A Quick Fix for Frownies: Frownies

Ahh those nasty “elevens” in between the eyes – those vertical crater-creases from too much stress or from being REALLY puzzled most of the time. When your eyebrows veer down a hundred times a day, day after day, congratulations!  You just rolled an “eleven.”  Well, if you’re sick of seeing math on your forehead, and don’t want to inject yourself with Botox, enter Frownies to the rescue!

What are Frownies?  Shhh….they are touted as “Hollywood’s Beauty Secret.” It says so right there on the package, so who can argue?  I was introduced to mine in an Emmy Awards goodie bag and tried them out for myself.  Here’s the 411 on this “secret.”

Frownies are patches that you apply to your expression lines and creases.  You can wear them overnight or during the day for a minimum of 3 hours.  Essentially, they are unbleached natural kraft paper with a water-activated, vegetable-based adhesive. You spray on the Rose Water hydrator spray (with Vitamin E and Hyaluronic Acid – good stuff) to the shiny side of Frownies Facial Patches to activate the adhesive.  Apply the patch directly over the targeted wrinkle, being sure to smooth it out, and let it sit. 

The theory behind Frownies is that you are relaxing the face muscles which created the crease and are actually “re-training” your muscles to relax. You WILL see an improvement from just one night with your Frownies patch, but the Frownies website states that since this is a training process, you will get “continual results with continual use.”  Translation: Use it one night, and your wrinkles will soften, but they will come back later in the day….use it continuously and they will start coming back later, or won’t come back at all.

I like to call Frownies “Botox in a Box” – and if Frownies would like to call them that too, I’d be happy to sell that slogan to them – the fact is, you CAN soften lines without injecting yourself with a toxic substance produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum – if you’re an actress and have a big shoot the next day, or you have a major social event where you want to look line-less, why not give Frownies a try?  They are a great quick fix and much more economical and less painful than an injection.

Oh, Frownies are not just for sleeping – you can wear them while fiddling around the house…I’ve heard of people wearing them while driving on long road trips…and heck, why not be the first on your block to wear a big ol’ patch on your forehead on your first date?  Great ice-breaker!  You never know until you try.

Want more proof?  Actress Raquel Welch said she uses  Frownies.  She’s 69. And who knows who ELSE does – I mean, afterall, it IS a secret….(uhh, Rene Russo and Glenn Close to name a couple).

Now when you wake up with these patches on your face, you can peel them off like a Band-aid, or if you are the sensitive type, use some warm water to help remove them.

TIP:  Go ahead and cut your Frownies before-hand. I’ve found this is the best way to cover exactly what you want covered.  If the patch is too big, or you don’t smooth out your wrinkle before applying, this may even CAUSE an indentation on your skin from the patch’s edges…and you don’t want that but those slight indentations do seem to go away quickly.

A Combo of Corner of Eyes and Mouth Patches and Rose Water Hydrating Spray (144 patches) goes for $29.95.

        

Combo of Forehead and Between Eyes Patch and Rose Water Hydrating Spray (144 patches) is also $29.95.

        

The secret is out.  Pass it on and SMILE !

The Galvanic Home Spa Product Review

Women are boasting looking 8 years younger after just 2 months of using this skincare system for just five minutes, twice a week, so I JUMPED at the opportunity to see it first hand in a personal demo. I’ve heard it’s the skin care system Toni Braxton and Nicole Kidman uses, and it’s been popping up all over the news as the latest and greatest.

It’s the Galvanic Home Spa. Simply put, it’s a little gadget that uses negative and positive ions to increase circulation, remove impurities from your skin and deliver product into your skin. The device comes with four interchangeable conductors: the ageLOC facial conductor (to be used with ageLOC facial gels), a spot treatment conductor for targeting specific areas, a scalp conductor and a body conductor to be used with a body shaping gel.

First, let’s all transport back to 6th grade science class for a second. Eww….

“Galvanic” refers to electricity. Wait up! Electric current on MY FACE you ask? Yes, this gadget involves a low-level electric current and is SAFE. No, it doesn’t even prick. Back to school - The basic laws of electricity are:

1. like repels like
2. opposites attract

Good, now that that’s over… here’s the basics on how the gadget works and the process for a facial.

Step One is a negatively charged Pre-treat gel. You use this with a negative ion current. The two negative charges repel each other, so essentially, this “forces” the purifying ingredients into your pores, where they adhere to impurities like oil and pollutants.

Step Two is another gel that is positively charged. You use this with a positive ion current on the instrument. The positive charges attract the negatively charged impurities and pull them out, while delivering more good stuff in.

The online instructional video made it look a lot more complicated than it actually is. For Step 1, you just select the setting to “1” and step 2, set it to “2”, so it’s pretty simple…

For a “spot treatment” – say one of those nasty creases - just snap on a different attachment “head” and you are good to go on setting #3.  You can use the Galvanic's recommended line corrector product – a product scientifically designed to increase collagen in your skin - or use one of your high-quality wrinkle products (just make it high-quality because you are getting the benefit of it permeating into your skin much faster along with the Galvanic Spa than applying a wrinkle product alone - and of note, you do NOT want to use a product with Retin-A here).

I did one side of my face with the two-step facial process with the gels described above. The technique takes a little practice, as you should not remove the metal head from your face (this is to keep the current going) and you should glide the instrument over your face in sweeping motions. I didn’t feel any electrical current going through my face but the device beeps to let you know current is going through. And, you must wet your hands for this facial – this is because the water helps conduct the current. But all in all the process is simple and just takes some getting used to.

Now…for the RESULTS – the right side of my face had a nice glow to it and amazingly, I could tell that the skin around my mouth area tightened up. Someone pointed out that my eyebrows looked more lifted…. But the big test was a wrinkle that had softened to nearly zero visibility! That’s pretty good from 2 steps that total up to five minutes!

The gels are very soothing and from what I’ve read, the science behind the AgeLOC gels and the whole AgeLOC product line is some of the most advanced out there. The system is also supposed to decrease pigmentation – heard lots of stories from users who say their brown patches and freckles are gone!

After one of these facials, I was told that you will absorb 80% more of whatever you put on your face afterwards. That’s insanely amazing…remember the days of getting a new wrinkle cream, using it religiously and then not seeing results until oh Week 5? Gone. If your skin is absorbing more of a product (and it’s high quality), then results from that product are going to show dramatically sooner.

With visible results after using the device and gels after only one time, I’m snagging up one of these babies and plan on turning back that age clock! Not to worry, I’ll be posting updates on my progress!

The link below features testimonials from people who methodically used the product on one side of their face only for weeks or months. You can see the dramatic difference and can tell which side they used the product on. These poor souls have to do some catching up on the other sides of their faces – but it shows the dramatic difference that can take place in a short period of time.  Soooo exciting !!!

Galvanic Home Spa Testimonials

Fridge Benefits

Put DOWN that plate of brownies! Everyone knows that EATING anti-oxidant rich foods like salmon, blueberries and veggies are a smart diet choice for staying young-looking.  But, we’re in the kitchen today for the anti-aging smorgasbord – foods you can find in your fridge that you can slap or slather on and then feel and look yummy afterwards…

Choices are abundant, but here are a few of my faves:

Olive Oil – High in anti-oxidants, olive oil is a great soother for dry skin.  You can use it alone, in the bath and even on your hair.  This link has some great ideas on how to use this golden treasure:

http://www.naturalskincaresecrets.com/olive-oil-skin-care.html

Bananas – Bananas are full of vitamins and minerals and are a great natural moisturizer. You’ll want to use a very ripe banana so it’s easy to mash up into a paste.  Let it sit on your face for about 15 minutes, rinse and viola…your skin will be kissably soft.  Go, jungle girl!

Cucumber - Cucumber is known to reduce puffiness under the eyes.  After peeling a cuke for my salad, I always save the skins. You can lay down with a few skin slices under your eyes for an instant refresher.

Egg Whites - My absolute favorite is THE EGG.  My grandmother used to use egg whites on her face – it has amazing tightening properties.  You might want to let the egg get to room temperature first, separate it, then slather on the whites.  You absolutely want to lay down for this, because you want your face to tighten UP and not tighten DOWN.  Make sure your neck is even extended back a little.

Go ahead and mix and match with other great ingredients like oatmeal and honey to make your own facials.  You’re in the kitchen anyway -- you’ll save money and your face will enjoy the natural goodness.

TIP:  If you love organic products, Whole Foods is a great store to find tons of face and premium body care products for all over yumminess.

If you need more inspiration for recipes, here’s a great source for more organic recipes:

Natural Skincare Recipe Book

The Sunscreen Bible

Ah the days of slathering on baby oil and frying at the beach in the hot sun!  Hopefully these are faded memories for you because  unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know that unprotected sun exposure is the ultimate sin against your skin.  If you HAVE been living under a rock, all the better, since it’s mighty shady.

Be sure you undertake a “zero tolerance policy” on zero sunscreen.  Unprotected exposure to the sun – even a little every day – builds up up and results in “photoaging.” It’s never too late to prevent further sun damage and reverse some of the damage you have (more on this in a separate post.)

Now, this may shock you:

Just because you are wearing sunscreen on a daily basis, it doesn’t mean that you are getting the protection you need.  AND, it doesn’t mean you are not HARMING your skin!

There are sunscreen ingredients to avoid like the plague.  A few are oxybenzone, which is a hormone disruptor and Padimate-O and Parsol 1789, two chemicals which actually have the potential to harm DNA when reacting with sunlight!  Wha?  How do we know what’s SAFE?  Where’s the FDA?  Well, thank goodness for these guys….

There is a group called the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which analyzed over 1,778 name-brand sunscreens on the market in Summer 2009 and their findings for 2010 are coming out soon.  The study included things like how well they blocked UVA and UVB radiation, how stable the product is in sunlight (if the product breaks down in the sun) and if products contain any ingredients which are health hazards.

They found that for 2009, “2 out of 5 sunscreen products offer inadequate protection from the sun, or contain ingredients with significant safety concerns. Leading brands were the worst offenders: None of market leader Coppertone's 54 sunscreen products met EWG's criteria for safety and effectiveness, and only 2 of 162 products from Banana Boat and Neutrogena, the second and third-largest manufacturers, are recommended by EWG. “ 

Gasp!  No, NOT Neutrogena – say it isn’t so!   If we can’t trust the big brands, then who can we trust?

Be sure to check out this website from the EWG, which lists the best and worst sun-protection products.  What you see may surprise you:

Environmental Working Groups 2009 Sunscreen Report

UPDATE:  The 2010 Sunscreen Report is now in.  They recommend only 39 out of 500 beach and sport sunscreens for this season!  That's only 8 percent!  Why so low?


Well, bad news...this year,  new concerns are springing up about an ingredient called retinyl palmitate, which is a form of vitamin A.   It's found in nearly half of all sunscreens.  The FDA is now investigating whether retinyl palmitate accelerates skin damage and raises skin cancer risk when applied to skin exposed to sunlight. No final conclusions have been made, but the EWG is now recommending we go with Vitamin A-free sunscreens, just to be safe.

MUST READING:  Here's a link to the 2010 Sunscreen Report:

Environmental Working Group's 2010 Sunscreen Report

I like to call this site “The Sunscreen Bible.”  All the work has been done for you, now making your sunscreen choice a no-brainer.  You can even use their search engine and select your current sunscreen brand, to learn if it has any harmful effects.

I’ve been using a Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock and learned that the EWG gives it a “5” – which means it’s a moderate health and sun hazard (out of 10).  Thankfully, I’m at the bottom of the tube and now am armed to make a smarter purchase. The best and recommended products are those which the site ranks with 0 to 2. Products ranked 3-6 are “Caution” and those ranked 7-10 are “Avoid.”

A few of the best rated brands by the EWG for 2010 are:

	Badger Sunscreen for Face and Body, Unscented, SPF 30 Sunscreen for Face and Body, SPF 30 Lightly Scented Sunscreen for Face and Body, SPF 15 Lightly Scented
	Beyond Coastal Lip and Face Screen, SPF 30

	California Baby Sunblock Stick No Fragrance, SPF 30+ Sunscreen Lotion No Fragrance, SPF 30+ Sunscreen Lotion Everyday/Year-Round, SPF 30+ Sunscreen Lotion, SPF 30+, Citronella Sunblock Stick Everyday/Year-Round, SPF 30+
	Caribbean Solutions Natural/Biodegradable SolGuard, SPF 25 Sol Kid Kare Natural Sunscreen, SPF 25

  Loving Naturals
Sunscreen, SPF 30+

	Purple Prairie Botanicals SunStuff, SPF 30 Sun Stick, SPF 30 SunStuff, SPF 15
	Soleo Organics All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+ Soleo Organics/Wyland Organics All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+ Soleo Organics/Atlantis Resort All Natural Sunscreen, SPF 30+
	thinkbaby and thinksport Sunscreen, SPF 30+

You can buy the products directly from this site too -- without even venturing into the sun.

How bout that?

So, read your bible.  Knowledge is Power!