Health Education

Your state of mind is of prime consideration while you are giving massage to someone with the objective of relieving the receiver’s body from pain and tension. This is because until and unless your mind and feelings are not pure in nature you will transmit your tension to receiver’s body. Before giving a massage you should first of all watch your vibrations. If vibrations in your hand and other parts of body are rapid because of emotional upsets you should not give massage and should postpone the schedule to some other day. Example: You should not give massage while you are yourself affected from cold or flu because you may infect the receiver body. The objective is before giving a massage to someone else’s body you should be first calm yourself. When you will have peace in your mind then you will be able to give relief through massage to other person.

The most basic rule to give massage is let your instincts be your guide. While giving massage if you suddenly feel that you should touch a particular receiver’s body in a particular way then you should not hesitate in doing that. Give a touch to that particular part of receiver’s body with proper stroke and pressure as soon as it is calling you with the aim of relieving it. You should be pure in heart and should have peace of mind while giving massage this means that do not let your ego penetrate between you and your receiver. While giving a massage someone first locate problem area and then try to give relief by giving proper required stroke or application of pressure but if receiver is not relieved from pain after reasonable amount of time then abandon your efforts for a while and return to that area after sometime and then again put your efforts in achieving your aim this can be done several times in one massage if receiver’s body requires it.

‘Serious skin care’ is also about awareness. With the technological advancements and research, more and more facts are being brought to light everyday. Also, the composition and nature of skin care products seems to be changing with time. So trying out the new products is also a part of serious skin care. However, ‘serious skin care’ advises using a new product over a small patch of skin (not facial skin) first, just to see how your skin reacts to it.

‘Serious skin care’ also means knowing how to use your skin care products. Good practices include things like applying the moisturizers while the skin is damp, using upward strokes for better penetration of skin care products, removing the make up before going to bed, cleansing before moisturising or applying make up, using the correct amount of skin care products, etc. Thus, increasing the effectiveness of your skin care products is another focus area of serious skin care.

Some precautions, like avoiding contact with detergents, are also part of serious skin care. ‘Serious skin care’ means being gentle with your skin. Things like over-exfoliation, use of low quality products, and application of strong-chemical based products, are all harmful to your skin. Some people have a wrong notion about serious skin care. For them serious skin care is – using large quantities of products as often as possible. However, this really isn’t serious skin care (and that’s why awareness is so important).

‘Serious skin care’ is also about visiting your dermatologist for treatment of skin disorders. Ignoring the skin disorders can be fatal for your skin and might lead to permanent damage. So, if the things don’t improve with over the counter medication, you should immediately visit a dermatologist. Self-surgery e.g. squeezing of acne/pimples is a big no (it can lead to permanent damage of your skin).

The general acne skin care products are the ones that are used as acne-prevention measure. These include cleansers, make-up removers and similar products that help prevent acne. In the real sense, these acne skin care products are just those that should anyway be part of your daily routine. However, some of these are more oriented to act like an acne skin care product. These acne skin care products act against the causes of acne e.g. limiting the production of sebum/oil and preventing clogging of skin pores. Basically, these acne skin care products prevent the oil from getting trapped in pores and hence hamper the growth of bacteria that lead to acne. The general acne skin care products also include exfoliation products like skin peels. These work towards removing dead skin cells, hence reducing the possibility of pore-clogging and bacteria development.

Then there are specialised acne skin care products that are available over-the-counter i.e. without the need of a prescription. These include products like vanishing creams which extract the extra oil from the skin. Most of these acne skin care products are based on benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid, both of which are the enemies of bacteria (and hence acne). You should start with a product that has lower concentration of benzoyl peroxide (e.g. 5%) and see how your skin responds to it. Alpha-hydroxy-acid based moisturizers are also popular as acne skin care products. You might have to try a few, before you zero-in on the acne skin care product that is effective for you. If nothing seems to work, you should contact a dermatologist.