beauty

Refresh Your Flesh

Maintaining soft, supple skin through our harsh Canadian winters can be as simple and as satisfying as a glass of refreshing juice. Just put these ingredients through your juicer and drink up the benefits.

Skin Detoxifying Juice

Drink spuds to cleanse; this potato potion will keep your skin glowing and rejuvenated.

2 raw potatoes
1 green bell pepper
1 cucumber
1 celery stalk or 1 bunch watercress

Face Cleansing Juice

These ingredients will help detoxify your skin and keep it naturally clear.

4 carrots
1 cucumber
1 whole lemon (scrape off oily outer skin)
1 raw potato
1 artichoke
1 apple
 
Freshly made juices, unlike store-bought canned, bottled, or frozen juices, haven't begun to oxidize and lose their nutritional value. When making juice at home, process only enough for one day. Use organically grown produce, or, before juicing, wash fruits and vegetables
well to detoxify them of pesticide residues.

Sandi Gauvin

Hold on...to Your Hair!

Sure, you take care of your aging skin with special toners and moisturizers, but what about your hair?

Hair undergoes changes as we age, too. Aside from greying (which is caused by a loss of the pigment melanin in the hair follicle), most people both men and women experience some degree of hair loss as they age. Many hair follicles stop producing hair altogether, and the hair produced is thinner.

A diet rich in silica, calcium, and iron may help reduce some hair loss. Foods rich in these minerals include green leafy vegetables, especially sea vegetables, dried fruits, and whole raw oats. B vitamins pantothenic acid (B5) and niacin (B3) are also essential for healthy hair. They're found in beans, nutritional yeast, nuts, and eggs.

Topically, you can address hair loss and dryness associated with aging by massaging the following essential oils into your scalp once a week.

• 2 drops each clary sage, rosemary, geranium, lavender essential oils
• 2 tbsp (15 mL) carrier oil, such as sweet almond oil or olive oil

Massage into scalp and let the oils soak in for at least an hour (use a plastic cap over your head to keep the heat and moisture in), then shampoo and condition.

Note: Hair loss may also be due to an underactive thyroid gland; see a naturopath if you experience any of the other symptoms of hypothyroidism (see alive.com).

Susan Safyan