair system. Let me say, the hair locs didn’t ruin my hair, it just made the strands the locs were attached to shorter, in-turn made my hair thinner. I can see the short stubbly hairs from where the hair extensions pulled out my own hair.

I just have to wait for all my hair to grow back. NOTE: Hair locs, does not use glue, sewing, hot or cold applications, which is important because it does not harm the hair, (like those other extensions, weft human hair/braided hair extensions). It may pull out hair that was ready to shed, but those hairs will grow back. Hair-Loc hair extension system uses a little copper loc and then squeeze the extensions to your real hair. As your hair grows, the loc will descend with it, and then you just go for maintenance when the locs are too low. I’m not saying that these loc on hair extensions are perfect, because nothing is perfect. You just have to find the right length /style and a good stylist. OH and if you have the money and time - then go for it. If you find a good stylist, then no one will be able to tell you have human hair extensions in - not like the noticeable clip on wavy hair or tracks hair extensions. It’s the quality hair extension and the blending (that the stylist does) which makes this a wonderful tool for people with thinning hair. If you decide to try them, you need to log onto www.hairlocs.com find a stylist in your area, call hairlocs, give them a few stylists you wish to speak with, and then hairlocs will call the stylist and then the stylist will call you back. I don’t know why they don’t give out their stylist’s contact information, but that part is a hassle to sit and wait for someone to call you back.

I’m sure everyone has seen the front page when Britney Spears was shaving her hair off??? Well, if you look closely, you can see the locs by her scalp. Jessica Simpson hair extensions are supposed to be pretty good, I haven’t tried them though.

BOOST - Volumizing by Sammy professional-

I saw this demonstrated on the Home Shopping Network – I watched him use this amazing root lifter. He sprayed it on dry hair (without any specific way, just lift spray, lift spray, no separating, pinning, or having to apply in even rows (basically a very sloppy application process – which, I’m thinking “this is what I need because I’m not a professional, this should be a piece of cake). He then proceeds to blow dry what was just applied and her came out awesome – so I bought it. Tried it on my hair (after work of course- I’m not going to work with a new product in my hair without knowing what the results are). This was horrible, I can’t believe they sell this crap and talk like it’s the best thing in the world. I applied just as he demonstrated, on the show, and it looked nothing like her beautiful thick styled hair. Thumbs down- NO GOOD- what a waste of 16.00 + shipping.

Nioxin- Step 4 therapy treatment-

This system has 3 steps to it:

1. Nioxin 4 Shampoo - for chemically enhanced hair/noticeably thinning hair

2. Ni0xin 4 Conditioner - for chemically enhanced/noticeably thinning hair

3. Nioxin 4 Scalp treatment - for chemically enhanced/noticeably thinning hair.  Apply on towel dried hair and leave in for thicker hair (do not rinse hair).The scalp treatment contains SPF so it protects your hair and scalp from the sun “may cause temporary redness after application” Yeah, that has to be real good for your scalp.

Now I have 3 bottles to help me get thicker hair- a shampoo, conditioner, and a leave in sun protect-ant (instead of the Kevis thinning hair treatment, which included a ton more). So, I’m getting my hair cut, I mention to the tech that I’m frustrated with my thinning hair and would like to have thicker hair.  The tech mentions, “Nioxin“, I think to myself, this stuff has been around for a while, maybe there is something to it. It’ not meant to make your hair grow, it just changes the appearance and texture of your own hair to make it appear thicker. Nioxin does make your hair thicker in appearance and texture, but not only does it make the appearance change it makes you feel like you have straw on your head for hair. There is nothing like moving your head side to side to have your new thicker hair move right along with it. Maybe Nioxin is not that bad, but I like being able to put my hands through my hair without it getting caught in it.Not to mention, after I spent my hard earned $40.00 + tax on it on this magical hair thick-ner, my sister told me that it made her hair fall out. I guess it depends on the person, but I didn’t like it. I used it for 3 days, and now I have $40.00 dollars worth of more beauty products that claim to make your hair thicker, taking up space in my bathroom. NOTE: Nioxin has a whole line of different systems to make your hair thicker.  Find trial sizes or somewhere selling Nioxin cheap, it might be worth trying.  Remember there are a ton of reasons why our hair is thinning. We are all not the same boat, so Nioxin beauty products may feel different in your hair, and may make is seem thicker.  My hair is thin, straight and soft, so this beauty product might be to strong of a hair care product for me. 

When it comes to beauty care truths, it takes a lot of tiral and error to find what hair care product that is right for you.

Design line root boost volumizing foam, by Regis- This is to be sprayed at the root while your hair is wet and blow dry/style as usual. I used it probably for a month, and honestly I didn’t see much difference in terms of more volume. It smells good and it doesn’t make your hair feel like straw, sticky or greasy. There may have been a little lift to the roots, but nothing worth writing home about.