In our chemical junkie age, holistic skin care comes like a breath of fresh air. Our skin bears the brunt of a lot of abuse, not just from own neglect but also from environmental attack, in the way of pollution, hot sun, car fumes, detergents and other chemical cleansing agents. Many peoples' response to these is to come out in a rash! Understand that if you are looking for a quick fix then this is not going to help you. When we are talking about holistic care we are talking about a lifestyle change.

It is a lifestyle change because we are working with caring for the entire person, hence the term holistic. With the skin being the reflection of our health on the inside, taking care of the issues that we have internally will then naturally improve our skin. Proper care of the skin includes dietary changes. Making sure that you are eating enough antioxidant rich foods helps our skin fight the effects of the pollutants and toxins that it comes into contact with everyday. Antioxidants have excellent ant-aging properties with the added bonus of helping with skin blemishes.

Organic foods are among the best sources of antioxidants. Be as natural as possible and try to eat a really healthy diet, but there are of course supplements available too. Another step in the process of holistic skin care is sleep. Many of us are sleep deprived and don't even realize until we look in the mirror.

For most of us, our bodies need eight hours of sleep. This is the time that our body repairs itself from what it has gone through in the day. You'll see the benefits of a few hours of extra sleep as soon as you look in the mirror. If you smoke, you might as well be covering your face in with gravel from the road side next to a nuclear waste dump. If you really want healthy skin, I strongly advise you to give up smoking if this is something you do. The skin has a close connection with the lungs, so polluted lungs will definitely reflect on the skin sooner or later.

If you follow all the other steps but continue to smoke you are sabotaging the progress you would make. Holistic skin care as we have stated means natural skin care, caring for ourselves from the inside out. So giving up as many synthetic products as you can is also good for you skin. Nowadays finding natural and organic beauty products is very easy. You don't need to make a special trip to an organic store, you can find the natural products where ever make up is sold.

You will also want to make sure that you are protecting your skin from the sun. Did you know that between 10am and 2 pm the sun is at its harshest and we need to try to avoid direct sunlight during those hours? To avoid skin damage even during the wintertime, you must use some good sunscreen lotion to protect you. Another component of holistic skin care is exercise.

To regain a healthy bloom on your skin you must look after your health from the inside. Exercise will help move toxins out of the body, increase muscle tone, it produces a natural mood enhancement and it relieves stress. Take a bike ride, go for a walk or a run each and everyday.

Helen Wall, an acupuncturist and natural health practitioner for over 25 years shares some great health care tips, including holistic skin care to help you improve your health at her website http://www.chinesemedicineadvisor.com/holistic-skin-care.html