Sweat it does a body good!

I don’t know about you, but I hate to sweat. I don’t like getting over heated and I hate the sticky sweaty feeling as your clothes cling to your skin or sweat drips down your forehead onto your face. Hair clinging to your skin. Let’s face it, nothing about sweating is appealing to me…except one thing. The saving grace and the best reason to get out there and break a good sweat on a regular basis; it is excellent as a natural skin conditioner.


So what good is it for your skin? The act of sweating does one thing that is phenomenally significant for skin conditioning, it opens and cleanses the pores. Sweating is a natural act to help cool the body. When your core temperature reaches a certain level, the pores of the skin release water and salt. As the salt water dries on the surface the skin cools creating a natural air conditioning. Think of it like a fresh salt water rinse for your body. The pores open up and turn on their faucet to cool you off which also results in them getting a clean rinse as a bonus. When our skin is unclogged, it’s easier for the skin to rejuvenate. So, clean pores give us skin that is vibrant and glowing.

Of course there are other benefits for your health such as building stronger cardiovascular system and respiration. Some claim you detox through your skin, but if that is true, it would really be so insignificant and surface really. If you can recall your elementary anatomy class, you know that the Kidneys and the Liver are the bodies power tools for detoxifying, not your sweat glands. It’s just not how the human body was designed. But if you want to boost your detox ability, then help out your kidney and liver by drinking your 8 servings of plain ‘ole water.

So if you want skin that looks and acts younger, get out there and break a sweat!

So what’s with the Green and Blue bottles?

The conundrum of how to package product for consumers is something that takes great consideration. It becomes even more perplexing when you factor eco responsibility. We want our products to be safe and have confidence that they will stay as fresh as possible for an acceptable shelf life. But, for Très Spa, we want to balance it with our sense of stewardship for the world we live in.

While glass is the best (especially colored glass), it weighs a great deal more than plastic and I personally do not feel comfortable with glass in the shower or bathroom. So after much consideration, we choose to use both blue and green PET bottles and jars. The plastic is a good gas and fair moisture barrier, as well as a good barrier to alcohol and solvents. It is light weight, strong, and impact-resistant making it far more practical than glass.

The resin signature of PET is 1 making it one of the most favorable for recycling. The jars and bottles can be recycled and the materials used to make lining for handbags, polar fleece, and carpet fibers.

I did have a customer ask me if the plastic contained BPA. Typically plastic marked with a resin count of 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 do not contain BPA. Resin counts or 3 and 7 may contain BPA. How do you know what the resin count is of the bottle? Look on the bottom for a stamp like this one;  

So why colored bottles? Since we use pure plant based ingredients and only pure essential oils, we want to protect them for as long as possible. The color helps to block UV rays that can damage the plant based ingredients. 

A Facial is not just about your face

When I talk with people about good face care, I always make certain to include the neck and the décolleté. Why?

Have you ever noticed someone who has had work on their face. You know that kind of “work” I am talking about. But even with what may look like tight firm skin free of wrinkles or the blemishes, you notice something odd. Perhaps their chin line is fine but look a little further down and you start to notice the mismatch. The neck or upper chest area looks older than their face would have you believe.

When you take in the view of the face, you also take in the view of the neck and the upper chest area, also referred to as the décolleté. Some people forget to apply the same care to these areas as they do for their face. The result makes for a very odd inconsistent look.  It is more evident with women, since clothes are designed to accentuate a lower neck line. It is even more evident with the spring and summer clothes. However, it is just as important for men to pay attention to this area when applying facial care products.

Remember to care for the entire face, neck and décolleté area at the same time. You should be able to apply the same treatment products to the entire area. Proper care of the skin in this area is really not that much different than the rest of your body. Clean, exfoliate, moisturize and repeat. It’s simple really.  The only difference is in the type of products we may choose to use. For example, skin that is exposed to the elements more than others, may need extra attention. And skin that shows the effects of time almost always gets extra attention for everyone. Whether you want it to or not.

Clean: You don’t need to strip your skin to clean it. The purpose is to remove surface dirt. For that a good quality soap should do the trick. I usually recommend the Naked Soap from Très Spa for my customers. It is made with our signature blend of organic oils and has honey, organic buttermilk, and organic oatmeal for added benefits. It is an old fashioned country kind of soap and feels amazing on the skin. If you are wearing makeup that cannot be removed with good soap and warm water, you might want to rethink your cosmetic choices!

Exfoliate: OK so after you have cleaned the surface dirt, you will want to clear the skin at a deeper level. Exfoliation helps to remove dead skin cells and open up the pores of the skin. There are several options to exfoliate. At Très Spa we have four options to choose from and you can mix and match to suit your needs. 

1. Choose any one of our soaps that have a mild exfoliate such as Naked, Renew, Sanctuary, Awaken, Enlighten, Lemon Ginger Snap. I would avoid the exfoliates that are seeds or tapioca pearls as they can be a bit more abrasive.
2. Use a body scrub. I occasionally will use the Old Fashioned Country Scrub. You may also use the Sweet Stuff Sugar Polish. I would avoid exfoliates that are more abrasive like the Mocha Latte or the Tethy’s Sea scrub. Salts and Arabica beans may be excellent at buffing the skin, but the skin on your face, neck, and décolleté require a softer touch.
3. You can use the Cleansing Grains as a scrub. Mix the grains with your own choice of wetting agents to change the aspects of your facial care. They are fun to play with and only limited by your imagination.
4.  For an everyday cleansing, I like to use a Très Spa soap wrapped in one of the Body Buffers that are hand made by Très Spa. They are 100% Hemp fiber and very eco-friendly. Because of the fiber we use in creating the buffers, they offer just the right amount of scrubbing action without being to abrasive.

Moisturize: Boy you have allot of choices here and there are some products out on the market making incredible claims for anti-aging and solving all kinds of issues. You can read my Blog on How to pick a good moisturizer for tips and advice on what to look for. There are a vast array of choices and they all fall into a couple of basic categories: Lotion, Cream, and Oil. 

For times you feel you need a thicker moisturizer, use a cream. For a lighter and preservative free solution, I recommend a face oil. Falling right in the middle of these two is the moisturizers that fall into the lotion category. Très Spa offers Defiance as our crown jewel in face creams, a selection of organic face oils for an array of skin needs: Meadow – high in anti-oxidants, Balance- to help the skin balance oil production, and Sahara – an oasis for dry skin. If you wish to use one of our lotions, then I recommend the synergy scent blend Sanctuary and Romance. Men may prefer the synergy blend Renew with its forest notes.

There are also times you may want to add a toner and face masks to your routine, but for an everyday routine you can keep it simple.  No matter what routine you choose to adopt to care for your face, just remember to include the other bits too. 

Lessons I learned from being a Marathon Runner: How to achieve the impossible

Deciding to run a 26.2 mile course in a controlled time was not a natural choice for me. To say I was not the “athletic type” would be a serious understatement. On top of that, I hate to sweat. I mean it, I just do not like it even though I know it is great for me and for my skin, I just don’t like it. But the decision was made and commitments were given. Since I am a person of my word, there was no turning back. If you read my first post in this series you see how I was challenged to take on a full marathon: Lessons I learned : You need good shoes.

So here I am standing at the starting line with my new shoes. Now what? How on earth am I ever going to get to 26.2 miles when I can’t even get to ½ mile at this point. Seriously, when I started on this journey a ½ mile was a really big thing for me. From even my early years, I was never interested in sports, never liked attention, and preferred staying in-doors. Marathoning for me was marathon movie watching. Now, that I could get behind. But, that will not help me finish this goal.

The first thing you need to do after you get those shoes is set a plan up. Planning is something I love to do. Ask anyone who knows me well. I love to plan things and I often tell people “I can to be spontaneous! Just let me know in advance so I can plan for it.” I take to planning like a duck takes to water. Personally, I think it is a great skill to have and find it handy for all kinds of applications in life. I have even planned some wonderful vacation trips that I have yet to take, but the plans are all there.

So in order to create a plan you need to do the research. I read everything I could get my fingers on for running, endurance training, and articles interviewing endurance athletes. So, basically I went in search of advice from others who went before me. Of course, no one was just like me but their experiences gave me a great deal of guidance on how to design my plan.

Looking forward to the end goal, successfully completing a full marathon, seemed like an impossible dream. But, I ignored the end goal and focused on the smaller steps to get me there. I did not start out each training session wondering how I would ever go from a half of a mile to completing 26.2 miles. I started out each day looking at what the plan was for that day and followed it. I just kept doing that over and over until before I knew it, my training runs were 18 miles.

The planning guided me in making the impossible happen. I have the medals to prove it and while I no long participate in endurance sports, they remind me that what may seem like an impossibility can be achieved. Just make the plan and do it!  

What do you want to achieve in your like that seems like an impossibility? For me, I know I have several things I would like to achieve and many plans I need to make to hit those goals. 

What is the best way to protect my skin from the sun?

Believe it or not, the weather is about to take a turn for sunshine and high temps. I know it is hard to believe considering it is already June and we are having another rain storm this weekend. But do not dispair, there will be a change in the weather by this coming weekend. That usually means we all want to head to the beach, the park, or any other open outdoor space we wish to explore. We are all excited to be through the days of chilly winds and cold rainy days and long for a bit of glorious sunshine.
In our excitement and enthusiasm to bask our faces and get a little sun kissed, don’t over do it! You never want to cook your skin. It’s just not atractive!

Being very fair skinned and having suffered from sun burn many many times in my life, I can speak from experience. Now that I am older and wiser, I understand that some skin types need special care in order to protect them. My sisters never needed it and they could run and play all summer long and while they got darker, they never seemed to burn. Me on the other hand, if that sun got one glimpse for longer than 20 minutes without protection, I was toast!

Every year, without fail, I get asked about sun screen. Sunscreens are chemical agents that help prevent the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation from reaching the skin. They are considered to be an OTC drug and fall under the FDA CFR 21. At Très Spa, we do not make sun screen. Why, well for a couple of reasons. One, we do not make drugs and anyone making a Sunscreen should be following FDA regulations on drug manufacturing. Two there are lots of companies out there that offer the latests in scientificly developed screens that are designed to protect the skin and not rinse off in the water. These companies are manufacturing a drug that is required to go through a series of rigorous clinical testing before being approved. The process is very extensicve and very costly. Too costly for a small independent company to afford.

So if you must go out in the sun here are some tips worth repeating.
The best sunscreen is to stay covered and out of the direct rays of the sun. Since that is not likley to happen, then try your best to avoid the sun at it’s most potent time of day ( about 10am to 4pm). If that is not possible, then please for goodness sake buy a sun screen that is high in UVB and UVA protection!
What is the best one to choose? Select a sun screen that has had clinical testing. Do not rely on special interest groups to tell you what is and isn’t “safe”. Especially when they are not peer reviewed! Again, Sunscreen is considered a drug and is required to undergo extensive testing and clinical trials before it can be sold as a drug. Here is a great resource to help guide you in searching for screens to protect your skin in the sun: http://www.skincancer.org/Sunscreen/

So what do you do if your already sun burned? Nothing can be done to reverse a burn, the best you can do is to help the skin stop cooking (that is the heat you feel) and to replenish the skin from the nutrients that just got radiated out of it.

• Replenish from the inside! Drink water, juice, or even sports drinks.
  
• Cool off the outside! The purpose of bathing after a burn is to help stop the cooking process that is the cause of the burn. Take a cool bath as soon as you possibly can. Adding Oatmeal and Buttermilk can also help but stay away from salts or bubbles. Oatmeal can help sooth irritated skin and milk creates a protien film to also soothe the skin. No bath, then take a long cool shower. If you use bar soap, use a handcrafted one as these are naturally superfatted (you knew I would say that right). Better still if your handcrafted soap has milk and ground oatmeal. If you don’t have a handcrafted bar soap, shame on you, just rince with the water only.
  
• Moisturize moisturize moisturize!!!! You need to make sure your skin doesn’t go dry. Peelling is going to happen, but you do not want a dry peel. Use a moisturizer that is designed to penetrate the skin. Try our apres Soliel body oil, our Sanctuary Body Butter, or our Santuary or Romance body lotion.
  

If you are feeling light headed, nausious, or headachy, you may want to seek a doctors care. Also, if you have a fever, you may want to see a doctor or at least consult with an advise nurse. Remember, the best treatment for sunburned skin is to not get burned in the first place!

To learn more about Très Spa or to shop our on-line store, visit us at http://www.tresspa.com/

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How do I pick a good moisturizer?

Honestly, when I was a kid I didn’t think anything about skin care. I was blessed with clear skin and the occasional acne break out got zapped with good ole’ rubbing alcohol and off I went. Life was simpler then. I found as I left my teens and entered into my twenties, things began to change. It was never drastic, just a slow changing process and now as time has progressed even farther I can appreciate the differences that time has afforded me. Now I would never think of doing what I did when I was a kid and I understand so much more about the natural remedies my grandparents had been teaching me all those years ago.

By the time I was looking at the tail end of 20’s and looking to welcome my 30’s, my skin needed just a bit more attention than simply showering and go. I needed the occasional aid of a really good moisturizer. But how do you pick a good one? Great question!

The answer is, it depends on you and your personal preferences and are you willing to read the label for yourself?  The questions you ask for yourself will help you in narrowing your choices.

• Decide if Organic is important to you. If it is then check to see if at least 50% - 75% of the ingredients are organic. If only one ingredient is organic, then it’s a nice start but you may find other formulators better suited for your needs.
•  Are you looking for particular oil? I use a variety of oils and they vary depending on the topical application. One oil I am strongly committed to using is Hemp Oil. I have been using it for years and it is an amazing oil that is rich and extremely eco-friendly. You can read more at my Blog: What’s the benefit of Hemp Seed Oil in skin care products?
• Are you looking for a solution to a need? I get allot of people looking for something to help dry skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. Since I put Hemp Seed oil in just about everything I make, my products tend to be very attractive. I use other oils as well for a multitude of reasons, each one helping strengthen the other.
• ·         Are you looking for products that are ALL Natural? Not nearly or mostly or kind of, but all natural? Then you can narrow down your selection even further. You may see allot of adds for products that boost this or that and eliminate this or that, but those ingredients come out of a test tube. Don’t get me wrong, nature is powerful and it can be quite potent. But it has a price that many formulators find too costly and to make stronger margins, they use less expensive and mass produced ingredients.
• Do you care if the scent is a synthetic fragrance or are you looking for only pure essential oils? I tend to be far to sensitive to fragrances so I avoid synthetics. But if you must have that funky fruity strawberry banana mango ag go go – then you cannot get that in nature. Sorry! Even many of the floral scents like Lilac, are not available in essential plant oils. It can only be recreated in a lab with synthesized chemicals. Too bad really, I love Lilacs.

Now as far as how I would go about selecting a moisturizer? Well I use Très Spa products that were formulated using only plant based oils and essential oils so I covered all of those questions. But which on in the family do I use? Here is what I do. First I consider the area I am intending it for. If it is my face and neck area I would use facial oils, creams and even hydrosols.  I prefer not to use lotions although I will if that is all I have on hand. If it is for my rough tough feet, then I like to slather on the butter as long as I don’t have to do much walking for the next 20 minutes. Give it time to absorb in. As far as the rest of me, I bounce between lotions, butters, body oils, mists, and the residual oils from my body scrubs.  (When I formulated the body scrubs I used oils that filled more than one purpose and for good reason. They not only hold the exfoliates together in a suspended state, they are excellent at allowing for a smoother application to the skin as the oil melts at the touch of your skin, and most importantly they are all oils I use in the moisturizing products. )

A mention about preservatives – OK so maybe you did or maybe you didn’t notice that I simply did not bring this up. If you have a product that contains water, you need to preserve it. The amount of preservative in the final product that is applied to your skin is so minute it is hardly worth mentioning. You expose yourself to far more damaging things by simply spending a few hours in traffic a week. How about that walk in the city park? It is amazing to me that a very political highly charged well funded from big business special interest group has so many under the belief that they are facing such extreme danger with their cosmetics. Ask yourself if you ever see them talking about dosage/exposure amounts or if their papers are pier reviewed. Just because I say I have a database of stuff, doesn’t mean my database is right or accurate, but then truth usually does not make good press, does it. It’s rather boring reporting that things aren’t bad.

To see Très Spa’s line of skin moisturizers, visit our on-line store. 

Green solutions that give back.

Recently I was invited to participate in an Art event in Monterey. Who could turn that one down? Not I! I love Monterey and in fact one of the Très Spa Synergy scent blends (Invigorate) has its roots of inspiration from the drive down from where I live over to the coast. You can Read More…. on our website.

Now if you have never been there, I can tell you it is like many coastal areas, prone to gusts of wind. One of the requirements is that you have a minimum of 25lbs of weight on each leg of your tent. Otherwise, you run the risk of having your tent picked up and carried away by the wind.

I’ve been doing all kinds of events since I launched Très Spa, from regular Farmers Markets in the Bay Area to large indoor art and craft events such as the Harvest Festival. Needless to say, I have amassed a good deal of configurations for displays and set ups. But in all of the stuff I have collected, no 25lb weights, not a one. My market weights are 5-10lbs and that usually works fine for my every day so I’ve never felt the need to get bigger ones.

Being very practical, I tend to not want to have things that have to be stored or only have one purpose. So I needed to solve the problem and the solution had to be green and reusable. There are probably lots of different ways I could solve the problem but in the end I found my inspiration at the Farmers Market. I was watching the fruit venders load their tables one morning when suddenly it hit me… a bag of Oranges is 10lbs and 2 bags together stuffed into a colorful sack is 20lbs! Potatoes, same thing!

OK So, food is definitely green. Supporting local farmers is also green and stimulating for the local economy. But then what am I going to do with 80lbs of food? I certainly can’t eat all that and I don’t have a big family. Eventually the food will spoil and that would be a huge waste. Then I got a referral from a friend. The Julian Street Inn!

The Julian Street Inn is one of InnVisions shelters for the homeless in San Jose. They provide food and housing for men and women as well as rehabilitation services for those diagnosed with mental illness. The Julian Street Inn is a 70 bed facility. They were very glad to receive the food donations and would welcome more. So now I know what to do when I need to use heavy weights and where I can donate after. If you would like to donate food, here is their information;

Julian Street Inn
Food Donations Only
546 W. Julian Street
San Jose, CA 95110
Donations Accepted: Monday - Thursday, 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM