EYES SPEAK............!

Good nutrition is very important for both your general and eye health. Good nutrition helps our body to grow, repair wear and tear, protect against infection and to function properly. An eye is an organ that detects light. Different kinds of light-sensitive organs are found in a variety of creatures. The simplest eyes do nothing but detect whether the surroundings are light or dark. More complex eyes are used to provide the sense of vision. More recently it has been suggested that two types of antioxidants, known as carotenoids, called Lutein and Zeaxanthin may also help with eye health. Taking antioxidants, Vitamin C, E, beta-carotene and the nutritional supplements of zinc, selenium and manganese minerals may help in preventing eye-disorders. Diets rich in antioxidants, especially vegetables and fruits, will protect the eyes from forming macular degeneration. This will also benefit the body with excellent mineral and vitamin intake including lutein and the B vitamins. Diet that includes vegetables, fruits and food rich in antioxidants may helps in preventing blindness.

Dealing With Common Eye Problems and Injuries

The best rule of thumb for when to see an eye specialist if you injure your eyes is "when in doubt, check it out!"
If you have a red eye, pain in an eye that doesn't go away within a short period of time, or at any time have had changes in your vision, then it's time to have your eyes checked.
If you get any small foreign objects in your eye, such as sand or sawdust or metal shavings, don't rub it. Flush your eye for several minutes with lukewarm water (it may be easiest to do this in the shower). If it still feels as though there is something in your eye, then be sure to see an eye specialist.
If you've been hit in the eye and it looks strange or appears to be bleeding, or if you have changes in or lose your vision, go to a hospital emergency department right away to be checked out.
One of the most common eye injuries for teens is a scratched cornea, which is often related to wearing contact lenses or playing sports. With a scratched cornea, it may feel like something is in your eye when there's really nothing there. Your eye may get red and irritated, produce lots of tears, and be overly sensitive to light.
If you think you have any kind of eye injury and you wear contact lenses, stop wearing your contacts until you see an eye specialist. Wearing contact lenses if you have an eye injury could damage your eyes more or cause an infection to develop. Don't worry — if your cornea is scratched, it usually will heal after a week or two of medicated eye drops and not wearing your contacts. You may hate wearing your old glasses, but it's just for a little while — and it beats permanently damaging your eyes.

MANICURE AND PEDICURE

Every woman loves having a manicure and pedicure – it’s one of those beauty treatments that leaves you feeling groomed and great. It can be expensive though, so how can you do your own salon style job at home without it costing a fortune?

Start with a Blank Canvas

Make sure your nails are squeaky clean on both hands and feet. Take off any old nail polish using acetone-free nail-polish remover and a cotton pad. Acetone free polish remover is kinder to your nails, doesn’t dry them out, and some brands also have conditioning agents in for extra manicure and pedicure TLC.
Let your nails dry, and then file them carefully. Don’t use an over abrasive or a metal nail file, as these can encourage your nails to peel and split. Opt for a fine grade emery board or a professional style board that can be picked up cheaply from most high street chemists. Another beauty treatment tip is to always try and file nails in one direction – sawing backwards and forwards on the nail can damage it

Give them a Good Soaking

The next step is to soften your nails and cuticles in a bowl of warm water. You can also mix in some cuticle oil for extra pampering. After about ten minutes, dry your hands and nails and apply some cuticle cream or hand/foot lotion. Gently ease the cuticles back by making tiny circles against them with a thin wooden cuticle stick.
When the cream has soaked in, gently rub the cuticles with a warm, damp flannel, using a motion to help slough away dead cuticle skin. Don’t cut the skin away even if you’ve seen it done in salons – while they may do it as part of their nail and beauty treatment, it can cause infection, and even damage the nail bed.
After you’ve worked on your cuticles, wash off any oil residue and dry your nails thoroughly.

Getting to Work on the Nails

For salon perfect nails, a base coat should be part of the beauty treatment too. Don’t skip it, as a good base coat will be worth the effort. It holds your polish in place and makes your manicure and pedicure last longer. Base coat also stops dark coloured polish from staining your nails.
When you get to the colour, try to sweep the polish across your nails the way they do when they are giving you the full on beauty treatment at a salon. If you can, try and do it in three strokes, from base to tip:
Brush the polish up the middle of each nail, then along each side. Use one dip of the polish for each per nail, and wipe the brush once for each dunk in the bottle before you apply it to your nail. This keeps each coat thin and makes the drying time faster.
Leave two minutes between each coat of polish, including any base and top coats – this also helps the nails to dry more quickly.
Always finish your manicure and pedicure with a topcoat. A protective top coat will give you a harder, more resilient finish, and give your nails more shine, too. It can also help to keep your nails healthy, preventing moisture loss and stopping breakages.
Once the nails have dried, sit back and admire your beauty treatment!

DO CARE FOR YOUR HANDS

A lot of us take care of our face, but neglect our hands. I carry a little pot of Hand cream in my purse to put on my hands after I wash them. But I have a habit that was undoing all my hard work – washing dishes without wearing gloves. I usually do just a few dishes at a time, and it was too much work to put them on for just a mug or a lunch plate. But I’m wearing them every single time, from now on. The problem is that dishwashing liquid is alkaline, which is hard on the skin. The skin has a pH of between 4 and 6.5, which is slightly acidic. Dish washing liquid is extremely alkaline to dissolve grease and dirt. Unfortunately, that also strips your skin of its natural acid mantle, which is there to protect your skin. Harsh alkaline soaps age the skin. It's not just dishwashing soaps. A lot of big brand soaps (Camay, Dial, Irish Spring, Ivory, Palmolive and Zest) are also very alkaline, with pHs that range between 9 and 10. Dove is the mildest, with a pH of 7. It’s important to understand that a pH 8 soap is ten times more alkaline than a pH 7 soap. A pH 9 soap is ten times harsher than a pH 8 soap. So a pH ten soap is A THOUSAND.