All About the Brows, Bout the Brows...No Trouble!

 

When I was growing up, my mother kept an old coffee cup that we used to melt hard wax.  We waxed our own mustaches and plucked our own eyebrows.  YIKES!  I was eleven going into seventh grade, 5'6" and clumsy.  With a popular cheerleader for an older sister who pinned me against the wall a month before school saying "I will NOT be seen with that," pointing to my uni-brow (Damn you, Brooke Shields with your 12 year-old Nothing-Comes-Between-Me-And-My-Calvins eyebrows!), I panicked.  Then I thought..Why wade through the melted hard wax when a Gillette will do the job in seconds? No muss, no fuss...er, no upper left eyebrow in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,...  The wailing was horrendous.  Long story short, my mother loaded me on Amtrak to Chicago with said sister and her accomplice, my cousin Cathy, and came for me four weeks later, just in time for school.  At our departure from the station, she shoved half a dozen make-up pencils in my pocket and whispered "Just use these and fill in where you need to.  You'll be good as new in no time!  And no one knows you in Chicago so, tah-tah....."  So, I tell you this because I have overcome my scarring and my sister and I are still talking.  To this day, my mother and I have kept my mode of epilation a secret and when the family tries to guess at Thanksgiving Dessert Time what I did to myself that summer, we just throw our heads back and laugh.

What did I learn?  Well, my sister wasn't planning on being seen with me regardless of my eyebrows so.... Don't let anyone else's opinion of your beauty be the defining moment in your life, causing you to take drastic measures. Seek the help of a seasoned professional.  Thank Brooke Shields for going to college and proving to the world that it's cool to be beautiful AND smart.  And when you have to choose between the two... hold on to the smart.

Have you ever had a brow crisis? There is hope for your brows and it doesn't need to be an endless series of experiments and traumas.  You can make an appointment for a brow consultation, followed by a detailed shaping or basic clean sweep by a member of our esthetic team.  Our ability to empathize is a free upgrade.

Tracy
Esthetician

PHabulous Skin part 1

You may remember learning about the PH scale from chemistry class, but what does this have to do with skin? Well, it just so happens that maintaining the balance, or the Potential Hydrogen level of your skin, is key to maintaining healthy skin.

First, a quick reminder of how that PH scale works. The scale ranges from 0-14 with 0 being the most acidic and 14 the most alkaline with 7 as neutral. Skin is slightly more acidic ranging from 4.5-6.2 with an average of 5.5.

So why is this so important when it comes to skin care? When the skin becomes to alkaline it will become dry and irritated. This will eventually lead to early signs of aging including fine lines, wrinkles and sagging. On the other hand, when the skin becomes to acidic, it may become aggravated and inflamed.

Now that we know how important maintaining the skins PH level is, how do we go about it?
The balance comes through healthy eating and the right products for you. The first step in skin care starts with your cleanser, which hopefully you are using! Soaps are much too alkaline for facial skin and it can strip the skin of its natural oils. Cleansers are formulated closer to the skins natural PH, only slightly more alkaline to dissolve dirt and oil.

Your second step in your skin care routine should include your toner/mist. A toner will pull any left over dirt and oils from the pores after cleansing. Most toners also aid in restoring the natural PH balance to the skin.

As Esthetician's we are here to guide you in maintaining the proper balance to achieve your best skin!

Jamie- Licensed Esthetician

Evolution of massage in the US

It all started back in 1879. A female therapist was called a masseuse, a French verb meaning "to massage." In those days there were minimal requirements for massage background knowledge and education. In WWI massage was used on soldiers who suffered nerve injury or shell shock. Massage was only introduced to the wealthy as a luxury treatment. Later, massage went through an unsavory period with the rising popularity of massage parlors. Unfortunately, some still exist. 

Today, massage is held to a much higher standard. We have the title of LMT (Licensed Massage Therapist). Massage therapists are now required obtain education and pass a state board exam. This gives you the title of LMT. Continued education classes are required every 2 years. Classes consists of 24 credits, 16 of those credits are hands on. Therapists also must be CPR certified and maintain a child abuse clearance certification. This allows us to safely and knowledgeably best treat our clients. This has been the evolution of the massage therapy in the United States.

By: Jenn Grubb LMT

Beauty Tricks, Tips and Suburban Legends

I asked my 17 year old daughter what she'd like to read on a beauty blog and her knee-jerk response was "Beauty Tips!"  Hmmm!  Beauty tips!  Has it ever been done before?!  Well, I decided to get some deep nagging questions from her and this was the result. 

1.  Does toothpaste really clear up a zit?

2.  Can I crush an aspirin, rub it on my face and clear up a zit?

3.  What is the proper way to pop a zit?

4.  If I eat chocolate, will I get zits?

5.  Can I just use bleach or Nair on my upper lip?

So, in order of questions asked, I will say...

Number One.  Yes.  Or, better yet, "60% of the time, it works every time!"  Toothpaste can dry up a pustule...but only as a last minute "Oh my Gosh!  The prom is tomorrow and tonight I get a breakout?!"  Asking yourself why you are breaking out is a better way to approach clearing your skin for good.  Salicylic acid is a popular ingredient in spot treatments that really gets the bacteria to stop and the oil to slow down.  Toothpaste can't do that.  Toothpaste is a bandaid for life's moments of bad timing.  

Two.  The bottom line is, NO.   Just because youtube has 200 videos with over one million views doesn't make the information worth the internet space.  Crushed aspirins cannot replace products that are professionally made and chemically formulated to penetrate to the proper place for action.  Aspirin will, at the least, do nothing, and at the most, cause irritation or burning of the surface of the skin, knocking it out of balance, leaving you with a bigger problem than before you started.

Three.  No.  There is no safe way to pop a pimple.  The best thing to do is leave the pustule undisturbed and allow the body to deal with it without help. Remember to keep your skin moisturized even in the event of breakouts as moisture speeds healing and slows oil production.

Four.  That depends.  What kind of chocolate is it?  How much sugar is in the chocolate?  Tease out the possible culprits in your preferred type of chocolate.  Cacao is a superfood with tons of anti-oxidants and a wonderful ability to keep you alert and calm all at once.  There is no caffeine in chocolate but there is something called theobromine which gives a lift when eating it.  The questionable ingredients are most likely milk and sugar.  Milk chocolate can be a problem for those with hidden milk intolerances.  Sugar is always a bad idea and milk chocolate has the most sugar so my personal opinion is...dark chocolate with at least 75% cacao.  More antioxidants, much less sugar, more of the beneficial effects without the antagonizers.

Five.  If you have hair on your lip that you can see and it bothers you, making it blond will not make it invisible.  Using a depilatory cream will dissolve the hair at the skin level but leave the remaining hair under the skin which will give that shadow effect, much like shaving.  Another reason to avoid these three choices (now I'm including shaving) is the sensitization of the area from the chemicals or the razor.  Waxing the lip will smart at first but the after-effect is so much nicer and lasts longer.  Removing the hair at the root avoids the shadow and contrary to the myth that you will regrow thicker hair or more hair, the body has a set number of hair follicles and can only generate that set number of hairs.  Our hair grows and falls out naturally and yet we don't notice our bodies becoming hairier by the year.  With the exception of puberty and abnormal hair growth, the new hair generated by a waxed follicle will be softer, weaker and more easily removed each successive time.  Yes, the upper lip is already tender and when some people get the area waxed, they report small bubbly bumps for the first hours or first day.  This is an immune response to hair being removed from this tender area.  I would advise a professional waxing treatment over a home treatment for safety reasons and sanitation concerns.

The esthetic team at Emerald Springs Spa would love to try to answer questions from our clients and readers and we invite you to submit these questions to our blogspot account.  

-TracyBabini
Licensed Esthetician 

Cosmeceuticals

This industry is flooded with buzz words and trends that we are all trying to keep up with, such as the term cosmeceuticals. This term has been around for a while, but what does it mean? The word cosmeceuticals refers to a specific class of cosmetics. As of now, there are only two categories recognized by the FDA, Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical. Cosmeceuticals is a category that has been created to bridge the gap between these two.

A cosmetic as defined by the FDA is "intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the body's structure or functions."  These products may contain active ingredients however they are not in high concentration. They are formulated to maintain your skin with temporary results. An example would be make up or a topical cream. On the other end we have Pharmaceuticals, a drug prescribed or recommended by your physician to treat a medical concern .These products are of the highest possible concentration and are regulated as a drug. This brings us to Cosmeceuticals (also known as derma-corrective products) which are products that contain active ingredients with biological benefits. The level of active ingredient and ability to penetrate deeper will bring out visible change in the skin. As an example, an anti-wrinkle cream, is a cosmetic-plus drug that can cause change in the skin. Cosmeceuticals are sold over the counter by licensed professionals.

At Emeralds Springs Spa, we are also bridging the gap. We, as estheticians, are experienced in skin care and are here to guide you in making the best choices to maintain the health and wellness of your skin.

-Jamie Garland
Licensed Esthetician