Guest Author - Grace D. Dooley

Beautiful Skin on the outside begins on the inside. Good health on the inside is very important to having healthy skin. Notice I did not say flawless skin. Some are born with flawless skin and some aren't.

When many of us hit puberty we are faced with a multitude of skin problems. Skin problems that are the most frequent is acne, eczema and a host of others. Our fight is to figure out a way to live with our skin problems. We have to find ways to accept and cope with our less than perfect skin.

We tried all the products, went to the dermatologist for help only to find out the most you can do is control it. You can't stop it from coming, never really finding a cure to the problem. You can however learn to control it.

When you find something that works for you, it becomes your life. It becomes the routine, the regime you use to keep your skin healthy and beautiful. We accept that it is never going away. In the mean while some women will experience their skin problems going away as they mature while others may not experience any skin problems until later in life.

Problem skin and conditions cross the divide of ethnicity. Some skin conditions are more relevant to ethnicity and race, while others experience mild conditions that can be treated. There is not a group of people any where that does not have the good and bad of their origins. We all want healthy skin even if it's not perfect. If we are doing all we can to take care of ourselves and our skin, then we have nothing to worry about. We can look and feel beautiful no matter what.

This is where we decide what we think makes us beautiful. If you feel beautiful on the inside then it will show no matter what skin conditions you may suffer with.

Being beautiful on the inside involves exercise, nutrition and rest. Your emotional life plays a great role as well as your spiritual life. Worry, anxiety and stress are dangerous to our skin and so is the environment and sun. Even though many ethnic women are dark and brown skinned; they too have to be careful to protect themselves and their skin. For instance, I am African American. My skin is more on the brown side with A yellow undertone. My skin is very sensitive to the sun and I burn very easily. I also have adult acne and hperpigmentation of the skin.

Women of color please realize you too can burn no matter how dark you are. So when they say use sunscreen/sunblock to protect your skin from cancer and other sun related diseases please do it. It is very important that we try to do everything we can to protect our skin. From infants to senior citizens and everything in between we must protect our skin so our beauty can shine through.

In the future I will be covering skin conditions and diseases in detail. We will take a look at what pharmaceutical companies are coming up with to help all women with all kinds of skin problems.

In the mean time summer is here, please find a good sunblock/sunscreen to protect your skin if you spend a lot of time outdoors. Although the sun is very important to our bodies and our skin you don't need a lot. Some people have noticed a dramatic change in their skin during the summertime. Their skin is clearer and the breakout’s aren’t as frequent.

So as you enjoy the summer fun please protect your beautiful, delicate, ethnic skin against any more problems in the future. Please check with your dermatologist to find out what is the best sunblock/sunscreen for your skin type or problem.