Milk & honey

Two of the most nourishing, soothing skin-care ingredients come straight from the breakfast table

MILK AND HONEY are the original comfort foods. Both are strongly associated with childhood (soupy bowl of Honey Smacks, anyone?) and with relaxation. A little warm milk is commonly sipped in the evening to promote sleep (this works, thanks to milk's tryptophan content), while honey is a sweet treat whether it's spread onto bread or stirred into tea.

As it turns out, this delicious duo comforts more than mind and soul. "Milk and honey are terrific in skin care because they're soothing and nourishing for the skin," explains Doris J. Day, M.D., a dermatologist in New York City and author of Forget the Face-Lift. Both milk and honey have natural properties that help alleviate redness and calm irritated skin; both are hydrating; and both provide gentle, skin-renewing exfoliation.

No wonder so many beauty brands are creating products that feature these fabulous fluids. Here's our head-to-toe guide to the best of the batch.

the milky way

MILK CONTAINS LACTIC ACID, a gentle exfoliant, and is a good source of vitamins A and D, which nourish the complexion. Whole milk is such a powerful soother for dry, itchy skin that it can be used to take the sting out of minor bums and rashes. "Milk proteins [aka whey] are usually much more concentrated than even milk itself, making products with whey proteins very effective," says Day. Look for "lactic acid," "milk proteins," or "whey" on the label to make sure you get the good stuff.

Goat’s Milk for your Skin

Goat’s Milk for your SkinThere are some natural treatments for your skin that most definitely deserve a second look when it comes to their many benefits. One of the best ingredients to moisturize and heal your skin is milk, and one of the best types of milk that you can use to cleanse your skin is goat’s milk.

Milk has been used for centuries as an effective skin treatment. Cleopatra used to take regular milk baths, which could have been the reason for her beautiful skin. There are a number of nutrients in milk that are good for your skin, including vitamins A and D as well as probiotics. The lactic acid in milk also contains natural beta hydroxy acids that act as an exfoliator to strip the skin of dead cells and leave it soft and silky smooth. The reason that goat’s milk is such a good choice in skin care is because the pH in this particular milk matches the pH in our skin better than any other type of milk, adding to the soft, supple feel after washing with it.


How to Use


Goat’s Milk as a Skin Care Product

So you have decided that goat’s milk will be good for your skin, but how do you use it? This can actually be the easy part, since there are any number of commercial skin care products available that contain this wonderful ingredient. You can select from lotions, creams and soaps that will pamper your skin as they moisturize. You can also create your own goat’s milk bath by adding a cup or two of the milk to your tub. It is best to warm the milk a bit before pouring it into the bath. You can also add a couple of drops of the essential oil of your choice (almond oil works well) for additional moisturizing qualities and fragrance.

Goat’s milk soap is another good choice in a bath product that is strong enough to thoroughly cleanse, but gentle enough for even the youngest bathers in your household. People with skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis have also found goat’s milk soaps and other bath products to be beneficial to their skin. At the very least, these products will be gentle enough that they won’t exacerbate any type of skin condition.

Milk has been a skin care ingredient that has been used for centuries by some of the most beautiful women in history. Why not try this amazing product for yourself, and indulge in a goat’s milk bath the next time you decide to hit the tub? If it’s good enough for Cleopatra, surely it will work for you!

Senin, 01 Oktober 2007

Milk: Helpful or Harmful for your skin?

MilkMilk has been regarded as a favorite additive to cosmetic preparations meant to cleanse and moisturize the skin, but is it really a healthy beauty choice? Recent studies on milk have shown that the consumption of milk has a variety of negative effects on its consumers, especially those with dark complexions. Most commercial milk is not produced in the same way as the milk used in your grandmother’s favorite homemade skin tonic that she used to produce on the family dairy farm. The cows making most milk today are often eating a poor diet, and are sick and pregnant, causing their hormones to enter into the milk.

The progesterone present in a pregnant cow’s milk breaks down into androgens. Androgens are steroid hormones that control the masculine traits and characteristics in vertebrates. Testosterone is probably the most commonly discussed androgen. Some doctor’s think that the development of acne in teenagers can be tied to milk consumption through the extra androgens consumed in milk. When a boy is going through puberty, for example, the extra dose of testosterone he could be getting when he drinks a few glasses of milk each day can cause major skin outbreaks due to imbalanced hormone levels.
Additionally, many people are allergic to milk, and the allergic reactions often show themselves as skin problems. Atopic dermatitis in infants is often caused by cow milk consumption, and more adults are lactose intolerant than they realize. An allergic reaction caused by milk can look like the common zit, or can be small, dry, white bumps that appear in patches all over the skin. The bumps may be itchy, and may come and go.
What you consume affects your entire body, and your skin is your biggest organ. If you must drink milk, try only drinking milk from cows that are fed natural products and are allowed to roam free. Some doctor’s feel that the stress hormones given off in cows that are factory farmed and transferred into the milk can transfer and trigger the same stress hormones to be produced in the drinker. Similarly, if you feel topical preparations made with milk are beneficial to your skin, stick to organic milk. As with anything you put on your skin, you should only use the highest quality milk and yogurt when making your own homemade beauty formulas.
No matter what type of skin irritation you are dealing with, if your affliction seems to be a mystery, try cutting dairy out of your diet for 7 to 10 days. As with any allergic reaction, your body needs time to flush the toxins out before symptoms will improve.
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