Feed the skin you're in. We pay a lot of money for designer products, but what kind of ingredients are these "designers" using?  In the last few blog posts we talked about how the skin is a window into health.

Our skin can be a predictor of internal illness or disease before it grows into something serious. Taking care of our skin can be a regular way of 'checking in' on our inner terrain.

Once we realize how important our skin is as a predictor of health, we learn to nourish it with the ingredients it's crying out for. That may be an anti-itch cream, anti-inflammatory, or anti-microbial cream.

Making your own cream might feel herculean, but the benefits are sure worth it when you need to customize particular ingredients to feed your skin what it needs. When I started writing my other post, Beauty is Only Skin Deep...Uh, Not I wanted to include a recipe for a simple beauty cream. It just got wayyyy too long, so I've included the recipe below. But, the original post is still very interesting. It gives several identifiers for learning to read the skin's health, how outer beauty can only be tended from the inside, and where to start in terms of nutrition in learning about managing health and beauty.

My daughter Maia, with Alaskan Fireweed. (2016)

Maia and I in Ashland, Oregon (March, 2015)

Achieving health and beauty from the outside-in is impossible. Here’s why.

The human body is made up a 50 trillion cells. Every second each cell in your body coordinates billions of chemical reactions. Every day your heart beats 100,000 times pumping 7,500 litres of blood through 59,520 miles (96,000 kms) of vessels if you're a child. 100,000 vessels if you're an adult through three different kinds: arteries, veins, and capillaries. Every month you completely regenerate your outer layer of skin.
 
Did you just catch that? Every month we completely regenerate our outer layer of skin. Once we start taking better care of our self and health we see an immediate difference in our skin.

What does that mean, self-care? And how can we start taking better care of our health, from the inside-out, to  see that beautiful reflection of health in our skin?

It is different for everyone.

This ain't your momma's bath.....oh wait, eh, maybe it is?  Most natural minded folks know about the benefits of drinking apple cider vinegar:

• for increasing acid in the gut,
  
• cleansing
  
• providing enzyme rich nutrients such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron (many of which most people are deficient in),
  

But get this ... soaking in this raw, unfiltered cider has outside benefits as well.

Some teachers are naturally gifted when it comes to spotting our trouble spots or as Dr. Wayne Dyer calls them, ‘Erroneous Zones.’ These zones are the negative thought patterns so ingrained in our daily consciousness that we can’t see them for ourselves. The greatest teachers pause, listen deeply, and identify our strengths and weaknesses. They aren’t afraid to hurt our feelings by telling us the naked truth. They disarm us with meaning, often times brutal, but always for our own betterment.
Sometimes these masters are unrecognizable to the masses. They work diligently in classrooms, trek quietly up mountainsides, or even serve drinks as our neighborhood bartender.