Five Odd Beauty Tips That Can Keep You Looking Your Best!

There are ways you can keep your skin from looking worn out and aged, and even the oddest things can be pretty helpful! You can transform dull skin and clean out your pores, moisturize your lips and exfoliate them, soften fine lines and wrinkles, and even help to lessen the appearance of age spots!

I had never heard of some of these, and found them very interesting, and I may even try some of them myself! I've been blessed with pretty good genetics. I had grand-parents who always looked younger than they were, which has been pretty wonderful as I've gotten into my 50's. I can only hope that I look as good as they did when they got into their 60's and even 70's.

We're all going to age, it's only a matter of time, but the more pro-active we are when we are in our younger years, hopefully we can minimize the stresses that happen to our skin that make us appear older than we are!

Here are five tips to help improve your skin:

1. Try "Pepto-Bismol" for dull skin~ Yes, you read that right, pepto bismol, the same stuff you use when you have an upset stomach can do good things for your skin when applied to the skin as a "mask". This is a very off-label use for pepto bismol, but the aspirin and bismuth sub-salicylate contained in it can help transform dull skin and clean out pores, giving you a healthy glow. Simply apply it to your face, leave it on for 10 minutes, and peel off...just like a facial mask!
2. Try using green tea for age spots ~ drinking green tea can have many numerous other benefits to your health (such as cancer fighting properties, cholesterol lowering benefits (the lowering of bad cholesterol), and can even be used to help you to "burn" off calories if you are dieting! Research has shown that there is a 4% increase in burned calories when someone drinks green tea. But in addition to all of this, green tea can help reduce the appearance of wrinkles and age spots. Research was carried out jointly by researchers from the U.S., Taiwan, and Japan and found that mice that were fed green tea showed fewer signs of aging than mice that were fed water! (What DOES a wrinkled mouse look like anyway? I don't think I've ever seen one!) Green tea really DOES seem to have it's benefits, and certainly wouldn't harm you to drink it, so it's worth a try!
   
3. Along the lines of green tea, you can use tea tree oil to treat age spots ~ Tea tree oil comes from a plant that is grown in Australia. To treat your spots, mix 2 tbsp. of water and 1 tsp. tea tree oil (you need to dilute the tea tree oil so it doesn't irritate your skin). Then soak a cotton ball in this mixture and dab on the affected areas once a day before bedtime. One word of warning though, do NOT use it near your eyes or you could potentially cause damage.
4. "Manuka Honey" can be used to help soften fine lines and wrinkles ~ apply manuka honey directly to your "trouble spots," leave on for 10 to 20 minutes, then rinse it off. Because this honey has healing powers, it is sometimes used in hospitals to treat wounds. You can find it in health food stores for about $15. And as a bonus, whatever you have left over can be eaten because it tastes wonderful as well! Manuka honey is native to New Zealand, and is made when the bees visit "Manuka" flowers there. It is naturally dark in color and has amazing antibacterial and healing properties.
5. Use a mixture of sweet almond oil and sugar to treat chapped lips ~ Mix 100% pure sweet almond oil with sugar to make a paste, then dip a toothbrush in the mixture and apply it to your lips. Be careful not to scrub too hard. Your lips will feel beautifully moisturized from the oil, and the sugar acts to "exfoliate" them.

Try all of these at once, and you'll also smell like pepto bismol, tea tree oil, honey and almond oil! All kidding aside, these "home remedies" have been featured and tested by Dr. Oz, who has appeared on numerous television shows and has had his own show. He is a cardiothoracic surgeon known for giving holistic health tips.

Take good care of your skin, and chances are, you will look years younger, definitely a good benefit!