HealBook (Les' Blog Network)

Tips To Having More Beautiful Feet

2012-01-31T02:57:00.000-08:00

Feet are always under some kind of assault. Whether we’re walking barefoot or have some kind of tight shoes on, or just walking period, our feet have to put up with a lot from most of us. At a certain point, they just can’t take it any more, and start looking pretty bad. But since many people, both men and women, like to walk around with parts of their feet exposed, here are some tips for making your feet more beautiful.

1. Stop wearing very tight shoes. Women sometimes think squeezing their feet into smaller shoes will make their feet look smaller. Instead, it usually makes their feet swell, and they have problems walking. You might need to go to a professional to have your feet measured so you can find the proper size for you. These days, there are so many styles of shoes for all sizes of feet that everyone can look good and glamorous in shoes that actually fit.

2. Take your shoes off and give them some air when you’re home. There’s no sense in walking around in your shoes while you’re in your own home. Even if you don’t have carpet down, buy some house slippers to wear, and make sure you have plenty of room and that they’re soft and comfortable.

3. Soak your feet from time to time in oils. Nothing makes your feet feel like you’re pampering them as much as soaking them in some oil or salts. Make sure the water is warm, because that works best, and you’ll find that it makes the rest of you feel pretty calm also.

4. Get a pedicure/foot massage. Some people you go to will do both, but there’s nothing wrong with pampering your feet by paying someone else to do it from time to time. The thing to watch out for with a pedicure is that sometimes the people doing it can be moving so fast that they’ll nick you. That’s never pleasant. However, finding someone who can give you a soothing foot massage without hurting you will feel wonderful.

5. Wear socks instead of hose whenever you can. Although socks seem more bulky, feet actually breathe better in socks than they do in hose. That, plus socks have more cushion, therefore protect your feet better in shoes. They look horrible in heels, but work great in flat shoes and sneakers.

6. Get your toenails painted. Adding a little bit of style to your feet can take other people’s eyes away from the rest of your foot if your feet don’t look great. You can get colors or patterns of any type, and being creative has never hurt anyone.

7. Do some foot stretching. Even taking care of your feet, sometimes they can get cramps. Stretching your feet not only makes them feel better, but it can help your calves loosen up also, and it helps to relieve the tightness if you happen to have, or be heading towards, plantar fasciitis.

Taking these steps towards protecting your feet will make your feet want to thank you, and it will feel good.

Taking Care Of Your Nails

2012-01-31T02:51:00.000-08:00

When most women think about taking care of their nails, they think about putting polish on them, or possibly applying fake nails so that they look longer. However, there are a host of physical things that can happen to nails unless you take care of them, along with your hands and the rest of your health. Here are six tips for taking better care of your nails.

1. Limit the number of alcohol products that you put on your hands. If you’re in the medical field you might not have much choice, but for everyone else too much alcohol isn’t good for your hands. There’s alcohol in nail polish remover, some soaps, some lotions and even some nail polish itself. Alcohol dries the skin, but it can also make nails dry and brittle, and start to remove the luster from them. Using it every once in awhile won’t hurt, but if it’s something you’re doing every day, try to find other products that will work just as well, but don’t contain alcohol in them.

2. Wear gloves when cleaning around the house. Even if alcohol isn’t in certain products, there might be other chemicals that can damage your nails. Cleaners especially have lots of products that work hard at removing stains, even those that are used to shine floors or metals. It’s not just your nails specifically, but your cuticles and the other skin around your hands needs protection as well.

3. Give your nails a break from too much glue. You might like wearing fake nails, but your nails don’t like it as much. Wearing fake nails constantly doesn’t give your nails time to get any air, which means they could get soft or they could dry out, depending on what’s in the glue. Cuticles also suffer damage from too much glue. One shouldn’t constantly be wearing fake nails for your own good.

4. Cut your nails straight across. This is counter to what many women feel is a beautiful looking nail, but the truth is that cutting and then shaping your nails into a rounded shape makes them weaker and more susceptible to breaking. This more specifically applies to having longer nails, but can mean the same thing for shorter nails. Luckily, more fashions are showing women with nails cut straight across, so you might be on the verge of making a major fashion statement.

5. Buff your nails. Buffing your nails brings out the natural oils that are contained within them, making your nails shiny and healthy before you put anything on them. More women in today’s world are buffing and leaving them alone, as the natural luster can be quite appealing on its own.

6. Take care of your cuticles. When you go for a manicure, often they’ll cut your cuticles, which lessen the protection around your nails. Try to limit how often you do that, if you do it at all. Also, think about using cuticle oils to help keep your cuticles soft, which also helps to protect your nails, as you don’t ever want them hard and crusty.

Protect Your Eyes

2012-01-31T02:46:00.000-08:00

We all get only one set of eyes. Vision is considered a big deal for most of us, and protecting our eyes is probably one of the most important things we want to make sure we hold on to. Yet, every day, our eyes are subjected to potential danger, sometimes of our own doing. Here are five tips you should follow in making sure you protect your eyes from danger.

1. Protect your eyes from the sun. If you’re outside and you’re squinting, it means your eyes are under assault, and they need protection. It could be from sunlight or wind or dust or aromas or almost anything else. Squinting is what the brain tells your eyelids to do to try to offer them some kind of protection. You need to think about wearing sunglasses of some type to help. Get the kind with UV (ultraviolet) protective covering on them, as that will help stop rays that can’t be seen from coming through. You might need to wear goggles if conditions are such that all sorts of things are blowing around, or you’re underwater. If you’re going to take your sunglasses off and you’re still in the sun, try to shield your eyes a little bit because your pupils will go from being fully dilated to trying to shrink quickly, and that could cause disorientation. One final warning; never stare directly into the sun.

2. Protect your eyes from bright lights. The same thing we talked about with sun pertains to regular lights also. However, wearing sunglasses inside doesn’t make as much sense. If you’re going to have bright light in the house, try to keep it behind you instead of in front of you, and like with sunlight, never stare directly into it. Some people don’t handle bright lights directly over them either, so stay aware of whether you find yourself squinting or not.

3. Keep your eyes closed if you’re using sprays around them. Almost everyone has had an incident at least once in their lives when they’ve sprayed something and their eyes have gotten irritated. Luckily, most of the time all you need to do is wait awhile and things will be fine, but it only takes one mistake to seriously injure your eyes. If you spray something around your eyes, keep them closed even after you’ve stopped and try to wave something to clear the air around you before opening them.

4. Wear protection if you’re in an area where lots of small things are flying around. We’re not talking small bugs here, but things such as sawdust, sand, metal flakes, ashes and blowing debris. If you’re doing any sort of work with something that sends shavings out, even clay sometimes, you want to think about getting goggles of some kind, even if you wear glasses, because things can pop up and over glasses just as easily as going directly into the eye.

5. Always use water first to flush out your eyes. If you do get something in your eyes, even before you might need to go to the doctor, flush your eyes out with water. Many people will say cool water because it makes your eyes feel better, but any water will do. Don’t start with saline solution because the salt might make your eyes feel more irritated. It’s always good to have water around anyway, so it’s perfect to use for this purpose.