Our culture is really obsessed with physical appearances. This is why so many people spend lots of time and money on the appearance of their skin. First impressions, as we all know, are important... and the kind of impression you make depends partly on how good your skin looks. For different people, this means different things. We all have different approaches to making our skin look its best, and more often than not, these approaches involve makeup and cosmetics. For beautiful skin, however, makeup and cosmetics can't do it all. As other people take in your appearance, your health shows through in how good your skin appears to the outside world. Skin is a reflector of your general health, so how it looks depends partly on what's happening to your body physiologically. Things such as the buildup of toxins and too small amounts of healthy fats in your diet, as well as other imbalances will show themselves in the general appearance of your skin.

Did you say healthy fats?. Yes, you read it correctly. Healthy fats, or essential fatty acids are vital for all sorts of skin health such as:

• protection from sunburn
• keeping the skin moisturized
• treating acne
• decreasing wrinkles
• maintaining general skin health, especially gamma linolenic acid (GLA)

GLA, which can be found in borage and evening primrose oil, helps with daily functioning of yoru skin cells' membranes. It ensures that the water loss barrier in the skin, which is exists naturally, maintains its fluidity and stability. If the water loss barrier in our skin breaks down, we become subject to toxic substances which may enter the skin and produce irritation.

Borage oil, because it strentthens the natural water loss barrier in the skin, is especially helpful to people who suffer from excema, which produces extremely dry skin that itches. Excema sufferers don't produce enough gamma linolenic acid (GLA), so their skin gets dry, and this in turn causes secondary symptoms, like swelling and inflammation. If you have excema, you may want to try supplementing your GLA levels with some borage oil, to help your natural water loss barrier to seal in moisture. Studies done on people with excema who took borage oil twice a day showed relief from itching, inflammation, and blisters resulting from excema. Another benefit from taking borage oil is that excema sufferers may be able to free themselves from dependency on excema drugs, which can contain steroids, antihistamines or antibiotics. These things have side effects which cause problems for most people who take them, so a natural answer to excema is a great idea for lots of people. Also, once sufferers stop taking these drugs, their excema-related problems will come back: these drugs are not a cure. For this reason, it's a good idea to look at some things in life that can make excema worse, and try to eliminate them from your life if you suffer from excema. Here are just a few:

• exposure to harsh elements like wind or sun
• lots of stress
• dry air- either from forced heat system in winter or AC turned up high, or just living in low-humidity climate
• mineral deficiencies, for example zinc or magnesium

Supplementing your skin's protection system with healthy fatty acids will make your skin more beautiful, bright and clear, whether or not you suffer from excema, which is just one more example of why beauty is more than skin deep.