I love this quote I found per chance: “A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself.” I had that over the last few years with my partner and various friends when I hit rock bottom, lost all my confidence and positive perspective on life. This is something my partner and I do with each other and it is very strengthening and comforting.

Here are a couple more quotes I felt summed up friendship:

Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead.
Walk beside me and be my friend.”
- Albert Camus

“Every person is a new door to a different world.” – from movie “Six Degrees of Seperation” – Just love this one as that is friendship is also all about – getting a different perspective on life.

Francly speaking

Hydration is a topic that I am passionate about as it also ties in with last week’s tip on scarring and the most important topic of anti-aging which is such a focus in our society. I have written a few blogs on this topic you may like to refer back to, in particular to this one.

So what is hydration? It means to add moisture, to restore and maintain fluid balance in the skin.

Something, I have come to realise over the years is that no matter what age we are, we need to keep our skin hydrated. And that also means oily skin. (more in another weekly tip).

So what excatly does hydration do to our skin: it makes our skin look healthier, smoother and plumper rather than flaky, tight and dull emphasising the aging process. It helps in reducing those pesky fine lines and wrinkles. It protects our skin from environmental influences, such as dirt, grime, smoke, weather – extreme hot and cold temperatures. Health can also affect the appearance of your skin. From experience, my skin and hair lost a lot of moisture after a 3 hour operation. The aneasthetic did not do wonders to my skin. So hydration became a vital part of my recovery for not only my skin but also my scars.

Turning the clock back is not possible, as it is a natural process for our skin to lose its elasticity and tone, so hydration becomes all the more important.

Tip for the week: hydrate on a daily basis.

Naturally speaking

What does letting go mean? For me it is relinquishing on so many levels to something other than myself and my thoughts: physical, emotional, materialistic, habits, thoughts, emotions, and negativity. It took me a long time to realise that I was hanging on, and at times with the tips of my fingers, to people, experiences, belongings, emotions that were not only negative, but also time wasting. They were old and I had changed so much.

I needed to break the patterns of how I saw my life and those in it – not an easy task, yet so rewarding once you have been able to. By letting go, I have de-cluttered my mind, my thoughts, my emotions. I now have so much wonderful space and room for new and positive experiences to happen and this vibrant new found energy to do and achieve all the things I wanted to. It is very exciting to no longer be weighed down by it all. We are such creatures of habit and most of the time, do not realise, we are only harming ourselves and therefore not leading the lives we are meant to, ie fulfilling, loving, fun and joyful.

Francly speaking

Mine are very small in comparison, however, a few years ago I had to have a few skin cancers removed from my face, one right near my eye and it meant going under the knife not knowing how far it had gone and what the scar would look like. I was frightened and realised that I did not want scarring on my face at all. However, the options were not the best either. It made me realise how important perfection is in our society and I thought I was not touched by this – well how wrong was I.

Now, why I am relating this to you is that after care of a scar is so very important, as well as the surgeon. Not all surgeons can sew well. So this is an important part of the decision. What I did learn was that you have to look after your scar as soon as the wound has healed. Scarring is a natural part of healing and wound repair as fibrous tissues replace normal skin after the injury. How a scar will look depends on the circumstances of the injury, your skin tone, and as mentioned the surgeon. You cannot get rid of a scar entirely, however, you can minimise it with regular care. They will dissipate and fade with time, even without treatment. However, I did not want to wait that long and did not want to take the risk, so I did the following on the surgeon’s advise (except for the cream recommended!!):

1. kept the wound covered, particularly in the beginning to also protect the new wound from the sun, as UV rays can cause discolouration to the newly formed tissue.
2. kept the wound clean with warm water and a gentle soap.
3. used a soothing oil twice daily to gently massage into the new scar to help keep it from tightening and to keep keloids (the build up of collagen) from forming and building up. I did this twice a day with the Franc Serum I had just produced. I realised the formulation and natural ingredients I had used were great for healing. It also helped with the itching and redness. I was absolutely delighted with the results.
4. and lastly massaging the scar helped bring the blood full of nutrients and oxygen back into wound to help with healing.

Now after 7 years you can hardly see my scars at all, only when I am tired they come up red. So it was well worth the effort and that is why I just had the need to share this experience with you.

Naturally speaking

See what they have to say: Franc Serum