2) Start out the day with a dry skin brush massage. Buy a medium stiffness sauna brush and brush your skin in concentric circles before you bathe each day. This will stimulate your skin, make those capillaries wake up bright and shining, and help remove any flaky, dead skin.

3) Learn how to fast and, barring conditions such as diabetes, pregnancy, or severe anemia or weakness, set up a schedule of periodic fasts for yourself. Thse fasts can be anywhere from one day a week to several days a month to five to ten days one to four times a year. Consult our fasting articles or classes or Paavo Airola's book on juice fasting for specifics.

4) There are a number of ways to cleanse your body in depth, all of which are very beneficial to the health of your skin. As mentioned in our Pancha Karma article, we individualize detoxification programs according to one's body type. Methods include therapeutic enemas, colon irrigation, natural laxatives and purgatives, and herbs. Some Western herbs which we often use to improve body elimination and skin health include Oregon grape, Dandelion Root, and Burdock, and Knick-Knick. Depending on the nature of the particular skin problem, we might think more of herbs directly affecting the liver, kidneys, or colon.

5) A basic cleansing can be achieved by making sure you have plenty of fiber in your diet. A high percentage of whole grains (50-60%) is adequate for some people. Others need to add additional fiber sources such as oat or rice bran orpsyllium seed or husk, particularly if you have sluggish bowels or a tendency to constipation. For some body types we also recommend periodic bentonite clay which is another detoxifying aid, and is often given in formulas along with other fiber sources such as pectin, guar gum, psyllium, and bran.

Diet and nutritional supplements: Regular consumption of plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, in whole form or juiced, along with legumes, grains, nuts, seeds, and little or no refined, overprocessed foods, fat, sugar, and caffeine will help your skin to stay young and healthy. Pay attention, particularly in the case of hives and rashes, to any foods to which you may be oversensitive. The nutritional supplements that are most of benefit to the skin are Vitamin A (we recommend it in the form of Beta carotene, which is non-toxic, since prolonged use of over 50,000 I.U. of Vitamin A can result in hair loss, skin dryness, and other symptoms of toxicity), Zinc, Vitamin E, and Vitamin C. We suggest these in combination with a mega multi vitamin and mineral containing 25-50 mg of the B vitamins but use higher amount with some skin conditions. Essential fatty acids such as linoleic and linolenic acid are necessary to keep the skin soft and pliable. PABA, often found in sun tan products, helps prevent against damage from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Lifestyle: Regular aerobic exercise is very important in keeping your skin vibrant and healthy. Inhaling large amount of clean, fresh air not only helps to oxygenate your whole body, including your skin, but is essential in balancing the deeper energy systems of your body. A healthy dose of Viamin D through sunlight is wonderful for the skin, though it has been shown by considerable scientific research that excessive ultraviolet exposure often results in skin cancer and for that reason we discourage the use of tanning beds. Skin eruptions are often aggravated by stress, so it's essential to relax, keep your life stress at a manageable level, enjoy your life and relationships, and express your emotions as they come up rather than bottle them up inside for them to erupt later as herpes or an angry rash.