D.I.Y: Basic Astringent/ Toner video & recipe

I did it ya'll I finally made my very first video. I wish I could post the video right here, but I need to make some changes first ( the link is down below) . Yesterday I made a 'Basic All-Natural Toner' so that you can use as a staple in your skin care regimen. To make this I used these ingredients:

1/4 teaspoon Borax powder
3 tablespoons distilled water
3 tablespoons Rose water (or Orange water/distilled water)
1 tablespoon Witch hazel or Vodka

This recipe is great for everyday use & for all skin types.
Use to remove all traces of cleanser, creams or any debris.
Its great for after exercising and will keep you fresh through out the day


click here to watch:

D.I.Y: Basic Toner/ Astringent

Give your body an antioxidant boost!

Give your body an Antioxidant boost!

These 5 types of antioxidants will help acne fight age spots, wrinkling, sagging and UV damage. These foods will help to protect the damage already done.

Lycopene: Found in red fruits and vegetables, watermelons and pink grapefruit. This is the most potent and is most effective to prevent sunburn and skin cancer.

Bet-carotene: Found in orange vegetables and leafy greens .Some of the foods includes; Carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, winter squash, cantaloupe, peaches, nectarine, mango, papaya, spinach, kale, collard greens and romaine lettuce.

Flavonoids: Concentrated in berries, onions, teas (white, green and black, not herbal) and dark chocolate.

                             

Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C): is richly found in oranges, Papaya, Kiwi, Strawberries, Red peppers, Brussels sprouts, Kale and Broccoli.

Vitamin E: Nuts, Eggs, Green leafy, Vegetables, Avocado, and Whole grains

Source: Feed your face, (2011) Eat to protect skin (and reverse damage you've already done). New York: St. Martin's Griffin.

Next post: That pizza might just be your saviour 

avoidable acne foods!

There is a lot of controversy about food having to do with skin breakouts and it not having anything at all to do with it. However, if you were grown up the old school way I’m sure you always heard from your parents, that those pizzas, fries and shakes will make you break out. Low and behold most of the time they were right.

So, what is it that we are supposed to be looking out for, to achieve beautiful skin without premature wrinkles and sagging skin?

Avoid sugars with simple carbs

Very large spikes in your blood sugar can contribute to inflammation to the skin and cause acne breakouts.

Avoid high-fructose corn syrup

 This goes under a number of chemical reactions to turn the glucose into fructose. Need I say more? This can be found in sugary cereals, protein, meal replacements bars, and packaged baked good.

Kick out refined grains

 This process involves taking out the most nutritional value of the bread. Which is, bran and wheat germ. This strips the fibre, calcium, magnesium and selenium and is followed by bleaching.

What about refined grains?

Good question! But, this process only puts very small quantities back in, which means even enriched are not of much use to you.

What are refined grains?

I.e. White toast, muffins, pastries, croissants, bagels, pasta, cereals, white rice. These will all contribute to inflammation.

Watch your salt

Salt is a combination of two very important minerals the human body needs, but excess amount of salt can lead to of course acne, puffy eyelids, under eye bags, swollen legs and bloating. Your maximum intake of salt a day should be no more than 1500mg/day.

What foods have a lot of salt?

Look out for: Breakfast cereals, salad dressings, dairy products (especially cheese  L ) and canned foods and soups.

Next post: What is acne and what are factors that contribute to it?

What's on Nu'kharas' Product list for upcoming videos?!

Hey y'all,  I hope you're keeping up with me. So, as you already know my videos that I will be uploading on YouTube will be coming out very soon (only 8 more days)! And I wanted to show you what is on my grocery list for you guys. Everything that is on the list I will be either grabbing from my cupboards, grocery store and occasional things from the Health Food store. I will be making a cleanser, toner, moisturizer and an exfoliant! Does this sound exciting? Let me know what you think will come from the massive shopping list! Check it out:

Water ( of course!)

Oatmeal

Glycerin

Honey

Plain Yogurt

Sunflower oil

Lemon Juice

Canola oil

Castor oil

Olive oil

Cornmeal

Wheat germ

Borax powder

Rose water

Orange water

Witch Hazel

Vegetable oil

Baking soda

Egg 

Almond oil

Vitamin E

Clay

Why product choices can be a danger

Why product choices can be dangerous to your health

Before we get started, did you know that your skin can absorb 60 percent of the substances applied to it? I know you might be thinking, “Who cares” right? However when you truly understand what is really going into your body and the amount of potential cancer-causing chemicals that are absorbing, you begin to listen up, just like you’re doing now.

When all the hazardous chemicals are carried into our blood, terrible chemicals can interact in such a way with the other chemicals that already exist there from other factors and sometimes can provoke the cells which, can result in a form of cancer. Even though cancer is the number one thing on many peoples’ minds there can be other problems as well, such as fertility problems, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and of course they can worsen existing acne or cause reactions that look very similar to it. (The Green beauty Guide, 2008) 

Facts on harmful cosmetics:

ü  “Around 90 percent of cosmetic ingredients have never been analyzed for health impacts”

(The Green Beauty Guide, 2008) Don’t become a victim when better ingredients are at arm’s reach!

ü  “ More than 70 percent of popular hair dyes are derived from coal tar, a known cancer causing ingredient” ((The Green Beauty Guide, 2008)

ü  “ Nearly 55 percent of products contain penetration enhancer that increases the ability of chemicals entering the bloodstream” (The Green Beauty Guide, 2008)

Canada's Wonderland made me relapse!

Canada’s Wonderland made me relapse!

So, before I talk about all those “tedious” product health concerns (that you need to be aware about). I want to talk to you about how my journey is going and what I’ve been doing to transition all my bad eating habits. So, for the past few days, I’ve been trying really hard, “sticking it to the man” actually. I was eating:  Apples (very high in sugar by the way) & cheese, blueberries, salads, eating oatmeal, drinking water. I mean I got to say I was pretty impressed until… I went to Canada’s Wonderland yesterday.  Oh the troubles of being around too much of a “good” thing. I saw ice-cream, funnels cakes, cotton candy, Pizza Pizza and I started fighting with myself in my head. Over half an hour I then realized I couldn’t really hold myself back ( I so could have), but that’s not all! I was convincing myself that an Italian restaurant off of the premises would be much better, “it’s not that bad, and at least it’s not fast food, its homemade right?”  So wrong! You’re never going to believe what we had.

My friends and I ordered, (mmm…) a Mediterranean salad with feta cheese, ravioli with bolognaise, and a tomatoes & chicken pizza, it was A-mazing! We all shared it and we all had separate small plates, which controlled our food portions, but I ate so many carbs! I don’t mind gaining a few pounds in the right places (wink wink), but I of course I want the right foods doing that. I want my clear skin and the worst of all I was doing so well! I guess that’s what happens when you’re trying to transition, you fall off the wagon sometimes (let’s just not make it a habit!). I’ll keep you all updated on how it’s going this week and what I’ve been doing to slowly too convert over to the good side. Muhahaha! [insert evil laugh here]

Next Post: What’s on Nu’ Kharas’ DIY product grocery list?

What is the meaning of skin deep?

What does it really mean to be skin deep?

Who remembers that, childhood song that goes a little something like, “foot bone, connected to the leg bone, leg bone connected to the knee bone…”? Well, just as your bones work with one another to keep you moving, your body also works to try and keep your skin looking gorgeous. That is, if you’re eating right, sleeping and drinking the adequate amounts of water. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Let me first start off by saying this is going to be long and healthy skin isn’t a quick fix. Skin is made up of (are you ready?) three layers of skin: The Epidermis, Dermis and Subcutaneous tissue. In fact, skin has its own metabolism. It takes in nutrients from the blood and produces by-products (such as; oil and dead skin) and sends what it doesn’t need back into the bloodstream. Our skin is an incredibly large and complex organ, the average square inch holds 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels, 600,000 pigment skin cells (called: melanocyte) and more than a thousand nerve endings (Green Beauty, 2008). Actually, when we think we’re clean, we’re really not, even after that hot hour long shower (which isn’t good for you by the way!) we still have bacteria, fungus, and yeast and parasites living in and on our skin that is supposed to be there, but when it gets disturbed by hormone changes; such as pregnancy and changes in our diet our body tends to break out in acne, rosacea, and rashes caused by bacteria overgrowth or imbalance (feed Your face, 2011). 

When most think of taking care of their skin, they usually steer to not having enough adequate moisture. Our skin doesn’t really need additional hydration, but sometimes could use it, if you have dry skin (which wrinkles less!); our skin can actually hydrate itself by our natural production of sebum, which is our body’s natural moisturizing factor.

*Sebum: A clear waxy substance made from lipids that acts as a natural emollient and barrier, it helps protect and water-proof hair and skin and keep them being from dry and cracked.

That brings up a conversation about normal skin and how it does not exist. It’s said that a slight dryness and shine in your T-zone is completely normal, but for some reason outside companies really want to convince us that it isn’t. Someone with oily skin, who produces only 2 grams of sebum a year, is told that it should not be there and convinces you to use harsh detergent to strip the natural sebum production and leaves our skin more vulnerable than before. "Squeaky clean is for kitchens, not for human skin!"

Alright, I hope that wasn’t too much for one day! I had to go all college student on yah! Have a great day. See you in the next post! 

Next post: Why product selection can be dangerous to your health 20/06/’12

Hello and welcome!

I have viewers!

Okay, so call me crazy, but just seeing 10 viewers just looking at my blog makes me feel all pins and needles! I'm totally excited about this journey and I know that everything I share with you, you'll be inclined to hear. I'm also sure that most of the stuff that I share with you, you've never heard before. That's because there are a lot of secrets in the Health and Beauty world. Sad, but true.

Anyways! Enough of the wining since we can fix that, I want to share a little about myself before I start to get down to the nitty gritty. My name is Shauntee , born and raised in Toronto. I am a college student currently pursuing Hospitality Managment with the hopes of continuing into something that  fits with what I love to do now, which is teach others, while still learning myself- about health and beauty.

So, why should you stick around? Well, I feel like I'm a cool, down to earth (sometimes I think I'm funny... I'm not) person who honestly just wants to help. It's weird because whenever I hear companies say that I'm like, " BOOGIS!". Ha, it's kind of funny now that the shoe is on the other foot. Truthfully I just want to show you how we both can get beautiful skin and hair, to see what our true potential is. I mean, don't you want to find out? No more clip-ins, weaves, braids, pimples, rashes etc. Just hair growing out of your own scalp and soft smooth skin. Moving on, what I'm really excited for are the Youtube videos (first video July 1st '12) and frugally priced videos that you can purchase (which  will be coming a little later on) that I will be doing for all of you. 

Wow! Now, I've definitely have said too much. Please, If you have any questions, I've without a doubt have your answer. From; adults, babies, children, teenagers, pets... Okay, not pets, but I'm open! Have a good night and I hope your inclined to check back!