Suntan of skin is a natural process that protects itself from the harmful ultra-violet (UV) rays of sunlight.  Upon exposure to sunlight, skin produces a brown colored pigment, called melanin that provides dark color or tanned look to the skin. Once you have Suntan, it is not easy to bring your skin back in normal state. I don’t think that any cosmetic cream or lotion can effectively treat sun-tanned skin.  However, here are few tips that can help you lighten the tanned skin color, if not remove completely.

1.  Yoghurt + lemon bleach:  Mix yoghurt with lemon juice and apply it on your skin daily before bath. This is one of the best remedy for reducing sun tan.
2.  Potato: For mild tanned skin, rub peeled potato skin on the affected area or raw potato juice for fast relief.
3.  Cucumber juice: Apply cucumber juice on your face for 10 minutes after tanning. Vitamin C in cucumber juice can moisturize your skin naturally and help you improve your skin tone.  You can also rub freshly cut slices of cucumber on your skin.  Paste of cucumber and honey is also very useful for soothing the redness due to sun-tan.
4. Sandalwood powder: Mix sandalwood powder with coconut oil and almond oil to make a paste. Apply this paste on your skin and leave it for half an hour before washing off with cold water.
5. Turmeric powder: Make a thick pate of turmeric powder with yoghurt and honey. Apply this paste on your skin for about 15-20 minutes and rinse it off in cold water.

1. Prepare herbal oil by boiling olive or coconut oil with fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, garlic pods, dried lemon peels, curry leaves, or Indian gooseberry. You can strain or allow the ingredients to settle in the container. This oil will relieve stress, improve circulation, and nourish the scalp for healthy hair growth.
2. Honey mixed with olive oil is also a wonderful home remedy for hair growth. Apply the mixture and allow it to stay for some time and then wash it off with warm water. Use gentle shampoos so as not to remove natural oils from the scalp and hair.
3. Massaging with castor, coconut, olive, or vitamin E oil is also a good natural hair loss treatment option. For vitamin E oil, you can break open three to five capsules of vitamin E in coconut oil and blend well before use.
4. Onion juice can be applied to the scalp for thinning hair. It is an excellent home remedy for hair growth. Since this might cause a burning sensation in the eyes, use a shower cap to prevent this. Allow it to stay for 30 minutes, and then wash the hair with a good shampoo.
5. Egg whites also help in replenishing the scalp and are a good home remedy for hair loss. Apply the white of a raw egg on the hair for 30 minutes, and then wash it off with a shampoo. A mixture of lemon juice and egg white could also be used to strengthen the roots of hair.
6. Do not comb when hair is wet as it can cause more hair fall. The roots of the hair are weakest when they are wet. Keep the hair wrapped in a towel for a while then let it dry naturally as excess usage of hair dryer damages the texture of hair and makes it weak resulting in hair fall.
7. Try to avoid use of harsh hair styling products, hair styles that can strain the scalp, heated hair setting instruments, and strong hair colors.
8.  Keep the hair protected from pollution. Protect the hair from dust and sun. Cover your head while going out in direct sunlight.
9. Wash the hair often to keep the scalp hydrated and clean.
10. Applying oil and leaving it overnight helps a lot in healthy hair growth as it nourishes the hair follicles and thickens hair. A daily oil massage is actually one of the best hair loss remedies that actually work.
11. Mix aloe Vera with herbal powder triphala and apply it to the hair. Continue this for three to six months. New hair will start growing.
12. Include plenty of protein and iron in your diet. Take mineral supplements like calcium, magnesium, and zinc.

As eyes are really a very vital and delicate organ in our bodies, it makes perfect sense for it to give them the special care they deserve. If you follow some basic eye care tips, you will not only give your eyes the deserved attention and rest, you will also be pampering them.

Massage may be the oldest and simplest form of medical care. Evidence of this can be found in Egyptian tomb paintings showing people being massaged. In Eastern cultures, massage has been practiced continually since ancient times. During the past few decades, massage therapy has shifted from the occasional luxury for the privileged few to becoming a more integral part of many people’s healthy lifestyle maintenance program. As a general guideline, those in training, working with injuries, or seeking to achieve specific goals should receive massage once a week.

Health benefits of Massage:

• Promotes general well-being
• Alleviates stress and tension
• Reduces anxiety, depression and insomnia
• Improves circulation of the blood and lymph systems
• Improves posture
• Reduces chronic pain and headaches
• Improves immune function
• Relaxes the nervous system
• Relieves sore muscles and joints, promotes joint health and improves range of motion
• Increases joint mobility
• Promotes better digestion and elimination
• Increases energy
• Accelerates the healing process
• Decreases the chance of getting injury
• Helps break down and remove scar tissue
  

So go book yourself a massage right now and see the difference you’ll feel in your body and mind. I’m sure you’ll be very glad to have got one.

After all you’re hard work this year, it’s time to give yourself a nice Christmas present: some beauty treats that you deserve!

Christmas Beauty Treat #1: A holly-red lip gloss.
Not only is it the best time of the year to shamelessly paint your lips this bright, but wearing a slick, rocking red gloss instantly satisfies your inner diva’s color craving – and gets your long time dare to wear red lips out of the way. Leave the rest of your face neutral with just mascara, and a sweep of blush, and all party eyes will be on you.

Christmas Beauty Treat #2: Eye cream.
a.) You finally get around to answering the call of twenty something hood and get a head start of those fine lines, sun damage and puffiness.
b.) You’ll have post-party eye relief when you get home that’ll preserve your peepers for the next day’s festivities. Chill your cream in the fridge for a refreshing treat.

Christmas Beauty Treat #3: Bright, red nails.
When your nails resemble cherry candies, they provide the finishing touch of succulent party look. Keep them short and semi-squared so you can take them from day to night.

Christmas Beauty Treat #4: An irresistibly iridescent all-over highlighter.
Just dust it on your cheekbones, shoulders, and legs and you’ll be positively radiant when you do the party rounds.

Christmas Beauty Treat #5: A sheer, shimmery eye shadow.
It’s the best season to raise up the makeup wattage, but a super sparkly shadow with barely there colour makes you stand out from a sea of heavy holiday makeup, and makes a great highlighter addition to your eye shadow palette. Sweep it onto lids and under lower lashes, and then apply three coats of black mascara onto curled lashes.

Christmas Beauty Treat #6: An intensive skin-clarifying booster.
Great skin is probably the ultimate gift anyone can receive, but the great news is you can give it to yourself without having to bust your bank account for pricey designer store potions.
Pick up a skin cream you can apply onto your face at night, since your skin repairs itself while you sleep and can use the extra help. The key ingredient is an effective exfoliant like salicylic acid, which helps speed up the surfacing of fresh, new skin while gently removing dead skin cells and relieving clogged pores.

Christmas Beauty Treat #7: A fabulous full body massage- twice in a row.
It’s the perfect ending to a long year and darn it, you deserve it! A full body oil massage is much needed in dry winter weather. Book your massages on a day when you can turn your phone off and forget everyone but yourself. Give yourself that extra pampering.

Pamper your skin. To ensure that your skin is glowing and that you look fresh, make sure you drink at least two liters of water a day. If possible drink at least a beer glass full of water in the morning. It takes a getting used to but does wonders for your complexion. Get enough sleep so that you don’t have puffy eyes, and also moisturize regularly to keep your skin nourished.
Close shave. Shave regularly to look your best. If you sport a beard or a moustache or a French beard, then make sure it is trimmed neatly and has no stray hairs sticking out in multiple directions. Also make sure that you shave in the same direction as the growth of the hair and that you soften your facial hair before shaving it. This will ensure that there aren’t ingrowths and also reduce the possibilities of getting nicked while shaving.

Get in the shower. The basic step to staying clean and smelling good even without any cologne. This is a step you are not allowed to miss because it’s as simple as water, shower and towel. So whether you’ve just come back from the gym, woken up, or are going for a party – shower!

Keep your hands clean. Hands play a make-or-break role in business meetings because of the importance of a handshake. Cut and file your nails regularly and also make sure that they don’t have any residue of food or dirt stuck in them. Wash your hands frequently and especially after a meal because smelly and sweaty hands are the biggest turn off. Also use a bit of hand lotion on them to prevent your hands resembling tough hide.

Don’t be shaggy. Since hair grows regularly, you have to always keep a check on when your ear, nose, chest hair needs a trim. It’s best to trim hair from these parts at least once a week. Also shampoo and condition your hair every day. Of course if you have long hair, maybe alternate days would be fine, but never let your hair look greasy and straggly.

Sense of style. Clothes that fit well, and which are clean, neatly ironed and smell good are very important. Don’t recycle clothes that have been chucked into your laundry basket because you have run out of clean, ironed clothes. You won’t fool anyone with that trick! The fit also is very important to looking good. People will only notice that your clothes are hanging on you or alternatively, are too tight for you.

Shiny Shoes. Men are judged by their shoes. If you don’t know this yet, you’ve obviously no idea about the typical standards used to judge men. If you are wearing formal shoes, make sure they’re not scuffed and dirty. They should be polished and shiny. Casual shoes should also be clean and avoid tattered shoes at all costs!

Smell good. Don’t go overboard and douse yourself with strong smelling perfume, after using strong smelling toiletries, but pick one cologne and stick with it. Don’t use different smelling soaps, lotions and then apply cologne because the scents could mix badly resulting in a weird smelling mish-mash on you. Don’t ever go cheap when buying perfume. Not only might it react badly with your skin, but also it can never smell as good as the original. Also, never ever try to disguise body odor with cologne. It’s the worst thing you could possibly do! Have a shower instead.

• Every night, before you go off to sleep, wash your hands thoroughly, wipe them dry with a towel and apply a hand moisturizer. Thereafter, rub a small amount of petroleum jelly into the cuticle as well as the skin surrounding your nails.
• Whenever you are indulging in any kind of housework, be it doing the dishes or scrubbing the bathroom, make sure to wear hand gloves. This will prevent unnecessary chipping and save your nails from the harsh cleaners as well.
• Drink plenty of water and fresh fruit juices. It will help keep your body, and in turn your nails, well hydrated.
• Never ever use an acetone-based or formaldehyde-based nail-polish remover. Rather, stick to a remover that has acetate in it.
• Do not file you nails just after you have had a shower or have washed your hands. This is because wet nails tend to break easily. While filing your nails, make sure to go in one direction only. Do not move the filer in a back-and-forth motion, as it makes your nails brittle.
• If you want to keep your nails strong and shiny, resort to nail buffing. It augments the blood supply to the nail, in turn stimulating its growth.
• Stay away from artificial nails as much as possible. Apart from destroying the underlying nail with their chemicals and glue, they might also lead to fungal infection of the fingernails.
• If you are suffering from the problem of hangnails, it is advisable to eat food rich in protein, vitamin C and folic acid.
• If your nails are too brittle and dry, you should increase the consumption of food items that are rich in vitamin A (such as apricots, broccoli, carrot and cheese) and calcium (such as milk, yoghurt, cheese and almonds). Carrot juice is rich in calcium and phosphorus and helps strengthen your nails. So, try to consume as much fresh carrot juice as is possible for you.
• Ensure that half of your diet is made up of fresh fruits and raw vegetables. This will supple your nails with the required vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
• Supplementing your diet with Spirulina and kelp will help make your nails strong and healthy. Deficiency of vitamin B 12 can lead to dryness, rounded and curved ends and darkening of nails. So, make sure to include enough of the vitamin in your diet.