Spotlight on Health & Wellness: Andy Talley

We at dermHA are passionate about good health and community service, and over the years we’ve discovered that many of our clients are as well.  We are thrilled to announce our new blog series, “Spotlight on Health & Wellness” to highlight those dermHA users who are doing great work and promoting health and wellness in their communities.  We are honored to lead this series with Villanova’s Head Football Coach and long-time dermHA user Andy Talley. 

Why does Talley care about the quality of his skin care?  As a two time National Coach of the Year Award Winner, Andy Talley has spent a lot of time in front of cameras. ”Although I’ve spent a lot of time outdoors, in the sun and in the field with athletes…when I tell people how old I am, they don't believe it.”  Over the past 27 years Talley has lead the Villanova Wild Cats Football team to more wins than any other coach in Villanova history. He has guided Villanova to 9 NCAA Playoff appearances, 5 Conference Championships, 3 Lambert Meadowlands Cups, 3 ECAC Team of the Year Awards, 2 National Semi-Finalist appearances, and the 2009 National FCS Football Championship.  Coach Talley has been inducted into 6 Hall of Fames and received award after award recognizing his contributions to his teams, the university and his community.   In addition to his tremendous accomplishments in football, the challenge Coach Talley is most passionate about is saving lives. 

In the fall of 1992 Andy became aware of the incredible challenges faced by those in need of bone marrow transplants.  He immediately began his life saving work of encouraging people to join the bone marrow donation registry and raising funds to offset the costs of testing.  He held annual events at Villanova to have students, student athletes and other Villanova community members as potentially life-saving donors.  He promoted awareness and education and began the continuing effort to raise funds for this valuable cause.   In 2008 Talley helped to create the “Get in the Game and Save a Life” program for the National Bone Marrow Foundation.  This program educates and encourages university students to get tested and registered as bone marrow donors.  Since its inception, the program has partnered with 34 other college football programs to take part in this campaign.  Since he began his work in 1992, Talley and his advocacy initiatives have been responsible for testing over 30,000 people. 

Find out more about the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation and how you can get involved at www.talleybonemarrow.org and “like” the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation on facebook.

 

And to learn more about the skin care products Coach Talley uses to keep his skin youthful and healthy looking go to www.dermHA.com

Stay beautiful,

Millie

One Man's Journey to Healthy Skin

We love to hear from our clients and customers about their dermHA experience and the impact of healthy skin on their lives.  Many people think that healthy skin is just a woman's issue, but we know that men, women, boys and girls all have skin care challenges and need support to create and maintain beautiful skin. We recently received this letter from a dermHA user, Fred*, and wanted to share it with you.  If you would like to share your dermHA story, please email me at mbell@dermha.com .

Millie,

In my late fifties, I started experiencing periodic episodes of acne. It is very embarrassing as an adult male to have acne. I started noticing my coworkers staring at my face. I became extremely self-conscious about the acne as it was also having a negative effect on my confidence. I tried different soaps, shaving creams, lotions, and razor blades. I even went to a dermatologist who prescribed oral and topical antibiotics in an attempt to clear my skin.

Nothing seemed to work until my daughter gave me some of your products for my 60^th birthday. The results were remarkable. In a very short period of time, the acne completely disappeared. I wash my face every morning with the derma gentle face and body wash. After shaving, I use the rejuvenating tonic and then apply the hyaluronic therapeutic crème. I have been using these products for about two and one half years and my skin remains clear.

I wish I had taken some before and after pictures to demonstrate how well these products worked for me.

Thank you making these products.

 

Fred*

Good Love

Valentine’s Day gives us a license to love. It’s a wake-up call, a reminder that love is important and valuable. Love needs to be expressed, to be nurtured and to be cherished. Make your Valentine’s Day special by giving a gift from the heart. Men as well as women love to be pampered and spoiled. Making a special dinner, a bubble bath and massaging your mate with oils by candlelight can work wonders for any relationship. Remember, love in itself is-the greatest gift of all. If you don’t have a special someone, or friends to share the day with…plan a pamper party for yourself. Loving yourself is sometimes the greatest challenge, but it’s crucial to attracting love in your life. The best way to receive love is to give love. Make love and kindness a part of your daily life and watch it blossom. Enjoy your Valentine’s Day and let your love light shine!



Stay Beautiful,
Millie

Tips for Winter Skin Care--Staying Beautiful throughout the Holiday Season!

Tis the season for holiday parties and face to face gatherings. In this era of cell-phone and digital cameras, your friends and family will capture and share your face again and again--with many candid, bare-faced shots included. Are you ready for your close up? If not, don't fret.  A few simple changes in your skin care regimen and your daily habits can help you navigate the festive weeks ahead and look great, with or without makeup, all season long!

Challenge:
Harsh winter cold and dry indoor heat can cause skin to feel tight and itchy.

Solutions:
Exchange your exfoliating cleanser for a gentle cleanser several times a week and splash with cool water after cleansing to make sure there’s no residue left on skin. If you already use a gentle cleanser, use it at night . AM – massage and rinse your face with cool water and apply your AM moisturizer.

Also, layer a serum under your regular moisturizer or change to a moisturizer with hyaluronic acid, the most powerful natural moisturizing ingredient known to science.



Challenge:
After work gatherings can be fun but late nights and alcohol can contribute to dark circles under the eyes. Sugar overload can make morning eyes puffy.

Solution:
Drink plenty of water with lemon throughout the day to help flush toxins from your system and take extra vitamin C to keep cells healthy. Use a hydrating eye and neck crème for sensitive skin.

Challenge:
Your big party is tonight but your make-up looks flaky and your blush is blotchy.

Solution:
Remove makeup and gently cleanse. Apply a 10 minute enzyme mask with HA to loosen dead cells, rehydrate and smooth skin. Remove, moisturize, reapply makeup and -you’re good to glow!



Challenge:
Lips are dry, chapped, cracked and sore. Lipstick and lipgloss make it look worse.

Solution:
Moisten the dead skin on lips, apply a gentle exfolient for 1 minute only. Gently wipe the loosened dead skin from lips being careful not to pull the skin. Apply a lip butter with hyaluronic acid and healing emollients to help heal lips and prevent dryness. Find some mistletoe and …pucker up!

Lifestyle Do’s and Don’ts for winter skin:

-Don’t take long hot baths or showers ..it increases moisture loss and dehydration. And reduce the number of baths or showers that you take.

-Don’t use harsh soaps or cleansers and reduce your use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

-Don’t use fragrance(the number one irritant) in soaps or lotions on dry, sensitive or cracked skin.

-Do hang hand-washed clothing in your bedroom to help increase humidity.

-Do treat cracked skin on hands and feet ASAP to hydrate and protect it. Left untreated it could become infected .

-Do turn down thermostat at night- and use a cool-mist humidifier in your home or office to maintain proper humidity.

Stay Beautiful & Happy Holidays,
Millie

Keeping Teen Skin Beautiful

At a time when fitting in becomes really important to tweens and teens, puberty rears its unpredictable head and causes all kinds of skin care challenge.  Pimples, blackheads, pustules and cysts can cause insecurity, low self-esteem and a tendency for teens to isolate themselves. The emotional scars--we know how cruel children can be--as well as the physical scars and disfigurement resulting from untreated acne or blemishes- can last a lifetime.

 Teaching skin care at an early age to both girls and boys can save lots of stress for them and save lots of money for you. Selecting the right product for your teen is crucial. Products that are too harsh can overly irritate skin and do just as much damage as the acne. Products that are too heavy can plug pores and cause blockages that lead to more breakout.


Diet plays an important part in skin care too. You really are what you eat and rising teen obesity is a big reminder of “Junk in-Junk out.” Constantly eating double fries, soda and brownies will probably show up the face as well as on hips and waistline. Did you know that the skin is an organ of elimination and it’s sometimes called the third kidney. It breathes oxygen and excretes sweat, oils and wastes from the body. During adolescence with increased hormone activity, there’s an overload of wastes, especially if a teen’s diet includes lots of sweets, pastries, fast foods, fried food, sodas , etc.
Teens are living breathing ‘transformers’ and as their body goes through physical changes their emotions are going through ups and downs. To help their transformation be fun instead of traumatic, I suggest preparing a small arsenal of products to help them navigate through these transitional years.

Teen Skin Care Must Haves:

• A gentle, water based, non-oily cleanser (use when skin is dry, irritated or normally clear)- like dermHA’s Gentle Face and Body Wash.

• An exfoliating cleanser with alpha hydroxyl acids (for oily thick skin or with frequent breakouts) like dermHA’s Rejuvenating Cleanser.

• An acne cleanser with alpha hydroxyl acids and salicylic acid /or benzyl peroxide (for consistant acne breakouts with pustules and blackheads) like dermHA’s Acne Skin Cleanser.

• A non-alcoholic tonic with witch hazel an zinc (to use when needed with the gentle cleanser) like dermHA’s Rejuvenating Tonic.

• A water based moisturizer, like dermHA’s Therapeutic Crème or Therapy Plus, to use daily after cleansing.

• An enzyme and/or creme mask, like dermHA’s Enzyme Mask or dermHA’s Crème Mask with tamanu, to help refuine pores and calm acne irritations.

• A small bottle of pure tea tree oil from (after cleansing face, apply with a Q-tip directly onto blemishes, blackheads and pustules). Tea tree oils, like dermHA Tea Tree Oil, kills bacteria. (You can also purchase pure tea tree oil that’s pesticide free at a reputable health food store.)

Acne can also be a result of abnormal hormone production and you may need to see a dermatologist if cysts or pustules increase and become painful. In our next blog entry, we’ll talk about habits that can increase acne flare-ups. For more information or to find out the best dermHA products for you or your teen, call one of our licensed aestheticians at 1-877-933-7642. We can talk to you about how to better care for your skin on a daily basis.

Stay Beautiful,
Millie

Nurturing Your Skin Through the Changing Seasons

You’ll find major changes in your skin as the seasons change. Where sun-kissed skin looks tanned, toned and terrific, as cooler weather approaches, skin can become dry, flaky, rough to the touch and discolored.


Fall marks the start of nature’s renewal system. Like Autumn leaves, summer skin dries, loses moisture and its luster and needs to be removed. Oil and sweat glands that were overly active in summer’s heat slow, so oils solidify and block pores, especially in the T-zone. If you don’t have a trusted esthetician or skin care specialist to treat your skin professionally, you can manage by adding a couple of key products to your skin care regimen.



If your skin is dehydrated/mature:

Use gentle cleansers and add Vitamin C(known to help reverse sun-damage) and/or a retinol to your routine. A moisturizer rich in water soaked hyaluronic acid plus anti-oxidants like green tea, grapeseed extract, olive extract, vitamins and soothing botanicals will help protect cells and nurture new cells.

If you have oily/dry skin:

Start using a gentle cleanser in the AM and exfoliating cleanser PM for deep cleansing. Start using a mild exfolient like lactic acid, to remove dead surface cells 3 times a week and more if needed to help loosen clogged pores and smooth surface skin. Use your water based moisturizer AM and PM to keep skin hydrated.

For acne/oily skin:

Oily skin needs special care because as the weather cools, skin gets dehydrated and dead cells accumulate even more around pores. Oil can’t escape and solidifies causing plugs that combined with bacteria (which is found all over our body)cause blackheads, pustules and sometimes cysts. Drying out the oils in your skin with harsh over the counter products will further irritate the condition. Use a moisture balanced acne cleanser that contains 2% salicylic acid and AHA’s. The salicylic will help kill bacteria while working with the alpha hydroxyl acids to remove the surface cells and unplug pores.

If skin is not inflamed, add a topical exfolient or retin A daily to further exfoliate surface cells. A water based moisturizer will actually help suppress oil production and keep skin moisture balanced. Look for a water based moisturizer with ingredients like hyaluronic acid, calendula, arnica, and tamanu to help soothe and heal skin while keeping it hydrated and healthy looking.

Start now to get your skin looking flawless and fabulous before the start of the winter holidays. For more assistance or recommendations for dermHA products to meet your skin care needs, call: 1.877.9dermHA

Stay beautiful,
Millie

dermHA's Hydrating Lip Butter~ the beauty of hydrated lips...

Do you have trouble with dry or cracked lips?  It's a complaint that we have heard often at dermHA, a skin care problem that affects everyone at one time or another. It's important to know that lip skin is very different from other skin because it is very thin.  Moisture rapidly evaporates from the lips causing them to dry out very easily.  Unfortunately, as we age, the elasticity in the lips break down, causing a loss in fullness and less definition in the lines that surround the lips.  The good news is that keeping lips moisturized and hydrated helps lip skin to naturally exfoliate and feel and look soft and smooth. 

To help you keep your lips beautiful and soft, dermHA has created the dermHA hydrating lip butter.  Our hydrating lip butter is the ultimate lip treatment packed with nourishing, protecting and hydrating ingredients that will help soothe dry, chapped lips leaving them looking and feeling softer and smoother.  Smooth and creamy shea and cupuaca butters help to protect the sin against the damaging effects of the sun, while ultra hydrating hyaluronic acid and aloe helps restore moisture. The antioxidant, vitamin and essential fatty acid rich oils of coconut, tamunu, grapeseed, and avacado helps to nourish and soften dry and scaly skin.

Don't miss out on this treat for your lips, a great addition to your skin care regimen!

Stay beautiful,
Millie