Home Beauty Tips

Everyone wants to look their best and as beautiful as they can. Many of us spend a lot of money on branded beauty products and on numerous visits to the beauty parlor. There are a number of simple beauty treatments that we can use with things that are easily available in our homes. Here are a few home beauty tips that you can try using things from the kitchen without any extra cost.

• To remove puffiness from the eyelids, massage a drop of very fresh castor oil on to them.
• To cool your eyes, make eye pads using thick slices of cucumber. Another option is to use cotton pads soaked in cold milk. Lie down and place them on your closed eyes and relax for a while.
• Putting a drop of rose water into each eye just before you sleep can also refresh you eyes.
• To prevent your lips from chapping, use hot water fermentation on your lips and then apply a mixture of vaseline and honey. Apply this mixture about three times a week.
• To prevent your lips from drying you can use a ground mixture or rose petals and milk butter.
• To delay age spots on your hand, use a piece of lemon and rub all over your hand, before washing. This will delay onset of age-spots.
• If you have no time to shampoo your hair before going out, then brush 1 tablespoon of talcum powder or corn flour through your hair. Try this out first when you are not in hurry to make sure that it works the way you want.
• To prevent hair loss you should have a biotin rich drink. Blend bananas with honey, yogurt and low fat milk. Drink this for a few weeks.
• While blow drying and setting your hair, blow-dry at hot on the roots of the hair. Roll your hair inwards or outwards at the ends. To improve the setting make sure the ends are evenly rolled in or rolled out. Heat the hair for a second and then let it cool. This process of setting the hair will last longer and make your hair look beautiful.
• To condition your hair, after shampooing your hair take some conditioner on your palm and rub it with both hands. Apply from the hair shaft moving downwards. Do not apply on your scalp. Rinse your hair after 5 minutes.
• To add extra shine and glow to your hair add 2 tablespoons of malt vinegar. Use it as a last rinse and towel dry your hair.

Keep Your House Cool without Air Conditioning

Fundamentally, the idea behind cooling your house without the aid of air conditioning is to minimize sources of heat and remove built-up heat from inside. Here are some helpful steps:

• Cut back the transfer of heat through the roof and walls. If the attic isn't already insulated or is under-insulated, insulate it NOW. This will give you the greatest change in comfort for the least amount of expense. Before you buy, see the Home Insulation Buying Guide. Weatherize your home to reduce the loss of conditioned air. Employ caulk and weather stripping to cut back on the transfer of air.
• Install a foil radiant barrier in the attic. Staple it to the underside of the roof rafters, allowing an air space between the foil and the roof sheathing. Place staples about 3 inches apart. Position seams between sheets of foil centered on the rafters and seal the seams with a bead of caulking compound.
• Install inexpensive heat-reflecting film on windows that face the sun. This will keep your house cooler and reduce glare and ultraviolet rays that damage furniture and floors. For hot climates, sun-control types are most effective, but be aware that they will reduce the amount of light that comes in through the windows. In climates where cold seasons are also a problem, choose a combination film (but do not apply it to south-facing windows if you want rooms to benefit from the sun's warmth during the winter).
• Reduce heat gain by pulling drapes or shades, and use shelters to prevent direct sunlight from streaming in through windows on the south and west-facing sides of the house. Overhangs, patio overheads, latticework, awnings--all of these work well.
• Plant now to provide shade in the future. Trees, large bushes, and vines can provide shade and cooling evaporation--choose deciduous varieties if you want to allow the sunlight to warm the house during the winter. Pay attention to the growth characteristics of any landscaping that you plant be sure it will be appropriate for the need and will not block breezes.
• Closely monitor the temperature both inside and out with an indoor/outdoor thermometer. When it is cooler outside, open up windows and doors to ventilate. (Be sure your windows and doors have adequate screens to prevent an influx of bugs.) And arrange furniture and drapes so they don't restrict airflow. If you have operable skylights or transom windows high on walls, open them to let out super-heated air and create convection currents.
• Use portable fans or ceiling fans and the "Fan Only" setting on your heating system's thermostat to keep the air moving. By doing so, you will feel comfortable in a room that is 2 or 3 degrees warmer than a still room. If your home has a whole-house fan, turn it on to extract warm air.
• Humidity makes room air feel warmer, so reduce indoor humidity. Minimize mid-day washing and drying of clothes, showering, and cooking. When you must do these things, turn on ventilating fans to help extract warm, moist air, but be sure to turn them off when you're finished so that they don't extract cooled air from the house.
• Unless you absolutely need them, turn off incandescent lights and heat-generating appliances. When it's time to cook, opt for the barbecue instead of the range.

If you try all of these measures but are still suffering from the heat, maybe it's time to consider installing an air conditioner.

Beauty Diet

Your diet contributes a great deal towards making you beautiful. Therefore eating a proper healthy diet is important to keep looking beautiful. Given below are a number of food items that you should include in your beauty diet.

• Almonds: These nuts are known for their anti-aging properties. They contain a lot of vitamin E and have a high amount of fatty acids that help to keep your skin supple. Almonds also contain antioxidant selenium. Do not too many of them as they will add calories. A handful is enough.
• Protein: To keep nails strong and moisturized by eating plenty of protein. Protein helps in the build up of keratin. Keratin is the substance that makes up nails. Skinless, boneless chicken breast, lean turkey, tuna and beans are rich in proteins.
• Vitamin B: Food that is rich in vitamin B makes your hair shiny. Important sources of this vitamin are eggs, milk, green vegetables and poultry. Silica is important to keep your hair elastic, shiny and healthy. Raw oats, cucumber skin, onions and bean sprouts are rich in this mineral.
• Fish: Eating oily fish like salmon that contain omega-3 fatty acids will help hydrating and nourishing skin.
• Zinc and Calcium: Both these minerals help in eradicating pimples. Zinc is found in oysters, turkey, seafood, eggs and milk. Calcium is no doubt good for your bones, but helps in clearing your skin too. Calcium rich foods like skim milk, low-fat cheese and yogurt. These foods not only remove pimples but reduce wrinkles as well.
• Vitamin C: Vitamin C helps in the build up of collagen, which reduces wrinkles. When your skin has more collagen your skin retains its elasticity and wrinkles take longer to form. Kiwi fruit is the best source of vitamin C. Other good sources are oranges, mango, honeydew and papaya.
• Vitamin E: Vitamin E is known to ease the swelling and redness associated with sunburns. Swelling causes the stretching of skin that in turns leads to wrinkle formation. Eat plenty of peaches and blueberries to increase the build up of vitamin E in your body.
• Vitamin C and Iron: Vitamin C and iron together help to reduce the dark circles under your eyes. Eat skinless chicken and red, yellow and orange peppers. These are rich in both and will help in reducing dark circles.
• Water: Drink as much as water as you can. Water removes the toxins from the body and refreshes your skin and makes in glow. Water hydrates your skin and keeps it supple.
• Tomatoes: Tomatoes contains skin-caner-fighting antioxidants: beta-carotene, vitamin C and lycopene. Eat tomatoes in any form and you will ingest these antioxidants. To increase the body's absorption of lycopene cook tomatoes in a little olive oil.
• Apples and Celery: To remove stain from the enamel of your teeth eat crunchy foods like apples and celery.

Beauty Food

There is no doubt that all of us want to look beautiful, slim and fit. One has to exercise sufficiently to look good. But it is important to eat the right kind of diet to look beautiful. There are a number of beauty foods that are healthy and help in enhancing your looks. Given below some foods that you can add to your diet if you want to look beautiful.

• Apple Cider Vinegar: This vinegar has a number of healing properties and it makes the skin soft and supple. Apple cider vinegar is concentrated with enzymes and these help peel off dead skin cells. It breaks down fat and helps food digest properly.
• Carrots: Help to maintain the outer layer of the skin to prevent premature aging. It works just like Retin A.
• Cheese: Make a slice or two of hard cheese a part of your diet. Cheese helps to prevent bacteria from growing in the mouth and prevents cavities. Choose between Swiss, cheddar or Gouda.
• Citrus Fruits: These fruits hold the skin cells together by forming collagen. Collagen cannot be added to the skin topically and hence fruits and juices must be made an integral part of your daily diet.
• Cranberries: These berries keep the urinary tract lining healthy.
• Garlic: Helps to combat wrinkles and restores tissues.
• Nonfat Yogurt: Is high is calcium and helps to keep your smile white and your teeth cavity-free.
• Sweet Potatoes: These potatoes are full of vitamin A and vitamin A is known for being an anti-wrinkling agent. The result of eating this vegetable is smoother skin.
• Tomatoes: This vegetable does wonders to your skin. Tomatoes are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium.
• Wheat Germ: To get rid of pimples efficiently include two or three tablespoons of wheat germ in your diet. You add this to your cereal, yogurt and cottage cheese.

Here are some general tips about a beauty diet:

• Vegetables: you should have three to five servings of vegetables daily. Include one serving of raw, leafy greens.
• Do not have more than three-ounce servings a day. Take off all the fat. Try to include two servings of turkey or chicken and a serving of fish a day is ideal.
• Fruits: Have two to three servings everyday. ½ cup of chopped or sliced fruit is one serving.
• Dairy: Have at least two servings daily. One serving is eight ounces of milk or yogurt.
• Fats: Salad dressing, cooking oil, butter and mayonnaise should be limited to two servings a day.

Eat these foods for beauty and follow the beauty diet and you will notice that over a short period of time you are looking better than you did before.