City Lights Journal

January 2000 page 27

Natural Herbs Treat Sagging Skin
By Diana Adair

Sometimes, the biggest things that happen to us happen when we least expect it. As a cosmetologist, I'm always looking for new techniques to use in my profession. One day while thumbing through Prevention Magazine looking for beauty tips, I thumbed to the back of the book - which I never do - and looked at the advertisements. There, I found a very small advertisement for a school for natural healing.

The course that caught my eye was "Naturopath." For some reason, I wanted it. I told my husband I was going to order it, but he was against it. He said it had nothing to do with my business so there was no reason to get involved in it.

But I persisted. I couldn't get off my mind. I was, almost obsessed with it, so I finally went ahead and ordered it. When it arrived, there were several books, the first of which was on herbs.

When I began reading about a certain herb, I knew why I was obsessed with this course and had to have it. The author of the book was describing an herb that tightens loose, sagging skin. This caught my attention, because I was experiencing that very problem. He went on to say that to his knowledge, no one was using this preparation in their cosmetics and he had done more than 40 years of research, which proved it worked.

In addition, he stated that anyone in the beauty business would be wise to investigate this herb. So, I did. And I got so excited I could hardly stand myself! It was like I had found what I had been looking for the past 10 years.

So I started madly searching herb companies looking for this herb until I finally found it. Once I got it, I made the formula that he had in the book. I put it in a spray bottle and started spraying the loose skin under my neck. My best friend helped me measure my chin area from ear-to-ear before I began so I would have some way of gauging the success of the formula.

Within six weeks, I had lost one-half inch skin. Also, the lines around my eyes and mouth were becoming less noticeable.

After using it for three months, I had lost a whole inch under my chin and the lines around my eyes and mouth were gone. An extra: bonus was that my large pores had shrunk.

Then, after using it for a while, I decided I needed to make it pretty, so I could market it. The formula in its original state is a brownish liquid. I found a book on how to make cosmetics that had a formula for a skin toner. I began using that with my formula, and then contacted a chemist and worked with him on additives and color.

The result is a beautiful pink lotion that is called "Dare to be Young," and is currently in the process of being patented. In the meantime, I sell it on our website http://DAdairs.com and also have a few accounts in Illinois.

But the biggest bonus of all was that one of my customers who had bought "Dare to be Young," came in one day and said, "Diana, do you realize this stuff breaks up cellulite?" I had no idea, but it made sense, since it contains fennel oil, which breaks down fat.