The winter months give our skin a beating. The endless dehydration of heaters, the bad food and alcohol throughout the holidays. November through January we neglect our skin. With holiday stress and heater dryness our skin gets abused. Its time to counter this damage.

Step one: water. Drink lots of water. It will re-hydrate your body from the inside out. It will also push out those toxins left in your system by Christmas cookies and New Year’s champagne.

Step Two: add more fruits and vegetables to your diet. The nutrients in these items will revitalize the skin, again starting from the inside out.

Step Three: A good cleanser is essential. You need to be careful not to get a cleanser with alcohol in it, as this will only further add to the dryness of your skin. Even if you are prone to acne, cleansers that dry you should be avoided.

White heads or pimples are caused by bacteria building up inside the pores. For a gentle cleanser that won’t break the budget I recommend Cetapil.

Step Four: Exfoliate. The Japanese Wash Cloth is the best and safest form of manual exfoliation and is essential to proper skin care.

This specially woven nylon cloth stimulates the blood flow into the surface of the skin. It gently removes dead skin, black heads, reduces roughness and dryness and gives you healthier, younger looking skin.

And last but not least of its wonderful attributes, also by stimulating blood flow helps to diminish the cellulite in problem areas… not only does this magical cloth exfoliate you like no other and give you buttery smooth skin, it helps rid you of cellulite.

For Acneic skin, aged skin, dry skin, oily skin, cellulite, all become vastly improved with this simple, essential item. The Japanese Wash Cloth should be in every woman’s shower.

Step Five: hydrate. For those of you with dry skin, coconut oil is the way to go. It’s a rich all natural moisturizer.

We all have beautiful skin, sometimes we just need help uncovering it.

Method Makeup Academy, Sacramento’s Makeup School