Cellulite Treatment

Cellulite Toning with Coffee and Other Tricks
Caffeine is the main ingredient of expensive cellulite toning products. Make a skin scrub from instant regular coffee granules or coffee grounds mixed with olive oil, or just throw a handful of instant coffee granules in your bath water (not decaf). Preparation H cream can also help tighten up skin making cellulite less noticable. These are temporary fixes. For long term fixes, you need to watch your weight gain, get plenty of exercise that helps tone muscles and reduce fat and avoid foods and beverages that make you hold excess water. Drink plenty of water which acts as a natural diuretic but keeps your body properly hydrated (diurectics are pills your doctor gives you to rid your body of excess fluid being held in the tissues). The more water you drink, the more it flushes out your system and rids your tissues of the excess water making you puffy, including under your eyes. A good goal is to drink at least 8 glasses of water daily (real water, not soda or flavored drinks which makes the problem worse because they contain sugars or other additives and chemicals...). When you are dehydrated, your cellulite will appear much worse. The trick here is to plump up your skin layers and help disguise the lumps, and not to have fluids in the tissues below the skin that emphasizes the lumps showing under the skin. It's like the difference of draping a piece of thin fabric over a lumpy object and draping a thick comforter over it-you notice less lumps with the thicker covering. Keep the skin well moisturized which plumps up skin and makes the surface look smoother. Deep massage to the problem areas can also help since it breaks up and evens out some of the fat deposits making it less lumpy but that must be done regularly and long term to see any results. There are no magic creams that cure cellulite so don't believe the ads that say so! You can apply self tanners to help camoflage. Lighter skin shows the lumps worse than tan skin.

For even more tips and tricks: Beauty and the Budget at VirtualBookWorm

Treating Stretch Marks

The key for stretch marks is prevention, prevention, prevention… If you are pregnant the best treatment is to start early prevention by applying cream twice daily. When I was manager of a maternity store years ago the only thing proven to prevent stretch marks that we always sold to the mothers-to-be was a cocoa butter cream. Even women not expecting can benefit from cocoa butter creams to help prevent stretch marks on their thighs and hips. But once you get them, they are pretty impossible to get rid of unless you can afford extensive plastic surgery. So here is a wonderful recipe to make your own high quality stretch mark cream:
Stretch Mark Cream
1/4 cup cocoa butter
1 tablespoon wheat germ oil
1 teaspoon light sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon apricot kernel oil
1 teaspoon Vitamin E oil
2 teaspoon grated beeswax
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional for fragrance or add a few drops essential oils of your liking)
Mix together all ingredients except vanilla extract. Heat the mixture gently just until the cocoa butter and beeswax have melted. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract, if desired. Allow to cool completely. Store in a clean jar with a tight fitting lid. Massage into your skin 1-2 times daily.

For more information and tips: Beauty and the Budget at VirtualBookWorm