LENA BLOG

Are you experiencing the pain and itching of a bug bite or even a bee sting? Have I got a few pain-saving remedies for you! Essential oil of peppermint is the fastest (and most aromatic) way to stop the itching of a bug bite. Just put a drop on any mosquito, chigger, or flea bite and within a few seconds, the itching will stop. I’ve even put it on nasty fire ant bites (the kind that hurt) with great results. Another wonderful use for peppermint oil: put one drop in your mouth and be instantly refreshed. It’s better than any breath mint or mouthwash you can imagine. With peppermint, less really is better, so only use one drop in your mouth or you will be sorry! In other words, a little goes a long way. I like to apply it on to a Q-tip and then swab the inside of my mouth. A few words of caution: Never get peppermint oil in or around your eyes. It will burn like nothing you’ve known before! That goes for all essential oils but especially peppermint. This is one r...

Chloasma is a condition also called the mask of pregnancy , hyperpigmentation or melasma. In essence, the pigment (melanin) in your skin has gone out of control. This results in dark spots of pigmentation on the face, resembling in some cases a mask—thus the name. These are not freckles or dots, but sometimes large patches of dark brown skin commonly found on the cheeks and/or the forehead, although it is not limited to these areas. During pregnancy or while on birth control pills (“the pill” makes your body think it’s pregnant), your skin becomes photosensitive or sensitive to the sun. Photosensitivity is most common in women, especially during the childbearing years, due to fluctuating hormones. Unfortunately, if you’re prone to it, the only solution for keeping chloasma away is to stay out of the sun. ANY amount of sun exposure will darken the pigmentation on your face. All exposure counts, and as little as a few minutes of sun can darken the spots. If you’ve ever experie...

I love lemons, lemon juice, and my little electric fruit juicing machine I purchased many years ago. I have a real juicer, but the machine I’m talking about just juices fruit. It’s super easy and not a pain to clean like a real juicer. Since I love to have real lemon juice squeezed into my water, or in tea, or when I make the Master Cleanser drink (lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper), I pretty much always have lemons in my kitchen. I’m also lazy, or perhaps it’s because I’m practical. No matter, I simply don’t love juicing 1/2 of a lemon, leaving the other half sitting around (no doubt losing potency) as well as having to constantly clean my little fruit juicer. So I came up with a great idea (I am sure I’m not the first): putting fresh squeezed lemon juice into ice trays, then freezing for future use. That I am not the inventor of this was evidenced by the amount of photos of lemon juice in ice cube trays when I went searching for a photo for this article, ...

pH is a measure of hydrogen ion concentration and refers to the acidity or alkalinity of any given substance. The pH scale ranges anywhere from 1 to 14. Your skin is naturally acidic—about 5.5 on the pH scale. In order to maintain this pH balance, you only want to use acidic skin care products, or rather products that are acidic on the pH scale. The reasons for this are twofold. First, bacteria (the type found in infected blemishes) cannot thrive in an acid environment. Therefore, if you use acidic products, you help to fortify this natural acidic state, keeping bacteria away. Secondly, using alkaline products almost always strips the skin of its natural oils and surface water, causing the skin to become dehydrated. This can look and feel like dry, flaky skin. Because it is so important to know the pH of all of your products, I highly recommend purchasing pH papers. This will enable you to test any product, whether for your face or body, and know if it’s the proper pH for...

Can I use the gommage in the shower? Let me be brief: No! Yonka’s Gommage is a wonderful exfoliator that should not be used if your face is wet, whether in the shower or bath or steam room. Why not? Gommage is in a gel base and needs to dry (through massaging it into the skin) in order to grab onto dead skin cells that are later rubbed off. If your skin is wet, even with simple humidity in the room (like after a shower), the gommage won’t slough off. The following are my instructions for using Gommage to the fullest. These instructions basically duplicate a previous post: Yonka’s Gommage Instructions (see link below). As you will read at the bottom of this post, these — “my ” — instructions are actually the way Yonka used to instruct clients (and aestheticians) to use Gommage back in the ’80s. Regardless how you use it, the following tips are going to be helpful. This is very important: Your skin and the air around you needs to be DRY (no moisture in the air, no...

This was taken last month in her favorite sleeping place Several years back, in my original post for this blog, I said that occasionally I would write about things unrelated to skin care. This is one such post. Today is my sweet cat Grace ’ s 21st birthday! She arrived at my doorstep in the arms of a friend back in August 1994. She was found in the hood of a pickup truck parked at a post office in Dallas, Texas. This friend heard a cat crying, and as she was looking over the truck to try to locate the kitty, the truck owner came out and wanted to know what she was doing. She said, “I hear a cat under the hood ! ” and he replied, “Is that cat still there? ” She instantly told him to lift the hood, where she found a black, straggly-looking kitty tucked near the front wheel. She quickly grabbed the cat and probably gave the guy a dirty look. I had just moved into an apartment where I could have pets. I di dn ’ t howev er expect that the day after I moved in I would get a ...

A client of mine was going to Arizona for a vacation one summer. I asked if she had a good hat, and she said no. I knew this client didn’t have a lot of money to spend on a hat, so I recommended she go to Target. They always seem to have good, inexpensive hats that I call Throw Aways . I rarely spend more than $10-$15 on a hat. It has to pack well (being able to fold and mash it in a suitcase or bag is imperative!) and if I lose it, I am not out much money. Plus I know there are more where it came from. In fact, when I find a hat I truly love, I usually buy two of them. Having a spare for insurance means if I lose it or something happens to my beloved hat, there is always one waiting in the wings. The one exception to this is the hat(s) I wear out with the horses. In this case, I do spend money on a hat that has good coverage. I’ve found REI  consistently has good wide-brimmed hats that hold up over time. (These are generally not the mashable kind.) Probably my first hat...

I have many clients who have been diagnosed at their dermatologists as having “adult acn e. ” When these clients are in my treatment room for a facial and upon further examination, many times it turns out they simply have a minor breakout. Usually it is caused by improper diet , stress , or perhaps a hormone imbalance . Their breakout certainly needs to be addressed, but I dislike the term adult acne , although it is widely used nowadays to describe problem skin in adults. Technically, even a blackhead has the potential for acne. But it is rare in these individuals diagnosed with adult acne that I see true acne, as opposed to a small breakout. It is all a matter of degree, but the kind of acne I use the term acne for is the full-blown type. An adult can certainly have true acne. But I don’t like overusing the term adult acne when it makes a minor breakout sound much more intense than it really is, lessening the weight of having true acne. Regardless whether you have tr...

The following is one profile of how some of you take care of your skin. I know this is a generalization, but it is based on seeing male clients over the years, listening to stories about my female clients’ husbands, and asking men wherever I go how they take care of their skin. I know there are those of you (more and more) who are conscientious about your skin and who really do have good skin care habits. The following is not a profile of you , but of “the others.” You almost always use soap . And you use the same soap on your face as you do on your body—whatever is within reach in the shower. This can include deodorant soaps , which by the way, are working to inhibit the sweat glands from producing. How can this be good for your face? After washing with soap in the shower, you usually shave . Next you use aftershave . Many times these products contain alcohol . Sometimes you slap on a moisturizer (any one will do), and you’re off. That’s it—simple, easy, done. ...

UPDATE 4/2018: Yonka has replaced Nutri-Protect with a new and equally wonderful treatment cream for the hands:  CREME MAINS—Repairing, Comforting Hand Cream . Click on the name to be taken to its page. NUTRI-PROTECT is a repairing, hydrating hand treatment for rou g h, dr y hands. Below you can read about the wonderful ingredients and actions of this hand cream, but I can tell you from my own personal experience and also from what my clients say: N utri-Protect is a wonderful, nourishing hand treatment product! The aromatics alone sold me. When I first applied this luxurious moisturizer, I c ould n’t stop sniffing my hands! I loved the fresh aromas of citrus and shea butter. I have a tube of this available for my clients to use while in my facial room. Everyone who has tried it loves it lik e I do. NOTE: A little really does go a long way! I have seen clients squeeze a lot of product onto their hands — really, a pea-sized dol lop is plenty . ...

Hopefully you’ve read What is causing your breakouts? (link below), which asks important questions to help you understand why you may be breaking out. Here I’ll discuss products that you don’t want to use on your skin and other things that may be contributing to your skin problems.   Products with alcohol. Not all alcohol is bad; it is primarily SD , ethyl , and isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol that are not good to use on your skin. Alcohol merely puts out the fire, so to speak, but does nothing to douse the origination of the flame. It causes dry skin to form in and around the affected pore or pores where it was applied, which can cause problems of its own. Although drying something up seems to be effective, it is simply a temporary fix and is not part of a real solution for ending your breakouts. Witch hazel found in most stores contains roughly 15% ethyl alcohol. So although it is not pure alcohol, it still contains some bad alcohol nonetheless. This ty...

Exfoliation is the best way to rid your body of dry, flaky skin. There are many ways to accomplish this. Whether using scrubs, gloves, or a brush, exfoliating the dead sometimes flaky skin on your body will go a long way in keeping the alligator look away. Body scrubs. This is my favorite way to exfoliate the body. Because this product isn’t used on the delicate and sensitive facial skin, you may want to get a large tub or tube of inexpensive scrub at the grocery store. Once you are wet in the shower, put some of the product in your hands and scrub-a-dub-dub over your entire body. Use a body scrub after a long workout session, or whenever you’ve gotten really sweaty from being outside. If you have been outside, you’ll have a mixture of sweat and sunscreen that needs to come off —thoroughly. Using a body scrub in the shower really does the trick as far as exfoliating dead cells and helping your skin to feel smooth all over. Always use scrubs, whether for your face or y...

UPDATE 4/2015: Yonka has discontinued a few products over the years. Some I didn ’ t care too much about ; Phyto 54 is a product that I used a lot with many different, sometimes difficult s kin conditions, and t aking it out of the Yonka lineup is a big disappointment .   Yonka’s Phyto 54 —Rosemary cream for sensitivity and redness — is DISCONTINUED.   Below I have included information on other Yonka products for redness and sensitivity — pro ducts you may now want to try. Phyto 54 contained rosemary (6% extract); rosemary helps with circulation, temporarily flushing stagnated blood from the capillaries. This helps alleviate redness and gives your skin an all-around fresh feeling. Phyto 54 wa s an alternative cream for red, rosacea, couperouse skin; skin that turns red easily (reactive) and may be hot to the touch. If you had good results with Phyto 54, you might try: C REME 11   (discontinued 2/2018) This is another anti-redness moisturizer ...