You can provide natural skin sun protection and help reverse skin damaged by UV radiation.

Here on our website we have mentioned over and over again that one of the best things you can do to maintain great looking skin is to prevent skin sun damage. Excess exposure to the ultraviolet radiation in sunlight can create all sorts of damage to your skin and this will result in premature and excessive skin aging.

The best way to avoid skin sun damage is to stay out of the sun during the hottest time of the day, particularly during summer. If you are unable to do this then wear a good sun hat and long sleeved shirt.

These provide excellent skin sun protection, however even wearing the right hat and clothes may not give you 100 percent protection. For instance even though a hat may shade your face it will not do so all the time. It is quite possible of course to buy sunscreens, however there is now evidence that not all sunscreens provide sufficient UV protection, particularly against UVA, for us to rely on.

However there are also natural sunscreens available that help prevent sun damaged skin by increasing our natural protection against ultraviolet radiation. One of these is called lycopene. And not only does it provide some protection against the ravages of ultraviolet radiation but studies are showing that it can also help reverse some of the more damaging effects of excessive sun exposure.

You may have heard of lycopene. It comes from tomatoes as well as a few other vegetables and has been studied extensively for many of its health giving properties. For instance studies are now suggesting that an adequate level of lycopene in the diet can help protect against prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. However studies are also demonstrating that lycopene has an effect as a natural sunscreen helping your skin stay younger by preventing sun damage, and that increasing the intake of lycopene in the diet can help reverse some of the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation.

Sun damage to the skin is called photo-aging. Photo-aging from excessive ultraviolet radiation means that your skin begins to look older, drier and more wrinkled and, over time, can even begin to look leathery. It is possible to reverse some of the effects of photo-aging, and the use of lycopene is one of the ways of doing this. Studies are showing that increasing the intake of lycopene can help smooth your skin as well as increasing skin thickness and density.

Of course simply increasing the amount of tomatoes and tomato based products in your diet will increase your intake of lycopene, thereby giving you the benefits of this natural sunscreen as well as starting to reverse some of the damage your skin has probably suffered from excessive ultraviolet radiation over the years. And if the studies are correct it will also help provide men with some protection against prostate cancer and women with some protection against breast cancer.

However there are other ways to increase your intake of lycopene to help reverse sun damage to skin that has had too many days in the sun. There are products formulated which include lycopene as an active ingredient and which combine a range of other ingredients also known to be beneficial to improved skin health.

For example it is known that omega 3 fatty acids, namely DHA and EPA, that are found in fish and fish products are beneficial to improving the health of your skin. Omega 3 fatty acids are particularly effective in helping reduce inflammation, and reducing inflammation can improve skin health. There are skin problems caused by inflammation and omega 3 helps combat these problems. Omega 3 fatty acids are extremely similar to the composition of natural skin oils produced in the skin itself and they are therefore also an effective moisturiser.

Astaxanthin has also been shown to have properties to help improve the health of your skin. Astaxanthin has been found to help improve skin moisture content and this in turn will help reduce the appearance of wrinkles. It is also another natural sunscreen that helps provide you some further skin sun protection. It is also known to help reduce skin reddening.

In some circles lycopene has been touted at the latest miracle ingredient and path to optimum health. Whilst these claims are usually excessive for just about any natural (or unnatural) ingredient, it does seem that the science is showing that increasing our intake of lycopene may have some beneficial effects for your skin as well as some other aspects of your health.

It is possible to source a product that combines lycopene with omega 3 essential fatty acids as well as Astaxanthin, all in one supplement. Xtend Life produces a premium omega 3 supplement that includes lycopene and Astaxanthin, thereby combining the skin health benefits of all 3 in one capsule.

Simply taking these improved omega 3 supplements should help you protect your skin and reverse some of the effects of sun damage on your skin as well as provide a degree of natural sun protection. However for optimum skin care it is necessary to supplement the use of these high quality omega 3 capsules with the application of top shelf natural skin care products. Xtend Life, who make the Omega3 supplements to which we have already referred also make what we consider to be the worlds finest range of natural skin care products.

Combine the use of high quality premium omega 3 supplements containing lycopene and Astaxanthin with high quality natural skin care products and you’re well on your way to improving your skin health and looks.

Every year science is finding new ingredients from such natural sources as tomatoes that have important implications for many areas of our overall health, as well as for our skin health. Cutting-edge science investigates these ingredients, and cutting edge health care and skin care companies produce the products which can be taken by the average person such as yourself. Read the rest of this entry

Get the finest (and safest) organic and natural skin care products on the planet. HERE

Written by - Natural Health

(And make sure you read our page about Natural Skin Care, it's quite an eye opener about modern skin care products.)

What is natural shea butter, why should you use natural skin care products that contain natural shea butter?

The whole point to natural skin care products is that they contain natural ingredients. Ingredients that are both naturally occurring and are safe to use. Note that there are natural substances that are definitely unsafe to use, so the bit about safe to use in the products is an important point.

Natural Shea Butter is one of these ingredients. Shea butter is one of the most important ingredients to find in the very best natural skin care products. Lets look at what Natural Shea Butter is and why you should be using skin care products that have it listed in the ingredients.

Shea butter comes from the seed from the nut of the Shea tree, found in Africa, technically named Butyrospermum parkii after Mr Mungo Park who is credited with discovering it in the 1800s. The fruit, or nut, of the tree is picked then dried and the fat is extracted from the seed by a process of boiling and pressure.

The resultant product is shea butter and it is in fact the extracted oils, or fats, of the Shea nut.

Why is it good for your skin? It is one of the very best naturally occurring moisturizers. One of the reasons for this is that the oils in natural Shea Butter are virtually identical to those produced by the sebaceous glands of the skin, so using natural skin care products with Shea Butter is like applying your skin’s own moisturizer. Perfect.

It also softens the skin and helps reduce inflammation, one of the more damaging skin conditions, and reduces scars and blemishes on the skin as well as brown spots or skin age spots.

More than this, it is highly effective at reducing stretch marks and wrinkles.

When applied to the skin it is completely absorbed and leaves no residue on the surface of the skin. Studies have shown visible improvements in the skin in 4 to 6 weeks.

The best Natural Shea Butter is cold pressed, just like the best olive oil is cold pressed, for the same reasons. It produces the real natural oil, free from any chemical additive that is added to the product during chemical extraction.

The worlds best natural skin care products use Shea Butter in their products and the results are truly exceptional. You can try their products risk free as well, because they offer a money back guarantee, something very rare in the skin care industry. Read the rest of this entry

Get the finest (and safest) organic and natural skin care products on the planet. HERE

Written by - Natural Health

(And make sure you read our page about Natural Skin Care, it's quite an eye opener about modern skin care products.)