Skin Care for Tattoos to Slow Aging and Fading

For tattoos, understanding the skin as an organ, is the first step to preventing the premature aging and fading of your body art.

Tattoos have become a popular form of personal artistic expression, so learning how to slow the process of inevitable aging and fading of tattoos, will prolong the quality of that body art, ensuring a clear crisp image and bright coloring for as long as possible.

Love the Skin You're In

Skin is not just a lifeless layer of flesh protecting the bodies system of blood vessels, bones, heart and lungs, according to the online Princeton Dictionary it is the "largest organ of the body" and is directly affected by daily care or neglect.

How to Prevent Stretch Marks

Stretch marks are a type of scar beneath the skin. When collagen, a substance located in the deeper layers of the skin, tears it creates a stretch mark. This tearing can be caused by rapid weight gain or loss, sudden muscle gain, pregnancy, and puberty. Stretch marks can be completely prevented if the proper rules are followed.

Stay Hydrated!

In the simplest form possible the way to prevent stretch marks is to keep your skin healthy. I know this sounds very ambiguous, but it really is not rocket science. There are many tips and rules to follow if you wish to keep your skin the healthiest and hopefully stretch mark free:

Drink at least eight 8 oz. cups of water daily. You may need to increase this amount depending on how big you are and how much caffeine you consume. Water will help keep your skin more elastic so that when it does stretch it returns back to its original form without tearing. Water also helps you maintain weight as it helps with hunger as well as digestion.

Vitamins and trace elements for an healthy skin

We all dream to have a nice and soft skin.

Unfortunately, it is often maltreated: pollution, sun, dust.

To have the skin of our dreams, it is necessary to take care of it, not only with daily cares on the exterior, but also with healthy and rich in vitamins and trace elements food.

The vitamins and the trace elements are essential for the skin cells, and for their health.

Here are some of them and the benefit they bring to the skin.

The Vitamin A :

- Its benefits: It protects the skin against ultraviolet aggression by strengthening it and helps accelerate its cicatrization. - In deficiency case: The skin is dry and thickens. - Can be found in: Eggs, butter, dairy products, sea fish, poultry, carrots and green vegetables.

7 habits for a healthy skin

Wondering what you can do to nurture healthy, vibrant skin from the inside out? Tackle stress! Here are seven habits, which if you practice regularly can lead to great looking skin.

Then, watch every inch of you and especially your face start to look younger, less stressed, more alive. Each step chips away at the non-stop pressure and tension that can age you by six years or more.

1. Practice deep breathing

Shift your body's balance of oxygen versus carbon dioxide in favour of energizing, stress-squashing oxygen by doing slow, controlled breathing exercises.

How often? Aim for twice a day.

Why do it? When you focus on your breathing, you're not focusing on anything else. That mental shift helps remove stressors, bringing you to a deeper level of consciousness, a place where you can put things into perspective.

2. Get active

Release the repressed anxiety trapped inside you by putting your body in motion for 30 minutes or more.

How often? Do something, anything, every day, because exercise only tames stress for a maximum of 24 hours. So to reap the most benefits, you need to do it daily. If you prefer, tuck 10-minute pockets of activity into your day – at lunch, after dinner, right after you get up and the house is still quiet. Find ways to sneak fitness into your schedule.

Why do it? Staying active boosts circulation, which delivers more nutrients to cells and skin. It also increases lung capacity, so you can take in more oxygen; lifts your spirits and sense of wellbeing; and fights age-related diseases. And, for many, it's the ultimate stress reducer.

How to Get Healthy, Younger Looking Skin Naturally From the Inside Out

Few human attributes signal health and youth like a clear, glowing complexion. We all start out with a similarly clean slate skin-wise, but by the time you reach your 20s and definitely in the decades that follow your skin will start to reveal what type of lifestyle you've lead.

So George Orwell really hit the nail on the head when he said, "At 50, everyone has the face he deserves."

In reality, though, your skin will start to show wear and tear long before that. Some of this may be related to your genes if your mother was wrinkle-free until she turned 65, you may be too but more so, it's related to how you live.

The Low-Down on Skin Aging: What Happens When we Get Older?

In your teens your skin may battle acne as your hormones run rampant during puberty, but by the time you reach your 20s expression lines from smiling and frowning will begin to surface.

It's around this time that collagen, which contributes to your skin's firmness, and elastin, which helps your skin’s elasticity, begin to break down as well -- a phenomenon that will continue through your 30s and beyond.

In your 30s, wrinkles caused by sun damage may form, although the real evidence of sun damage won’t surface until your 50s. In your 40s, your skin may become dry as it loses its ability to retain moisture, and dead skin cells will not be shed as quickly. Those expression lines that started in your 30s will also be more pronounced by this time.

How to Protect Your Skin in the Dry, Cold Months

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Winter can be tough on skin, but there's much you can do to defend against the assaults of the season. The skin's primary role -- to protect the body -- is ever more important in extreme weather, and in most locations, that means extreme cold outside and dry, over-heated air inside during the winter. Your epidermis must "weather" these drastic fluctuations in temperature, and often the result is chapped, scaly, flaky skin.

Facing the Frost

The biggest wintertime concern is dehydration. In colder climates, you definitely need to increase the protection quotient. "You must over-treat skin to keep it hydrated," says Barbara Schumann-Ortega, vice president of Wilma Schumann Skin Care in Coral Gables, Florida. That means a shift from lighter skin care products used during warmer months to winter-weight products, such as thicker, cream-based cleansers and moisturizers. These will provide stronger barriers against the harsh environment of winter months. And this is especially important for the face. And if much time is spent outdoors skiing, snowboarding, or walking, for example, your complexion needs heavy-duty protection from brisk wind and winter sun as well.