Acne- Will Sweat Clear Acne?
June 12, 2010 by anthony
Filed under Excessive Sweating
Many people believe that if you try to sweat more that will clear your glands and skin and you will not get acne. Is this thinking correct? Let us find out now.
Acne and sweat Glands
Sweat is produced by sweat glands. We have sweat glands distributed all over body. These are – apocrine and eccrine. The eccrine sweat glands produce sweat with more of water and little urea. The apocrine glands that are mainly located in the genital area and the under arms produce more of fatty sweat. But sweat glands are different than sebaceous glands that cause acne.
Sweat sebum and acne
Acne is a problem of sebubaceous glands. These glands produce sebum and sebum is totally different to sweat. Sebum is more of lipids and is in no way connected with sweat glands. This sebum gets blocked in sebaceous glands and causes acne. Trying to sweat more will not help clear the sebaceous glands.
Acne and sebum
When the sebaceous glands produce more sebum, you are likely to get acne. This excess production is dependent on androgen hormones. At the same time the sebaceous gland gets blocked and the sebum gets trapped inside the gland forming acne. You have to treat these sebaceous glands and not sweat glands. To learn all about how to treat acne, please click here: Acne Treatments
This article is only for informative purposes. This article is not intended to be a medical advise and it is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor for your medical concerns. Please follow any tip given in this article only after consulting your doctor. The author is not liable for any outcome or damage resulting from information obtained from this article.
Related links :-
1- Acne Myths Quiz
2- Acne Facts
Hair care tips for women with kinky hair
May 31, 2010 by anthony
Filed under Tips on Avoiding
In order to understand how to best care for “kinky” hair, it is important to understand how it is structured.
First, all hair is made up of the same elements: A cuticle (or outer layer), a cortex (middle layer), melanin (color), a follicle (the name for hair before it emerges from the skin) and sebaceous and sudoriferous (oil and sweat) glands.
This is true, whether hair has a kinky (wiry, course, coily) look or a straight look. Black hair, though, usually has twice the amount of cuticle as other hair types, which makes it harder for the oil secreted from the scalp to reach the ends of the hair. Contrary to popular belief, the lack of oil and increased vulnerability to breakage and brittleness, makes black hair more fragile than other hair types, too.
Here are some “best practice” tips for keeping healthy kinky hair:
-Never over-relax the hair. Once you put chemicals from perms in black hair, you are weakening the hair and making it even more difficult than it already is for oil from your scalp to get to your hair.
Kinky hair is coily, meaning a single strand winds itself around another single strand, which winds itself around another single strand, until all the hair appears tightly curled.
Use perms and relaxers sparingly and never more than every six to eight weeks.
-Guard against natural tangling while you sleep by tying the hair down at night with a scarf, sleeping on a satin pillow or plaiting or braiding the hair and covering it with a scarf. This prevents rubbing the hair into a damaged state against a cotton pillow case and allowing the hair to be loose and coil even more while you sleep.
-Massage the scalp daily, either with the tips of your fingers (never the nails) or with a gentle brush. This promotes blood circulation and oil production by the sebaceous glands.
-You should also avoid heavy pomades, Vaseline (TM) and products that contain petroleum and “hair grease” that clogs your pores and prevents healthy hair growth. The scalp never properly absorbs these products. If you must oil your scalp regularly, use a natural oil like shea butter or some light black hair care moisturizers.
-Avoid heat damage and alcohol-based products. Both dry the hair and make it break. It is best to use a protein leave-in conditioner as a best option and to allow your hair to air dry.
-Rinse hair after exercising or sweating to get rid of salt that your body produces. Even if you choose not to wash your hair, this is a good idea.
An Explanation Why All Methods To Stop Sweating Are Inadequate
October 16, 2009 by anthony
Filed under Stop Sweating
People are always looking for methods to prevent body odor but the main reason why the perfect method to do so has remained elusive till date is that no one actually knows why some people sweat more than the others. The medical world is at a loss to understand this condition and there are several theories floating around. They have honored the condition with a name though, hyperhidrosis, but are still investigating what causes it.
Sweating is a form of excretion from the body, just as urination is, but sweating can occur anywhere on the entire skin of the body. The skin has sweat pores (medically, sebaceous glands) that are connected to sweat ducts which collect the sweaty excretion and discharge it from the body. Since the sweat ducts are present everywhere on the skin, sweating can happen anywhere.
It is fallacious to think that there are more sweat pores in certain areas of the body, because different people have been known to sweat more from different parts of the body. Most people will sweat profusely from their armpits, but there are so many who sweat excessively from their palms, their soles, necks, chests, backs, foreheads and almost every place that you can think of.
All these things are quite perplexing to the medical fraternity who has found it very difficult to come up with an effective and lasting cure for this problem so far. They believe that the method to prevent underarm sweating can be devised by reducing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which seems to be responsible for hyperhidrosis in the first place, but then the sympathetic nervous system is governed by a particular region of the brain, which cannot be effectively pinpointed. Certainly the problem is much larger than it seems.
Methods such as Botox injections are painful and sympathectomies (surgical destruction of the sympathetic nerves) are quite risky. Though people enter these kinds of therapies, they and their treatment providers know that these methods are not going to be permanent, whatever inconvenience they may cause and howsoever much expensive they may be.
The reason why most stop underarm odor methods are inadequate is because the medical world is yet ignorant of what causes excessive sweating. They are not sure which part of the body (or brain) makes it happen, because sweating can occur from all over the skin.
On the contrary, simple methods like drinking lots of water and avoiding stressful conditions are proving to be just as effective in stopping sweating as these medical methods are. It is a very confusing situation both for the doctors as well as for the people who are seeking treatments for their sweaty problems.
Beauty is Only Skin Deep
September 24, 2009 by anthony
Filed under Excessive Sweating
Beauty is only skin deep, but beautiful skin can be yours to keep.
When you have a busy lifestyle it’s easy to forget about pampering your skin. But taking time to pamper it produces a big pay off–healthy skin. And it’s worth it.
Your skin is the largest organ of your body. It protects and covers your body while holding everything in place—including bones, muscles and internal organs. In addition, your skin helps your body to maintain its proper temperature.
The outside layer of skin—your “birthday suit,” is called the epidermis. Beneath this surface, new skin cells are continually forming and moving to the top. This process takes about 2-4 weeks. When newer cells move up, older cells die off and rise to the surface. Each time you shower or bathe, you are losing dead skin cells. Surprisingly, you lose 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells every minute. In fact, experts say we lose approximately 9 pounds of skin cells every year!
Beneath the epidermis lies a layer of skin called the dermis. This layer contains nerve endings, blood vessels, oil glands and sweat glands. It also contains substances called collagen and elastin, which help to give skin its elasticity. The blood vessels within the dermis keep skin cells healthy by bringing them oxygen and nutrients, and they work to eliminate waste products. Oil glands (sebaceous glands) that lie within the dermis produce sebum, which is the skin’s natural oil. This oil keeps skin lubricated and protected while keeping skin “waterproof” so we don’t end up melting into a puddle.
Nerve endings that lie within the dermis are responsible for our sense of touch. These nerve endings work in concert with the brain and nervous system, and this is how we are able to tell the difference between the soft velvet feel of a rose petal and the sharp stabbing pain of a thorn.
Our sense of touch allows us to experience wonderful feelings, but it also protects us by delivering a signal to the brain when something presents immediate danger. This process happens so fast we don’t have time to think about it. If you accidentally walk into something sharp, the immediate response is to move away from the object. On the other hand, when we encounter something soothing, our natural response is to continue having the pleasure sensation…like “touch my bikini—and do it like you mean it!”
The bottom layer of skin, called the subcutaneouslayer, is primarily comprised of fat. This layer helps to absorb shock and keep us warm. The roots of the hair follicles are housed in this layer, and hair follicles are found throughout the body, except for the palms of the hands, soles of the feet and the lips. The sebaceous glands work with the hair follicles to release oil onto hair to give it shine and protection.
An overlooked—but important function of the skin is the role it plays in keeping the body’s temperature at approximately 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is beneficial for the cells of your body. When you get overheated, sweat glands within the skin help to cool it off. When sweat is released it evaporates and this process creates a cooling effect.
The skin gradually becomes thinner as we age and the oil producing glands grow less active. This can leave our skin drier and more prone to wrinkles. In addition, the number of blood vessels decreases with age, so skin becomes more fragile and it becomes harder to maintain a youthful “glow.” But good skin care practices—such as avoiding too much sun, washing your skin gently, applying a good moisturizer, exercising regularly (which improves circulation), and following sound nutritional practices (to “feed your skin) can give you a natural glow. When it comes to sunlight, experts recommend protecting your skin when the sun’s rays are the most intense, which is from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Experts suggest applying sunscreen liberally 20 minutes before going outdoors and then reapplying it every two hours. It should also be applied again after heavy sweating or swimming. Protective clothing worn during these hours is also helpful, so a chic and sexy cover up can be fashionable and functional.
Bear in mind that smoking contributes to wrinkles. In fact, changes in the skin have been seen in young adults who have smoked for as few as 10 years! This is because smoking causes narrowing of the blood vessels and this depletes the skin of oxygen and nutrients vital for skin health. The idea is to keep the skin’s natural elastic fibres of elastin and collagenhealthy because these fibres give skin a youthful texture and appearance. So ‘kicking the habit’ is better for your skin.
Another essential part of pampering your skin is proper cleaning. This is where you want to remember “the gentle touch.” Treat your skin gently. Here’s what experts recommend:
Use warm water and limit bath and shower time. Long showers and too much hot water can remove oils from your skin. Limits shower and bath times to 15 minutes or less, and use tepid or warm water.
Avoid strong soaps. Strong soaps can strip oil from your skin.
Remove eye makeup carefully. The skin around the eye area is extremely delicate. Use a soft sponge or cotton ball when removing eye makeup.
Pat skin dry. After a shower or bath, remember to gently pat or blot dry. The idea is to keep some of the moisture on your skin. Then, immediately follow up with a good moisturizer.
Moisturize regularly. Moisturizers help seal in skin’s natural moisture. So for velvet soft skin, moisturize regularly. If your skin feels tight 20 minutes after bathing—you need a moisturizer.
I suggest consulting a skin care expert to determine which moisturizer is best for your skin because skin types vary. Shop around for a qualified skin care specialist. I have dry skin, so I need an intense moisturizer. My husband’s skin is the opposite, so we have a variety of soaps and moisturizers in our household. Find the products that are right for your particular skin type.
Remember to be careful when shaving because shaving can cause skin irritation. Shaving dry skin can cause razor burn, so apply shaving cream or lotion to protect and lubricate your skin. Use a clean sharp razor, and shave in the direction of hair growth. I avoid alcohol-based products.
To keep your skin healthy and beautiful I suggest starting from the inside. Good nutrition and proper hydration can assist your body’s natural mechanisms. You can tell the difference in the appearance of your skin when you eat a lot of “junk food.” A balanced diet that includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables is essential for bikini body skin fitness. You’ve heard the expression: “You are what you eat.” I’ve been hearing this since grade school (many moons ago), and my mother always told me this. But it’s true. Many experts believe the foods you put on your plate may be more beneficial than anything you put on your skin.
Treat your skin right, and healthy skin will be your treat!
george markos
