Normalizing Low Body Temperatures Often Critical to Restoring Good Health

Are you suffering from fatigue, migraines, PMS, hair loss, depression, inability to lose weight, muscle and joint aches, heat and/or cold intolerance, or other baffling symptoms that your doctor can?t explain? Fixing a low body temperature might quickly and easily solve your health problems.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome (WTS) is a condition that causes symptoms characteristic of decreased thyroid system function. It is best identified by its reproducible and predictable response to a special thyroid hormone treatment protocol developed by E. Denis Wilson, MD. It is the cluster of often debilitating symptoms especially brought on by significant physical or emotional stress that can persist even after the stress has passed (due to a maladaptive slowing of the metabolism). It is characterized by a body temperature that runs, on average, below normal and routine thyroid blood tests are often in the normal range.

Symptoms can result when the average body temperature is less than 98.6 degrees (checked by mouth with a mercury thermometer); however, low temperatures classic for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome sufferers are 97.8 degrees or lower.

Virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place in our bodies are catalyzed by enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that are dependent upon their shape, or conformation, for their activity. When enzymes are too hot they are too loose; when they are too cold they are too tight, and in either extreme the enzymes are not the right shape and cannot function optimally. When the body temperature is too low, nearly all of the enzymes in the body function less effectively. This can cause a wide variety of complaints.

High fevers (107 degrees F) can cause brain damage and even death. Severe hypothermia (less than 90 degrees F) can also be a life-threatening medical emergency. A temperature of 100 degrees (1.4 degrees above 98.6) can produce familiar symptoms of fever. It is easy to see how mildly depressed temperatures (1 - 1.5 degrees below 98.6) can also produce a very characteristic set of symptoms. It is obvious that to function optimally, the body must be at the optimal temperature. Under conditions of severe physical or emotional stress, the body can slow down and the temperature can go down to conserve energy, as a coping mechanism. That's normal. But sometimes, the temperature can remain persistently low even after the stress has passed. That's not normal. Examples of severe stresses that can knock the body out of balance include childbirth (the number one cause), divorce, death of a loved one, job or family stress, and surgery or accidents.

The body temperature is regulated by the thyroid hormone system. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to produce Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to produce T4 (thyroxine) which is the raw material used to make the active thyroid hormone T3. T4 is also converted to Reverse T3 (RT3) which is physiologically inactive. 80 percent of the active thyroid hormone T3 is produced outside the thyroid gland, in the periphery of the body. T4 is converted to T3 by an enzyme called 5' Deiodinase. This enzyme is inhibited by stress, acute and chronic illness, fasting, cortisol (steroid), and other things. Under stress and fasting, the body converts less T4 to T3 and more T4 to RT3 to conserve energy (with less T3, the cells of the body slow down). It is likely that the increased levels of RT3 that result can then further inhibit the conversion of T4 to T3, with even more T4 being converted to RT3, less to T3, and so on, with the body getting stuck in a vicious cycle, a sort of coping mechanism gone amuck.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is treated by using a special T3 therapy protocol developed by Dr. Wilson. With proper treatment patients can usually bring their temperatures up to normal. When the temperatures are normal the symptoms usually disappear. The hallmark of T3 therapy for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is the resetting phenomenon. The temperature and symptoms usually remain improved even after the treatment has been discontinued. T3 therapy for WTS does not need to be taken for life. The T3 medicine that is on the market is instant release. T3 therapy is much more effective and better tolerated when the T3 is mixed with a sustained-release agent. The T3 preparation needs to be carefully made (compounded) by skilled and experienced pharmacists, and taken twice a day, every 12 hours.

More information about WTS can be found at http://www.WilsonsTemperatureSyndrome.com

Dealing with Dandruff

Messy and embarrassing, dandruff is one of the most common of hair woes. A few simple techniques and natural and inexpensive home treatments can help prevent and keep dandruff at bay.

CAUSES OF DANDRUFF

Although the cause of dandruff is not completely understood, it is currently theorized that one of the main causes is a breakdown of the scalps natural lipid barrier, leaving it more exposed to infection by the microscopic yeast that is commonly found in the scalp. When the yeast overgrows, it leads to an inflammatory response that kills off scalp cells at a high rate, which in turn slough off in sticky patches and flakes.

The condition is identified by:

White or clear flakes on the scalp, through the hair, and on clothing.

Itchy scalp which may be red and inflamed.

Some young teens find they develop dandruff when they hit puberty because their hygiene habits haven??t changed to meet the challenges of newly accelerated sebum production.

Stress, poor hygiene and poor diet can make the scalp more susceptible to dandruff. High sugar foods in particular are known to exacerbate yeast infections.

The hair should be brushed regularly to loosen flakes and stimulate blood supply to the scalp, which will accelerate the natural immune response to infection.

TREATING DANDRUFF

There are few habits you can develop and natural treatments you can use to treat dandruff.

Nutrition: An excess of sugar in the diet can exacerbate any yeast infection. Try reducing your intake of all sugars and refined starches while treating for dandruff.

Cleansing: Massage your scalp thoroughly with your fingertips when shampooing. This will help loosen and remove any dead skin flakes and help prevent the infection from continuing. Wash your hair daily until the infection is cleared up.

Conditioning: Use a protective hair condition on the ends of hair only. Avoid getting conditioner on your scalp where it can clog pores and interfere with healing of the skin.

Other Treatments:

Massage: Massaging your scalp several times a day with the pads of the fingers only will stimulate blood supply to the hair follicles and help loosen the dead skin flakes.

Brushing: Brushing your hair thoroughly on a daily basis will help loosen and remove dead skin flakes, increase the smooth flow of sebum along the hair shaft, and increase blood supply to the hair follicles.

Wash Hands After Brushing and Grooming Hair: Fungal infections of the skin are highly contagious, and it is easy to reinfect and spread to other areas of the body. This is why it??s important to wash your hair daily and to brush out any loose dandruff flakes ?V so that healthy areas of the scalp will not be infected. Washing your hands after brushing, massaging and grooming your hair will also help prevent reinfection or cross infection.

The following herbs and nutrients have been shown to reduce dandruff infections:

Natural Internal Treatments for Dandruff

Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Vanadyl Sulfate, Gynema Sylvestre and Chromium are all natural regulators of blood sugar levels. The can help prevent feeding the infection by keeping blood sugar levels normalized.

Olive Leaf and Oregano Leaf are both natural systemic antifungal agents.

Table - Natural External Treatments for Dandruff

The following herbs can be used as a tonic for reducing fungal infections on a topical basis. Extracts of these herbs or a several drops of their essential oils dissolved in aloe vera gel or witch hazel can greatly relieve the symptoms of itching and flaking in dandruff. Tea tree oil is particularly effective against fungal and bacterial infections.

Clary Sage
Desert Sage
Eucalyptus
Fumitory
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginsen
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapeseed Extract
Juniper Berry Essential Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Lemongrass
Myrtle
Oregano
Poike Root
Rosemary
Tea Tree Oil

With a little effort and a few extra hygiene precautions, natural, inexpensive home treatments can help reduce and prevent dandruff.

Fawn Bales has studied and practiced alternative and herbal medicine for over 20 years. She has also studied aesthetic technology and cosmetology. She is the co-author of two natural beauty books and is a managing editor of Botanical Beauty Lab, a women's free resource for natural health and beauty information at http://www.botanicalbeautylab.com

The Benefits of a Hair Analysis

Have you ever been to a medical doctor with persistent health symptoms, but the doctor can't see anything wrong and all the expensive lab tests merely determine nothing's there?

YOU know something's wrong though, because you are on the receiving end of the pounding headaches, the uncontrollable twitches in your arms and legs followed by shooting pains. YOU are the one who cannot get a good night's sleep. YOU know you are experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness, and blurred vision. And YOU are tired of STRESS as the blame while your doctor suggests you see a psychotherapist.

Well, your body can tell you what traditional medicine cannot?but you have to pay attention to what it's trying to translate using those disturbing health symptoms. Two ways to understand your body's ?cries for help? are to remove ALL foreign, man-made food chemicals from your diet, clean-up your outside environment, and get a hair analysis to determine what's going on inside of you.

The protein in your hair holds the composition of your body's tissues for a permanent period of time. This is why hair testing is used in forensic medicine. By analyzing toxin and nutrient levels using a hair analysis, a trained nutritionist can typically tell what toxins have accumulated in your body and what vitamins and minerals are depleted (in turn, causing an imbalance in body function). The hair analysis can clearly spell out what your body is trying to tell you using its symptomatic warning signs such as those nasty migraine headaches.

Humans are exposed to over 14,000 food chemicals daily. And, this doesn't take into account the abundant environmental toxins we are exposed to. The hair analysis is an excellent tool to identify specifically which toxins are inside your body and what vitamins and minerals they may have depleted.

As I discovered through my own disease recovery from an inaccurate diagnosis of ?Graves' Disease,? I couldn't fight what I couldn't see. It wasn't probable I would cure my disease if no one knew the cause, and unfortunately my internist didn't have a clue as to what caused my thyroid symptoms. The hair analysis was the road map I used to see what was going on inside of my body, and it helped me save my thyroid gland. I cured my ?incurable disease? in thirty days.

In most cases, the hair analysis can mark the root cause(s) of illness. But, the key to a good hair analysis is in the interpretation - a lost art amid traditional medicine, yet a critical step in disease recovery.

For more information about the benefits of a hair analysis or to submit a hair sample, contact Dr. Hull at http://www.janethull.com/ or http://www.hairanlysisprogram.com/

About The Author
Dr. Janet Starr Hull publishes a monthly health newsletter covering a wide range of important health topics. To sign up for her free newsletter or to view past articles, visit http://www.janethull.com/newsletter/index.php

An artificial sweetener expert, Dr. Hull is the author of ?Sweet Poison? an expose on the dangers of aspartame, and ?Splenda?: Is It Safe Or Not??, her newest book on the dangers of sucralose found in Splenda. Dr. Hull also features her detoxification program and Detox Kit, proven highly effective in cleansing the body of food chemicals and environmental toxins.

The Benefits of a Hair Analysis

Have you ever been to a medical doctor with persistent health symptoms, but the doctor can't see anything wrong and all the expensive lab tests merely determine nothing's there?

YOU know something's wrong though, because you are on the receiving end of the pounding headaches, the uncontrollable twitches in your arms and legs followed by shooting pains. YOU are the one who cannot get a good night's sleep. YOU know you are experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness, and blurred vision. And YOU are tired of STRESS as the blame while your doctor suggests you see a psychotherapist.

Well, your body can tell you what traditional medicine cannot?but you have to pay attention to what it's trying to translate using those disturbing health symptoms. Two ways to understand your body's ?cries for help? are to remove ALL foreign, man-made food chemicals from your diet, clean-up your outside environment, and get a hair analysis to determine what's going on inside of you.

The protein in your hair holds the composition of your body's tissues for a permanent period of time. This is why hair testing is used in forensic medicine. By analyzing toxin and nutrient levels using a hair analysis, a trained nutritionist can typically tell what toxins have accumulated in your body and what vitamins and minerals are depleted (in turn, causing an imbalance in body function). The hair analysis can clearly spell out what your body is trying to tell you using its symptomatic warning signs such as those nasty migraine headaches.

Humans are exposed to over 14,000 food chemicals daily. And, this doesn't take into account the abundant environmental toxins we are exposed to. The hair analysis is an excellent tool to identify specifically which toxins are inside your body and what vitamins and minerals they may have depleted.

As I discovered through my own disease recovery from an inaccurate diagnosis of ?Graves' Disease,? I couldn't fight what I couldn't see. It wasn't probable I would cure my disease if no one knew the cause, and unfortunately my internist didn't have a clue as to what caused my thyroid symptoms. The hair analysis was the road map I used to see what was going on inside of my body, and it helped me save my thyroid gland. I cured my ?incurable disease? in thirty days.

In most cases, the hair analysis can mark the root cause(s) of illness. But, the key to a good hair analysis is in the interpretation - a lost art amid traditional medicine, yet a critical step in disease recovery.

For more information about the benefits of a hair analysis or to submit a hair sample, contact Dr. Hull at http://www.janethull.com/ or http://www.hairanlysisprogram.com/

About The Author
Dr. Janet Starr Hull publishes a monthly health newsletter covering a wide range of important health topics. To sign up for her free newsletter or to view past articles, visit http://www.janethull.com/newsletter/index.php

An artificial sweetener expert, Dr. Hull is the author of ?Sweet Poison? an expose on the dangers of aspartame, and ?Splenda?: Is It Safe Or Not??, her newest book on the dangers of sucralose found in Splenda. Dr. Hull also features her detoxification program and Detox Kit, proven highly effective in cleansing the body of food chemicals and environmental toxins.

Five Easy Guidelines for Acne Skin Care

Are you having acne problem? Have you done something about it? No need to worry, almost everyone has a problem with acne. Nearly all of high-school-age girls to older women, even including men, experience this skin care problem. Acne may not be a dangerous skin disease, but the common appearance, especially if it becomes worse and severe, can become a very serious problem. Thus, you?re going to need a significant acne skin care.

Before going further to acne skin care, it will be best to get to know more about acne. It is a skin disorder caused by hormones on the skin?s oil glands. This leads to open skin pores and cause some spots, annoying ones, to emerge. These spots are called acne and usually occur on the face, neck, back, and chest.

A permanent blemish and scar caused by acne should be treated seriously. Besides it may distress the people who are affected, it can also lead to a worse skin condition. Here are some easy guidelines how to treat the acne - and to give care to your skin in general:

1. The first and most important to do is gently wash your skin, especially your face, at least twice a day. Use a mild cleanser and after that, clean your skin with water. Ask your dermatologist about what kind of cleanser to be used according to your skin type.

2. Use appropriate acne products, which you can get by asking your doctor. Allow some time for the medicine to work as suggested by the doctor or as said in the instruction. You?ll see the improvement later, which usually takes several weeks.

3. Be careful when using cosmetics. You should use ones that are oil free, since oily skin is believed to be one of the factors that contribute to the emergence of acne.

4. Take vitamins for your skin. Vitamin E is the best one for a good skin. You can consume it through some fresh foods (fruits and vegetables) or simply just take vitamin E tablets available at drug stores.

5. Start a new healthy lifestyle by doing a balanced diet. Eat healthy foods, namely the low-fat and fresh ones. Don?t forget to drink a lot of water since it helps bring out toxin from the body.

You see from the above guidelines that there?s no difficulty at all in acne care, right? You just need to live clean and healthy to have a good skin. So, why not start a new lifestyle today? And buy only quality products - for a long-lasting healthy skin ever.

About The Author: Loraine Lesley is editor for some Website concerning women. She wants to help women to look beautiful, that?s why she offers practical articles and tips on Skin Care, Hair Care, and more. To discover her advice, visit http://www.myskincareonline.com and http://www.myhaircareguide.com

Chamomile For Health Hair and Life

Camomile
Matricaria Chamomilla

Common Names: German camomile, chamomilla, wild camomile.

Medicinal Part: Flowers

Description: German Camomile is a Southern European annual plant found wild along roadsides, in fields, and cultivated in gardens. The round, downy, hollow, furrowed stem may be procumbent or rise upright to a height of 16 inches. The leaves are pale green, bipinnate, sharply incised, and sessile. The flower heads are like those of Roman Camomile, and the white ray-flowers are often bent down to make the disk-flowers even more prominent.

Properties and Uses: Anodyne, Antiphlogistic, antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, tonic. German Camomile tea is valuable in many nervous conditions, insomnia, neuralgia, lumbago, rheumatic problems, and rashes. It also tends to reduce inflammation and to facilitate bowel movement without acting directly as a purgative. Use it as a wash or compress for skin problems and inflammations, including inflammations of mucous tissue. Keeping a mouthful in the mouth for a time will temporarily relieve a toothache. To help asthma in children or to relieve the symptoms of a cold, try a vapor bath of the tea. German Camomile can also be used as a relaxing, anti-spasmodic, anodyne bath additive. Use it for a sitz bath to help hemorrhoids, or as a foot or hand-bath for sweaty feet or hands. For hemorrhoids and for wounds, the flowers are also made into a salve.

Preparation and Dosage: Use 2 tsp. Dried (or fresh) flowers with ? cup boiling water. Take a mouthful at a time. Or add 2 tbsp. flowers to 2 cups cold water and heat to just short of boiling.

Bath Additive: Use 1 lb. Flowers with 5 qt. Cold water. Bring to a boil then steep covered for 10 minutes. Strain and add to bathwater. A less effective way is to hang a linen bag containing the flowers in the tub. Use proportionately smaller amounts for partial baths.

Chamomile is perhaps one of nature?s most benign herbs. Its calmative and restorative properties make it one of those rare ?any time? cures for whatever might ail you. For parents, whose children might be going through one of ?those days? a weak cup of chamomile tea can help to calm an overwrought child. Chamomile has been used for hundreds of years as a cure for stomach problems; from lack of appetite to an upset stomach. In my grandmother?s house, a cup of camomile was always the cure for a restless mind at bedtime.

On rare occasions, people have complained of allergic reactions to chamomile. However, because chamomile is a low growing plant, ragweed can easily become mixed with chamomile and this is where most allergic reactions occur. It is always wise to exercise caution when you are purchasing herbs. Be certain that you are using a reputable supplier that guarantees both the quality and purity of the herbs you are purchasing. You can find many quality suppliers at our website: UsingHerbs.Com

Chamomile also plays an important part in skin and hair care. Chamomile is an excellent tonic for fair hair. Use it as a rinse after shampooing to restore shine and bring out your hair?s natural highlights. Or better yet, steep together a pot of chamomile flowers and nettles for 20 minutes, then add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Place this mixture in a spray bottle and generously spray on your hair after shampooing. Do not rinse. The slightly vinegary smell will go away in a few minutes. This hair tonic is absolutely fabulous for blond hair. It will remove tangles, strengthen the hair and prevent breakage and split ends. The vinegar will also help to restore the hair to its natural ph balance and you will love the results.

For soap making, chamomile flowers can be added to any mild handmade soap. Its properties make it an excellent addition to olive oil soap and are excellent for treating dry, problem skin and soothing rashes and inflammation.

MK Welty hosts an informational website for herb enthusiasts at http://UsingHerbs.Com where visitors can find natural remedies, herbs, and instructions for their use. Or visit the sister-site http://YouCanMakeSoap.Com to learn how you can make your own handmade herbal soaps.

Five Easy Guidelines for Acne Skin Care

Are you having acne problem? Have you done something about it? No need to worry, almost everyone has a problem with acne. Nearly all of high-school-age girls to older women, even including men, experience this skin care problem. Acne may not be a dangerous skin disease, but the common appearance, especially if it becomes worse and severe, can become a very serious problem. Thus, you?re going to need a significant acne skin care.

Before going further to acne skin care, it will be best to get to know more about acne. It is a skin disorder caused by hormones on the skin?s oil glands. This leads to open skin pores and cause some spots, annoying ones, to emerge. These spots are called acne and usually occur on the face, neck, back, and chest.

A permanent blemish and scar caused by acne should be treated seriously. Besides it may distress the people who are affected, it can also lead to a worse skin condition. Here are some easy guidelines how to treat the acne - and to give care to your skin in general:

1. The first and most important to do is gently wash your skin, especially your face, at least twice a day. Use a mild cleanser and after that, clean your skin with water. Ask your dermatologist about what kind of cleanser to be used according to your skin type.

2. Use appropriate acne products, which you can get by asking your doctor. Allow some time for the medicine to work as suggested by the doctor or as said in the instruction. You?ll see the improvement later, which usually takes several weeks.

3. Be careful when using cosmetics. You should use ones that are oil free, since oily skin is believed to be one of the factors that contribute to the emergence of acne.

4. Take vitamins for your skin. Vitamin E is the best one for a good skin. You can consume it through some fresh foods (fruits and vegetables) or simply just take vitamin E tablets available at drug stores.

5. Start a new healthy lifestyle by doing a balanced diet. Eat healthy foods, namely the low-fat and fresh ones. Don?t forget to drink a lot of water since it helps bring out toxin from the body.

You see from the above guidelines that there?s no difficulty at all in acne care, right? You just need to live clean and healthy to have a good skin. So, why not start a new lifestyle today? And buy only quality products - for a long-lasting healthy skin ever.

About The Author: Loraine Lesley is editor for some Website concerning women. She wants to help women to look beautiful, that?s why she offers practical articles and tips on Skin Care, Hair Care, and more. To discover her advice, visit http://www.myskincareonline.com and http://www.myhaircareguide.com

The Miracles Of Tea Tree Oil For Skin And Hair Care

Tea tree, MELALEUCA ALTERNIFOLIA, native to Australia, is a tree or shrub with needle like leaves similar in appearance to cypress with heads of sessile pale flowers. The popular tea tree oil is derived from this tree. The aborigines of Australia have been known to have used the tea tree oil to treat a range of ailments from colds, sores to acne and even whooping cough.

Extensively used in aromatherapy, the leaves when crushed release essential oils of varying amounts and constituents. The oil is so potent that it can be diluted up to many times its volume and it still manages to retain its effectiveness all the same. Although the benefits of tea tree oil are numerous, for beauty treatments, it?s been found effective in skin and hair care. The following sections describe the uses of Tea Tree Oil for skin care and hair care.

Tea tree oil for skin care

Tea tree oil has been used effectively to treat acne, abscess, athlete's foot, blisters, burns, cold sores, insect bites, oily skin, rashes, spots, warts and wounds. You can use tea tree oil to cure sunburns, diaper rash, toenail infections and problems of smelly feet.

Tea tree oil for hair care

Add a few drops of Tea tree oil to your regular shampoo to treat hair problems like persistent dandruff, itchy-scalp and even prevent head-lice. Massage it in, leave it on for 5-7 minutes and rinse off. Adding a few drops in pet shampoo/bath helps keep tics and rashes at bay.

Other benefits of tea tree oil Fed-up with allopathic medicines? Packets of antibiotics that have gone down your throat seem to be of no use? The only things you find they have lightened are your pockets? Well, don't panic, help is at hand, Tea Tree oil can be used to treat a variety of medical problems. A great remedy to soothe your sinuses; dab a drop of tea tree oil around your nose can help clear up blocked sinuses.

Add a few drops in a steam bath or vaporizer and inhale, a great relief for persistent colds and cough. Regular use of tea tree oil has been found to be effective in treating Asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, cough, sinusitis and even tuberculosis.

Tea tree oil is a great general disinfectant and can be effectively used to treat genito-urinary tract infections such as thrush, vaginitis, cystitis and pruitis. Tea tree oil has properties that act as a immune booster. It helps equip the body to fight off a host of infections. Using tea tree oil is particularly effective if the body is already in a weakened condition due to illness, stress or prolonged treatment-involving antibiotics that lead to a reduction of the body's natural resistance.

Using tea tree oil prior to a surgical operation or for those suffering from long-drawn debilitating illness has been found to be beneficial. The anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties have seen tea tree oil being used extensively in soaps, toothpastes, deodorants, disinfectants, gargles, germicides, aftershaves and colognes. Tea tree oil is safe to use, as it is non-toxic and non-irritant.

Although tea tree oil has no known side effects, some individuals may be sensitive to it. This calls for consideration of the strength of tea tree oil and should never be used undiluted on the body and particularly on sensitive areas.

Kevin Pederson has been managing a number of natural home remedies websites which have information on home based natural cures and references to some of the very useful oils like tea tree oils which are very good for your skin and hair .

The Miracles Of Tea Tree Oil For Skin And Hair Care

Tea tree, MELALEUCA ALTERNIFOLIA, native to Australia, is a tree or shrub with needle like leaves similar in appearance to cypress with heads of sessile pale flowers. The popular tea tree oil is derived from this tree. The aborigines of Australia have been known to have used the tea tree oil to treat a range of ailments from colds, sores to acne and even whooping cough.

Extensively used in aromatherapy, the leaves when crushed release essential oils of varying amounts and constituents. The oil is so potent that it can be diluted up to many times its volume and it still manages to retain its effectiveness all the same. Although the benefits of tea tree oil are numerous, for beauty treatments, it?s been found effective in skin and hair care. The following sections describe the uses of Tea Tree Oil for skin care and hair care.

Tea tree oil for skin care

Tea tree oil has been used effectively to treat acne, abscess, athlete's foot, blisters, burns, cold sores, insect bites, oily skin, rashes, spots, warts and wounds. You can use tea tree oil to cure sunburns, diaper rash, toenail infections and problems of smelly feet.

Tea tree oil for hair care

Add a few drops of Tea tree oil to your regular shampoo to treat hair problems like persistent dandruff, itchy-scalp and even prevent head-lice. Massage it in, leave it on for 5-7 minutes and rinse off. Adding a few drops in pet shampoo/bath helps keep tics and rashes at bay.

Other benefits of tea tree oil Fed-up with allopathic medicines? Packets of antibiotics that have gone down your throat seem to be of no use? The only things you find they have lightened are your pockets? Well, don't panic, help is at hand, Tea Tree oil can be used to treat a variety of medical problems. A great remedy to soothe your sinuses; dab a drop of tea tree oil around your nose can help clear up blocked sinuses.

Add a few drops in a steam bath or vaporizer and inhale, a great relief for persistent colds and cough. Regular use of tea tree oil has been found to be effective in treating Asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, cough, sinusitis and even tuberculosis.

Tea tree oil is a great general disinfectant and can be effectively used to treat genito-urinary tract infections such as thrush, vaginitis, cystitis and pruitis. Tea tree oil has properties that act as a immune booster. It helps equip the body to fight off a host of infections. Using tea tree oil is particularly effective if the body is already in a weakened condition due to illness, stress or prolonged treatment-involving antibiotics that lead to a reduction of the body's natural resistance.

Using tea tree oil prior to a surgical operation or for those suffering from long-drawn debilitating illness has been found to be beneficial. The anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties have seen tea tree oil being used extensively in soaps, toothpastes, deodorants, disinfectants, gargles, germicides, aftershaves and colognes. Tea tree oil is safe to use, as it is non-toxic and non-irritant.

Although tea tree oil has no known side effects, some individuals may be sensitive to it. This calls for consideration of the strength of tea tree oil and should never be used undiluted on the body and particularly on sensitive areas.

Kevin Pederson has been managing a number of natural home remedies websites which have information on home based natural cures and references to some of the very useful oils like tea tree oils which are very good for your skin and hair .

Chamomile For Health Hair and Life

Camomile
Matricaria Chamomilla

Common Names: German camomile, chamomilla, wild camomile.

Medicinal Part: Flowers

Description: German Camomile is a Southern European annual plant found wild along roadsides, in fields, and cultivated in gardens. The round, downy, hollow, furrowed stem may be procumbent or rise upright to a height of 16 inches. The leaves are pale green, bipinnate, sharply incised, and sessile. The flower heads are like those of Roman Camomile, and the white ray-flowers are often bent down to make the disk-flowers even more prominent.

Properties and Uses: Anodyne, Antiphlogistic, antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, tonic. German Camomile tea is valuable in many nervous conditions, insomnia, neuralgia, lumbago, rheumatic problems, and rashes. It also tends to reduce inflammation and to facilitate bowel movement without acting directly as a purgative. Use it as a wash or compress for skin problems and inflammations, including inflammations of mucous tissue. Keeping a mouthful in the mouth for a time will temporarily relieve a toothache. To help asthma in children or to relieve the symptoms of a cold, try a vapor bath of the tea. German Camomile can also be used as a relaxing, anti-spasmodic, anodyne bath additive. Use it for a sitz bath to help hemorrhoids, or as a foot or hand-bath for sweaty feet or hands. For hemorrhoids and for wounds, the flowers are also made into a salve.

Preparation and Dosage: Use 2 tsp. Dried (or fresh) flowers with ? cup boiling water. Take a mouthful at a time. Or add 2 tbsp. flowers to 2 cups cold water and heat to just short of boiling.

Bath Additive: Use 1 lb. Flowers with 5 qt. Cold water. Bring to a boil then steep covered for 10 minutes. Strain and add to bathwater. A less effective way is to hang a linen bag containing the flowers in the tub. Use proportionately smaller amounts for partial baths.

Chamomile is perhaps one of nature?s most benign herbs. Its calmative and restorative properties make it one of those rare ?any time? cures for whatever might ail you. For parents, whose children might be going through one of ?those days? a weak cup of chamomile tea can help to calm an overwrought child. Chamomile has been used for hundreds of years as a cure for stomach problems; from lack of appetite to an upset stomach. In my grandmother?s house, a cup of camomile was always the cure for a restless mind at bedtime.

On rare occasions, people have complained of allergic reactions to chamomile. However, because chamomile is a low growing plant, ragweed can easily become mixed with chamomile and this is where most allergic reactions occur. It is always wise to exercise caution when you are purchasing herbs. Be certain that you are using a reputable supplier that guarantees both the quality and purity of the herbs you are purchasing. You can find many quality suppliers at our website: UsingHerbs.Com

Chamomile also plays an important part in skin and hair care. Chamomile is an excellent tonic for fair hair. Use it as a rinse after shampooing to restore shine and bring out your hair?s natural highlights. Or better yet, steep together a pot of chamomile flowers and nettles for 20 minutes, then add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Place this mixture in a spray bottle and generously spray on your hair after shampooing. Do not rinse. The slightly vinegary smell will go away in a few minutes. This hair tonic is absolutely fabulous for blond hair. It will remove tangles, strengthen the hair and prevent breakage and split ends. The vinegar will also help to restore the hair to its natural ph balance and you will love the results.

For soap making, chamomile flowers can be added to any mild handmade soap. Its properties make it an excellent addition to olive oil soap and are excellent for treating dry, problem skin and soothing rashes and inflammation.

MK Welty hosts an informational website for herb enthusiasts at http://UsingHerbs.Com where visitors can find natural remedies, herbs, and instructions for their use. Or visit the sister-site http://YouCanMakeSoap.Com to learn how you can make your own handmade herbal soaps.

Dealing with Dandruff

Messy and embarrassing, dandruff is one of the most common of hair woes. A few simple techniques and natural and inexpensive home treatments can help prevent and keep dandruff at bay.

CAUSES OF DANDRUFF

Although the cause of dandruff is not completely understood, it is currently theorized that one of the main causes is a breakdown of the scalps natural lipid barrier, leaving it more exposed to infection by the microscopic yeast that is commonly found in the scalp. When the yeast overgrows, it leads to an inflammatory response that kills off scalp cells at a high rate, which in turn slough off in sticky patches and flakes.

The condition is identified by:

White or clear flakes on the scalp, through the hair, and on clothing.

Itchy scalp which may be red and inflamed.

Some young teens find they develop dandruff when they hit puberty because their hygiene habits haven??t changed to meet the challenges of newly accelerated sebum production.

Stress, poor hygiene and poor diet can make the scalp more susceptible to dandruff. High sugar foods in particular are known to exacerbate yeast infections.

The hair should be brushed regularly to loosen flakes and stimulate blood supply to the scalp, which will accelerate the natural immune response to infection.

TREATING DANDRUFF

There are few habits you can develop and natural treatments you can use to treat dandruff.

Nutrition: An excess of sugar in the diet can exacerbate any yeast infection. Try reducing your intake of all sugars and refined starches while treating for dandruff.

Cleansing: Massage your scalp thoroughly with your fingertips when shampooing. This will help loosen and remove any dead skin flakes and help prevent the infection from continuing. Wash your hair daily until the infection is cleared up.

Conditioning: Use a protective hair condition on the ends of hair only. Avoid getting conditioner on your scalp where it can clog pores and interfere with healing of the skin.

Other Treatments:

Massage: Massaging your scalp several times a day with the pads of the fingers only will stimulate blood supply to the hair follicles and help loosen the dead skin flakes.

Brushing: Brushing your hair thoroughly on a daily basis will help loosen and remove dead skin flakes, increase the smooth flow of sebum along the hair shaft, and increase blood supply to the hair follicles.

Wash Hands After Brushing and Grooming Hair: Fungal infections of the skin are highly contagious, and it is easy to reinfect and spread to other areas of the body. This is why it??s important to wash your hair daily and to brush out any loose dandruff flakes ?V so that healthy areas of the scalp will not be infected. Washing your hands after brushing, massaging and grooming your hair will also help prevent reinfection or cross infection.

The following herbs and nutrients have been shown to reduce dandruff infections:

Natural Internal Treatments for Dandruff

Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Vanadyl Sulfate, Gynema Sylvestre and Chromium are all natural regulators of blood sugar levels. The can help prevent feeding the infection by keeping blood sugar levels normalized.

Olive Leaf and Oregano Leaf are both natural systemic antifungal agents.

Table - Natural External Treatments for Dandruff

The following herbs can be used as a tonic for reducing fungal infections on a topical basis. Extracts of these herbs or a several drops of their essential oils dissolved in aloe vera gel or witch hazel can greatly relieve the symptoms of itching and flaking in dandruff. Tea tree oil is particularly effective against fungal and bacterial infections.

Clary Sage
Desert Sage
Eucalyptus
Fumitory
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginsen
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapeseed Extract
Juniper Berry Essential Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Lemongrass
Myrtle
Oregano
Poike Root
Rosemary
Tea Tree Oil

With a little effort and a few extra hygiene precautions, natural, inexpensive home treatments can help reduce and prevent dandruff.

Fawn Bales has studied and practiced alternative and herbal medicine for over 20 years. She has also studied aesthetic technology and cosmetology. She is the co-author of two natural beauty books and is a managing editor of Botanical Beauty Lab, a women's free resource for natural health and beauty information at http://www.botanicalbeautylab.com

Normalizing Low Body Temperatures Often Critical to Restoring Good Health

Are you suffering from fatigue, migraines, PMS, hair loss, depression, inability to lose weight, muscle and joint aches, heat and/or cold intolerance, or other baffling symptoms that your doctor can?t explain? Fixing a low body temperature might quickly and easily solve your health problems.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome (WTS) is a condition that causes symptoms characteristic of decreased thyroid system function. It is best identified by its reproducible and predictable response to a special thyroid hormone treatment protocol developed by E. Denis Wilson, MD. It is the cluster of often debilitating symptoms especially brought on by significant physical or emotional stress that can persist even after the stress has passed (due to a maladaptive slowing of the metabolism). It is characterized by a body temperature that runs, on average, below normal and routine thyroid blood tests are often in the normal range.

Symptoms can result when the average body temperature is less than 98.6 degrees (checked by mouth with a mercury thermometer); however, low temperatures classic for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome sufferers are 97.8 degrees or lower.

Virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place in our bodies are catalyzed by enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that are dependent upon their shape, or conformation, for their activity. When enzymes are too hot they are too loose; when they are too cold they are too tight, and in either extreme the enzymes are not the right shape and cannot function optimally. When the body temperature is too low, nearly all of the enzymes in the body function less effectively. This can cause a wide variety of complaints.

High fevers (107 degrees F) can cause brain damage and even death. Severe hypothermia (less than 90 degrees F) can also be a life-threatening medical emergency. A temperature of 100 degrees (1.4 degrees above 98.6) can produce familiar symptoms of fever. It is easy to see how mildly depressed temperatures (1 - 1.5 degrees below 98.6) can also produce a very characteristic set of symptoms. It is obvious that to function optimally, the body must be at the optimal temperature. Under conditions of severe physical or emotional stress, the body can slow down and the temperature can go down to conserve energy, as a coping mechanism. That's normal. But sometimes, the temperature can remain persistently low even after the stress has passed. That's not normal. Examples of severe stresses that can knock the body out of balance include childbirth (the number one cause), divorce, death of a loved one, job or family stress, and surgery or accidents.

The body temperature is regulated by the thyroid hormone system. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to produce Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to produce T4 (thyroxine) which is the raw material used to make the active thyroid hormone T3. T4 is also converted to Reverse T3 (RT3) which is physiologically inactive. 80 percent of the active thyroid hormone T3 is produced outside the thyroid gland, in the periphery of the body. T4 is converted to T3 by an enzyme called 5' Deiodinase. This enzyme is inhibited by stress, acute and chronic illness, fasting, cortisol (steroid), and other things. Under stress and fasting, the body converts less T4 to T3 and more T4 to RT3 to conserve energy (with less T3, the cells of the body slow down). It is likely that the increased levels of RT3 that result can then further inhibit the conversion of T4 to T3, with even more T4 being converted to RT3, less to T3, and so on, with the body getting stuck in a vicious cycle, a sort of coping mechanism gone amuck.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is treated by using a special T3 therapy protocol developed by Dr. Wilson. With proper treatment patients can usually bring their temperatures up to normal. When the temperatures are normal the symptoms usually disappear. The hallmark of T3 therapy for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is the resetting phenomenon. The temperature and symptoms usually remain improved even after the treatment has been discontinued. T3 therapy for WTS does not need to be taken for life. The T3 medicine that is on the market is instant release. T3 therapy is much more effective and better tolerated when the T3 is mixed with a sustained-release agent. The T3 preparation needs to be carefully made (compounded) by skilled and experienced pharmacists, and taken twice a day, every 12 hours.

More information about WTS can be found at http://www.WilsonsTemperatureSyndrome.com

Why Organic?

?Beauty is a glorious gift of nature.? Homer

What you put on your skin is absorbed through your skin. To be more precise, the skin absorbs approximately 60% of any substance applied to it. Hence the success of trans-dermal skin patches prescribed by physicians to deliver medications.

Unfortunately, most of the skin care products mass produced for the market today, even those claiming to be `all natural? and/or `botanically based? products, contain harsh, toxic and even possibly carcinogenic ingredients that actually contribute to disorders of the skin and accelerate the aging process.

There is a growing concern from consumers about the ingredients in the personal care products they use daily. In a recent study by the US General Accounting Office (GAO), 125 ingredients found in cosmetics are suspected of causing cancer. Twenty ingredients have been implicated in causing birth defects. Twenty ingredients may cause adverse neurological symptoms, such as headaches and convulsions. Most of these toxic chemicals are so inexpensive that they are used in extremely high concentrations in many personal care products.

These toxic chemicals provide no benefits or nutrients to the skin. They are the inexpensive alternatives employed to achieve the ?feel? or ?slip? to the skin that occurs naturally using pure, nutritious, essential oils and vegetable oils. The chemicals used to replace the nutritious components are used in significant concentrations in most skin care products. Their only purpose is to increase the profit margins for the manufacturers. The health of the consumer is completely disregarded.

The trend for natural products is growing because the educated consumer is now demanding these for face and body care. Making the decision to use only natural products is easy. Incorporating this decision into your everyday life becomes more difficult as you try to practice it. It is nearly impossible to find completely natural and organic personal care products on the commercial market. It is offensive to see large numbers of chemically laden personal care products lining the shelves of natural health and food markets. Marketed as ?Natural?, these products contain harmful synthetic chemicals; however, few of us have the time to peruse the ingredient lists of our moisturizer, deodorant, body lotion and any of the other products we apply daily. We trust that the products sold in these ?natural health stores? are safe for the entire family, and so we believe the advertised claims on the bottles of shampoo, lotion, facial care, etc.

According to industry estimates, on any given day a consumer may use as many as 25 different cosmetics and personal care products containing more than 200 different chemical compounds. If a product claims to be organic and /or natural, its ingredients should be easily recognizable as natural components. Also, the ingredients should be listed in descending order with the most prominent factors listed first.

Nature offers all that is needed for healthy, radiant and beautiful skin.

?In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.? Aristotle

Pamela Cronan-Maddox, an ovarian cancer survivor is the visionary and president of The Alchemist?s Apprentice, http://www.alchemistsapprentice.com The online apothecary is dedicated to providing the finest 100% natural and organic skin care and body care products for the entire family. Visit The Alchemist?s Apprentice for all your personal care product needs.

The Miracles Of Tea Tree Oil For Skin And Hair Care

Tea tree, MELALEUCA ALTERNIFOLIA, native to Australia, is a tree or shrub with needle like leaves similar in appearance to cypress with heads of sessile pale flowers. The popular tea tree oil is derived from this tree. The aborigines of Australia have been known to have used the tea tree oil to treat a range of ailments from colds, sores to acne and even whooping cough.

Extensively used in aromatherapy, the leaves when crushed release essential oils of varying amounts and constituents. The oil is so potent that it can be diluted up to many times its volume and it still manages to retain its effectiveness all the same. Although the benefits of tea tree oil are numerous, for beauty treatments, it?s been found effective in skin and hair care. The following sections describe the uses of Tea Tree Oil for skin care and hair care.

Tea tree oil for skin care

Tea tree oil has been used effectively to treat acne, abscess, athlete's foot, blisters, burns, cold sores, insect bites, oily skin, rashes, spots, warts and wounds. You can use tea tree oil to cure sunburns, diaper rash, toenail infections and problems of smelly feet.

Tea tree oil for hair care

Add a few drops of Tea tree oil to your regular shampoo to treat hair problems like persistent dandruff, itchy-scalp and even prevent head-lice. Massage it in, leave it on for 5-7 minutes and rinse off. Adding a few drops in pet shampoo/bath helps keep tics and rashes at bay.

Other benefits of tea tree oil Fed-up with allopathic medicines? Packets of antibiotics that have gone down your throat seem to be of no use? The only things you find they have lightened are your pockets? Well, don't panic, help is at hand, Tea Tree oil can be used to treat a variety of medical problems. A great remedy to soothe your sinuses; dab a drop of tea tree oil around your nose can help clear up blocked sinuses.

Add a few drops in a steam bath or vaporizer and inhale, a great relief for persistent colds and cough. Regular use of tea tree oil has been found to be effective in treating Asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, cough, sinusitis and even tuberculosis.

Tea tree oil is a great general disinfectant and can be effectively used to treat genito-urinary tract infections such as thrush, vaginitis, cystitis and pruitis. Tea tree oil has properties that act as a immune booster. It helps equip the body to fight off a host of infections. Using tea tree oil is particularly effective if the body is already in a weakened condition due to illness, stress or prolonged treatment-involving antibiotics that lead to a reduction of the body's natural resistance.

Using tea tree oil prior to a surgical operation or for those suffering from long-drawn debilitating illness has been found to be beneficial. The anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties have seen tea tree oil being used extensively in soaps, toothpastes, deodorants, disinfectants, gargles, germicides, aftershaves and colognes. Tea tree oil is safe to use, as it is non-toxic and non-irritant.

Although tea tree oil has no known side effects, some individuals may be sensitive to it. This calls for consideration of the strength of tea tree oil and should never be used undiluted on the body and particularly on sensitive areas.

Kevin Pederson has been managing a number of natural home remedies websites which have information on home based natural cures and references to some of the very useful oils like tea tree oils which are very good for your skin and hair .

Massage Chair: The Only Time Sitting Down Can Improve Your Health

Life is moving at a frantic pace with so much stress going on in our daily professional and personal lives. On top of that the world is undergoing rapid changes with unprecedented speed and scope. This is enough to stress anyone out. That is why people are looking to relax and unwind during those stolen brief moments of solace away from the commotion of everyday living.

People may opt to go to movies, go out with some friends, play a sport, or go on a mini vacation, etc. Another popular way to relax is to get a good massage. Massages have a great mitigating effect on reducing tension and stress, not to mention alleviate back pain and other nuisances.

The trouble is, a professional massage is not always convenient especially in our hectic days. Also massages may run up your bills if done too frequently. However that doesn't mean you or anyone else should give up the prospect of relaxing and unwinding with a therapeutic massage with A-Grade quality licensed professional results.

That's right, massage chairs are making inroads into offices and homes around the nation. Massage chairs provide a very convenient way to enjoy the vast list of benefits that a massage inherently provides.

Other than enjoying the benefits and ease of use at home, you also get to have privacy during this activity. Combine all those elements and it's plain to see that the benefits of owning a massage chair far outweigh the costs.

Consider that it will improve blood flow and relax your muscles. This in turn allows nutritional value content to enter into your tissues and muscles. Furthermore your lymphatic system is cleared of any unwanted toxins. Wow, talk about relaxation in a bottle- er, chair!

For those who have not been able to reach down and touch there toes for several years, massages also increase your flexibility. All-in-all, this along with the aforementioned benefits will account for an indispensable part of your life once you try it.

For more enlightening information on massage therapy information please visit http://www.massagetherapistshop.com/ for Panasonic massage chair reviews.

Massage Chair: The Only Time Sitting Down Can Improve Your Health

Life is moving at a frantic pace with so much stress going on in our daily professional and personal lives. On top of that the world is undergoing rapid changes with unprecedented speed and scope. This is enough to stress anyone out. That is why people are looking to relax and unwind during those stolen brief moments of solace away from the commotion of everyday living.

People may opt to go to movies, go out with some friends, play a sport, or go on a mini vacation, etc. Another popular way to relax is to get a good massage. Massages have a great mitigating effect on reducing tension and stress, not to mention alleviate back pain and other nuisances.

The trouble is, a professional massage is not always convenient especially in our hectic days. Also massages may run up your bills if done too frequently. However that doesn't mean you or anyone else should give up the prospect of relaxing and unwinding with a therapeutic massage with A-Grade quality licensed professional results.

That's right, massage chairs are making inroads into offices and homes around the nation. Massage chairs provide a very convenient way to enjoy the vast list of benefits that a massage inherently provides.

Other than enjoying the benefits and ease of use at home, you also get to have privacy during this activity. Combine all those elements and it's plain to see that the benefits of owning a massage chair far outweigh the costs.

Consider that it will improve blood flow and relax your muscles. This in turn allows nutritional value content to enter into your tissues and muscles. Furthermore your lymphatic system is cleared of any unwanted toxins. Wow, talk about relaxation in a bottle- er, chair!

For those who have not been able to reach down and touch there toes for several years, massages also increase your flexibility. All-in-all, this along with the aforementioned benefits will account for an indispensable part of your life once you try it.

For more enlightening information on massage therapy information please visit http://www.massagetherapistshop.com/ for Panasonic massage chair reviews.

The Miracles Of Tea Tree Oil For Skin And Hair Care

Tea tree, MELALEUCA ALTERNIFOLIA, native to Australia, is a tree or shrub with needle like leaves similar in appearance to cypress with heads of sessile pale flowers. The popular tea tree oil is derived from this tree. The aborigines of Australia have been known to have used the tea tree oil to treat a range of ailments from colds, sores to acne and even whooping cough.

Extensively used in aromatherapy, the leaves when crushed release essential oils of varying amounts and constituents. The oil is so potent that it can be diluted up to many times its volume and it still manages to retain its effectiveness all the same. Although the benefits of tea tree oil are numerous, for beauty treatments, it?s been found effective in skin and hair care. The following sections describe the uses of Tea Tree Oil for skin care and hair care.

Tea tree oil for skin care

Tea tree oil has been used effectively to treat acne, abscess, athlete's foot, blisters, burns, cold sores, insect bites, oily skin, rashes, spots, warts and wounds. You can use tea tree oil to cure sunburns, diaper rash, toenail infections and problems of smelly feet.

Tea tree oil for hair care

Add a few drops of Tea tree oil to your regular shampoo to treat hair problems like persistent dandruff, itchy-scalp and even prevent head-lice. Massage it in, leave it on for 5-7 minutes and rinse off. Adding a few drops in pet shampoo/bath helps keep tics and rashes at bay.

Other benefits of tea tree oil Fed-up with allopathic medicines? Packets of antibiotics that have gone down your throat seem to be of no use? The only things you find they have lightened are your pockets? Well, don't panic, help is at hand, Tea Tree oil can be used to treat a variety of medical problems. A great remedy to soothe your sinuses; dab a drop of tea tree oil around your nose can help clear up blocked sinuses.

Add a few drops in a steam bath or vaporizer and inhale, a great relief for persistent colds and cough. Regular use of tea tree oil has been found to be effective in treating Asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, cough, sinusitis and even tuberculosis.

Tea tree oil is a great general disinfectant and can be effectively used to treat genito-urinary tract infections such as thrush, vaginitis, cystitis and pruitis. Tea tree oil has properties that act as a immune booster. It helps equip the body to fight off a host of infections. Using tea tree oil is particularly effective if the body is already in a weakened condition due to illness, stress or prolonged treatment-involving antibiotics that lead to a reduction of the body's natural resistance.

Using tea tree oil prior to a surgical operation or for those suffering from long-drawn debilitating illness has been found to be beneficial. The anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties have seen tea tree oil being used extensively in soaps, toothpastes, deodorants, disinfectants, gargles, germicides, aftershaves and colognes. Tea tree oil is safe to use, as it is non-toxic and non-irritant.

Although tea tree oil has no known side effects, some individuals may be sensitive to it. This calls for consideration of the strength of tea tree oil and should never be used undiluted on the body and particularly on sensitive areas.

Kevin Pederson has been managing a number of natural home remedies websites which have information on home based natural cures and references to some of the very useful oils like tea tree oils which are very good for your skin and hair .

Why Organic?

?Beauty is a glorious gift of nature.? Homer

What you put on your skin is absorbed through your skin. To be more precise, the skin absorbs approximately 60% of any substance applied to it. Hence the success of trans-dermal skin patches prescribed by physicians to deliver medications.

Unfortunately, most of the skin care products mass produced for the market today, even those claiming to be `all natural? and/or `botanically based? products, contain harsh, toxic and even possibly carcinogenic ingredients that actually contribute to disorders of the skin and accelerate the aging process.

There is a growing concern from consumers about the ingredients in the personal care products they use daily. In a recent study by the US General Accounting Office (GAO), 125 ingredients found in cosmetics are suspected of causing cancer. Twenty ingredients have been implicated in causing birth defects. Twenty ingredients may cause adverse neurological symptoms, such as headaches and convulsions. Most of these toxic chemicals are so inexpensive that they are used in extremely high concentrations in many personal care products.

These toxic chemicals provide no benefits or nutrients to the skin. They are the inexpensive alternatives employed to achieve the ?feel? or ?slip? to the skin that occurs naturally using pure, nutritious, essential oils and vegetable oils. The chemicals used to replace the nutritious components are used in significant concentrations in most skin care products. Their only purpose is to increase the profit margins for the manufacturers. The health of the consumer is completely disregarded.

The trend for natural products is growing because the educated consumer is now demanding these for face and body care. Making the decision to use only natural products is easy. Incorporating this decision into your everyday life becomes more difficult as you try to practice it. It is nearly impossible to find completely natural and organic personal care products on the commercial market. It is offensive to see large numbers of chemically laden personal care products lining the shelves of natural health and food markets. Marketed as ?Natural?, these products contain harmful synthetic chemicals; however, few of us have the time to peruse the ingredient lists of our moisturizer, deodorant, body lotion and any of the other products we apply daily. We trust that the products sold in these ?natural health stores? are safe for the entire family, and so we believe the advertised claims on the bottles of shampoo, lotion, facial care, etc.

According to industry estimates, on any given day a consumer may use as many as 25 different cosmetics and personal care products containing more than 200 different chemical compounds. If a product claims to be organic and /or natural, its ingredients should be easily recognizable as natural components. Also, the ingredients should be listed in descending order with the most prominent factors listed first.

Nature offers all that is needed for healthy, radiant and beautiful skin.

?In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.? Aristotle

Pamela Cronan-Maddox, an ovarian cancer survivor is the visionary and president of The Alchemist?s Apprentice, http://www.alchemistsapprentice.com The online apothecary is dedicated to providing the finest 100% natural and organic skin care and body care products for the entire family. Visit The Alchemist?s Apprentice for all your personal care product needs.

Chamomile For Health Hair and Life

Camomile
Matricaria Chamomilla

Common Names: German camomile, chamomilla, wild camomile.

Medicinal Part: Flowers

Description: German Camomile is a Southern European annual plant found wild along roadsides, in fields, and cultivated in gardens. The round, downy, hollow, furrowed stem may be procumbent or rise upright to a height of 16 inches. The leaves are pale green, bipinnate, sharply incised, and sessile. The flower heads are like those of Roman Camomile, and the white ray-flowers are often bent down to make the disk-flowers even more prominent.

Properties and Uses: Anodyne, Antiphlogistic, antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, tonic. German Camomile tea is valuable in many nervous conditions, insomnia, neuralgia, lumbago, rheumatic problems, and rashes. It also tends to reduce inflammation and to facilitate bowel movement without acting directly as a purgative. Use it as a wash or compress for skin problems and inflammations, including inflammations of mucous tissue. Keeping a mouthful in the mouth for a time will temporarily relieve a toothache. To help asthma in children or to relieve the symptoms of a cold, try a vapor bath of the tea. German Camomile can also be used as a relaxing, anti-spasmodic, anodyne bath additive. Use it for a sitz bath to help hemorrhoids, or as a foot or hand-bath for sweaty feet or hands. For hemorrhoids and for wounds, the flowers are also made into a salve.

Preparation and Dosage: Use 2 tsp. Dried (or fresh) flowers with ? cup boiling water. Take a mouthful at a time. Or add 2 tbsp. flowers to 2 cups cold water and heat to just short of boiling.

Bath Additive: Use 1 lb. Flowers with 5 qt. Cold water. Bring to a boil then steep covered for 10 minutes. Strain and add to bathwater. A less effective way is to hang a linen bag containing the flowers in the tub. Use proportionately smaller amounts for partial baths.

Chamomile is perhaps one of nature?s most benign herbs. Its calmative and restorative properties make it one of those rare ?any time? cures for whatever might ail you. For parents, whose children might be going through one of ?those days? a weak cup of chamomile tea can help to calm an overwrought child. Chamomile has been used for hundreds of years as a cure for stomach problems; from lack of appetite to an upset stomach. In my grandmother?s house, a cup of camomile was always the cure for a restless mind at bedtime.

On rare occasions, people have complained of allergic reactions to chamomile. However, because chamomile is a low growing plant, ragweed can easily become mixed with chamomile and this is where most allergic reactions occur. It is always wise to exercise caution when you are purchasing herbs. Be certain that you are using a reputable supplier that guarantees both the quality and purity of the herbs you are purchasing. You can find many quality suppliers at our website: UsingHerbs.Com

Chamomile also plays an important part in skin and hair care. Chamomile is an excellent tonic for fair hair. Use it as a rinse after shampooing to restore shine and bring out your hair?s natural highlights. Or better yet, steep together a pot of chamomile flowers and nettles for 20 minutes, then add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Place this mixture in a spray bottle and generously spray on your hair after shampooing. Do not rinse. The slightly vinegary smell will go away in a few minutes. This hair tonic is absolutely fabulous for blond hair. It will remove tangles, strengthen the hair and prevent breakage and split ends. The vinegar will also help to restore the hair to its natural ph balance and you will love the results.

For soap making, chamomile flowers can be added to any mild handmade soap. Its properties make it an excellent addition to olive oil soap and are excellent for treating dry, problem skin and soothing rashes and inflammation.

MK Welty hosts an informational website for herb enthusiasts at http://UsingHerbs.Com where visitors can find natural remedies, herbs, and instructions for their use. Or visit the sister-site http://YouCanMakeSoap.Com to learn how you can make your own handmade herbal soaps.

The Miracles Of Tea Tree Oil For Skin And Hair Care

Tea tree, MELALEUCA ALTERNIFOLIA, native to Australia, is a tree or shrub with needle like leaves similar in appearance to cypress with heads of sessile pale flowers. The popular tea tree oil is derived from this tree. The aborigines of Australia have been known to have used the tea tree oil to treat a range of ailments from colds, sores to acne and even whooping cough.

Extensively used in aromatherapy, the leaves when crushed release essential oils of varying amounts and constituents. The oil is so potent that it can be diluted up to many times its volume and it still manages to retain its effectiveness all the same. Although the benefits of tea tree oil are numerous, for beauty treatments, it?s been found effective in skin and hair care. The following sections describe the uses of Tea Tree Oil for skin care and hair care.

Tea tree oil for skin care

Tea tree oil has been used effectively to treat acne, abscess, athlete's foot, blisters, burns, cold sores, insect bites, oily skin, rashes, spots, warts and wounds. You can use tea tree oil to cure sunburns, diaper rash, toenail infections and problems of smelly feet.

Tea tree oil for hair care

Add a few drops of Tea tree oil to your regular shampoo to treat hair problems like persistent dandruff, itchy-scalp and even prevent head-lice. Massage it in, leave it on for 5-7 minutes and rinse off. Adding a few drops in pet shampoo/bath helps keep tics and rashes at bay.

Other benefits of tea tree oil Fed-up with allopathic medicines? Packets of antibiotics that have gone down your throat seem to be of no use? The only things you find they have lightened are your pockets? Well, don't panic, help is at hand, Tea Tree oil can be used to treat a variety of medical problems. A great remedy to soothe your sinuses; dab a drop of tea tree oil around your nose can help clear up blocked sinuses.

Add a few drops in a steam bath or vaporizer and inhale, a great relief for persistent colds and cough. Regular use of tea tree oil has been found to be effective in treating Asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, cough, sinusitis and even tuberculosis.

Tea tree oil is a great general disinfectant and can be effectively used to treat genito-urinary tract infections such as thrush, vaginitis, cystitis and pruitis. Tea tree oil has properties that act as a immune booster. It helps equip the body to fight off a host of infections. Using tea tree oil is particularly effective if the body is already in a weakened condition due to illness, stress or prolonged treatment-involving antibiotics that lead to a reduction of the body's natural resistance.

Using tea tree oil prior to a surgical operation or for those suffering from long-drawn debilitating illness has been found to be beneficial. The anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties have seen tea tree oil being used extensively in soaps, toothpastes, deodorants, disinfectants, gargles, germicides, aftershaves and colognes. Tea tree oil is safe to use, as it is non-toxic and non-irritant.

Although tea tree oil has no known side effects, some individuals may be sensitive to it. This calls for consideration of the strength of tea tree oil and should never be used undiluted on the body and particularly on sensitive areas.

Kevin Pederson has been managing a number of natural home remedies websites which have information on home based natural cures and references to some of the very useful oils like tea tree oils which are very good for your skin and hair .

Normalizing Low Body Temperatures Often Critical to Restoring Good Health

Are you suffering from fatigue, migraines, PMS, hair loss, depression, inability to lose weight, muscle and joint aches, heat and/or cold intolerance, or other baffling symptoms that your doctor can?t explain? Fixing a low body temperature might quickly and easily solve your health problems.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome (WTS) is a condition that causes symptoms characteristic of decreased thyroid system function. It is best identified by its reproducible and predictable response to a special thyroid hormone treatment protocol developed by E. Denis Wilson, MD. It is the cluster of often debilitating symptoms especially brought on by significant physical or emotional stress that can persist even after the stress has passed (due to a maladaptive slowing of the metabolism). It is characterized by a body temperature that runs, on average, below normal and routine thyroid blood tests are often in the normal range.

Symptoms can result when the average body temperature is less than 98.6 degrees (checked by mouth with a mercury thermometer); however, low temperatures classic for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome sufferers are 97.8 degrees or lower.

Virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place in our bodies are catalyzed by enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that are dependent upon their shape, or conformation, for their activity. When enzymes are too hot they are too loose; when they are too cold they are too tight, and in either extreme the enzymes are not the right shape and cannot function optimally. When the body temperature is too low, nearly all of the enzymes in the body function less effectively. This can cause a wide variety of complaints.

High fevers (107 degrees F) can cause brain damage and even death. Severe hypothermia (less than 90 degrees F) can also be a life-threatening medical emergency. A temperature of 100 degrees (1.4 degrees above 98.6) can produce familiar symptoms of fever. It is easy to see how mildly depressed temperatures (1 - 1.5 degrees below 98.6) can also produce a very characteristic set of symptoms. It is obvious that to function optimally, the body must be at the optimal temperature. Under conditions of severe physical or emotional stress, the body can slow down and the temperature can go down to conserve energy, as a coping mechanism. That's normal. But sometimes, the temperature can remain persistently low even after the stress has passed. That's not normal. Examples of severe stresses that can knock the body out of balance include childbirth (the number one cause), divorce, death of a loved one, job or family stress, and surgery or accidents.

The body temperature is regulated by the thyroid hormone system. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to produce Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to produce T4 (thyroxine) which is the raw material used to make the active thyroid hormone T3. T4 is also converted to Reverse T3 (RT3) which is physiologically inactive. 80 percent of the active thyroid hormone T3 is produced outside the thyroid gland, in the periphery of the body. T4 is converted to T3 by an enzyme called 5' Deiodinase. This enzyme is inhibited by stress, acute and chronic illness, fasting, cortisol (steroid), and other things. Under stress and fasting, the body converts less T4 to T3 and more T4 to RT3 to conserve energy (with less T3, the cells of the body slow down). It is likely that the increased levels of RT3 that result can then further inhibit the conversion of T4 to T3, with even more T4 being converted to RT3, less to T3, and so on, with the body getting stuck in a vicious cycle, a sort of coping mechanism gone amuck.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is treated by using a special T3 therapy protocol developed by Dr. Wilson. With proper treatment patients can usually bring their temperatures up to normal. When the temperatures are normal the symptoms usually disappear. The hallmark of T3 therapy for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is the resetting phenomenon. The temperature and symptoms usually remain improved even after the treatment has been discontinued. T3 therapy for WTS does not need to be taken for life. The T3 medicine that is on the market is instant release. T3 therapy is much more effective and better tolerated when the T3 is mixed with a sustained-release agent. The T3 preparation needs to be carefully made (compounded) by skilled and experienced pharmacists, and taken twice a day, every 12 hours.

More information about WTS can be found at http://www.WilsonsTemperatureSyndrome.com

Dealing with Dandruff

Messy and embarrassing, dandruff is one of the most common of hair woes. A few simple techniques and natural and inexpensive home treatments can help prevent and keep dandruff at bay.

CAUSES OF DANDRUFF

Although the cause of dandruff is not completely understood, it is currently theorized that one of the main causes is a breakdown of the scalps natural lipid barrier, leaving it more exposed to infection by the microscopic yeast that is commonly found in the scalp. When the yeast overgrows, it leads to an inflammatory response that kills off scalp cells at a high rate, which in turn slough off in sticky patches and flakes.

The condition is identified by:

White or clear flakes on the scalp, through the hair, and on clothing.

Itchy scalp which may be red and inflamed.

Some young teens find they develop dandruff when they hit puberty because their hygiene habits haven??t changed to meet the challenges of newly accelerated sebum production.

Stress, poor hygiene and poor diet can make the scalp more susceptible to dandruff. High sugar foods in particular are known to exacerbate yeast infections.

The hair should be brushed regularly to loosen flakes and stimulate blood supply to the scalp, which will accelerate the natural immune response to infection.

TREATING DANDRUFF

There are few habits you can develop and natural treatments you can use to treat dandruff.

Nutrition: An excess of sugar in the diet can exacerbate any yeast infection. Try reducing your intake of all sugars and refined starches while treating for dandruff.

Cleansing: Massage your scalp thoroughly with your fingertips when shampooing. This will help loosen and remove any dead skin flakes and help prevent the infection from continuing. Wash your hair daily until the infection is cleared up.

Conditioning: Use a protective hair condition on the ends of hair only. Avoid getting conditioner on your scalp where it can clog pores and interfere with healing of the skin.

Other Treatments:

Massage: Massaging your scalp several times a day with the pads of the fingers only will stimulate blood supply to the hair follicles and help loosen the dead skin flakes.

Brushing: Brushing your hair thoroughly on a daily basis will help loosen and remove dead skin flakes, increase the smooth flow of sebum along the hair shaft, and increase blood supply to the hair follicles.

Wash Hands After Brushing and Grooming Hair: Fungal infections of the skin are highly contagious, and it is easy to reinfect and spread to other areas of the body. This is why it??s important to wash your hair daily and to brush out any loose dandruff flakes ?V so that healthy areas of the scalp will not be infected. Washing your hands after brushing, massaging and grooming your hair will also help prevent reinfection or cross infection.

The following herbs and nutrients have been shown to reduce dandruff infections:

Natural Internal Treatments for Dandruff

Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Vanadyl Sulfate, Gynema Sylvestre and Chromium are all natural regulators of blood sugar levels. The can help prevent feeding the infection by keeping blood sugar levels normalized.

Olive Leaf and Oregano Leaf are both natural systemic antifungal agents.

Table - Natural External Treatments for Dandruff

The following herbs can be used as a tonic for reducing fungal infections on a topical basis. Extracts of these herbs or a several drops of their essential oils dissolved in aloe vera gel or witch hazel can greatly relieve the symptoms of itching and flaking in dandruff. Tea tree oil is particularly effective against fungal and bacterial infections.

Clary Sage
Desert Sage
Eucalyptus
Fumitory
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginsen
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapeseed Extract
Juniper Berry Essential Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Lemongrass
Myrtle
Oregano
Poike Root
Rosemary
Tea Tree Oil

With a little effort and a few extra hygiene precautions, natural, inexpensive home treatments can help reduce and prevent dandruff.

Fawn Bales has studied and practiced alternative and herbal medicine for over 20 years. She has also studied aesthetic technology and cosmetology. She is the co-author of two natural beauty books and is a managing editor of Botanical Beauty Lab, a women's free resource for natural health and beauty information at http://www.botanicalbeautylab.com

Normalizing Low Body Temperatures Often Critical to Restoring Good Health

Are you suffering from fatigue, migraines, PMS, hair loss, depression, inability to lose weight, muscle and joint aches, heat and/or cold intolerance, or other baffling symptoms that your doctor can?t explain? Fixing a low body temperature might quickly and easily solve your health problems.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome (WTS) is a condition that causes symptoms characteristic of decreased thyroid system function. It is best identified by its reproducible and predictable response to a special thyroid hormone treatment protocol developed by E. Denis Wilson, MD. It is the cluster of often debilitating symptoms especially brought on by significant physical or emotional stress that can persist even after the stress has passed (due to a maladaptive slowing of the metabolism). It is characterized by a body temperature that runs, on average, below normal and routine thyroid blood tests are often in the normal range.

Symptoms can result when the average body temperature is less than 98.6 degrees (checked by mouth with a mercury thermometer); however, low temperatures classic for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome sufferers are 97.8 degrees or lower.

Virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place in our bodies are catalyzed by enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that are dependent upon their shape, or conformation, for their activity. When enzymes are too hot they are too loose; when they are too cold they are too tight, and in either extreme the enzymes are not the right shape and cannot function optimally. When the body temperature is too low, nearly all of the enzymes in the body function less effectively. This can cause a wide variety of complaints.

High fevers (107 degrees F) can cause brain damage and even death. Severe hypothermia (less than 90 degrees F) can also be a life-threatening medical emergency. A temperature of 100 degrees (1.4 degrees above 98.6) can produce familiar symptoms of fever. It is easy to see how mildly depressed temperatures (1 - 1.5 degrees below 98.6) can also produce a very characteristic set of symptoms. It is obvious that to function optimally, the body must be at the optimal temperature. Under conditions of severe physical or emotional stress, the body can slow down and the temperature can go down to conserve energy, as a coping mechanism. That's normal. But sometimes, the temperature can remain persistently low even after the stress has passed. That's not normal. Examples of severe stresses that can knock the body out of balance include childbirth (the number one cause), divorce, death of a loved one, job or family stress, and surgery or accidents.

The body temperature is regulated by the thyroid hormone system. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to produce Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to produce T4 (thyroxine) which is the raw material used to make the active thyroid hormone T3. T4 is also converted to Reverse T3 (RT3) which is physiologically inactive. 80 percent of the active thyroid hormone T3 is produced outside the thyroid gland, in the periphery of the body. T4 is converted to T3 by an enzyme called 5' Deiodinase. This enzyme is inhibited by stress, acute and chronic illness, fasting, cortisol (steroid), and other things. Under stress and fasting, the body converts less T4 to T3 and more T4 to RT3 to conserve energy (with less T3, the cells of the body slow down). It is likely that the increased levels of RT3 that result can then further inhibit the conversion of T4 to T3, with even more T4 being converted to RT3, less to T3, and so on, with the body getting stuck in a vicious cycle, a sort of coping mechanism gone amuck.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is treated by using a special T3 therapy protocol developed by Dr. Wilson. With proper treatment patients can usually bring their temperatures up to normal. When the temperatures are normal the symptoms usually disappear. The hallmark of T3 therapy for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is the resetting phenomenon. The temperature and symptoms usually remain improved even after the treatment has been discontinued. T3 therapy for WTS does not need to be taken for life. The T3 medicine that is on the market is instant release. T3 therapy is much more effective and better tolerated when the T3 is mixed with a sustained-release agent. The T3 preparation needs to be carefully made (compounded) by skilled and experienced pharmacists, and taken twice a day, every 12 hours.

More information about WTS can be found at http://www.WilsonsTemperatureSyndrome.com

Massage Chair: The Only Time Sitting Down Can Improve Your Health

Life is moving at a frantic pace with so much stress going on in our daily professional and personal lives. On top of that the world is undergoing rapid changes with unprecedented speed and scope. This is enough to stress anyone out. That is why people are looking to relax and unwind during those stolen brief moments of solace away from the commotion of everyday living.

People may opt to go to movies, go out with some friends, play a sport, or go on a mini vacation, etc. Another popular way to relax is to get a good massage. Massages have a great mitigating effect on reducing tension and stress, not to mention alleviate back pain and other nuisances.

The trouble is, a professional massage is not always convenient especially in our hectic days. Also massages may run up your bills if done too frequently. However that doesn't mean you or anyone else should give up the prospect of relaxing and unwinding with a therapeutic massage with A-Grade quality licensed professional results.

That's right, massage chairs are making inroads into offices and homes around the nation. Massage chairs provide a very convenient way to enjoy the vast list of benefits that a massage inherently provides.

Other than enjoying the benefits and ease of use at home, you also get to have privacy during this activity. Combine all those elements and it's plain to see that the benefits of owning a massage chair far outweigh the costs.

Consider that it will improve blood flow and relax your muscles. This in turn allows nutritional value content to enter into your tissues and muscles. Furthermore your lymphatic system is cleared of any unwanted toxins. Wow, talk about relaxation in a bottle- er, chair!

For those who have not been able to reach down and touch there toes for several years, massages also increase your flexibility. All-in-all, this along with the aforementioned benefits will account for an indispensable part of your life once you try it.

For more enlightening information on massage therapy information please visit http://www.massagetherapistshop.com/ for Panasonic massage chair reviews.

Five Easy Guidelines for Acne Skin Care

Are you having acne problem? Have you done something about it? No need to worry, almost everyone has a problem with acne. Nearly all of high-school-age girls to older women, even including men, experience this skin care problem. Acne may not be a dangerous skin disease, but the common appearance, especially if it becomes worse and severe, can become a very serious problem. Thus, you?re going to need a significant acne skin care.

Before going further to acne skin care, it will be best to get to know more about acne. It is a skin disorder caused by hormones on the skin?s oil glands. This leads to open skin pores and cause some spots, annoying ones, to emerge. These spots are called acne and usually occur on the face, neck, back, and chest.

A permanent blemish and scar caused by acne should be treated seriously. Besides it may distress the people who are affected, it can also lead to a worse skin condition. Here are some easy guidelines how to treat the acne - and to give care to your skin in general:

1. The first and most important to do is gently wash your skin, especially your face, at least twice a day. Use a mild cleanser and after that, clean your skin with water. Ask your dermatologist about what kind of cleanser to be used according to your skin type.

2. Use appropriate acne products, which you can get by asking your doctor. Allow some time for the medicine to work as suggested by the doctor or as said in the instruction. You?ll see the improvement later, which usually takes several weeks.

3. Be careful when using cosmetics. You should use ones that are oil free, since oily skin is believed to be one of the factors that contribute to the emergence of acne.

4. Take vitamins for your skin. Vitamin E is the best one for a good skin. You can consume it through some fresh foods (fruits and vegetables) or simply just take vitamin E tablets available at drug stores.

5. Start a new healthy lifestyle by doing a balanced diet. Eat healthy foods, namely the low-fat and fresh ones. Don?t forget to drink a lot of water since it helps bring out toxin from the body.

You see from the above guidelines that there?s no difficulty at all in acne care, right? You just need to live clean and healthy to have a good skin. So, why not start a new lifestyle today? And buy only quality products - for a long-lasting healthy skin ever.

About The Author: Loraine Lesley is editor for some Website concerning women. She wants to help women to look beautiful, that?s why she offers practical articles and tips on Skin Care, Hair Care, and more. To discover her advice, visit http://www.myskincareonline.com and http://www.myhaircareguide.com

The Benefits of a Hair Analysis

Have you ever been to a medical doctor with persistent health symptoms, but the doctor can't see anything wrong and all the expensive lab tests merely determine nothing's there?

YOU know something's wrong though, because you are on the receiving end of the pounding headaches, the uncontrollable twitches in your arms and legs followed by shooting pains. YOU are the one who cannot get a good night's sleep. YOU know you are experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness, and blurred vision. And YOU are tired of STRESS as the blame while your doctor suggests you see a psychotherapist.

Well, your body can tell you what traditional medicine cannot?but you have to pay attention to what it's trying to translate using those disturbing health symptoms. Two ways to understand your body's ?cries for help? are to remove ALL foreign, man-made food chemicals from your diet, clean-up your outside environment, and get a hair analysis to determine what's going on inside of you.

The protein in your hair holds the composition of your body's tissues for a permanent period of time. This is why hair testing is used in forensic medicine. By analyzing toxin and nutrient levels using a hair analysis, a trained nutritionist can typically tell what toxins have accumulated in your body and what vitamins and minerals are depleted (in turn, causing an imbalance in body function). The hair analysis can clearly spell out what your body is trying to tell you using its symptomatic warning signs such as those nasty migraine headaches.

Humans are exposed to over 14,000 food chemicals daily. And, this doesn't take into account the abundant environmental toxins we are exposed to. The hair analysis is an excellent tool to identify specifically which toxins are inside your body and what vitamins and minerals they may have depleted.

As I discovered through my own disease recovery from an inaccurate diagnosis of ?Graves' Disease,? I couldn't fight what I couldn't see. It wasn't probable I would cure my disease if no one knew the cause, and unfortunately my internist didn't have a clue as to what caused my thyroid symptoms. The hair analysis was the road map I used to see what was going on inside of my body, and it helped me save my thyroid gland. I cured my ?incurable disease? in thirty days.

In most cases, the hair analysis can mark the root cause(s) of illness. But, the key to a good hair analysis is in the interpretation - a lost art amid traditional medicine, yet a critical step in disease recovery.

For more information about the benefits of a hair analysis or to submit a hair sample, contact Dr. Hull at http://www.janethull.com/ or http://www.hairanlysisprogram.com/

About The Author
Dr. Janet Starr Hull publishes a monthly health newsletter covering a wide range of important health topics. To sign up for her free newsletter or to view past articles, visit http://www.janethull.com/newsletter/index.php

An artificial sweetener expert, Dr. Hull is the author of ?Sweet Poison? an expose on the dangers of aspartame, and ?Splenda?: Is It Safe Or Not??, her newest book on the dangers of sucralose found in Splenda. Dr. Hull also features her detoxification program and Detox Kit, proven highly effective in cleansing the body of food chemicals and environmental toxins.

Normalizing Low Body Temperatures Often Critical to Restoring Good Health

Are you suffering from fatigue, migraines, PMS, hair loss, depression, inability to lose weight, muscle and joint aches, heat and/or cold intolerance, or other baffling symptoms that your doctor can?t explain? Fixing a low body temperature might quickly and easily solve your health problems.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome (WTS) is a condition that causes symptoms characteristic of decreased thyroid system function. It is best identified by its reproducible and predictable response to a special thyroid hormone treatment protocol developed by E. Denis Wilson, MD. It is the cluster of often debilitating symptoms especially brought on by significant physical or emotional stress that can persist even after the stress has passed (due to a maladaptive slowing of the metabolism). It is characterized by a body temperature that runs, on average, below normal and routine thyroid blood tests are often in the normal range.

Symptoms can result when the average body temperature is less than 98.6 degrees (checked by mouth with a mercury thermometer); however, low temperatures classic for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome sufferers are 97.8 degrees or lower.

Virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place in our bodies are catalyzed by enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that are dependent upon their shape, or conformation, for their activity. When enzymes are too hot they are too loose; when they are too cold they are too tight, and in either extreme the enzymes are not the right shape and cannot function optimally. When the body temperature is too low, nearly all of the enzymes in the body function less effectively. This can cause a wide variety of complaints.

High fevers (107 degrees F) can cause brain damage and even death. Severe hypothermia (less than 90 degrees F) can also be a life-threatening medical emergency. A temperature of 100 degrees (1.4 degrees above 98.6) can produce familiar symptoms of fever. It is easy to see how mildly depressed temperatures (1 - 1.5 degrees below 98.6) can also produce a very characteristic set of symptoms. It is obvious that to function optimally, the body must be at the optimal temperature. Under conditions of severe physical or emotional stress, the body can slow down and the temperature can go down to conserve energy, as a coping mechanism. That's normal. But sometimes, the temperature can remain persistently low even after the stress has passed. That's not normal. Examples of severe stresses that can knock the body out of balance include childbirth (the number one cause), divorce, death of a loved one, job or family stress, and surgery or accidents.

The body temperature is regulated by the thyroid hormone system. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to produce Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to produce T4 (thyroxine) which is the raw material used to make the active thyroid hormone T3. T4 is also converted to Reverse T3 (RT3) which is physiologically inactive. 80 percent of the active thyroid hormone T3 is produced outside the thyroid gland, in the periphery of the body. T4 is converted to T3 by an enzyme called 5' Deiodinase. This enzyme is inhibited by stress, acute and chronic illness, fasting, cortisol (steroid), and other things. Under stress and fasting, the body converts less T4 to T3 and more T4 to RT3 to conserve energy (with less T3, the cells of the body slow down). It is likely that the increased levels of RT3 that result can then further inhibit the conversion of T4 to T3, with even more T4 being converted to RT3, less to T3, and so on, with the body getting stuck in a vicious cycle, a sort of coping mechanism gone amuck.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is treated by using a special T3 therapy protocol developed by Dr. Wilson. With proper treatment patients can usually bring their temperatures up to normal. When the temperatures are normal the symptoms usually disappear. The hallmark of T3 therapy for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is the resetting phenomenon. The temperature and symptoms usually remain improved even after the treatment has been discontinued. T3 therapy for WTS does not need to be taken for life. The T3 medicine that is on the market is instant release. T3 therapy is much more effective and better tolerated when the T3 is mixed with a sustained-release agent. The T3 preparation needs to be carefully made (compounded) by skilled and experienced pharmacists, and taken twice a day, every 12 hours.

More information about WTS can be found at http://www.WilsonsTemperatureSyndrome.com

Massage Chair: The Only Time Sitting Down Can Improve Your Health

Life is moving at a frantic pace with so much stress going on in our daily professional and personal lives. On top of that the world is undergoing rapid changes with unprecedented speed and scope. This is enough to stress anyone out. That is why people are looking to relax and unwind during those stolen brief moments of solace away from the commotion of everyday living.

People may opt to go to movies, go out with some friends, play a sport, or go on a mini vacation, etc. Another popular way to relax is to get a good massage. Massages have a great mitigating effect on reducing tension and stress, not to mention alleviate back pain and other nuisances.

The trouble is, a professional massage is not always convenient especially in our hectic days. Also massages may run up your bills if done too frequently. However that doesn't mean you or anyone else should give up the prospect of relaxing and unwinding with a therapeutic massage with A-Grade quality licensed professional results.

That's right, massage chairs are making inroads into offices and homes around the nation. Massage chairs provide a very convenient way to enjoy the vast list of benefits that a massage inherently provides.

Other than enjoying the benefits and ease of use at home, you also get to have privacy during this activity. Combine all those elements and it's plain to see that the benefits of owning a massage chair far outweigh the costs.

Consider that it will improve blood flow and relax your muscles. This in turn allows nutritional value content to enter into your tissues and muscles. Furthermore your lymphatic system is cleared of any unwanted toxins. Wow, talk about relaxation in a bottle- er, chair!

For those who have not been able to reach down and touch there toes for several years, massages also increase your flexibility. All-in-all, this along with the aforementioned benefits will account for an indispensable part of your life once you try it.

For more enlightening information on massage therapy information please visit http://www.massagetherapistshop.com/ for Panasonic massage chair reviews.

Five Easy Guidelines for Acne Skin Care

Are you having acne problem? Have you done something about it? No need to worry, almost everyone has a problem with acne. Nearly all of high-school-age girls to older women, even including men, experience this skin care problem. Acne may not be a dangerous skin disease, but the common appearance, especially if it becomes worse and severe, can become a very serious problem. Thus, you?re going to need a significant acne skin care.

Before going further to acne skin care, it will be best to get to know more about acne. It is a skin disorder caused by hormones on the skin?s oil glands. This leads to open skin pores and cause some spots, annoying ones, to emerge. These spots are called acne and usually occur on the face, neck, back, and chest.

A permanent blemish and scar caused by acne should be treated seriously. Besides it may distress the people who are affected, it can also lead to a worse skin condition. Here are some easy guidelines how to treat the acne - and to give care to your skin in general:

1. The first and most important to do is gently wash your skin, especially your face, at least twice a day. Use a mild cleanser and after that, clean your skin with water. Ask your dermatologist about what kind of cleanser to be used according to your skin type.

2. Use appropriate acne products, which you can get by asking your doctor. Allow some time for the medicine to work as suggested by the doctor or as said in the instruction. You?ll see the improvement later, which usually takes several weeks.

3. Be careful when using cosmetics. You should use ones that are oil free, since oily skin is believed to be one of the factors that contribute to the emergence of acne.

4. Take vitamins for your skin. Vitamin E is the best one for a good skin. You can consume it through some fresh foods (fruits and vegetables) or simply just take vitamin E tablets available at drug stores.

5. Start a new healthy lifestyle by doing a balanced diet. Eat healthy foods, namely the low-fat and fresh ones. Don?t forget to drink a lot of water since it helps bring out toxin from the body.

You see from the above guidelines that there?s no difficulty at all in acne care, right? You just need to live clean and healthy to have a good skin. So, why not start a new lifestyle today? And buy only quality products - for a long-lasting healthy skin ever.

About The Author: Loraine Lesley is editor for some Website concerning women. She wants to help women to look beautiful, that?s why she offers practical articles and tips on Skin Care, Hair Care, and more. To discover her advice, visit http://www.myskincareonline.com and http://www.myhaircareguide.com

Five Easy Guidelines for Acne Skin Care

Are you having acne problem? Have you done something about it? No need to worry, almost everyone has a problem with acne. Nearly all of high-school-age girls to older women, even including men, experience this skin care problem. Acne may not be a dangerous skin disease, but the common appearance, especially if it becomes worse and severe, can become a very serious problem. Thus, you?re going to need a significant acne skin care.

Before going further to acne skin care, it will be best to get to know more about acne. It is a skin disorder caused by hormones on the skin?s oil glands. This leads to open skin pores and cause some spots, annoying ones, to emerge. These spots are called acne and usually occur on the face, neck, back, and chest.

A permanent blemish and scar caused by acne should be treated seriously. Besides it may distress the people who are affected, it can also lead to a worse skin condition. Here are some easy guidelines how to treat the acne - and to give care to your skin in general:

1. The first and most important to do is gently wash your skin, especially your face, at least twice a day. Use a mild cleanser and after that, clean your skin with water. Ask your dermatologist about what kind of cleanser to be used according to your skin type.

2. Use appropriate acne products, which you can get by asking your doctor. Allow some time for the medicine to work as suggested by the doctor or as said in the instruction. You?ll see the improvement later, which usually takes several weeks.

3. Be careful when using cosmetics. You should use ones that are oil free, since oily skin is believed to be one of the factors that contribute to the emergence of acne.

4. Take vitamins for your skin. Vitamin E is the best one for a good skin. You can consume it through some fresh foods (fruits and vegetables) or simply just take vitamin E tablets available at drug stores.

5. Start a new healthy lifestyle by doing a balanced diet. Eat healthy foods, namely the low-fat and fresh ones. Don?t forget to drink a lot of water since it helps bring out toxin from the body.

You see from the above guidelines that there?s no difficulty at all in acne care, right? You just need to live clean and healthy to have a good skin. So, why not start a new lifestyle today? And buy only quality products - for a long-lasting healthy skin ever.

About The Author: Loraine Lesley is editor for some Website concerning women. She wants to help women to look beautiful, that?s why she offers practical articles and tips on Skin Care, Hair Care, and more. To discover her advice, visit http://www.myskincareonline.com and http://www.myhaircareguide.com

Why Organic?

?Beauty is a glorious gift of nature.? Homer

What you put on your skin is absorbed through your skin. To be more precise, the skin absorbs approximately 60% of any substance applied to it. Hence the success of trans-dermal skin patches prescribed by physicians to deliver medications.

Unfortunately, most of the skin care products mass produced for the market today, even those claiming to be `all natural? and/or `botanically based? products, contain harsh, toxic and even possibly carcinogenic ingredients that actually contribute to disorders of the skin and accelerate the aging process.

There is a growing concern from consumers about the ingredients in the personal care products they use daily. In a recent study by the US General Accounting Office (GAO), 125 ingredients found in cosmetics are suspected of causing cancer. Twenty ingredients have been implicated in causing birth defects. Twenty ingredients may cause adverse neurological symptoms, such as headaches and convulsions. Most of these toxic chemicals are so inexpensive that they are used in extremely high concentrations in many personal care products.

These toxic chemicals provide no benefits or nutrients to the skin. They are the inexpensive alternatives employed to achieve the ?feel? or ?slip? to the skin that occurs naturally using pure, nutritious, essential oils and vegetable oils. The chemicals used to replace the nutritious components are used in significant concentrations in most skin care products. Their only purpose is to increase the profit margins for the manufacturers. The health of the consumer is completely disregarded.

The trend for natural products is growing because the educated consumer is now demanding these for face and body care. Making the decision to use only natural products is easy. Incorporating this decision into your everyday life becomes more difficult as you try to practice it. It is nearly impossible to find completely natural and organic personal care products on the commercial market. It is offensive to see large numbers of chemically laden personal care products lining the shelves of natural health and food markets. Marketed as ?Natural?, these products contain harmful synthetic chemicals; however, few of us have the time to peruse the ingredient lists of our moisturizer, deodorant, body lotion and any of the other products we apply daily. We trust that the products sold in these ?natural health stores? are safe for the entire family, and so we believe the advertised claims on the bottles of shampoo, lotion, facial care, etc.

According to industry estimates, on any given day a consumer may use as many as 25 different cosmetics and personal care products containing more than 200 different chemical compounds. If a product claims to be organic and /or natural, its ingredients should be easily recognizable as natural components. Also, the ingredients should be listed in descending order with the most prominent factors listed first.

Nature offers all that is needed for healthy, radiant and beautiful skin.

?In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.? Aristotle

Pamela Cronan-Maddox, an ovarian cancer survivor is the visionary and president of The Alchemist?s Apprentice, http://www.alchemistsapprentice.com The online apothecary is dedicated to providing the finest 100% natural and organic skin care and body care products for the entire family. Visit The Alchemist?s Apprentice for all your personal care product needs.

Dealing with Dandruff

Messy and embarrassing, dandruff is one of the most common of hair woes. A few simple techniques and natural and inexpensive home treatments can help prevent and keep dandruff at bay.

CAUSES OF DANDRUFF

Although the cause of dandruff is not completely understood, it is currently theorized that one of the main causes is a breakdown of the scalps natural lipid barrier, leaving it more exposed to infection by the microscopic yeast that is commonly found in the scalp. When the yeast overgrows, it leads to an inflammatory response that kills off scalp cells at a high rate, which in turn slough off in sticky patches and flakes.

The condition is identified by:

White or clear flakes on the scalp, through the hair, and on clothing.

Itchy scalp which may be red and inflamed.

Some young teens find they develop dandruff when they hit puberty because their hygiene habits haven??t changed to meet the challenges of newly accelerated sebum production.

Stress, poor hygiene and poor diet can make the scalp more susceptible to dandruff. High sugar foods in particular are known to exacerbate yeast infections.

The hair should be brushed regularly to loosen flakes and stimulate blood supply to the scalp, which will accelerate the natural immune response to infection.

TREATING DANDRUFF

There are few habits you can develop and natural treatments you can use to treat dandruff.

Nutrition: An excess of sugar in the diet can exacerbate any yeast infection. Try reducing your intake of all sugars and refined starches while treating for dandruff.

Cleansing: Massage your scalp thoroughly with your fingertips when shampooing. This will help loosen and remove any dead skin flakes and help prevent the infection from continuing. Wash your hair daily until the infection is cleared up.

Conditioning: Use a protective hair condition on the ends of hair only. Avoid getting conditioner on your scalp where it can clog pores and interfere with healing of the skin.

Other Treatments:

Massage: Massaging your scalp several times a day with the pads of the fingers only will stimulate blood supply to the hair follicles and help loosen the dead skin flakes.

Brushing: Brushing your hair thoroughly on a daily basis will help loosen and remove dead skin flakes, increase the smooth flow of sebum along the hair shaft, and increase blood supply to the hair follicles.

Wash Hands After Brushing and Grooming Hair: Fungal infections of the skin are highly contagious, and it is easy to reinfect and spread to other areas of the body. This is why it??s important to wash your hair daily and to brush out any loose dandruff flakes ?V so that healthy areas of the scalp will not be infected. Washing your hands after brushing, massaging and grooming your hair will also help prevent reinfection or cross infection.

The following herbs and nutrients have been shown to reduce dandruff infections:

Natural Internal Treatments for Dandruff

Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Vanadyl Sulfate, Gynema Sylvestre and Chromium are all natural regulators of blood sugar levels. The can help prevent feeding the infection by keeping blood sugar levels normalized.

Olive Leaf and Oregano Leaf are both natural systemic antifungal agents.

Table - Natural External Treatments for Dandruff

The following herbs can be used as a tonic for reducing fungal infections on a topical basis. Extracts of these herbs or a several drops of their essential oils dissolved in aloe vera gel or witch hazel can greatly relieve the symptoms of itching and flaking in dandruff. Tea tree oil is particularly effective against fungal and bacterial infections.

Clary Sage
Desert Sage
Eucalyptus
Fumitory
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginsen
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapeseed Extract
Juniper Berry Essential Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Lemongrass
Myrtle
Oregano
Poike Root
Rosemary
Tea Tree Oil

With a little effort and a few extra hygiene precautions, natural, inexpensive home treatments can help reduce and prevent dandruff.

Fawn Bales has studied and practiced alternative and herbal medicine for over 20 years. She has also studied aesthetic technology and cosmetology. She is the co-author of two natural beauty books and is a managing editor of Botanical Beauty Lab, a women's free resource for natural health and beauty information at http://www.botanicalbeautylab.com

The Benefits of a Hair Analysis

Have you ever been to a medical doctor with persistent health symptoms, but the doctor can't see anything wrong and all the expensive lab tests merely determine nothing's there?

YOU know something's wrong though, because you are on the receiving end of the pounding headaches, the uncontrollable twitches in your arms and legs followed by shooting pains. YOU are the one who cannot get a good night's sleep. YOU know you are experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness, and blurred vision. And YOU are tired of STRESS as the blame while your doctor suggests you see a psychotherapist.

Well, your body can tell you what traditional medicine cannot?but you have to pay attention to what it's trying to translate using those disturbing health symptoms. Two ways to understand your body's ?cries for help? are to remove ALL foreign, man-made food chemicals from your diet, clean-up your outside environment, and get a hair analysis to determine what's going on inside of you.

The protein in your hair holds the composition of your body's tissues for a permanent period of time. This is why hair testing is used in forensic medicine. By analyzing toxin and nutrient levels using a hair analysis, a trained nutritionist can typically tell what toxins have accumulated in your body and what vitamins and minerals are depleted (in turn, causing an imbalance in body function). The hair analysis can clearly spell out what your body is trying to tell you using its symptomatic warning signs such as those nasty migraine headaches.

Humans are exposed to over 14,000 food chemicals daily. And, this doesn't take into account the abundant environmental toxins we are exposed to. The hair analysis is an excellent tool to identify specifically which toxins are inside your body and what vitamins and minerals they may have depleted.

As I discovered through my own disease recovery from an inaccurate diagnosis of ?Graves' Disease,? I couldn't fight what I couldn't see. It wasn't probable I would cure my disease if no one knew the cause, and unfortunately my internist didn't have a clue as to what caused my thyroid symptoms. The hair analysis was the road map I used to see what was going on inside of my body, and it helped me save my thyroid gland. I cured my ?incurable disease? in thirty days.

In most cases, the hair analysis can mark the root cause(s) of illness. But, the key to a good hair analysis is in the interpretation - a lost art amid traditional medicine, yet a critical step in disease recovery.

For more information about the benefits of a hair analysis or to submit a hair sample, contact Dr. Hull at http://www.janethull.com/ or http://www.hairanlysisprogram.com/

About The Author
Dr. Janet Starr Hull publishes a monthly health newsletter covering a wide range of important health topics. To sign up for her free newsletter or to view past articles, visit http://www.janethull.com/newsletter/index.php

An artificial sweetener expert, Dr. Hull is the author of ?Sweet Poison? an expose on the dangers of aspartame, and ?Splenda?: Is It Safe Or Not??, her newest book on the dangers of sucralose found in Splenda. Dr. Hull also features her detoxification program and Detox Kit, proven highly effective in cleansing the body of food chemicals and environmental toxins.

Massage Chair: The Only Time Sitting Down Can Improve Your Health

Life is moving at a frantic pace with so much stress going on in our daily professional and personal lives. On top of that the world is undergoing rapid changes with unprecedented speed and scope. This is enough to stress anyone out. That is why people are looking to relax and unwind during those stolen brief moments of solace away from the commotion of everyday living.

People may opt to go to movies, go out with some friends, play a sport, or go on a mini vacation, etc. Another popular way to relax is to get a good massage. Massages have a great mitigating effect on reducing tension and stress, not to mention alleviate back pain and other nuisances.

The trouble is, a professional massage is not always convenient especially in our hectic days. Also massages may run up your bills if done too frequently. However that doesn't mean you or anyone else should give up the prospect of relaxing and unwinding with a therapeutic massage with A-Grade quality licensed professional results.

That's right, massage chairs are making inroads into offices and homes around the nation. Massage chairs provide a very convenient way to enjoy the vast list of benefits that a massage inherently provides.

Other than enjoying the benefits and ease of use at home, you also get to have privacy during this activity. Combine all those elements and it's plain to see that the benefits of owning a massage chair far outweigh the costs.

Consider that it will improve blood flow and relax your muscles. This in turn allows nutritional value content to enter into your tissues and muscles. Furthermore your lymphatic system is cleared of any unwanted toxins. Wow, talk about relaxation in a bottle- er, chair!

For those who have not been able to reach down and touch there toes for several years, massages also increase your flexibility. All-in-all, this along with the aforementioned benefits will account for an indispensable part of your life once you try it.

For more enlightening information on massage therapy information please visit http://www.massagetherapistshop.com/ for Panasonic massage chair reviews.

The Miracles Of Tea Tree Oil For Skin And Hair Care

Tea tree, MELALEUCA ALTERNIFOLIA, native to Australia, is a tree or shrub with needle like leaves similar in appearance to cypress with heads of sessile pale flowers. The popular tea tree oil is derived from this tree. The aborigines of Australia have been known to have used the tea tree oil to treat a range of ailments from colds, sores to acne and even whooping cough.

Extensively used in aromatherapy, the leaves when crushed release essential oils of varying amounts and constituents. The oil is so potent that it can be diluted up to many times its volume and it still manages to retain its effectiveness all the same. Although the benefits of tea tree oil are numerous, for beauty treatments, it?s been found effective in skin and hair care. The following sections describe the uses of Tea Tree Oil for skin care and hair care.

Tea tree oil for skin care

Tea tree oil has been used effectively to treat acne, abscess, athlete's foot, blisters, burns, cold sores, insect bites, oily skin, rashes, spots, warts and wounds. You can use tea tree oil to cure sunburns, diaper rash, toenail infections and problems of smelly feet.

Tea tree oil for hair care

Add a few drops of Tea tree oil to your regular shampoo to treat hair problems like persistent dandruff, itchy-scalp and even prevent head-lice. Massage it in, leave it on for 5-7 minutes and rinse off. Adding a few drops in pet shampoo/bath helps keep tics and rashes at bay.

Other benefits of tea tree oil Fed-up with allopathic medicines? Packets of antibiotics that have gone down your throat seem to be of no use? The only things you find they have lightened are your pockets? Well, don't panic, help is at hand, Tea Tree oil can be used to treat a variety of medical problems. A great remedy to soothe your sinuses; dab a drop of tea tree oil around your nose can help clear up blocked sinuses.

Add a few drops in a steam bath or vaporizer and inhale, a great relief for persistent colds and cough. Regular use of tea tree oil has been found to be effective in treating Asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, cough, sinusitis and even tuberculosis.

Tea tree oil is a great general disinfectant and can be effectively used to treat genito-urinary tract infections such as thrush, vaginitis, cystitis and pruitis. Tea tree oil has properties that act as a immune booster. It helps equip the body to fight off a host of infections. Using tea tree oil is particularly effective if the body is already in a weakened condition due to illness, stress or prolonged treatment-involving antibiotics that lead to a reduction of the body's natural resistance.

Using tea tree oil prior to a surgical operation or for those suffering from long-drawn debilitating illness has been found to be beneficial. The anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties have seen tea tree oil being used extensively in soaps, toothpastes, deodorants, disinfectants, gargles, germicides, aftershaves and colognes. Tea tree oil is safe to use, as it is non-toxic and non-irritant.

Although tea tree oil has no known side effects, some individuals may be sensitive to it. This calls for consideration of the strength of tea tree oil and should never be used undiluted on the body and particularly on sensitive areas.

Kevin Pederson has been managing a number of natural home remedies websites which have information on home based natural cures and references to some of the very useful oils like tea tree oils which are very good for your skin and hair .

The Benefits of a Hair Analysis

Have you ever been to a medical doctor with persistent health symptoms, but the doctor can't see anything wrong and all the expensive lab tests merely determine nothing's there?

YOU know something's wrong though, because you are on the receiving end of the pounding headaches, the uncontrollable twitches in your arms and legs followed by shooting pains. YOU are the one who cannot get a good night's sleep. YOU know you are experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness, and blurred vision. And YOU are tired of STRESS as the blame while your doctor suggests you see a psychotherapist.

Well, your body can tell you what traditional medicine cannot?but you have to pay attention to what it's trying to translate using those disturbing health symptoms. Two ways to understand your body's ?cries for help? are to remove ALL foreign, man-made food chemicals from your diet, clean-up your outside environment, and get a hair analysis to determine what's going on inside of you.

The protein in your hair holds the composition of your body's tissues for a permanent period of time. This is why hair testing is used in forensic medicine. By analyzing toxin and nutrient levels using a hair analysis, a trained nutritionist can typically tell what toxins have accumulated in your body and what vitamins and minerals are depleted (in turn, causing an imbalance in body function). The hair analysis can clearly spell out what your body is trying to tell you using its symptomatic warning signs such as those nasty migraine headaches.

Humans are exposed to over 14,000 food chemicals daily. And, this doesn't take into account the abundant environmental toxins we are exposed to. The hair analysis is an excellent tool to identify specifically which toxins are inside your body and what vitamins and minerals they may have depleted.

As I discovered through my own disease recovery from an inaccurate diagnosis of ?Graves' Disease,? I couldn't fight what I couldn't see. It wasn't probable I would cure my disease if no one knew the cause, and unfortunately my internist didn't have a clue as to what caused my thyroid symptoms. The hair analysis was the road map I used to see what was going on inside of my body, and it helped me save my thyroid gland. I cured my ?incurable disease? in thirty days.

In most cases, the hair analysis can mark the root cause(s) of illness. But, the key to a good hair analysis is in the interpretation - a lost art amid traditional medicine, yet a critical step in disease recovery.

For more information about the benefits of a hair analysis or to submit a hair sample, contact Dr. Hull at http://www.janethull.com/ or http://www.hairanlysisprogram.com/

About The Author
Dr. Janet Starr Hull publishes a monthly health newsletter covering a wide range of important health topics. To sign up for her free newsletter or to view past articles, visit http://www.janethull.com/newsletter/index.php

An artificial sweetener expert, Dr. Hull is the author of ?Sweet Poison? an expose on the dangers of aspartame, and ?Splenda?: Is It Safe Or Not??, her newest book on the dangers of sucralose found in Splenda. Dr. Hull also features her detoxification program and Detox Kit, proven highly effective in cleansing the body of food chemicals and environmental toxins.

Massage Chair: The Only Time Sitting Down Can Improve Your Health

Life is moving at a frantic pace with so much stress going on in our daily professional and personal lives. On top of that the world is undergoing rapid changes with unprecedented speed and scope. This is enough to stress anyone out. That is why people are looking to relax and unwind during those stolen brief moments of solace away from the commotion of everyday living.

People may opt to go to movies, go out with some friends, play a sport, or go on a mini vacation, etc. Another popular way to relax is to get a good massage. Massages have a great mitigating effect on reducing tension and stress, not to mention alleviate back pain and other nuisances.

The trouble is, a professional massage is not always convenient especially in our hectic days. Also massages may run up your bills if done too frequently. However that doesn't mean you or anyone else should give up the prospect of relaxing and unwinding with a therapeutic massage with A-Grade quality licensed professional results.

That's right, massage chairs are making inroads into offices and homes around the nation. Massage chairs provide a very convenient way to enjoy the vast list of benefits that a massage inherently provides.

Other than enjoying the benefits and ease of use at home, you also get to have privacy during this activity. Combine all those elements and it's plain to see that the benefits of owning a massage chair far outweigh the costs.

Consider that it will improve blood flow and relax your muscles. This in turn allows nutritional value content to enter into your tissues and muscles. Furthermore your lymphatic system is cleared of any unwanted toxins. Wow, talk about relaxation in a bottle- er, chair!

For those who have not been able to reach down and touch there toes for several years, massages also increase your flexibility. All-in-all, this along with the aforementioned benefits will account for an indispensable part of your life once you try it.

For more enlightening information on massage therapy information please visit http://www.massagetherapistshop.com/ for Panasonic massage chair reviews.

Massage Chair: The Only Time Sitting Down Can Improve Your Health

Life is moving at a frantic pace with so much stress going on in our daily professional and personal lives. On top of that the world is undergoing rapid changes with unprecedented speed and scope. This is enough to stress anyone out. That is why people are looking to relax and unwind during those stolen brief moments of solace away from the commotion of everyday living.

People may opt to go to movies, go out with some friends, play a sport, or go on a mini vacation, etc. Another popular way to relax is to get a good massage. Massages have a great mitigating effect on reducing tension and stress, not to mention alleviate back pain and other nuisances.

The trouble is, a professional massage is not always convenient especially in our hectic days. Also massages may run up your bills if done too frequently. However that doesn't mean you or anyone else should give up the prospect of relaxing and unwinding with a therapeutic massage with A-Grade quality licensed professional results.

That's right, massage chairs are making inroads into offices and homes around the nation. Massage chairs provide a very convenient way to enjoy the vast list of benefits that a massage inherently provides.

Other than enjoying the benefits and ease of use at home, you also get to have privacy during this activity. Combine all those elements and it's plain to see that the benefits of owning a massage chair far outweigh the costs.

Consider that it will improve blood flow and relax your muscles. This in turn allows nutritional value content to enter into your tissues and muscles. Furthermore your lymphatic system is cleared of any unwanted toxins. Wow, talk about relaxation in a bottle- er, chair!

For those who have not been able to reach down and touch there toes for several years, massages also increase your flexibility. All-in-all, this along with the aforementioned benefits will account for an indispensable part of your life once you try it.

For more enlightening information on massage therapy information please visit http://www.massagetherapistshop.com/ for Panasonic massage chair reviews.

The Benefits of a Hair Analysis

Have you ever been to a medical doctor with persistent health symptoms, but the doctor can't see anything wrong and all the expensive lab tests merely determine nothing's there?

YOU know something's wrong though, because you are on the receiving end of the pounding headaches, the uncontrollable twitches in your arms and legs followed by shooting pains. YOU are the one who cannot get a good night's sleep. YOU know you are experiencing heart palpitations, dizziness, and blurred vision. And YOU are tired of STRESS as the blame while your doctor suggests you see a psychotherapist.

Well, your body can tell you what traditional medicine cannot?but you have to pay attention to what it's trying to translate using those disturbing health symptoms. Two ways to understand your body's ?cries for help? are to remove ALL foreign, man-made food chemicals from your diet, clean-up your outside environment, and get a hair analysis to determine what's going on inside of you.

The protein in your hair holds the composition of your body's tissues for a permanent period of time. This is why hair testing is used in forensic medicine. By analyzing toxin and nutrient levels using a hair analysis, a trained nutritionist can typically tell what toxins have accumulated in your body and what vitamins and minerals are depleted (in turn, causing an imbalance in body function). The hair analysis can clearly spell out what your body is trying to tell you using its symptomatic warning signs such as those nasty migraine headaches.

Humans are exposed to over 14,000 food chemicals daily. And, this doesn't take into account the abundant environmental toxins we are exposed to. The hair analysis is an excellent tool to identify specifically which toxins are inside your body and what vitamins and minerals they may have depleted.

As I discovered through my own disease recovery from an inaccurate diagnosis of ?Graves' Disease,? I couldn't fight what I couldn't see. It wasn't probable I would cure my disease if no one knew the cause, and unfortunately my internist didn't have a clue as to what caused my thyroid symptoms. The hair analysis was the road map I used to see what was going on inside of my body, and it helped me save my thyroid gland. I cured my ?incurable disease? in thirty days.

In most cases, the hair analysis can mark the root cause(s) of illness. But, the key to a good hair analysis is in the interpretation - a lost art amid traditional medicine, yet a critical step in disease recovery.

For more information about the benefits of a hair analysis or to submit a hair sample, contact Dr. Hull at http://www.janethull.com/ or http://www.hairanlysisprogram.com/

About The Author
Dr. Janet Starr Hull publishes a monthly health newsletter covering a wide range of important health topics. To sign up for her free newsletter or to view past articles, visit http://www.janethull.com/newsletter/index.php

An artificial sweetener expert, Dr. Hull is the author of ?Sweet Poison? an expose on the dangers of aspartame, and ?Splenda?: Is It Safe Or Not??, her newest book on the dangers of sucralose found in Splenda. Dr. Hull also features her detoxification program and Detox Kit, proven highly effective in cleansing the body of food chemicals and environmental toxins.

Dealing with Dandruff

Messy and embarrassing, dandruff is one of the most common of hair woes. A few simple techniques and natural and inexpensive home treatments can help prevent and keep dandruff at bay.

CAUSES OF DANDRUFF

Although the cause of dandruff is not completely understood, it is currently theorized that one of the main causes is a breakdown of the scalps natural lipid barrier, leaving it more exposed to infection by the microscopic yeast that is commonly found in the scalp. When the yeast overgrows, it leads to an inflammatory response that kills off scalp cells at a high rate, which in turn slough off in sticky patches and flakes.

The condition is identified by:

White or clear flakes on the scalp, through the hair, and on clothing.

Itchy scalp which may be red and inflamed.

Some young teens find they develop dandruff when they hit puberty because their hygiene habits haven??t changed to meet the challenges of newly accelerated sebum production.

Stress, poor hygiene and poor diet can make the scalp more susceptible to dandruff. High sugar foods in particular are known to exacerbate yeast infections.

The hair should be brushed regularly to loosen flakes and stimulate blood supply to the scalp, which will accelerate the natural immune response to infection.

TREATING DANDRUFF

There are few habits you can develop and natural treatments you can use to treat dandruff.

Nutrition: An excess of sugar in the diet can exacerbate any yeast infection. Try reducing your intake of all sugars and refined starches while treating for dandruff.

Cleansing: Massage your scalp thoroughly with your fingertips when shampooing. This will help loosen and remove any dead skin flakes and help prevent the infection from continuing. Wash your hair daily until the infection is cleared up.

Conditioning: Use a protective hair condition on the ends of hair only. Avoid getting conditioner on your scalp where it can clog pores and interfere with healing of the skin.

Other Treatments:

Massage: Massaging your scalp several times a day with the pads of the fingers only will stimulate blood supply to the hair follicles and help loosen the dead skin flakes.

Brushing: Brushing your hair thoroughly on a daily basis will help loosen and remove dead skin flakes, increase the smooth flow of sebum along the hair shaft, and increase blood supply to the hair follicles.

Wash Hands After Brushing and Grooming Hair: Fungal infections of the skin are highly contagious, and it is easy to reinfect and spread to other areas of the body. This is why it??s important to wash your hair daily and to brush out any loose dandruff flakes ?V so that healthy areas of the scalp will not be infected. Washing your hands after brushing, massaging and grooming your hair will also help prevent reinfection or cross infection.

The following herbs and nutrients have been shown to reduce dandruff infections:

Natural Internal Treatments for Dandruff

Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Vanadyl Sulfate, Gynema Sylvestre and Chromium are all natural regulators of blood sugar levels. The can help prevent feeding the infection by keeping blood sugar levels normalized.

Olive Leaf and Oregano Leaf are both natural systemic antifungal agents.

Table - Natural External Treatments for Dandruff

The following herbs can be used as a tonic for reducing fungal infections on a topical basis. Extracts of these herbs or a several drops of their essential oils dissolved in aloe vera gel or witch hazel can greatly relieve the symptoms of itching and flaking in dandruff. Tea tree oil is particularly effective against fungal and bacterial infections.

Clary Sage
Desert Sage
Eucalyptus
Fumitory
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginsen
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapeseed Extract
Juniper Berry Essential Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Lemongrass
Myrtle
Oregano
Poike Root
Rosemary
Tea Tree Oil

With a little effort and a few extra hygiene precautions, natural, inexpensive home treatments can help reduce and prevent dandruff.

Fawn Bales has studied and practiced alternative and herbal medicine for over 20 years. She has also studied aesthetic technology and cosmetology. She is the co-author of two natural beauty books and is a managing editor of Botanical Beauty Lab, a women's free resource for natural health and beauty information at http://www.botanicalbeautylab.com

Normalizing Low Body Temperatures Often Critical to Restoring Good Health

Are you suffering from fatigue, migraines, PMS, hair loss, depression, inability to lose weight, muscle and joint aches, heat and/or cold intolerance, or other baffling symptoms that your doctor can?t explain? Fixing a low body temperature might quickly and easily solve your health problems.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome (WTS) is a condition that causes symptoms characteristic of decreased thyroid system function. It is best identified by its reproducible and predictable response to a special thyroid hormone treatment protocol developed by E. Denis Wilson, MD. It is the cluster of often debilitating symptoms especially brought on by significant physical or emotional stress that can persist even after the stress has passed (due to a maladaptive slowing of the metabolism). It is characterized by a body temperature that runs, on average, below normal and routine thyroid blood tests are often in the normal range.

Symptoms can result when the average body temperature is less than 98.6 degrees (checked by mouth with a mercury thermometer); however, low temperatures classic for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome sufferers are 97.8 degrees or lower.

Virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place in our bodies are catalyzed by enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that are dependent upon their shape, or conformation, for their activity. When enzymes are too hot they are too loose; when they are too cold they are too tight, and in either extreme the enzymes are not the right shape and cannot function optimally. When the body temperature is too low, nearly all of the enzymes in the body function less effectively. This can cause a wide variety of complaints.

High fevers (107 degrees F) can cause brain damage and even death. Severe hypothermia (less than 90 degrees F) can also be a life-threatening medical emergency. A temperature of 100 degrees (1.4 degrees above 98.6) can produce familiar symptoms of fever. It is easy to see how mildly depressed temperatures (1 - 1.5 degrees below 98.6) can also produce a very characteristic set of symptoms. It is obvious that to function optimally, the body must be at the optimal temperature. Under conditions of severe physical or emotional stress, the body can slow down and the temperature can go down to conserve energy, as a coping mechanism. That's normal. But sometimes, the temperature can remain persistently low even after the stress has passed. That's not normal. Examples of severe stresses that can knock the body out of balance include childbirth (the number one cause), divorce, death of a loved one, job or family stress, and surgery or accidents.

The body temperature is regulated by the thyroid hormone system. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary gland to produce Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). TSH stimulates the thyroid gland to produce T4 (thyroxine) which is the raw material used to make the active thyroid hormone T3. T4 is also converted to Reverse T3 (RT3) which is physiologically inactive. 80 percent of the active thyroid hormone T3 is produced outside the thyroid gland, in the periphery of the body. T4 is converted to T3 by an enzyme called 5' Deiodinase. This enzyme is inhibited by stress, acute and chronic illness, fasting, cortisol (steroid), and other things. Under stress and fasting, the body converts less T4 to T3 and more T4 to RT3 to conserve energy (with less T3, the cells of the body slow down). It is likely that the increased levels of RT3 that result can then further inhibit the conversion of T4 to T3, with even more T4 being converted to RT3, less to T3, and so on, with the body getting stuck in a vicious cycle, a sort of coping mechanism gone amuck.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is treated by using a special T3 therapy protocol developed by Dr. Wilson. With proper treatment patients can usually bring their temperatures up to normal. When the temperatures are normal the symptoms usually disappear. The hallmark of T3 therapy for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is the resetting phenomenon. The temperature and symptoms usually remain improved even after the treatment has been discontinued. T3 therapy for WTS does not need to be taken for life. The T3 medicine that is on the market is instant release. T3 therapy is much more effective and better tolerated when the T3 is mixed with a sustained-release agent. The T3 preparation needs to be carefully made (compounded) by skilled and experienced pharmacists, and taken twice a day, every 12 hours.

More information about WTS can be found at http://www.WilsonsTemperatureSyndrome.com

The Miracles Of Tea Tree Oil For Skin And Hair Care

Tea tree, MELALEUCA ALTERNIFOLIA, native to Australia, is a tree or shrub with needle like leaves similar in appearance to cypress with heads of sessile pale flowers. The popular tea tree oil is derived from this tree. The aborigines of Australia have been known to have used the tea tree oil to treat a range of ailments from colds, sores to acne and even whooping cough.

Extensively used in aromatherapy, the leaves when crushed release essential oils of varying amounts and constituents. The oil is so potent that it can be diluted up to many times its volume and it still manages to retain its effectiveness all the same. Although the benefits of tea tree oil are numerous, for beauty treatments, it?s been found effective in skin and hair care. The following sections describe the uses of Tea Tree Oil for skin care and hair care.

Tea tree oil for skin care

Tea tree oil has been used effectively to treat acne, abscess, athlete's foot, blisters, burns, cold sores, insect bites, oily skin, rashes, spots, warts and wounds. You can use tea tree oil to cure sunburns, diaper rash, toenail infections and problems of smelly feet.

Tea tree oil for hair care

Add a few drops of Tea tree oil to your regular shampoo to treat hair problems like persistent dandruff, itchy-scalp and even prevent head-lice. Massage it in, leave it on for 5-7 minutes and rinse off. Adding a few drops in pet shampoo/bath helps keep tics and rashes at bay.

Other benefits of tea tree oil Fed-up with allopathic medicines? Packets of antibiotics that have gone down your throat seem to be of no use? The only things you find they have lightened are your pockets? Well, don't panic, help is at hand, Tea Tree oil can be used to treat a variety of medical problems. A great remedy to soothe your sinuses; dab a drop of tea tree oil around your nose can help clear up blocked sinuses.

Add a few drops in a steam bath or vaporizer and inhale, a great relief for persistent colds and cough. Regular use of tea tree oil has been found to be effective in treating Asthma, bronchitis, catarrh, cough, sinusitis and even tuberculosis.

Tea tree oil is a great general disinfectant and can be effectively used to treat genito-urinary tract infections such as thrush, vaginitis, cystitis and pruitis. Tea tree oil has properties that act as a immune booster. It helps equip the body to fight off a host of infections. Using tea tree oil is particularly effective if the body is already in a weakened condition due to illness, stress or prolonged treatment-involving antibiotics that lead to a reduction of the body's natural resistance.

Using tea tree oil prior to a surgical operation or for those suffering from long-drawn debilitating illness has been found to be beneficial. The anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties have seen tea tree oil being used extensively in soaps, toothpastes, deodorants, disinfectants, gargles, germicides, aftershaves and colognes. Tea tree oil is safe to use, as it is non-toxic and non-irritant.

Although tea tree oil has no known side effects, some individuals may be sensitive to it. This calls for consideration of the strength of tea tree oil and should never be used undiluted on the body and particularly on sensitive areas.

Kevin Pederson has been managing a number of natural home remedies websites which have information on home based natural cures and references to some of the very useful oils like tea tree oils which are very good for your skin and hair .

Chamomile For Health Hair and Life

Camomile
Matricaria Chamomilla

Common Names: German camomile, chamomilla, wild camomile.

Medicinal Part: Flowers

Description: German Camomile is a Southern European annual plant found wild along roadsides, in fields, and cultivated in gardens. The round, downy, hollow, furrowed stem may be procumbent or rise upright to a height of 16 inches. The leaves are pale green, bipinnate, sharply incised, and sessile. The flower heads are like those of Roman Camomile, and the white ray-flowers are often bent down to make the disk-flowers even more prominent.

Properties and Uses: Anodyne, Antiphlogistic, antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, tonic. German Camomile tea is valuable in many nervous conditions, insomnia, neuralgia, lumbago, rheumatic problems, and rashes. It also tends to reduce inflammation and to facilitate bowel movement without acting directly as a purgative. Use it as a wash or compress for skin problems and inflammations, including inflammations of mucous tissue. Keeping a mouthful in the mouth for a time will temporarily relieve a toothache. To help asthma in children or to relieve the symptoms of a cold, try a vapor bath of the tea. German Camomile can also be used as a relaxing, anti-spasmodic, anodyne bath additive. Use it for a sitz bath to help hemorrhoids, or as a foot or hand-bath for sweaty feet or hands. For hemorrhoids and for wounds, the flowers are also made into a salve.

Preparation and Dosage: Use 2 tsp. Dried (or fresh) flowers with ? cup boiling water. Take a mouthful at a time. Or add 2 tbsp. flowers to 2 cups cold water and heat to just short of boiling.

Bath Additive: Use 1 lb. Flowers with 5 qt. Cold water. Bring to a boil then steep covered for 10 minutes. Strain and add to bathwater. A less effective way is to hang a linen bag containing the flowers in the tub. Use proportionately smaller amounts for partial baths.

Chamomile is perhaps one of nature?s most benign herbs. Its calmative and restorative properties make it one of those rare ?any time? cures for whatever might ail you. For parents, whose children might be going through one of ?those days? a weak cup of chamomile tea can help to calm an overwrought child. Chamomile has been used for hundreds of years as a cure for stomach problems; from lack of appetite to an upset stomach. In my grandmother?s house, a cup of camomile was always the cure for a restless mind at bedtime.

On rare occasions, people have complained of allergic reactions to chamomile. However, because chamomile is a low growing plant, ragweed can easily become mixed with chamomile and this is where most allergic reactions occur. It is always wise to exercise caution when you are purchasing herbs. Be certain that you are using a reputable supplier that guarantees both the quality and purity of the herbs you are purchasing. You can find many quality suppliers at our website: UsingHerbs.Com

Chamomile also plays an important part in skin and hair care. Chamomile is an excellent tonic for fair hair. Use it as a rinse after shampooing to restore shine and bring out your hair?s natural highlights. Or better yet, steep together a pot of chamomile flowers and nettles for 20 minutes, then add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Place this mixture in a spray bottle and generously spray on your hair after shampooing. Do not rinse. The slightly vinegary smell will go away in a few minutes. This hair tonic is absolutely fabulous for blond hair. It will remove tangles, strengthen the hair and prevent breakage and split ends. The vinegar will also help to restore the hair to its natural ph balance and you will love the results.

For soap making, chamomile flowers can be added to any mild handmade soap. Its properties make it an excellent addition to olive oil soap and are excellent for treating dry, problem skin and soothing rashes and inflammation.

MK Welty hosts an informational website for herb enthusiasts at http://UsingHerbs.Com where visitors can find natural remedies, herbs, and instructions for their use. Or visit the sister-site http://YouCanMakeSoap.Com to learn how you can make your own handmade herbal soaps.

Dealing with Dandruff

Messy and embarrassing, dandruff is one of the most common of hair woes. A few simple techniques and natural and inexpensive home treatments can help prevent and keep dandruff at bay.

CAUSES OF DANDRUFF

Although the cause of dandruff is not completely understood, it is currently theorized that one of the main causes is a breakdown of the scalps natural lipid barrier, leaving it more exposed to infection by the microscopic yeast that is commonly found in the scalp. When the yeast overgrows, it leads to an inflammatory response that kills off scalp cells at a high rate, which in turn slough off in sticky patches and flakes.

The condition is identified by:

White or clear flakes on the scalp, through the hair, and on clothing.

Itchy scalp which may be red and inflamed.

Some young teens find they develop dandruff when they hit puberty because their hygiene habits haven??t changed to meet the challenges of newly accelerated sebum production.

Stress, poor hygiene and poor diet can make the scalp more susceptible to dandruff. High sugar foods in particular are known to exacerbate yeast infections.

The hair should be brushed regularly to loosen flakes and stimulate blood supply to the scalp, which will accelerate the natural immune response to infection.

TREATING DANDRUFF

There are few habits you can develop and natural treatments you can use to treat dandruff.

Nutrition: An excess of sugar in the diet can exacerbate any yeast infection. Try reducing your intake of all sugars and refined starches while treating for dandruff.

Cleansing: Massage your scalp thoroughly with your fingertips when shampooing. This will help loosen and remove any dead skin flakes and help prevent the infection from continuing. Wash your hair daily until the infection is cleared up.

Conditioning: Use a protective hair condition on the ends of hair only. Avoid getting conditioner on your scalp where it can clog pores and interfere with healing of the skin.

Other Treatments:

Massage: Massaging your scalp several times a day with the pads of the fingers only will stimulate blood supply to the hair follicles and help loosen the dead skin flakes.

Brushing: Brushing your hair thoroughly on a daily basis will help loosen and remove dead skin flakes, increase the smooth flow of sebum along the hair shaft, and increase blood supply to the hair follicles.

Wash Hands After Brushing and Grooming Hair: Fungal infections of the skin are highly contagious, and it is easy to reinfect and spread to other areas of the body. This is why it??s important to wash your hair daily and to brush out any loose dandruff flakes ?V so that healthy areas of the scalp will not be infected. Washing your hands after brushing, massaging and grooming your hair will also help prevent reinfection or cross infection.

The following herbs and nutrients have been shown to reduce dandruff infections:

Natural Internal Treatments for Dandruff

Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Vanadyl Sulfate, Gynema Sylvestre and Chromium are all natural regulators of blood sugar levels. The can help prevent feeding the infection by keeping blood sugar levels normalized.

Olive Leaf and Oregano Leaf are both natural systemic antifungal agents.

Table - Natural External Treatments for Dandruff

The following herbs can be used as a tonic for reducing fungal infections on a topical basis. Extracts of these herbs or a several drops of their essential oils dissolved in aloe vera gel or witch hazel can greatly relieve the symptoms of itching and flaking in dandruff. Tea tree oil is particularly effective against fungal and bacterial infections.

Clary Sage
Desert Sage
Eucalyptus
Fumitory
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginsen
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapeseed Extract
Juniper Berry Essential Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Lemongrass
Myrtle
Oregano
Poike Root
Rosemary
Tea Tree Oil

With a little effort and a few extra hygiene precautions, natural, inexpensive home treatments can help reduce and prevent dandruff.

Fawn Bales has studied and practiced alternative and herbal medicine for over 20 years. She has also studied aesthetic technology and cosmetology. She is the co-author of two natural beauty books and is a managing editor of Botanical Beauty Lab, a women's free resource for natural health and beauty information at http://www.botanicalbeautylab.com

Chamomile For Health Hair and Life

Camomile
Matricaria Chamomilla

Common Names: German camomile, chamomilla, wild camomile.

Medicinal Part: Flowers

Description: German Camomile is a Southern European annual plant found wild along roadsides, in fields, and cultivated in gardens. The round, downy, hollow, furrowed stem may be procumbent or rise upright to a height of 16 inches. The leaves are pale green, bipinnate, sharply incised, and sessile. The flower heads are like those of Roman Camomile, and the white ray-flowers are often bent down to make the disk-flowers even more prominent.

Properties and Uses: Anodyne, Antiphlogistic, antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, tonic. German Camomile tea is valuable in many nervous conditions, insomnia, neuralgia, lumbago, rheumatic problems, and rashes. It also tends to reduce inflammation and to facilitate bowel movement without acting directly as a purgative. Use it as a wash or compress for skin problems and inflammations, including inflammations of mucous tissue. Keeping a mouthful in the mouth for a time will temporarily relieve a toothache. To help asthma in children or to relieve the symptoms of a cold, try a vapor bath of the tea. German Camomile can also be used as a relaxing, anti-spasmodic, anodyne bath additive. Use it for a sitz bath to help hemorrhoids, or as a foot or hand-bath for sweaty feet or hands. For hemorrhoids and for wounds, the flowers are also made into a salve.

Preparation and Dosage: Use 2 tsp. Dried (or fresh) flowers with ? cup boiling water. Take a mouthful at a time. Or add 2 tbsp. flowers to 2 cups cold water and heat to just short of boiling.

Bath Additive: Use 1 lb. Flowers with 5 qt. Cold water. Bring to a boil then steep covered for 10 minutes. Strain and add to bathwater. A less effective way is to hang a linen bag containing the flowers in the tub. Use proportionately smaller amounts for partial baths.

Chamomile is perhaps one of nature?s most benign herbs. Its calmative and restorative properties make it one of those rare ?any time? cures for whatever might ail you. For parents, whose children might be going through one of ?those days? a weak cup of chamomile tea can help to calm an overwrought child. Chamomile has been used for hundreds of years as a cure for stomach problems; from lack of appetite to an upset stomach. In my grandmother?s house, a cup of camomile was always the cure for a restless mind at bedtime.

On rare occasions, people have complained of allergic reactions to chamomile. However, because chamomile is a low growing plant, ragweed can easily become mixed with chamomile and this is where most allergic reactions occur. It is always wise to exercise caution when you are purchasing herbs. Be certain that you are using a reputable supplier that guarantees both the quality and purity of the herbs you are purchasing. You can find many quality suppliers at our website: UsingHerbs.Com

Chamomile also plays an important part in skin and hair care. Chamomile is an excellent tonic for fair hair. Use it as a rinse after shampooing to restore shine and bring out your hair?s natural highlights. Or better yet, steep together a pot of chamomile flowers and nettles for 20 minutes, then add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Place this mixture in a spray bottle and generously spray on your hair after shampooing. Do not rinse. The slightly vinegary smell will go away in a few minutes. This hair tonic is absolutely fabulous for blond hair. It will remove tangles, strengthen the hair and prevent breakage and split ends. The vinegar will also help to restore the hair to its natural ph balance and you will love the results.

For soap making, chamomile flowers can be added to any mild handmade soap. Its properties make it an excellent addition to olive oil soap and are excellent for treating dry, problem skin and soothing rashes and inflammation.

MK Welty hosts an informational website for herb enthusiasts at http://UsingHerbs.Com where visitors can find natural remedies, herbs, and instructions for their use. Or visit the sister-site http://YouCanMakeSoap.Com to learn how you can make your own handmade herbal soaps.

Chamomile For Health Hair and Life

Camomile
Matricaria Chamomilla

Common Names: German camomile, chamomilla, wild camomile.

Medicinal Part: Flowers

Description: German Camomile is a Southern European annual plant found wild along roadsides, in fields, and cultivated in gardens. The round, downy, hollow, furrowed stem may be procumbent or rise upright to a height of 16 inches. The leaves are pale green, bipinnate, sharply incised, and sessile. The flower heads are like those of Roman Camomile, and the white ray-flowers are often bent down to make the disk-flowers even more prominent.

Properties and Uses: Anodyne, Antiphlogistic, antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, tonic. German Camomile tea is valuable in many nervous conditions, insomnia, neuralgia, lumbago, rheumatic problems, and rashes. It also tends to reduce inflammation and to facilitate bowel movement without acting directly as a purgative. Use it as a wash or compress for skin problems and inflammations, including inflammations of mucous tissue. Keeping a mouthful in the mouth for a time will temporarily relieve a toothache. To help asthma in children or to relieve the symptoms of a cold, try a vapor bath of the tea. German Camomile can also be used as a relaxing, anti-spasmodic, anodyne bath additive. Use it for a sitz bath to help hemorrhoids, or as a foot or hand-bath for sweaty feet or hands. For hemorrhoids and for wounds, the flowers are also made into a salve.

Preparation and Dosage: Use 2 tsp. Dried (or fresh) flowers with ? cup boiling water. Take a mouthful at a time. Or add 2 tbsp. flowers to 2 cups cold water and heat to just short of boiling.

Bath Additive: Use 1 lb. Flowers with 5 qt. Cold water. Bring to a boil then steep covered for 10 minutes. Strain and add to bathwater. A less effective way is to hang a linen bag containing the flowers in the tub. Use proportionately smaller amounts for partial baths.

Chamomile is perhaps one of nature?s most benign herbs. Its calmative and restorative properties make it one of those rare ?any time? cures for whatever might ail you. For parents, whose children might be going through one of ?those days? a weak cup of chamomile tea can help to calm an overwrought child. Chamomile has been used for hundreds of years as a cure for stomach problems; from lack of appetite to an upset stomach. In my grandmother?s house, a cup of camomile was always the cure for a restless mind at bedtime.

On rare occasions, people have complained of allergic reactions to chamomile. However, because chamomile is a low growing plant, ragweed can easily become mixed with chamomile and this is where most allergic reactions occur. It is always wise to exercise caution when you are purchasing herbs. Be certain that you are using a reputable supplier that guarantees both the quality and purity of the herbs you are purchasing. You can find many quality suppliers at our website: UsingHerbs.Com

Chamomile also plays an important part in skin and hair care. Chamomile is an excellent tonic for fair hair. Use it as a rinse after shampooing to restore shine and bring out your hair?s natural highlights. Or better yet, steep together a pot of chamomile flowers and nettles for 20 minutes, then add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Place this mixture in a spray bottle and generously spray on your hair after shampooing. Do not rinse. The slightly vinegary smell will go away in a few minutes. This hair tonic is absolutely fabulous for blond hair. It will remove tangles, strengthen the hair and prevent breakage and split ends. The vinegar will also help to restore the hair to its natural ph balance and you will love the results.

For soap making, chamomile flowers can be added to any mild handmade soap. Its properties make it an excellent addition to olive oil soap and are excellent for treating dry, problem skin and soothing rashes and inflammation.

MK Welty hosts an informational website for herb enthusiasts at http://UsingHerbs.Com where visitors can find natural remedies, herbs, and instructions for their use. Or visit the sister-site http://YouCanMakeSoap.Com to learn how you can make your own handmade herbal soaps.

Why Organic?

?Beauty is a glorious gift of nature.? Homer

What you put on your skin is absorbed through your skin. To be more precise, the skin absorbs approximately 60% of any substance applied to it. Hence the success of trans-dermal skin patches prescribed by physicians to deliver medications.

Unfortunately, most of the skin care products mass produced for the market today, even those claiming to be `all natural? and/or `botanically based? products, contain harsh, toxic and even possibly carcinogenic ingredients that actually contribute to disorders of the skin and accelerate the aging process.

There is a growing concern from consumers about the ingredients in the personal care products they use daily. In a recent study by the US General Accounting Office (GAO), 125 ingredients found in cosmetics are suspected of causing cancer. Twenty ingredients have been implicated in causing birth defects. Twenty ingredients may cause adverse neurological symptoms, such as headaches and convulsions. Most of these toxic chemicals are so inexpensive that they are used in extremely high concentrations in many personal care products.

These toxic chemicals provide no benefits or nutrients to the skin. They are the inexpensive alternatives employed to achieve the ?feel? or ?slip? to the skin that occurs naturally using pure, nutritious, essential oils and vegetable oils. The chemicals used to replace the nutritious components are used in significant concentrations in most skin care products. Their only purpose is to increase the profit margins for the manufacturers. The health of the consumer is completely disregarded.

The trend for natural products is growing because the educated consumer is now demanding these for face and body care. Making the decision to use only natural products is easy. Incorporating this decision into your everyday life becomes more difficult as you try to practice it. It is nearly impossible to find completely natural and organic personal care products on the commercial market. It is offensive to see large numbers of chemically laden personal care products lining the shelves of natural health and food markets. Marketed as ?Natural?, these products contain harmful synthetic chemicals; however, few of us have the time to peruse the ingredient lists of our moisturizer, deodorant, body lotion and any of the other products we apply daily. We trust that the products sold in these ?natural health stores? are safe for the entire family, and so we believe the advertised claims on the bottles of shampoo, lotion, facial care, etc.

According to industry estimates, on any given day a consumer may use as many as 25 different cosmetics and personal care products containing more than 200 different chemical compounds. If a product claims to be organic and /or natural, its ingredients should be easily recognizable as natural components. Also, the ingredients should be listed in descending order with the most prominent factors listed first.

Nature offers all that is needed for healthy, radiant and beautiful skin.

?In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.? Aristotle

Pamela Cronan-Maddox, an ovarian cancer survivor is the visionary and president of The Alchemist?s Apprentice, http://www.alchemistsapprentice.com The online apothecary is dedicated to providing the finest 100% natural and organic skin care and body care products for the entire family. Visit The Alchemist?s Apprentice for all your personal care product needs.

Dealing with Dandruff

Messy and embarrassing, dandruff is one of the most common of hair woes. A few simple techniques and natural and inexpensive home treatments can help prevent and keep dandruff at bay.

CAUSES OF DANDRUFF

Although the cause of dandruff is not completely understood, it is currently theorized that one of the main causes is a breakdown of the scalps natural lipid barrier, leaving it more exposed to infection by the microscopic yeast that is commonly found in the scalp. When the yeast overgrows, it leads to an inflammatory response that kills off scalp cells at a high rate, which in turn slough off in sticky patches and flakes.

The condition is identified by:

White or clear flakes on the scalp, through the hair, and on clothing.

Itchy scalp which may be red and inflamed.

Some young teens find they develop dandruff when they hit puberty because their hygiene habits haven??t changed to meet the challenges of newly accelerated sebum production.

Stress, poor hygiene and poor diet can make the scalp more susceptible to dandruff. High sugar foods in particular are known to exacerbate yeast infections.

The hair should be brushed regularly to loosen flakes and stimulate blood supply to the scalp, which will accelerate the natural immune response to infection.

TREATING DANDRUFF

There are few habits you can develop and natural treatments you can use to treat dandruff.

Nutrition: An excess of sugar in the diet can exacerbate any yeast infection. Try reducing your intake of all sugars and refined starches while treating for dandruff.

Cleansing: Massage your scalp thoroughly with your fingertips when shampooing. This will help loosen and remove any dead skin flakes and help prevent the infection from continuing. Wash your hair daily until the infection is cleared up.

Conditioning: Use a protective hair condition on the ends of hair only. Avoid getting conditioner on your scalp where it can clog pores and interfere with healing of the skin.

Other Treatments:

Massage: Massaging your scalp several times a day with the pads of the fingers only will stimulate blood supply to the hair follicles and help loosen the dead skin flakes.

Brushing: Brushing your hair thoroughly on a daily basis will help loosen and remove dead skin flakes, increase the smooth flow of sebum along the hair shaft, and increase blood supply to the hair follicles.

Wash Hands After Brushing and Grooming Hair: Fungal infections of the skin are highly contagious, and it is easy to reinfect and spread to other areas of the body. This is why it??s important to wash your hair daily and to brush out any loose dandruff flakes ?V so that healthy areas of the scalp will not be infected. Washing your hands after brushing, massaging and grooming your hair will also help prevent reinfection or cross infection.

The following herbs and nutrients have been shown to reduce dandruff infections:

Natural Internal Treatments for Dandruff

Alpha-Lipoic Acid, Vanadyl Sulfate, Gynema Sylvestre and Chromium are all natural regulators of blood sugar levels. The can help prevent feeding the infection by keeping blood sugar levels normalized.

Olive Leaf and Oregano Leaf are both natural systemic antifungal agents.

Table - Natural External Treatments for Dandruff

The following herbs can be used as a tonic for reducing fungal infections on a topical basis. Extracts of these herbs or a several drops of their essential oils dissolved in aloe vera gel or witch hazel can greatly relieve the symptoms of itching and flaking in dandruff. Tea tree oil is particularly effective against fungal and bacterial infections.

Clary Sage
Desert Sage
Eucalyptus
Fumitory
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginsen
Grapefruit Seed Extract
Grapefruit Essential Oil
Grapeseed Extract
Juniper Berry Essential Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Lemongrass
Myrtle
Oregano
Poike Root
Rosemary
Tea Tree Oil

With a little effort and a few extra hygiene precautions, natural, inexpensive home treatments can help reduce and prevent dandruff.

Fawn Bales has studied and practiced alternative and herbal medicine for over 20 years. She has also studied aesthetic technology and cosmetology. She is the co-author of two natural beauty books and is a managing editor of Botanical Beauty Lab, a women's free resource for natural health and beauty information at http://www.botanicalbeautylab.com

Five Easy Guidelines for Acne Skin Care

Are you having acne problem? Have you done something about it? No need to worry, almost everyone has a problem with acne. Nearly all of high-school-age girls to older women, even including men, experience this skin care problem. Acne may not be a dangerous skin disease, but the common appearance, especially if it becomes worse and severe, can become a very serious problem. Thus, you?re going to need a significant acne skin care.

Before going further to acne skin care, it will be best to get to know more about acne. It is a skin disorder caused by hormones on the skin?s oil glands. This leads to open skin pores and cause some spots, annoying ones, to emerge. These spots are called acne and usually occur on the face, neck, back, and chest.

A permanent blemish and scar caused by acne should be treated seriously. Besides it may distress the people who are affected, it can also lead to a worse skin condition. Here are some easy guidelines how to treat the acne - and to give care to your skin in general:

1. The first and most important to do is gently wash your skin, especially your face, at least twice a day. Use a mild cleanser and after that, clean your skin with water. Ask your dermatologist about what kind of cleanser to be used according to your skin type.

2. Use appropriate acne products, which you can get by asking your doctor. Allow some time for the medicine to work as suggested by the doctor or as said in the instruction. You?ll see the improvement later, which usually takes several weeks.

3. Be careful when using cosmetics. You should use ones that are oil free, since oily skin is believed to be one of the factors that contribute to the emergence of acne.

4. Take vitamins for your skin. Vitamin E is the best one for a good skin. You can consume it through some fresh foods (fruits and vegetables) or simply just take vitamin E tablets available at drug stores.

5. Start a new healthy lifestyle by doing a balanced diet. Eat healthy foods, namely the low-fat and fresh ones. Don?t forget to drink a lot of water since it helps bring out toxin from the body.

You see from the above guidelines that there?s no difficulty at all in acne care, right? You just need to live clean and healthy to have a good skin. So, why not start a new lifestyle today? And buy only quality products - for a long-lasting healthy skin ever.

About The Author: Loraine Lesley is editor for some Website concerning women. She wants to help women to look beautiful, that?s why she offers practical articles and tips on Skin Care, Hair Care, and more. To discover her advice, visit http://www.myskincareonline.com and http://www.myhaircareguide.com

Chamomile For Health Hair and Life

Camomile
Matricaria Chamomilla

Common Names: German camomile, chamomilla, wild camomile.

Medicinal Part: Flowers

Description: German Camomile is a Southern European annual plant found wild along roadsides, in fields, and cultivated in gardens. The round, downy, hollow, furrowed stem may be procumbent or rise upright to a height of 16 inches. The leaves are pale green, bipinnate, sharply incised, and sessile. The flower heads are like those of Roman Camomile, and the white ray-flowers are often bent down to make the disk-flowers even more prominent.

Properties and Uses: Anodyne, Antiphlogistic, antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, tonic. German Camomile tea is valuable in many nervous conditions, insomnia, neuralgia, lumbago, rheumatic problems, and rashes. It also tends to reduce inflammation and to facilitate bowel movement without acting directly as a purgative. Use it as a wash or compress for skin problems and inflammations, including inflammations of mucous tissue. Keeping a mouthful in the mouth for a time will temporarily relieve a toothache. To help asthma in children or to relieve the symptoms of a cold, try a vapor bath of the tea. German Camomile can also be used as a relaxing, anti-spasmodic, anodyne bath additive. Use it for a sitz bath to help hemorrhoids, or as a foot or hand-bath for sweaty feet or hands. For hemorrhoids and for wounds, the flowers are also made into a salve.

Preparation and Dosage: Use 2 tsp. Dried (or fresh) flowers with ? cup boiling water. Take a mouthful at a time. Or add 2 tbsp. flowers to 2 cups cold water and heat to just short of boiling.

Bath Additive: Use 1 lb. Flowers with 5 qt. Cold water. Bring to a boil then steep covered for 10 minutes. Strain and add to bathwater. A less effective way is to hang a linen bag containing the flowers in the tub. Use proportionately smaller amounts for partial baths.

Chamomile is perhaps one of nature?s most benign herbs. Its calmative and restorative properties make it one of those rare ?any time? cures for whatever might ail you. For parents, whose children might be going through one of ?those days? a weak cup of chamomile tea can help to calm an overwrought child. Chamomile has been used for hundreds of years as a cure for stomach problems; from lack of appetite to an upset stomach. In my grandmother?s house, a cup of camomile was always the cure for a restless mind at bedtime.

On rare occasions, people have complained of allergic reactions to chamomile. However, because chamomile is a low growing plant, ragweed can easily become mixed with chamomile and this is where most allergic reactions occur. It is always wise to exercise caution when you are purchasing herbs. Be certain that you are using a reputable supplier that guarantees both the quality and purity of the herbs you are purchasing. You can find many quality suppliers at our website: UsingHerbs.Com

Chamomile also plays an important part in skin and hair care. Chamomile is an excellent tonic for fair hair. Use it as a rinse after shampooing to restore shine and bring out your hair?s natural highlights. Or better yet, steep together a pot of chamomile flowers and nettles for 20 minutes, then add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Place this mixture in a spray bottle and generously spray on your hair after shampooing. Do not rinse. The slightly vinegary smell will go away in a few minutes. This hair tonic is absolutely fabulous for blond hair. It will remove tangles, strengthen the hair and prevent breakage and split ends. The vinegar will also help to restore the hair to its natural ph balance and you will love the results.

For soap making, chamomile flowers can be added to any mild handmade soap. Its properties make it an excellent addition to olive oil soap and are excellent for treating dry, problem skin and soothing rashes and inflammation.

MK Welty hosts an informational website for herb enthusiasts at http://UsingHerbs.Com where visitors can find natural remedies, herbs, and instructions for their use. Or visit the sister-site http://YouCanMakeSoap.Com to learn how you can make your own handmade herbal soaps.