Lash Extensions Before and After

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How the sun sees you

What to expect during your lash appointment

What to expect during lash application

What to Expect During Your Appointment:

1. I will apply a sticker to cover your lower eyelashes and you must keep your eyes closed until the completion of your eyelash application (between 1-2 hours).
2. You should not feel any discomfort during the eyelash application, it is very relaxing for most people and you may fall asleep.
3. You should plan on being quiet during the application, talking causes most people to flutter and/or move their eyes making application more difficult.  Same for gum.
4. If you do fall asleep, sometimes your eye may open causing a slight discomfort from the glue fumes, this happens rarely, and will go away quickly if it does occur.

Prep prior to your lash appointment

Preparation before lash appointment

Preparation Before You Come to Your Lash Appointment

1. Try to do your workout before your lash appointment to avoid interfering with the curing process that can take 24 hours.
2. Remove all eye makeup and clean your lashes with mild, oil-free, water based cleanser with a lint-free cloth. Do not use make-up remover pads as the tiny fibers attach to your lashes and have to be removed before lash application.  I have facial cleanser here if you don’t have time to wash your face.
3. Remove your contact lenses or bring a case with you to remove the lenses prior to eyelash application.  Remember to bring your glasses, I’ve notices a lot of tearing from peepers taking their contacts out at the studio, so try to do this before you come.
4. Plan on spending two hours for your appointment.
5. You may bring an iPod if you would like, otherwise I will have spa music playing.
6. Please avoid coffee on your way here if you have an AM appointment and generally limit your caffeine intake before you come. Caffeine can cause your eyelashes to flutter making application more difficult resulting in fewer lashes applied.
7. Please don’t chew gum, it causes your eyelid and lashes to move.
8. It may sound silly, but limit your intake of liquids before your appointment, if you must get up during the appointment, it will lower the amount of lashes I can apply as it will take at least 10-15 minutes out of our appointment time since the application preparation will need to be redone.

Lash extension aftercare instructions

Lash aftercare

Aftercare Instructions:  The First Day

1. Don’t plan on wearing any mascara while you have extensions!  The only time you will need mascara is to fill in gaps caused by waiting too long between touch-ups.
2. Make sure you do not sleep on your lashes the first night.  Sleep on your back if possible or prop your head to avoid pressure on your lashes, you’ll be happy you do this because the lashes will last much longer.

Aftercare Instructions:  General

1. Avoid any cosmetic product or cleanser containing propylene glycol, organic solvents, urea, carbonate or high concentrations of alcohol.  Products with these ingredients can potentially break down the adhesive bond and shorten the lifespan of the extensions.  Ask me if you aren’t sure.
2. Use only water-soluble mascara that does not contain the above-mentioned ingredients and never use waterproof mascara.  Please note that repeated use of mascara might shorten the lifespan of your lash extensions.
3. Unless you’re washing your face, keep your hands off your extensions to make them last longer!
4. Curling of your lash extensions is not recommended.  Because the extensions come pre-curled, additional curling is not necessary and doing so may shorten the lifespan of the extensions by compromising the adhesive bond.  If you must, a heated curler is recommended.
5. Avoid pulling, picking or twisting your lash extensions.  This can cause damage to your natural lashes and lead to premature shedding of your extensions.
6. Wash your eyelid/lashes!  Lashes were created by God to keep dirt out of your eye!  In order to maintain the health of your lashes, It’s extremely important to keep your extensions and natural lashes clean by using a good cleanser.  If you aren’t sure what to use, ask me.
7. Use a lash wand to fluff your extensions to reduce tangling and flipping every morning and evening.
8. Return for touch-ups every two weeks to keep your lashes looking their best!

Pink Plastic Flamingos and Old Farm Trucks

RIP: What made Austin weird

Prevent facial volume loss with topical products

Decreased volume in temples, cheeks, and the eyes is a large contributor to facial aging.  Although loss of volume due to decreased fat pads and bone remodeling is inevitable, using topical products that protect existing volume, prevent skin atrophy, and restore the epidermal and dermal matrix volume should be included in luminous aging skin care.

 Dermatologist Jennifer Linder writes in the  May 2014 issue of Skin Inc. magazine, “Although minimally invasive injectables are the gold standard once adipose tissue and bone mass have been lost, there are many proven ingredients and product categories that can be added to a client’s daily regimen to help preserve, maintain and increase the facial volume of the skin”.  She writes that facial volume loss occurs from the breakdown of skin components such as collagen and elastin as a result of time and genetics and exasperated by environmental factors like sun exposure and free radicals (which are avoidable).

Dr. Linder advocates using sunscreen and antioxidants to prevent and protect from facial volume loss.  She writes, “The human body does have its own internal free radical-fighting system, but the daily use of topically applied antioxidants significantly improves the level of protection provided to the dermis, thereby reducing the loss of facial volume. There are three distinct categories of antioxidants, although some function in multiple categories. Primary antioxidants donate electrons to free radicals, rendering them harmless; secondary antioxidants chelate metal ions; and co-antioxidants facilitate the action of other antioxidants. Below are some key antioxidants to add into the regimens of facial volume loss clients.

• Primary antioxidants—L-ascorbic acid, resveratrol, tea polyphenols, vitamin E, glutathione, silybin, ferulic acid, idebenone and coffea arabica extract
• Secondary antioxidants—L-ascorbic acid, silybin, caffeine and resveratrol
• Co-antioxidants—L-ascorbic acid, vitamin E and glutathione

L-ascorbic acid, the bioavailable form of vitamin C, activates and stabilizes procollagen mRNA, leading to collagen deposition.  Only L-ascorbic acid provides the needed anti-aging activity crucial to building facial volume.”

She notes these antioxidant ingredients prevent dermal matrix break down valuable to fight facial volume loss.

• Aloe vera
• Beta-carotene
• Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)
• L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
• Resveratrol
• Retinoids
• Soy isoflavones
• Vitamin E

She also lists peptides as an important ingredient category for building the dermal matrix to maximize youth.  “A peptide is a compound consisting of two or more amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Peptides act as transmitters from the brain to the body, telling the muscles and nerves to perform specific functions. There are multiple peptides available that will achieve different results when used topically. Those that trigger the deposition of dermal components are the most critical to a regimen designed to build facial volume, and include the following.

• Palmitoyl tripeptide-38—Stimulates the production of collagen I, III and IV; fibronectin; hyaluronic acid; laminin-5; and heat shock protein 47 (HSP47), a chaperone protein that ensures these other important matrix components successfully reach maturity.
• Palmitoyl tripeptide-5—Increases collagen deposition.
• Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7—Improves skin firmness and elasticity.
• Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4—Increases collagen I and IV.
• Palmitoyl oligopeptide—Stimulates collagen production.
• Palmitoyl oligopeptide-palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7—Stimulates the production of multiple ECM components.”

Retinol, retinaldehyde, and retinoic acid are proven to stimulate dermal collagen and elastin production.  Dr. Linder states, “Additionally, retinoids are thought to be one of the only topical ingredients that encourage the proliferation of elastin.”  She notes that these are time-tested topical ingredients an individual can utilize to delay the needle (and knife).

I personally love Skinceuticals C E Ferulic antioxidant serum for day and have recently started using Skinceuticals Resveratrol B E for night.  I also like the Eminence Organics hyaluronic acid serum and although I haven’t tried it, they recently introduced an impressive peptide cream.

Inside-out beauty – Harmonized water with SPF capability

Autumn on the beach

My skin doesn’t know how to behave in the sun.  I ran across this product and although it sounds too-good-to-be-true, I tried it.

Harmonized H20 UV Neutralizer is a supplement that has frequencies imprinted on water molecules that cancel out UV radiation by delivering these radio frequencies to the cells in the skin using water as a carrier. I don’t understand the actual science, but according to the Harmonized H2O website, “The frequencies we use have been determined by a proprietary math formula that allows us to reverse engineer most substances to determine their actual vibrational rate. We then imprint these frequencies on water molecules by forming standing waves (waves that pulse from rest).”

The molecules vibrate on your skin in such a way that, according to Ben Johnson, MD, the formulator and creator of Osmosis Skincare, “cancel approximately 97% of the UVA and UVB rays before they even hit your skin”.  Sun protection from the water is equivalent to SPF 30 and lasts about 3 hours, depending on the angle of the sun and the time of day.  Take 2 ounces of  UV Protection Water in another 2 – 4 ounces of water an hour before going out in the sun or tack on another 30 minutes if you take it with food.  Dr. Johnson states, “for some people, the effects can be continued throughout the day by simply repeating the dose after three hours.” 

Be aware that medications you take, even ibuprofen, can cause photosensitivity – and the harmonized water will likely not work for you.  Click here for a list of sun-sensitizing medications.  Also, do a skin check by taking the harmonized water as indicated and leave a small body part such as an arm or foot exposed in the sun for an hour.  And last, but not least, exercise that increases your heart rate over 100 bpm for more than 30 minutes will utilize the imprinted frequencies and another dose will be needed (and wait another hour) to start the process again.  

Update June 4, 2014:

My husband held his tongue during his inward eyeroll at my “one body part exposure” experiment on the nape of my neck during an hour in Texas 9 am sun.  Although this is a very cool idea, I was very sunburned as a result of my test patch.

Blender trend: Aronia berries are beyond superfood

Link to National Aronia Council

Native to North America and also known as chokeberries, aronia berries are gaining popularity over acai and goji berries for super high concentrations of anthocyanins – or the dark blue almost black pigment that amps up the fruits antioxidant capability to the point of being medicinal.  We always joke that all the superfoods come from the Andes, so this is great news for American farmers who are cashing in on the Whole Foods revolution.  I promise you will see this superfruit everywhere in the next 5 years because of it’s pest resistance, sustainability, and demand commercially.  Blue-black is the new green and aronia berries are the new kale.

Research at the Department of Preclinical and Clinical Pharmacology and Biochemistry at Medical University in Varna, Bulgaria demonstrates pronounced anti-inflammatory effects, improved liver function, and gastrointestinal protection from aronia fruit juice in lab rats.  Antibiotic and anti-viral properties of aronia juice were also noted by the researchers.  In the presence of aronia juice, Staph aureus and E. coli would not reproduce in the petri dish as well as type A influenza virus.  The authors cite that aronia berries “normalize the carbohydrate metabolism in diabetic patients and in streptozotocin-diabetic rats, have an in vitro antimutagenic activity and exhibit a distinct immunomodulatory activity in human lymphocyte cultures and in patients with breast cancer, suppress the growth of human HT-29 colon cancer cells, inhibit the N-nitrosamine formation in rats and decrease the toxicity and cumulation of cadmium in liver and kidneys.”  

On a lighter note, other research indicates that ingesting aronia juice prior to exercise reduces cell damage (oxidative stress) by boosting the body’s natural antioxidant defenses.  Read more about aronia here and check out this resource for buying freeze-dried organic aronia as well as jelly, syrup, and other aronia berry food items.

Grains of truth: A rebuttal of “grain brain”

Click here to read the Brawn, Brains, and Grains of Truth article

Dr. David Katz, epidemiologist and founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, writes a rebuttal in response to the Medscape Neurology interview given by David Perlmutter, MD on January 21, 2014 about that gluten being linked to dementia.  Dr. Katz is the author of the book, Disease Proof: The remarkable truth about what makes us well and Nutrition in Clinical Practice: A Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Manual for the Practitioner. The third edition of his textbook has 10,000 citations.  Read the rebuttal article here.  James Hamblin writes an exceptional exploration of both ends of the field in his article for the Atlantic magazine where he interviews both authors to get straight answers, read it here.

Crazy about sprouts

How to grow sunflower sprouts link

Sprouts are a fun way to add enzymes and crunch to salads – I really like the mild flavor of sunflower seed sprouts and although soaked almonds may not count as a sprouted, Autumn and I prefer the taste to dry almonds.

The Austin Sustainable Food Center posted on their website: “Ready to start sprouting? You’ll need a mason jar, a screen for the top of the jar, seeds, water and sunlight. Here’s how:

Add 1/4 c seeds to jar (more for a larger jar).
Add 1 c water.
Allow to sit for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Pour water out through screen top, add more water, swish around and pour out again. Set jar on windowsill (setting jar on its side will allow the seeds to spread out). Do this twice a day for 4 days.
After about four days of rinsing, draining and sitting on windowsill, your jar will be filled with gorgeous, tasty, nutritious sprouts!
Eat right away or refrigerate for 1-2 days. Best fresh. Because they are grown in warm conditions, children, the elderly, pregnant women, and persons with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts (including alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean sprouts).”