Skin Care 101

Every great artist understands the importance of a great canvas. So imagine your skin as your canvas. The perfect skin care routine will vary based on your skin type and what results you are interested in. Each of us dream of having soft, supple skin that has a healthy glow; where our makeup doesn't settle, but blends quickly and evenly. No matter who you are, or what your skin looks like, there is a daily routine that is made for you. 

If you have dry skin, your canvas might be rough and porous. This will cause foundation (liquid or powder) to soak and settle into the skin. Makeup application is sometimes uneven and sometimes will cake on your skin. It is important, when you have dry skin, to get a skincare regime that allows time for your skin to soak up the moisture and exfoliate away dead skin cells. 

If your skin is oily, your canvas might not allow foundation to adhere to the skin or stay in place all day. It is very important, when working with oily skin, to use a skincare regime that is made for oily skin. 

No matter who you are, I highly recommend adding a face scrub to your daily routine. Beware of products that contain large granular particles which can cause micro tears in your skin. Look for products designed for daily use. My personal favorite is the Dermalogica Skin Prep Scrub. I use it every day. Another great product I've used in the past is the Mary Kay Microdermabrasion kit.  

Finding the right mix of products was a real challenge for me. If you are facing perpetual skin issues, take heart. Don't give up! Finding what's right for you will be worth the effort. When trying a product for the first time - ask for samples! Your skin might react really well to a product on first use, but after a day or two you might notice that it is too dry for your skin, or too oily. You'll want to test each product to see how your skin reacts before you commit. Not to mention, the cost. It's very expensive to buy several products that you'll only use a few times then discard to the product graveyard under your sink. The only beauty store that wouldn't give me samples was ULTA. All of us who know ULTA, love it, but this was a serious hangup for me when finding my perfect fit. 

I have very dry skin in the winter and fairly normal skin in the summer. Here is a complete list of products I use every day:

Dermalogica Skin Prep Scrub 

Dermalogica AGE Smart Resurfacing Cleanser 

Dermalogica AGE Smart Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque 

Dermalogica Multi-Active Toner 

Dermalogica Active Moist 

And finally, Dermalogica AGE Smart Multivitamin Power Firm for eyes 

I wasn't always married to one product line. I was just never happy with the results of my skin until I found Dermalogica. I've never looked back. I've used their line for over a year now and I could not be more happy. I highly recommend their line. You can buy it at ULTA or Beauty Brands. Otherwise, select one of the links I've added to order online or contact their representatives directly. 

If you have oily skin, your skin still needs moisture. Be sure to find a product which allows moisture into your skin without adding any extra oil. Try the Murad Oil-Control Mattifier as part of your primer routine. This product reduces the amount of oil and allows your makeup to stay put for hours. To all my dry-skin girls, this is still a great product to use if you want your makeup to stay in place all night long. Just do not use it every day.

The most important thing for every one of us is hydration! hydration! hydration! Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. If you don't like the taste of water - get over it - or add some sliced fruits. Lemon is one of the best fruits for your body's daily liver functions so that's my first choice for all of us. 

© Johanna Goodyear | Dreamstime Stock Photos

On any given day I drink as much as 125oz of water. If you don't know what 100oz looks like, just pick up a Starbucks Iced Venti cup. Each of those holds 24-25oz of water. I fill mine up 4-5 times a day and I'm good. 

What should you buy? Well, everyone should have these basics in their stash.

1. Scrub  
2. Face wash 
3. Masque
4. Toner
5. Moisturizer 
6. Eye cream

Supplement these with serums and treatments. 

As part of an ongoing desire to educate about proper skincare and makeup, I'll be writing more about primers and foundation next week. Stay tuned and be sure to leave your comments below. 

Hair 101

There are many important lessons about hair, but the first one you need to learn is hair chemistry. The reason hair chemistry is the first thing you need to know is because everything you do, every product you put in it, will change the way your hair reacts. It is the basis of understanding what is good for your hair and what is bad for your hair. (Good: professional color or products that are made with your hair chemistry in mind. Bad: box color, permanents and drug store products.)

With that little intro - let's get started.

Your hair is made of several layers. The outermost is called the cuticle. The cuticle is very special because it acts as the barrier for internal structure of the hair. The cuticle is made of thousands of transparent scales. Picture the tail of a mermaid. When you look closely there would be thousands of scales locked layer by layer on top of each other. That image is very similar to each strand of your hair. Microscopic scales which link together to create the outermost layer of your hair.

Do you remember the pH scale that we learned about in school?  I certainly didn't. When we had to learn about it in school, I was a little freaked out, honestly. Anyway, here's what it looks like.  

Our hair lives between 4.5 - 5.5. Everything you put on your hair affects how the cuticle acts. When you add any product (even water) to your hair it is either more alkaline, or more acidic than your strands. Imagine each layer of the cuticle as a door. If you add alkaline products (pH 6-14) - the doors open. As you add acidic products (pH 1-4) - the doors close. The life of your hair strand is a series of opening and shutting those doors. 

Now I want you to think about those doors - opening & shutting - thousands and thousands of times. If you don't add the correct products, your hair will get brittle or dry out. Your hair will lose shine and soon you will notice that your hair is a series of "squeaky hinges" that you don't know what to do with. Which is why it is so important to make sure you know what you are putting in and on your hair. 

That my friends is the most basic explanation of hair chemistry that I can think of. I would love to answer any questions you have about this post in the comments below. 

Thanks for reading. I can't wait to hear from you. :)

Human Trafficking

is the illegal trade of human beings, mainly for the purposes of forced labor or the commercial sex industry. For years now, human trafficking has been considered the number one growing organized crime worldwide. It is estimated 27 - 36 million men, women and children are in bondage globally. According to the A21 Campaign, only 1-2% of victims are ever rescued.

There are a vast number of websites you can visit that will give you a snap-shot of the global problem. One of my favorites is Free The Slaves. Their website includes an interactive map which enables you to select which region of the world you want to investigate. Some of the more text-driven sites include HumanTrafficking.org,  FBI.gov & unodc.org. Other great resources are Polaris Project,  Not For Sale Campaign & A21 Campaign to name a few. (If you have resources you trust, please comment below so I can add them to my ever-growing resource list.)

According to Free The Slaves there could much more than that. The data from Free the Slaves suggests that over 24 million live as slaves in the Asia & Pacific area of the world. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 79% of these slaves are sexually exploited. I found out from multiple sources that the average cost of $90. One of the most specific documents I found, and the most current information (from 2014), is from UNODC. Click here to read the UNODC 2014 "Executive Summary: Global Report on Human Trafficking" 

If you have already visited some of the sites I shared, you'll notice the statistics vary from site to site. The truth is, that slavery is illegal everywhere. This means the exact number of victims is not known exactly. What we do know, is that human trafficking is the modern-day slave-trade.

What is known, is that slavery is prevalent all over the world.

What does slavery look like?

Interpol lists several forms of slavery: forced labor, for sexual exploitation, trafficking in organs and the commercial exploitation of children and tourism.

Each of these forms of human trafficking deserve to have their 15 minutes. Besides, I don't want to overwhelm this post, so I will dedicate one post for each of these form of trafficking.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions for me, please leave them in the comments below.

Who am I? What am I all about?

My name is Kristi Buccheri.

For years I have done research about human trafficking and volunteered for organizations such as WAR International, the Global Orphan Project and HALO. 

The short version of a long story...

I am devoted to spreading the love and hope of Christ to women and children around the world. Over the years, I have experienced many horrors (that's part of the long story I'm leaving out) but Christ was, and is, the one who saved me from it all. 

I have also done a lot with my life. I've traveled to several parts of the world. I was an actress. A stunt woman. A bartender. A bookstore manager (as poor a job as I might have done - I did it). You get the point. If you name it, I might have done it. I am currently a volunteer, jewelry designer, artist and makeup artist. I am a scuba diver, a sky diver (haven't done it for a while though), and a licensed cosmetologist. 

After being freed from my past, my heart was moved to the love and empowerment of women and orphans. Let me back up.

Truly, my love of orphans started at a young age. My mom has said she thinks I was about 8 when I started talking about adoption. What really hooked me, however, was the "30-Hour Famine" I took part in when I was only 13. I learned about poverty, starvation and abuse of children around the world. I knew that I wanted to work with orphans from that moment on.

At the ripe-old age of 23, I decided I wanted to empower women and children. I didn't know what that would look like. Thank God for my sister - who always listened to my whimsical dreaming, then grounded me in reality.

In 2008, when I was 26 years old, I watched a Hollywood movie that forever changed my life. It was called "Trade". It is entirely about human trafficking between Mexico and the USA. (If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. But viewer be warned, the images are still burned in my mind.) Life was never the same. 

Since then, all I've wanted to do is volunteer, research and support various ministries and organizations who fight trafficking. All I've wanted to do, since that day is free, empower and liberate the minds, hearts and lives of women and children around the world. 

I am currently a cosmetologist, working at a lovely salon in the greater Kansas City area. I volunteer with HALO and Synergy Services, and in 2016, I will go on my first trip to the WE CARE orphanage in India.

My goal, you ask? ... I want to travel the world, teaching women and children how to work with their hands, so that no one else can control their lives. My mentality is, "Give a woman a fish? Or teach a woman to fish?"!

Through the beauty service industry, many women will find the power within themselves to have a career, go to school, and provide for themselves and their families so that they (and their children) will not be the victim of human trafficking.

The purpose of this blog is to educate anyone who reads it of the facts, horrors and realities about human trafficking. Not just that, but I will also devote a large part of my blog to the beauty service industry. I will talk about ways to get involved locally, and overseas, as well as cosmetology arts, skills and products.

What is human trafficking? Well, that my friends, is another story for another day. Stay tuned for my next post.