As an expression of love, flowers are given in abundance. Did you know that in addition to essential oils that are extracted from flower petals, flower essences can be acquiesced from fresh floral blossoms and used in a variety of beneficial ways for the skin as well as the spirit?

Essential Oils are known for both medicinal and restorative skin care qualities, and are usually placed with a carrier oil such as Almond, Olive, or Jojoba. Except for Lavender, most essential oils applied alone on the skin would be too irritating. Here is a brief list of some of the best floral essential oils for your skin:

• Rose - More precious than gold, Rose hydrates and promotes healing while nourishing the skin with antioxidants.
• Chamomile - Think gentle. Possesses healing and anti-inflammatory properties.
• Lavender – Calming. Helps to soothe and treat skin conditions aggravated by stress (acne, eczema, rough skin).
• Orange Blossom – Considered one of the richest and most expensive essential oils, Neroli Oil is derived from Orange Blossoms. Neroli Oil is used traditionally in aromatherapy to calm the senses and treat insomnia. Neroli Oil is also a non-toxic and non-irritating skin treatment that can be used for improving dry, sensitive, or mature skin.
• Calendula – Purported as better than Aloe Vera, the bright yellow to orange colored blossoms capture the strength from the sun and lend powerful healing and anti-inflammatory properties. The Calendula Cream from Boiron has been a godsend to my irritated skin on many an occasion!

Well-researched and documented by organizations such as Bach and the Floral Essence Society, floral essences can be used in a variety of ways to heal, comfort and soothe the skin and spirit. It is said that a flower’s blossom is the spiritual expression of the plant, pretty cool n’est-ce pas? While much can be said, here are three floral essences that can be incorporated into your skin care arsenal:

• Pretty Face – Creates radiant inner beauty; aids in self-acceptance of personal appearance despite handicaps or blemishes.
• Self-Heal – wakens the confidence and inner vital forces necessary for healing on all levels: physical, emotional and spiritual. The Self-Heal Creme from FES has become a favorite for my hands and as a daily facial moisturizer.
• Calendula – Soothing, calming. Lends healing warmth and receptivity.

Mid-length is the last word for Spring, or is it?

Hot off the press curlies! The new edition of Lorraine Massey’s “Curly Girl” is here.

Massey’s book was my true inspiration for leaving brushes, sulfate-shampoos, and blow dryers by the way side – forever!

After reading the original Curly Girl book in 2007, I took a leap of faith and put its practices into my daily hair care regimen. And with much praise to Lorraine, my hair and my sanity has been restored! This month, to my delight I discovered that a new edition came out of the Curly Girl classic. Along with a demonstration DVD, this book includes several helpful new tips & tricks for every specific curl type. Highlights for me (but there are a lot more) include:

• A high-protein recipe “Deep-Pack Chakra” weekly deep conditioner.
• Ten tips to remember before you color your curly locks.
• A section on self-trimming!
• For preventing my finer, wavy hair from being weighed down, I learned to distribute my daily hair conditioner from the mid-section to the tips, and to rinse out well.

For those who don’t know it, here is a snippet from my auto-biographical curly girl fairy tale: Embrace Yourself!

As a small child, my hair had the appearance of yellowish downy feathers like what you see on a baby duck. As I got older, and my hair grew, my mother tried several things and consulted with many women at the local beauty shops. At the age of 2, she gave me my first home perm in hopes of giving it some curl and control. I can remember at times standing next to my Mom in the checkout line at the grocery store, or at church, and someone would ask her, “What happened to your daughter’s hair? Bad perm or something?”

(You can follow this link to read more about my teens and adult hair struggles.)

That is until March of this year (2007), when something inside me couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t torture, blow dry and fight against the hair God gave me one more day. I believe it was nothing short of divine intervention that sent me to NaturallyCurly.com and Lorraine Massey’s book, Curly Girl. Without a doubt, these two sources of information have changed my life and given me a new found love and appreciation for my hair.

I sincerely hope that we can empower each other by sharing our knowledge and building each other up. I want to get the word out so that the little Jenny’s out there can benefit from my experience and learn to accept themselves for the beautiful people they are! Thank you Lorraine, your message reinforces my own to, “Embrace yourself and your hair, no matter what!”

You may ask me,  “Jen, do you ever try a product you don’t love?”

“Uh, yeah.”

I have a big box filled to the brim with various creams, lotions and potions that come my way. I don’t have much patience for a crappy product. I am human just like everyone else, sometimes I’ll get wowed by the marketing, sometimes I get wowed by the packaging or the philosophy behind the product (example: Eminence). However, if I put it on my skin, and it causes a reaction, triggers a break out, and doesn’t feel fantastic – I’m done, good-bye and onto the next new product that captures my attention.

So in 2010 Boske, a fairly new company on the skin care circuit approached me with their all-star product, Molecular Repair. I was having some fairly tough skin issues over the summer, so I made a first attempt and after a few uses,  pushed it to the back of the bathroom cupboard for a future trial.

December hit, and the dry, cold weather hit about the time, and then I received a really intense enzyme peel – ooh, my skin was raw!  My regular superstar serums were a bit too active to place on my freshly exfoliated epidermis. I reached my arm high in the bathroom cabinet and took another chance with the Molecular Repair from Boske.

Now it gets good.

My skin drank this stuff in. No irritation, no strange fragrance, no stinging. Passing the initial round, the surprise came with what it did for my skin in the coming weeks. Molecular Repair claims to not only soothe with its anti-inflammatory effects, but reverses DNA damage and stimulates the formation of healthy cells.

What’s in it?

A few of the active ingredients:

• Olea Europea Extract is part of an Anti-Glycation complex which impedes the formation of wrinkles and improves the elasticity of the skin.
• Ultrasomes, Roxisomes, and Photosomes enhance the skin’s natural DNA repair process to provide faster healing for wounded skin.
• Malus Domestica Stem Cell Culture Extract stimulates human stem cell production, which results in faster healing and increased collagen production.

The type of Vitamin C Molecular Repair has makes a difference too. While you will notice in many skin care products Vitamin C as either L-Ascorbic Acid or Ascorbyl Palmitate (the most common), Molecular Repair uses Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate a very stable, lipid-soluble form of Vitamin C that fortifies the skin, stimulates collagen production, and brightens uneven skin tone.

A one step anti-aging wonder? I have to admit, my skin loved it.  As for results, I did notice some subtle improvements (smoother, softer, more refined skin) while using Molecular Repair. Expensive? Yes it is, not as outlandish as some I’ve seen, but about what you would expect from a highly concentrated active skin treatment (most topical Vitamin C serums cost $130+).

An exciting new addition to the anti-aging skin care arsenal.  Keep them coming Boske!

From what I gather, and this comes from the spot-on daily weather reports from my Facebook friends and family from across the country, it seems like we have all been hit pretty hard this season with bitterly, cold weather. With these single-digit temps, our skin suffers along with us, and exposed skin and extremities (feet, hands, knees and elbows) take the brunt of the lack of warmth and humidity, as well as spending too much time in dry, heated homes and offices.

One day at my favorite local Dave’s Health store, a representative from MiraCell was demonstrating their skin care products. My dry, cracked knuckles were instantly soothed, and experienced none of the stinging, burning or reactiveness that can often result from lotions and creams with fragrance, alcohol, petroleum, or what MiraCell would call “skin addicting” ingredients.

What MiraCell has to say about “skin addicting” ingredients:

Some poor ingredients have a lubricating or greasy feel to them, so while they may make your skin feel softer, they simply get washed off, giving no benefits. In some cases, these ingredients actually bind with moisture and once washed off leave your skin even more dry than before the product was applied, causing you to want it back on your skin again. This can literally “addict” the skin to these substances. And some companies use these ingredients on purpose to get consumers to use excessive amounts of them.

Some of the good ingredients included in MiraCell products are: Apricot Kernel Oil, Sesame Seed Extract, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (from Coconut Oil), Avocado Extract, and Jojoba Extract to name a few.

Even made better by Founder, Marilyn Harris who was dedicated to using natural ingredients that come only from botanical plants that grow in actual sunlight (get that!). Her philosophy is that light is our source of life, intelligence and truth. Kind of a beautiful concept, and not many skin care lines can make that type of claim.

After a health store employee went on an on about a decrease with her breakouts and a visible reduction in acne scarring while using the Scar & Stretch Mark Support Cream, I decided it was worth the purchase to try a few MiraCell products for myself. As well as their creams, I have been very impressed with the quick absorption and moisturizing qualities of their Skin Relief & Support oil that can be used to treat over 37+ skin conditions, including painful eczema, burns, rashes, and even cold sores!

Cold, winter temperatures and dry, damaged skin deserve something as wonderful as MiraCell.

“I hope you are enjoying the winter weather as much as I am hating it.” - Hemang, a recent message on Facebook

It is a common misconception that hereditary hair loss is not preventable - it is! By adopting certain simple precautions can prevent hair loss.

For thousands and thousands of men and women, baldness comes as a curse from as early as their 20's. Even for people in their 50s, alopecia or baldness is never a welcome sight.

DHT in adult males is thought to result in male pattern baldness. In males, progesterone acts to limit the  production of DHT by testosterone.

Female pattern hair loss or alopecia is not uncommon. Baldness or hair shedding can be genetic, as it is in men.

The mistake that most of us do is to wait till we experience excessive hair loss. Some wait to look for a hair loss cure until the scalp gets itchy and inflamed.

Hair loss is not just a problem for you today. However, the problem has only aggravated with time. Just think for a minute why each day you seem to lose your precious hair?

There are a number of reasons why men start to go bald, but if you are a man between the ages of about 20 to 45 and you start to lose scalp hair, then the chances are 95 percent certain that you are experiencing male pattern baldness.

Are you also one among the many facing problems of abnormal hair loss, hair shedding or receding hairline? Well, are you aware of your hair loss symptoms?