“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzu

Think about how much you’ve changed over the years. You’ve learned so much and experienced so many amazing things. However, you don’t feel or look the way you did ten years ago, much less twenty.

We can deny it or combat it, but aging is a fact of life. The best we can do is aim for aging gracefully. Doing that requires being open and adaptable to change. We adjust our activities to stay strong and fit without injury. We change our diet and habits to prevent illness. So too, we need to regularly update our hair and skin care to adapt to changes over the years.

When was the last time you changed your hair? That style or color might have looked great when you were younger, but could be aging now. The long, shiny locks that were your pride and joy may have grown a little thinner or duller, or be too hard to maintain with your active life. What about your skin care and make-up? Those products and colors you’ve used for a decade might not be doing you any favors today.

A salon or spa visit can be a life-changer for both women and men. Experts in cut, color and style will view you objectively and suggest changes that can bring out the best of who you are now. A fresh cut and style can make your hair look healthier and thicker, and be easier to manage. New hair color or make-up can revive a listless complexion, bring out your eyes and, yes, make you look younger. Custom facials and innovative skin care products can address your skin’s changing needs, and therapeutic massage can rejuvenate your body, lift your spirits and keep you flexible. All these changes can boost your confidence. And few things are more attractive than good, healthy self-confidence!

Life is all about change. The more we embrace the changes, the kinder the years will be to us.

Karen Sileck is the owner and chief of relaxation at Le Spa of Sea Pines. www.lespahiltonhead.com

Hilton Head Island, SC, February 9, 2015 – Le Spa in Sea Pines kicked off 2015 with new owners and an updated look. Karen and Michael Sileck, who have lived on Hilton Head Island for five years, purchased the spa and salon on December 23. The couple has kept Le Spa open throughout the transition.

“We look forward to building on the extraordinary success Le Spa has enjoyed over the last 20 years,” Michael Sileck said. “We plan to offer our loyal clients the latest in spa services, including new facial and massage techniques. We are also embracing new technology so that our clients, whether local regulars or once-a-year visitors, can schedule services conveniently and efficiently through our new and improved website’s on-line appointment option.” The Silecks have also given Le Spa a fresh look with a soothing color scheme that reflects the Hilton Head Island’s relaxed, coastal atmosphere.

Michael Sileck is an accomplished business executive with more than 25 years experience operating a variety of media and technology companies. Karen Sileck, an organizational expert, has extensive experience in spa and salon services. Her attention to detail and high standards will enhance operations at Le Spa. “We are thrilled to work with our highly trained and experienced staff as we expand our services,” she said. Le Spa offers expert hair, make-up, nails and specialty services, including eyelash extensions and treatments, as well as a variety of therapeutic massage techniques, wraps and facials, including the new oxygen infusion facial.

The Silecks are working to increase awareness about Le Spa through social media and business relationships. “We’re developing a closer relationship with Sea Pines, and will provide the high level of quality and service consistent with the resort and community,” Michael said. “We are also striving to make Le Spa of Sea Pines ‘the Spa’ on Hilton Head Island.

Everyone agrees that healthy skin makes everyone look younger, healthier and better. The most important factor was thought to be genetics, but evidence demonstrates that genetics is a small part compared to environmental hazards, the worst being excess sun exposure and smoking. So what an you do to keep your skin from aging? A healthy lifestyle is the answer, and nutrition plays an important role.

Youthful skin appearance is skin that has clarity, a good color with some pink hue for those with light skin (which comes from a good blood supply), no pigmentation spots or wrinkles or sagging. More subtly the skin is thicker, smoother, firmer and brighter. Anything that helps to achieve those goals should be at the top of your list, and nutrition is definitely a factor.

Wrinkles, fine lines and sagging are all the result of collagen and elastin loss and the skin losing the ability to hydrate itself as we age, meaning it is thinner and more leathery. Good news is that in addition to proper skin care and reasonable sun avoidance, tweaking your diet can slow your skin’s aging process. Nutrient rich diets can definitely slow the aging process by producing firmer, better hydrated skin. Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids as well as high in Vitamin E and C and other anti-oxidants also can produce more collagen. Knowing what not to eat and drink is also important. Alcohol is on the top of the list because it dehydrates skin, and as skin becomes drier, leathery and less elastic, it will begin to sag.

A good night’s sleep is also crucial to skin health. When one does not get enough sleep, the body produces excess cortisol, a hormone that actually breaks down skin cells. Cortisol is catabolic, meaning it breaks down tissue, as opposed to anabolic, which builds tissue. Rest helps provide your body with more human growth hormone, which in turn helps skin remain supple and elastic resulting in less premature wrinkling. Growth hormone helps virtually everything, which makes it a subject of it’s own, but it definitely helps health and appearance.

By improving one’s diet, cutting back on alcohol and increasing sleep can make one look
2-3 years younger.

The worse one’s diet is the more sallow one’s complexion will be. A good diet is mostly a common sense diet. Eat mostly the healthy fats, which are unsaturated fats or monosaturated fats—and no transfats, which is a tall feat because transfats are in many processed foods. They are called many things including partially-hydrated fats. There’s evidence that people with diets high in refined sugars get a dull, yellow cast to their skin. If it were possible, one would be better served to stay away from most all simple, especially refined, carbohydrates such as sugar, white bread, white rice, deserts, and all but whole grain pasta, and for rice, use brown rice.

So what is a nutrient rich diet? The answer is lots of leafy green vegetables and foods rich in fatty acids such as avocado, nuts, seeds, etc. A good description is to “eat the rainbow,” as the pigments in various vegetables are nutrients and antioxidants. Eat 7 to 8 vegetables a day, even if small helpings. Essential fatty acids help to regulate cellular function and have anti-inflammatory properties that can alleviate skin redness. Anti-oxidant rich foods like blueberries may also help even out your complexion by reducing hyperpigmentation caused by sun damage to the skin’s DNA. Resveratrol is an interesting nutrient from grape skin that protects DNA and turns on our longevity gene, called the Sirtuin gene.

Exercise also revitalizes and adds radiance to your complexion by increasing oxygen flow to skin cells, which results in better tissue health. Resistance exercising actually increases your growth hormone.

Therefore, loading up on healthy foods and exercising at least three times per week may get you looking 2-4 years younger. It will usually take a month or more to see those results.

To give your skin a fresh boost, view our list of facial treatments.

Rosacea is a very common, often acne-like, benign disease of the skin usually involving the central part of the face, primarily the nose and cheeks. It is more common in fair skinned people, usually of Irish, English, or Scottish descent. It affects a large number of people worldwide. As of 2010, it is estimated that rosacea affected 16 million people in the United States and 45 million people worldwide. In the mildest cases, the primary symptoms are dilated capillaries around the nose and cheeks with frequent flushing, such as blushing. This causes red or pink patches to occur. Rosacea can also involve the forehead and chin areas. In more advanced cases, there will be small red bumps or cysts. Patients may also have irritated pink eyes. As with most fair skinned people, they are very sun sensitive, and should thus avoid sun as much as possible.

Rosacea is a chronic disease and considered non-curable, however, most people who have rosacea may not know that they have the disease or that it is treatable, but as stated, non-curable. Characteristically, like acne, the patients have flare-ups, but unlike acne patients do not out-grow rosacea. Rosacea is not contagious. Interestingly, President Clinton, Winston Churchill and W.C. Fields are people that we know who had rosacea.

The treatment required for rosacea is dependant on the severity of the symptoms and the success of the various treatments used.

Treatments are:

• Sulfa based washes aimed toward reducing the bacteria
• Facials using glycolic acid which sterilizes the skin and helps absorption of nutrients
• Acne treatments, containing benzyl peroxide and salicylic acid
• Medications:
  • Topical – Metrogel, Finacea. These two can be alternated every two weeks if necessary. Tretinoin such as Retin-A or retinol.
  • Tetracycline – an oral medication, a lower dose tetracycline is Oracea 40 mg once a day
  • Accutane – for the most difficult cases with cysts
• IPL (Intense pulse light) or BBL (Broad band light) which are intense lights that coagulate and eliminate the dilated capillaries, which cause the flushing and red patches. We have found that these are very effective when used with proper topical creams/ gels and sun protection.
• Non-ablative Lasers, which also coagulate the dilated capillaries, are also very effective, and there is no down time, as with the IPL and BBL.

While rosacea is not curable, treatments used in proper combinations have been satisfying to both patients and health care provider.

The answer is NO! It’s true that you need Vitamin D. This nutrient is essential to many bodily functions and research shows that it may help protect against a wide variety of health conditions, from osteoporosis to cancer of the breast, prostate, colon and more. And yes, your body does naturally produce vitamin D when your skin is exposed to the sun’s UVB rays but the bottom line is that it’s best not to ditch your sunscreen. Most of us are not going to stop what we are doing after 15 minutes of sunning, golf, tennis, jogging, etc. (roughly the amount of exposure you would need to produce enough Vitamin D so slather on some SPF 30 (or higher) sunscreen. You will still get some UV rays, and this will help prevent skin cancers, sagging, and other aging effects of the sun. It’s much simpler and safer to ALWAYS wear sunscreen and focus on getting more D from your diet and supplements.

Doctors recommend between 1,000 and 2500 International Units (IU) daily of Vitamin D

Foods containing Vitamin D:

• 1 whole egg- 25 IU
• 3.5 ounces fresh salmon – 360IU
• 1 cup vitamin D fortified milk- 115-124 IU
• 1 cup vitamin D fortified cereal 40 IU

This winter when you are faced with chapped lips and dry skin resolve to arm yourself with a skincare regimen that will combat the weather and leave your skin flawless, not flaky.

The first step in protecting skin is to identify the environmental issues.  Dry air is a skin dehydration culprit.  Eighty percent of the skin is water, and the cold, dry air sucks the moisture out of your skin.

The goal is to go into winter with as healthy skin as possible to combat the environmental hazards of winter so you can enter spring with beautiful skin.  We recommend New Youth Skin Treatment System for the complete program to rejuvenate, reverse damage, and protect your skin.

Tip 1.

Find the right moisturizer for you.

The biggest mistake is choosing a moisturizer that feels good but doesn’t actually moisturize.

Also make sure the ingredients don’t cause allergies.  For example, certain fragrances and colors can be irritating.

Tip 2

The sun does not stop shining in the winter, and neither does sun damage or the risk of skin cancer.  Ultraviolet light penetrates clouds and can still damage skin.

You should still be using sun block in the winter.  The sun shines through your car windshield, and when you are walking to your car.

In addition to sunscreen to exposed skin, it is imperative to protect lips with an SPF 15 to 30 and moisturizing balm.  Cancer of the lip is from excess sun exposure and can be deforming and even metastasize.

Use a moisturizing product.

MENS GUIDE:

Avoid alcohol based after-shave; it will dry out your skin.

Use sunblock.