The Cream Queen

I’m sure we all know that Cleopatra was renowned for being a beautiful woman with a beautiful complexion. Even if it’s just legend, her name still resembles what women all love to have — natural, flawless, beautiful skin. One thing that remains the same throughout the ages is that beauty is linked to healthy skin.

Cleopatra and other Egyptian queens were known to follow beauty regimes that focused on creating beautiful skin as an outcome.

I have always moisturized my skin and my whole body from top to bottom. When I lived in Europe many years ago I learned how to utilize the crème de la crème of beauty creams for every part of my body, literally, eye cream, face cream, décolletage, cream, hand cream, cuticle cream, foot cream, buttock cream, and leg and thigh cream. Did I miss anything? Maybe the retail stores saw me coming and sold me costly products that weren’t necessary, however, my skin was well moisturized and the time and energy it took to massage the creams over my body was well worth the effort. My skin glowed.

Today, this daily habit of massaging and moisturizing my skin has more than proven itself out. I currently use a high-quality Canadian manufactured colostrum cream and virgin coconut oil. Combined these two natural cosmetic wonders work their magic over my entire body, plus I use the coconut oil in my recipes to obtain the multitude of health benefits it offers.

Healthy, soft and radiant skin starts from the inside out. Every day I drink many litres of filtered water, eat mounds of raw vegetables and I incorporate plenty of essential fatty acids in my diet, such as flax, hemp and an array of antioxidant seed oils in my protein shakes, on salad dressings and homemade dips.

The skin is the largest eliminative organ and contrary to convention, much of what goes on your skin can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Many skin care products are chemically based or modified. When purchasing a commercial moisturizer avoid products with words listed on the ingredient panel you can’t pronounce such as petroleum by-products, artificial colors or fragrances associated. Real creams with natural and essential oils are concentrated and therefore preferred over most lotions.

What type of skin do you have? Is your skin normal, oily, dry? Answer these questions first before choosing your skin products.

Normal Skin Type

This type of skin has a clear, fine textured, supple and smooth surface which is neither greasy nor dry. It glows with an inner health that stems from good blood circulation and excellent health.

Dry Skin Type

Dry skin has a parched look caused by its inability to retain moisture. A dry skin is a fine-textured skin and is prone to wrinkles and chapping. Dry skin is more difficult to moisturize in cold weather.

Oily Skin Type

Often a chronically oily skin has coarse pores and pimples and other embarrassing blemishes and a greasy look. If you have excessively oily skin, consume a diet rich in high-quality proteins but restricted in chemically altered fats, sodium and fluids with added sugar.

In previous articles of Fresh I wrote about brush massage and hot and cold showers. These practices are ideal as they prepare the landscape of the skin for moisturizing with natural creams. It’s just like warming up in the gym before you hit the weights.

Here’s the face, neck and décolleté moisturizing ritual that I’ve practiced for many years and it only takes a few minutes.

1. After I wash my face, I dip my clean fingers into the cream or oil (using approximately ½ teaspoon) which I then proceed to rub into the palms of my hands.
2. I close my eyes and start massaging my cheeks slowly and gently in circular movement patterns using all of my fingertips to complete 20 circles.
3. Next I move to the outside of my nose and massage from the bridge to the nasal labia, up, down and outwards away from the base of the nose for a count of 20.
4. With the index and middle finger of both hands, I vigorously massage my forehead, in a lateral or horizontal direction, right hand moving left to right and left hand moving right to left, also to a count of 20.
5. With both hands and using four fingers of each hand, I massage gently around the eyes and the tip of the cheekbone in a circular direction moving outwards away and downward from each hand (right hand moving in right direction, left hand moving in the left direction), again to a count of 20.
6. I move down to my neck and using the fingers of both hands stroke in an upward direction towards the chin, moving from the left side to the right side of the neck for the count of 20.
7. The chest area or décolletage, I use both hands (whole) moving them in opposite directions (right hand moving left/right and left hand moving right/left). I massage and moisturize vigorously for a count of 20.
8. Using your thumb and all fingers gently pinch your chin. With both hands, pinch along the jawbone, moving slowly toward the ears for a count of 10.
9. I finish off by cupping both hands together moving upwards towards my forehead and out several times.
10. With the remaining cream/oil I massage my elbows, crook of arm, hands and cuticles.

This “M & M” (Massage and Moisturize) strategy perfected over time provides extremely reliable results. Incorporating this ancient technique into your daily health regime prevents dryness, damage and cross-linking (wrinkles) by restoring the delicate moisture balance of the skin and activating the process of detoxification and elimination.

Massaging and Moisturizing is an enjoyable way to relieve muscle tension in your face, neck and upper body. It improves blood and lymph circulation and truly captures the essence of natural beauty. Like exercise itself this simple technique is well worth the physical effort. You’ll not only see the difference, but just like Cleopatra; you too will feel like the Queen of the Nile.

Photo by Sarah Pflug from Burst

Every Days a Holly-Day! TKH