Ingredients
1 cup applesauce
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (or egg whites from 4 eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
2. Cream butter or margarine with sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Stir vanilla and milk into applesauce.
4. Add dry ingredients (step 1) to egg mixture (step 2) alternately with applesauce (step 3), beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Cover dough and chill at least 1 hour.
5. Rollout dough on a floured board until about 1/3 inch thick. Cut shapes with a 3-inch doughnut cutter.
6. Fry 3 or 4 at a time in hot deep fat (about 375° F or 190 deg C), turning to brown both sides. Drain on paper towels.
Yield:
About 18 doughnuts and 18 "holes."
See Also:
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Natural Way To Healthy Skin
Healthy skin is an essential part of health and natural beauty. Good skin is a reflection of inner health.
Causes of Unhealthy skin
Diet
Natural Aids for Beautiful Skin
* Lime Juice
* Peach Treatment
* Anti-wrinkle cream
* Natural Beauty Mask
* To improve a dark and dull complexion
* Natural Cleansing Lotion
* Cabbage Mask
* Tangerine Juice Treatment
* Orange Tonic
* Watermelon Natural Formulas
* Tomato Natural Formulas
* Cucumber
* Whitening Lotion
* Apple Tonic
* Amaranth Juice Treatment
* Mint Juice
* Almonds
* Yogurt
Causes of Unhealthy skin
Faulty diet. Refined foods like white flour, sugar and products made with them, tea, coffee, and soft drinks deplete energy, bring about wrinkles, unattractive skin and premature aging.
Lack of healthy blood. Healthy blood adds a glow to the skin and keeps it well-nourished, moist, and free from dryness and roughness.
Inadequate cleansing. Very often, our skin looks superficially clean; but they really are not. Dirt and dust particles can hide in the pores of the skin and clog sweat and sebaceous glands. Proper cleansing not only removes all the dust, dirt and make-up, which accumulate during the day, but also stops the oil-secreting sebaceous glands from getting clogged.
Diet
Diet plays an important role in maintaining the health of the skin. Diet should supply all the nutrients needed to build health, namely, protein, carbohydrates, fats, essential fatty acids and all the essential vitamins and minerals. Such a diet will consist of liberal quantities of seeds, nuts and grains, vegetables and fruits, supplemented by special protective foods like milk, vegetable oils, yogurt, honey and yeast.
Nutrients play an important role in maintaining a healthy skin.
Examples:
Your skin is unusually dry and rough. You have blackheads and whiteheads. You are probably lacking sufficient vitamin A. You could also be suffering from the deficiencies in iron, iodine and the B Vitamins. Adequate amounts of protein and vitamin C are also important.
The vitamins of the B group are important in producing beautiful skin.
Vitamin B1 aids skin health by helping to keep the circulation normal.
Vitamin B2 or riboflavin deficiency can lead to brown pigmentation, or liver spots on the skin. These ugly spots usually disappear if generous amounts of vitamin B2 are given over a period of six months. Severe riboflavin deficiency can lead to oily skin and hair and small deposits of fat under the skin of the cheeks and forehead and behind the ears. More severe deficiency of riboflavin causes the skin under the nose and at the comers of the eyes and mouth to crack and become sore.
Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine deficiency can result in dermatitis or eczema.
Niacin deficiency can also cause an eczema type of skin eruption with brown pigmentation, largely on the face, forearms and legs.
Deficiency of pantothenic acid, para-aminobenzoic acid, and biotin: This also leads to types of eczema. The symptoms will go away completely when these vitamins are generously added to the diet.
It is clear that Vitamin B plays a pivotal role in maintaining a healthy skin. So, diet that is rich in Vitamin B can go a long way in skin health. One of the important food in this connection is brewer's yeast. Even the person whose skin seems smooth and healthy usually notices improvement in texture and glow, a week after adding two or more tablespoons of brewer's yeast to the daily diet. Persons with eczema should, for an entire month, take a tablespoon of yeast stirred into citrus juice or water after each meal, between meals, and before retiring. If the diet is adequate in all other respects, the eczema is usually cured in a month 's time.
Anemia and Pale Skin: Anemia results from lack of protein, iodine, calcium, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folic acid, cobalt, copper, and iron. Take diet rich in Vitamin B. Folic acid and vitamin B12 are especially important.
See Also: Diet For Natural Beauty
Natural Aids for Beautiful Skin
Several natural aids have been found useful in promoting healthy and beautiful skin.
Lime Juice
Lime juice is an important natural aid for healthy skin.
1. Lime Juice Formula
Squeeze lime into a bowl. Add a glass of boiled whole milk and a teaspoon of glycerin to it. Stir well and let it stay for half an hour. Apply this mixture on the face, hands and feet before going to bed at night. This treatment every night will help you to look young and beautiful. It will also help cure pimples.
2. For very oily skin
Squeeze lemon juice in a bowl of iced water. Splash this over the face, massage for five minutes and then wash off with water.
3. T o improve a dull and greasy complexion
Mix half teaspoon of lime juice with one teaspoon of cucumber juice and a few drops of rose water. Apply on the face and neck and leave on for 15 minutes. Remove with water.
4. To improve a dry and rough skin
Take an egg yolk and mix in a few drops of lime and olive oil. Spread on the face and leave it till the skin feels dry. Wash off with ordinary water and splash on cold water.
5. To relieve tired eyes
Take four tablespoons each of lime juice and iced water. Saturate cotton pads in this water and place over your closed eyelids for 10 minutes.
6. To remove freckles
Blanch and grind two almonds. Mix it with white of an egg to which half teaspoon of lime juice has been added. Spread on the face and leave it on till the skin feels dry. Then, wash off first with warm water and then with cold water.
Peach Treatment
The skin of the peach is useful in improving the complexion.
Gently massage the inside of peach peelings on the face every night for a few minutes. Don't rub off the moisture afterwards. This will cleanse the skin thoroughly and free the pores. It also has an astringent action and tightens the muscle of the face slightly, thus preventing sagging tissues.
Anti-wrinkle cream
Mix a teaspoon of olive oil with an egg. Smoothen the face and neck with it. Let it remain till the skin gets dry.
To Remove The Cream:
Add a teaspoon of soda bicarbonate to hot water. Stir. Dip a piece of cotton-wool to this mixture and use it to remove the cream.
Natural Beauty Mask
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of gram flour
1/4 teaspoon orange peel powder
1 tablespoon beaten yogurt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Mix the ingredients well and apply the paste to your face and neck. Let it remain till the skin starts feeling a little dry and then rub your face with your hands till it glows.
Wash your face first with warm water and then with cold water. This will remove all the embarrassing blemishes from the skin and make the skin soft and smooth.
To improve a dark and dull complexion
Ingredients
1 teaspoon of gram flour
pinch of turmeric powder
few drops of lime juice
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon milk
Mix the ingredients together. Apply the mixture to your skin. Leave it on for half an hour. Wash off with water.
Cleansing Lotion
To one-fourth teaspoon of lime juice stir in one teaspoon each of milk and cucumber juice. Apply on the face and neck and wash off after 14 minutes. This lotion cleanses and purifies the pores of the skin.
Cabbage Mask
Grind a couple of cabbage leaves and extract juice. Dissolve one-fourth teaspoon of yeast in it and stir in one teaspoon of honey. Mix well and apply thickly over face and neck. Keep it for 15 minutes. Remove with cotton-wool soaked in water. This mask will counteract any tendency towards wrinkles and dryness and give your skin a flower-like bloom.
Tangerine Juice Treatment
The use of orange or tangerine juice has also been found valuable for a glowing complexion.
Dip your fingers in fresh tangerine or orange juice. Apply it liberally over your face, chin, neck, and forehead. Make a paste from the powdered sun dried pips of unripe oranges. Use this paste on the pimples and acne at bed time.
Orange Tonic
Blanch and grind a couple of almonds to a paste and mix in two tablespoons of milk and one tablespoon each of carrot and orange juice. Apply thickly on face and neck and leave on for half an hour. Removes scars and blemishes from the face and makes it soft and smooth.
Watermelon Juice
The juice of water-melon is useful in the removal of blemishes on the skin.
Prepare a lotion by grating and squeezing the juice of a small slice of water-melon. Apply this lotion over the face and neck for fifteen minutes. Wash with hot water. Follow this by a splash of cold water.
Tomato
Tomato, used externally, is good for getting a good complexion.
Apply the pulp of a tomato liberally on the face. Leave this for an hour. Then wash off with warm water. Repeat this daily. You will have a good complexion. It will also remove ugly-looking pimples in a short time.
Tomato Lotion
To one tablespoon of tomato juice add a couple of drops of lime juice. Apply on face and remove after 15 minutes. It is very effective for shrinking enlarged pores.
Tomato Tonic
To two teaspoons of tomato juice add four tablespoons of buttermilk. Apply. Remove after half an hour. It is excellent for removing sunburns.
Cucumber
Grate or blend a cucumber. Apply this over the face, eyes and neck for 15 to 20 minutes. It is a great tonic for the facial skin. Regular use of cucumber prevents pimples, blackheads, wrinkles, and dryness of the face.
Whitening Lotion
To one tablespoon of cucumber juice stir in a few drops of lime juice and a dash of turmeric powder. Apply on face and neck and wash off after half an hour. Makes an excellent whitener for all types of skins.
Cucumber Lotion
Mix one tablespoon each of cucumber juice and milk and a few drops of rose water. Apply on the face and neck. Remove after 15 minutes. Makes excellent whitener for delicate skins.
Apple Tonic
Mix one tablespoon of apple juice with one-fourth teaspoon of lime juice. Leave on for 20 minutes. Makes excellent tonic for combating oily skin.
Amaranth Juice Treatment
The juice of amaranth, applied over the face with a pinch of turmeric powder, bleaches the skin, prevents it from drying and wrinkling, cures pimples and makes one look fresh.
Add to this mixture milk and lime juice. Massage the mixture delicately over the face and neck for half an hour. Wash it off with lukewarm water. Do this every night before going to bed. This is an effective skin tonic that increases and retains its beauty.
Mint Juice
Application of fresh mint juice over the face every night, cures pimples and prevents dryness of the skin. The juice can also be applied over eczema and contact dermatitis with beneficial results.
Almonds
Make a paste of almonds with mild cream and fresh rosebud paste. Apply it daily over the face. This softens and bleaches the skin and nourishes it with the choicest skin-food. Regular application of this mixture prevents the early appearance of wrinkles, blackheads, dryness of the skin, pimples. It also keeps the face refreshed.
To improve rough and dry complexion:
Take a teaspoon of almond oil and mix it with half a teaspoon each of milk cream and lime juice. Apply every night before going to bed both on the face and on the neck.
Yogurt
Yogurt is a very important natural beauty aid.
Apply yogurt on the face every morning. Wash it off after a few minutes with cold water. This will keep the complexion smooth, healthy and fresh. A mixture of yogurt and lemon juice is ideal for softening hands.
A paste of lentil and yogurt, applied as a mask, cleanses the skin and gives it a glow. Let it dry. When dried, remove it with fingertips and wash off with water.
Honey, olive oil and a mixture of turmeric and sandalwood paste are all very effective in rejuvenating dry , parched skin.
Causes of Unhealthy skin
Diet
Natural Aids for Beautiful Skin
* Lime Juice
* Peach Treatment
* Anti-wrinkle cream
* Natural Beauty Mask
* To improve a dark and dull complexion
* Natural Cleansing Lotion
* Cabbage Mask
* Tangerine Juice Treatment
* Orange Tonic
* Watermelon Natural Formulas
* Tomato Natural Formulas
* Cucumber
* Whitening Lotion
* Apple Tonic
* Amaranth Juice Treatment
* Mint Juice
* Almonds
* Yogurt
Causes of Unhealthy skin
Faulty diet. Refined foods like white flour, sugar and products made with them, tea, coffee, and soft drinks deplete energy, bring about wrinkles, unattractive skin and premature aging.
Lack of healthy blood. Healthy blood adds a glow to the skin and keeps it well-nourished, moist, and free from dryness and roughness.
Inadequate cleansing. Very often, our skin looks superficially clean; but they really are not. Dirt and dust particles can hide in the pores of the skin and clog sweat and sebaceous glands. Proper cleansing not only removes all the dust, dirt and make-up, which accumulate during the day, but also stops the oil-secreting sebaceous glands from getting clogged.
Diet
Diet plays an important role in maintaining the health of the skin. Diet should supply all the nutrients needed to build health, namely, protein, carbohydrates, fats, essential fatty acids and all the essential vitamins and minerals. Such a diet will consist of liberal quantities of seeds, nuts and grains, vegetables and fruits, supplemented by special protective foods like milk, vegetable oils, yogurt, honey and yeast.
Nutrients play an important role in maintaining a healthy skin.
Examples:
Your skin is unusually dry and rough. You have blackheads and whiteheads. You are probably lacking sufficient vitamin A. You could also be suffering from the deficiencies in iron, iodine and the B Vitamins. Adequate amounts of protein and vitamin C are also important.
The vitamins of the B group are important in producing beautiful skin.
Vitamin B1 aids skin health by helping to keep the circulation normal.
Vitamin B2 or riboflavin deficiency can lead to brown pigmentation, or liver spots on the skin. These ugly spots usually disappear if generous amounts of vitamin B2 are given over a period of six months. Severe riboflavin deficiency can lead to oily skin and hair and small deposits of fat under the skin of the cheeks and forehead and behind the ears. More severe deficiency of riboflavin causes the skin under the nose and at the comers of the eyes and mouth to crack and become sore.
Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine deficiency can result in dermatitis or eczema.
Niacin deficiency can also cause an eczema type of skin eruption with brown pigmentation, largely on the face, forearms and legs.
Deficiency of pantothenic acid, para-aminobenzoic acid, and biotin: This also leads to types of eczema. The symptoms will go away completely when these vitamins are generously added to the diet.
It is clear that Vitamin B plays a pivotal role in maintaining a healthy skin. So, diet that is rich in Vitamin B can go a long way in skin health. One of the important food in this connection is brewer's yeast. Even the person whose skin seems smooth and healthy usually notices improvement in texture and glow, a week after adding two or more tablespoons of brewer's yeast to the daily diet. Persons with eczema should, for an entire month, take a tablespoon of yeast stirred into citrus juice or water after each meal, between meals, and before retiring. If the diet is adequate in all other respects, the eczema is usually cured in a month 's time.
Anemia and Pale Skin: Anemia results from lack of protein, iodine, calcium, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folic acid, cobalt, copper, and iron. Take diet rich in Vitamin B. Folic acid and vitamin B12 are especially important.
See Also: Diet For Natural Beauty
Natural Aids for Beautiful Skin
Several natural aids have been found useful in promoting healthy and beautiful skin.
Lime Juice
Lime juice is an important natural aid for healthy skin.
1. Lime Juice Formula
Squeeze lime into a bowl. Add a glass of boiled whole milk and a teaspoon of glycerin to it. Stir well and let it stay for half an hour. Apply this mixture on the face, hands and feet before going to bed at night. This treatment every night will help you to look young and beautiful. It will also help cure pimples.
2. For very oily skin
Squeeze lemon juice in a bowl of iced water. Splash this over the face, massage for five minutes and then wash off with water.
3. T o improve a dull and greasy complexion
Mix half teaspoon of lime juice with one teaspoon of cucumber juice and a few drops of rose water. Apply on the face and neck and leave on for 15 minutes. Remove with water.
4. To improve a dry and rough skin
Take an egg yolk and mix in a few drops of lime and olive oil. Spread on the face and leave it till the skin feels dry. Wash off with ordinary water and splash on cold water.
5. To relieve tired eyes
Take four tablespoons each of lime juice and iced water. Saturate cotton pads in this water and place over your closed eyelids for 10 minutes.
6. To remove freckles
Blanch and grind two almonds. Mix it with white of an egg to which half teaspoon of lime juice has been added. Spread on the face and leave it on till the skin feels dry. Then, wash off first with warm water and then with cold water.
Peach Treatment
The skin of the peach is useful in improving the complexion.
Gently massage the inside of peach peelings on the face every night for a few minutes. Don't rub off the moisture afterwards. This will cleanse the skin thoroughly and free the pores. It also has an astringent action and tightens the muscle of the face slightly, thus preventing sagging tissues.
Anti-wrinkle cream
Mix a teaspoon of olive oil with an egg. Smoothen the face and neck with it. Let it remain till the skin gets dry.
To Remove The Cream:
Add a teaspoon of soda bicarbonate to hot water. Stir. Dip a piece of cotton-wool to this mixture and use it to remove the cream.
Natural Beauty Mask
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of gram flour
1/4 teaspoon orange peel powder
1 tablespoon beaten yogurt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Mix the ingredients well and apply the paste to your face and neck. Let it remain till the skin starts feeling a little dry and then rub your face with your hands till it glows.
Wash your face first with warm water and then with cold water. This will remove all the embarrassing blemishes from the skin and make the skin soft and smooth.
To improve a dark and dull complexion
Ingredients
1 teaspoon of gram flour
pinch of turmeric powder
few drops of lime juice
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon milk
Mix the ingredients together. Apply the mixture to your skin. Leave it on for half an hour. Wash off with water.
Cleansing Lotion
To one-fourth teaspoon of lime juice stir in one teaspoon each of milk and cucumber juice. Apply on the face and neck and wash off after 14 minutes. This lotion cleanses and purifies the pores of the skin.
Cabbage Mask
Grind a couple of cabbage leaves and extract juice. Dissolve one-fourth teaspoon of yeast in it and stir in one teaspoon of honey. Mix well and apply thickly over face and neck. Keep it for 15 minutes. Remove with cotton-wool soaked in water. This mask will counteract any tendency towards wrinkles and dryness and give your skin a flower-like bloom.
Tangerine Juice Treatment
The use of orange or tangerine juice has also been found valuable for a glowing complexion.
Dip your fingers in fresh tangerine or orange juice. Apply it liberally over your face, chin, neck, and forehead. Make a paste from the powdered sun dried pips of unripe oranges. Use this paste on the pimples and acne at bed time.
Orange Tonic
Blanch and grind a couple of almonds to a paste and mix in two tablespoons of milk and one tablespoon each of carrot and orange juice. Apply thickly on face and neck and leave on for half an hour. Removes scars and blemishes from the face and makes it soft and smooth.
Watermelon Juice
The juice of water-melon is useful in the removal of blemishes on the skin.
Prepare a lotion by grating and squeezing the juice of a small slice of water-melon. Apply this lotion over the face and neck for fifteen minutes. Wash with hot water. Follow this by a splash of cold water.
Tomato
Tomato, used externally, is good for getting a good complexion.
Apply the pulp of a tomato liberally on the face. Leave this for an hour. Then wash off with warm water. Repeat this daily. You will have a good complexion. It will also remove ugly-looking pimples in a short time.
Tomato Lotion
To one tablespoon of tomato juice add a couple of drops of lime juice. Apply on face and remove after 15 minutes. It is very effective for shrinking enlarged pores.
Tomato Tonic
To two teaspoons of tomato juice add four tablespoons of buttermilk. Apply. Remove after half an hour. It is excellent for removing sunburns.
Cucumber
Grate or blend a cucumber. Apply this over the face, eyes and neck for 15 to 20 minutes. It is a great tonic for the facial skin. Regular use of cucumber prevents pimples, blackheads, wrinkles, and dryness of the face.
Whitening Lotion
To one tablespoon of cucumber juice stir in a few drops of lime juice and a dash of turmeric powder. Apply on face and neck and wash off after half an hour. Makes an excellent whitener for all types of skins.
Cucumber Lotion
Mix one tablespoon each of cucumber juice and milk and a few drops of rose water. Apply on the face and neck. Remove after 15 minutes. Makes excellent whitener for delicate skins.
Apple Tonic
Mix one tablespoon of apple juice with one-fourth teaspoon of lime juice. Leave on for 20 minutes. Makes excellent tonic for combating oily skin.
Amaranth Juice Treatment
The juice of amaranth, applied over the face with a pinch of turmeric powder, bleaches the skin, prevents it from drying and wrinkling, cures pimples and makes one look fresh.
Add to this mixture milk and lime juice. Massage the mixture delicately over the face and neck for half an hour. Wash it off with lukewarm water. Do this every night before going to bed. This is an effective skin tonic that increases and retains its beauty.
Mint Juice
Application of fresh mint juice over the face every night, cures pimples and prevents dryness of the skin. The juice can also be applied over eczema and contact dermatitis with beneficial results.
Almonds
Make a paste of almonds with mild cream and fresh rosebud paste. Apply it daily over the face. This softens and bleaches the skin and nourishes it with the choicest skin-food. Regular application of this mixture prevents the early appearance of wrinkles, blackheads, dryness of the skin, pimples. It also keeps the face refreshed.
To improve rough and dry complexion:
Take a teaspoon of almond oil and mix it with half a teaspoon each of milk cream and lime juice. Apply every night before going to bed both on the face and on the neck.
Yogurt
Yogurt is a very important natural beauty aid.
Apply yogurt on the face every morning. Wash it off after a few minutes with cold water. This will keep the complexion smooth, healthy and fresh. A mixture of yogurt and lemon juice is ideal for softening hands.
A paste of lentil and yogurt, applied as a mask, cleanses the skin and gives it a glow. Let it dry. When dried, remove it with fingertips and wash off with water.
Honey, olive oil and a mixture of turmeric and sandalwood paste are all very effective in rejuvenating dry , parched skin.
Apple Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
1/2 cup peeled, diced baking apples
1/4 cup finely grated baby carrots
1 cup pre-sifted all-purpose flour
1/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup carrot juice
3 tablespoons sweetened smooth applesauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons vanilla instant pudding mix powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Makes 8 muffins.
Directions
1.
Preheat the oven to 400 deg F. Place eight aluminum muffin liners in a muffin pan.
2.
Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon into a small bowl. Stir to mix, about five strokes.
3.
Put the baby carrots and apples in a second small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture to the apples and carrots, and gently stir to coat.
4.
Add the remaining ingredients to a third, larger bowl. Stir and mix thoroughly.
5.
Drop the remaining flour mixture into the egg mixture (bowl #3) in one addition. Stir for five strokes. Now add the apples and carrots (bowl #2) into this mixture (bowl #3). Stir just to blend, fifteen to thirty strokes. The batter should be a little lumpy; do not overstir.
6.
Spoon the batter into the muffin liners. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The muffins are done when they develop a light golden color and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
7.
Cool the muffins in the pan for 2 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack.
Nutritional Information
Per Apple Carrot Muffin
139 calories
30.5 grams carbohydrates
3 grams protein
1 gram fat
6% calories from fat
1/2 cup peeled, diced baking apples
1/4 cup finely grated baby carrots
1 cup pre-sifted all-purpose flour
1/3 cup skim milk
1/4 cup carrot juice
3 tablespoons sweetened smooth applesauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons vanilla instant pudding mix powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Makes 8 muffins.
Directions
1.
Preheat the oven to 400 deg F. Place eight aluminum muffin liners in a muffin pan.
2.
Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon into a small bowl. Stir to mix, about five strokes.
3.
Put the baby carrots and apples in a second small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the flour mixture to the apples and carrots, and gently stir to coat.
4.
Add the remaining ingredients to a third, larger bowl. Stir and mix thoroughly.
5.
Drop the remaining flour mixture into the egg mixture (bowl #3) in one addition. Stir for five strokes. Now add the apples and carrots (bowl #2) into this mixture (bowl #3). Stir just to blend, fifteen to thirty strokes. The batter should be a little lumpy; do not overstir.
6.
Spoon the batter into the muffin liners. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The muffins are done when they develop a light golden color and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
7.
Cool the muffins in the pan for 2 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack.
Nutritional Information
Per Apple Carrot Muffin
139 calories
30.5 grams carbohydrates
3 grams protein
1 gram fat
6% calories from fat
20-Minute Skin Care Routine
1.
Cleanse face with gentle cleanser to suit skin type, using a cotton ball or a washcloth.
2.
Steam face with head over bowl of steaming hot water for 2 minutes.
3.
Apply moisturizing, purifying face mask.
4.
Bathe or shower with a few drops of relaxing essential oil or invigorating oil in the water. You may also put used herbal tea bags, or cucumber or potato slices over your eyes to remove the bagginess around the eyes. Relax totally for 10 minutes.
5.
Pat body dry with thick warm towels. Apply body lotion all over while skin is still moist. Take special care of feet, knees, elbows, and neck.
6.
Remove mask with warm water and spray or splash face with mineral water.
7.
Apply eye-soothing gel (if you are going out) or night eye cream (if you are going to bed) around eyes and on lids.
8.
Apply moisturizer to face if going out, or your favorite night cream/oil if not.
9.
Apply hand cream and a nail cream around cuticles.
See Also:
Basic Skin Care
Diet For Natural Beauty
The Natural Way To Healthy Skin
Next Topic:
[Skin Care Home][Beauty Home][Remedies Home][Holisticonline.com Home][Therapies Home]
1stholistic.com and Holisticonline.com are developed and maintained by ICBS, Inc.
Send mail to: info@holisticonline.com with comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1998-2009 ICBS, Inc. Terms of Use
All Rights Reserved.
Cleanse face with gentle cleanser to suit skin type, using a cotton ball or a washcloth.
2.
Steam face with head over bowl of steaming hot water for 2 minutes.
3.
Apply moisturizing, purifying face mask.
4.
Bathe or shower with a few drops of relaxing essential oil or invigorating oil in the water. You may also put used herbal tea bags, or cucumber or potato slices over your eyes to remove the bagginess around the eyes. Relax totally for 10 minutes.
5.
Pat body dry with thick warm towels. Apply body lotion all over while skin is still moist. Take special care of feet, knees, elbows, and neck.
6.
Remove mask with warm water and spray or splash face with mineral water.
7.
Apply eye-soothing gel (if you are going out) or night eye cream (if you are going to bed) around eyes and on lids.
8.
Apply moisturizer to face if going out, or your favorite night cream/oil if not.
9.
Apply hand cream and a nail cream around cuticles.
See Also:
Basic Skin Care
Diet For Natural Beauty
The Natural Way To Healthy Skin
Next Topic:
[Skin Care Home][Beauty Home][Remedies Home][Holisticonline.com Home][Therapies Home]
1stholistic.com and Holisticonline.com are developed and maintained by ICBS, Inc.
Send mail to: info@holisticonline.com with comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1998-2009 ICBS, Inc. Terms of Use
All Rights Reserved.
20-Minute Skin Care Routine
1.
Cleanse face with gentle cleanser to suit skin type, using a cotton ball or a washcloth.
2.
Steam face with head over bowl of steaming hot water for 2 minutes.
3.
Apply moisturizing, purifying face mask.
4.
Bathe or shower with a few drops of relaxing essential oil or invigorating oil in the water. You may also put used herbal tea bags, or cucumber or potato slices over your eyes to remove the bagginess around the eyes. Relax totally for 10 minutes.
5.
Pat body dry with thick warm towels. Apply body lotion all over while skin is still moist. Take special care of feet, knees, elbows, and neck.
6.
Remove mask with warm water and spray or splash face with mineral water.
7.
Apply eye-soothing gel (if you are going out) or night eye cream (if you are going to bed) around eyes and on lids.
8.
Apply moisturizer to face if going out, or your favorite night cream/oil if not.
9.
Apply hand cream and a nail cream around cuticles.
See Also:
Basic Skin Care
Diet For Natural Beauty
The Natural Way To Healthy Skin
Next Topic:
[Skin Care Home][Beauty Home][Remedies Home][Holisticonline.com Home][Therapies Home]
1stholistic.com and Holisticonline.com are developed and maintained by ICBS, Inc.
Send mail to: info@holisticonline.com with comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1998-2009 ICBS, Inc. Terms of Use
All Rights Reserved.
Cleanse face with gentle cleanser to suit skin type, using a cotton ball or a washcloth.
2.
Steam face with head over bowl of steaming hot water for 2 minutes.
3.
Apply moisturizing, purifying face mask.
4.
Bathe or shower with a few drops of relaxing essential oil or invigorating oil in the water. You may also put used herbal tea bags, or cucumber or potato slices over your eyes to remove the bagginess around the eyes. Relax totally for 10 minutes.
5.
Pat body dry with thick warm towels. Apply body lotion all over while skin is still moist. Take special care of feet, knees, elbows, and neck.
6.
Remove mask with warm water and spray or splash face with mineral water.
7.
Apply eye-soothing gel (if you are going out) or night eye cream (if you are going to bed) around eyes and on lids.
8.
Apply moisturizer to face if going out, or your favorite night cream/oil if not.
9.
Apply hand cream and a nail cream around cuticles.
See Also:
Basic Skin Care
Diet For Natural Beauty
The Natural Way To Healthy Skin
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Basic Skin Care
The care you give to your skin depends to a large extent on the type of the skin you have. However, we will discuss the basic skin care principles first. Then we will go into specific recommendations based on the type of skin you have.
A daily routine of skin care requires no more than ten minutes and requires only three simple steps each evening and morning:
1.
Cleanse
2.
Tone
3.
Moisturize
Night care
1. Cleanse. Remove any makeup with cleansing cream or a natural makeup remover. Wash with mild soap or other cleanser, rinse, and pat dry.
2. Tone. Apply an acid-containing solution to restore the pH balance and protective shield. For dry skin, use a mild freshener-toner. For oily skin, use an astringent preparation.
3. Moisturize. Splash on cool water or mist with a spray bottle. Blot, but do not dry completely-moisturizer magic relies more on retaining moisture than in providing it-then smooth on a few drops of your moisturizer.
Day care
1. Cleanse lightly to remove nighttime accumulations, refresh your face with a few splashes of water, and pat dry.
2. Tone by applying a freshener or astringent.
3. Moisturize around your eyes. If your face is excessively dry, mist or splash with water, blot, then lightly cover with moisturizer
A daily routine of skin care requires no more than ten minutes and requires only three simple steps each evening and morning:
1.
Cleanse
2.
Tone
3.
Moisturize
Night care
1. Cleanse. Remove any makeup with cleansing cream or a natural makeup remover. Wash with mild soap or other cleanser, rinse, and pat dry.
2. Tone. Apply an acid-containing solution to restore the pH balance and protective shield. For dry skin, use a mild freshener-toner. For oily skin, use an astringent preparation.
3. Moisturize. Splash on cool water or mist with a spray bottle. Blot, but do not dry completely-moisturizer magic relies more on retaining moisture than in providing it-then smooth on a few drops of your moisturizer.
Day care
1. Cleanse lightly to remove nighttime accumulations, refresh your face with a few splashes of water, and pat dry.
2. Tone by applying a freshener or astringent.
3. Moisturize around your eyes. If your face is excessively dry, mist or splash with water, blot, then lightly cover with moisturizer
Dry Skin
Dry skin has a low level of sebum and can be prone to sensitivity. The skin has a parched look caused by its inability to retain moisture. It usually feels "tight" and uncomfortable after washing unless some type of moisturizer or skin cream is applied. Chapping and cracking are signs of extremely dry, dehydrated skin.
Dryness is exacerbated by wind, extremes of temperature and air-conditioning, all of which cause the skin to flake, chap and feel tight. This type of skin is tightly drawn over bones. It looks dull, especially on the cheeks and around the eyes. There may be tiny expression lines on these spots and at the comers of the mouth.
Causes
*
The oil glands do not supply enough lubrication to the skin. As a result, the skin becomes dehydrated.
*
Skin gets exposed to the elements especially in winter.
*
Dry skin could be due to a genetic condition.
*
Poor diet. Nutritional deficiencies, especially deficiencies of vitamin A and the B vitamins, can also contribute to dry skin.
*
Environmental factors such as exposure to sun, wind, cold, chemicals, or cosmetics, or excessive bathing with harsh soaps.
*
Conditions such as dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, or seborrhea.
*
Dry Skin Could Also Be From:
Dry skin can be a sign of an underactive thyroid.
Serious skin complications can arise for people with diabetes.
Certain drugs, including diuretics, antispasmodics, and antihistamines, can contribute to dry skin.
How To Care for Dry Skin
Avoid the use of tap water when cleansing dry skin. The deposits are too drying on the skin. And never, ever use hot water. Use mineral water to freshen your face. Don't use a washcloth-a rough texture can irritate. In the morning, apply a spray of mineral water on your skin misted on with a plant sprayer. (Do not use a sprayer that had been used for spraying insecticides.) Lightly pat dry.
Dry skin needs plenty of thorough but gentle cleansing, regular stimulation with massage and generous quantities of oil and moisture. It also needs extra careful protection. Washing dry skin with soap and water not only removes grime but also the natural oils protecting the skin. A moisturizer increases the water content of the outer layers of the skin and gives it a soft, moist look.
Use nondetergent, neutral-pH products to cleanse your skin. Avoid using any commercial soap. And always touch your face gently. Double-cleanse with a cream, leaving a light, thin trace of it on the skin after the second cleansing.
Follow a bath or a shower with a mild application of baby oil. Massage your face with home-made nourishing cream every night before retiring. Be generous with the cream in the areas surrounding the eyes where tiny lines and crows feet are born.
Avoid coming in contact with highly alkaline soaps and detergents like washing sodas and powders which contain highly alkaline and drying ingredients.
Moistening with water, then applying a thin film of air-excluding moisturizer, restores the suppleness of the dry skin.
Morning Skin Cleanser/Rejuvenator
Every morning 15 minutes before taking your bath
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon orange juice
1 teaspoon olive oil and
few drops of rose water
few drops of lime juice
Mix the above ingredients together and apply on your skin.
Beauty Mask for Dry Skin
1 egg
1 teaspoon of honey,
1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and
few drops of rose water
Mix the ingredients thoroughly and use as a mask.
Night Moisturizing
After you clean and tone your skin, apply a splash of water or a water-misting. Pat almost dry with a soft towel, then smooth moisturizer from bosom to hairline. Allow five minutes for immediate absorption (cover your face and throat with warm washcloths to hasten penetration), then blot off any excess moisturizer with a tissue.
Men can skip the toner but should moisturize the delicate skin around the eye area.
Day Moisturizing
Apply a touch of your natural moisturizer over the freshly cleansed, toned, and dampened skin on your throat, cheeks, and around your eyes. Men should follow a two-step process. Apply moisturizer immediately after shaving. Wait ten minutes. Then moisturize again.
Milk Bath
Once a week take a milk bath. It will nourish and smoothen your skin. Warm your bath water and put in 250 gram of powdered milk, half tablespoon of almond oil and a few drops of your favorite perfume. Then just lie in it and let your mind wander while the wholesome foam works wonders on your dry skin.
If your lips chap, peel or crack then the best remedy is to massage them with a little cream of milk to which a few drops each of rose water and lime juice has been added every night before going to bed. Before applying lipstick, use a soft piece of towel for removing rough bits of chapped skin and rub a piece of raw beetroot gently on them. After applying lipstick add a little vaseline to keep your lips soft and pretty.
Moisturize your skin after cleansing to keep it from drying out. Use a liquid moisturizer or facial oil that contains nutrients and other natural ingredients. Avoid solid, waxy moisturizing creams.
Use a humidifier (or even a pan of water placed near a radiator) to humidify your environment, especially in winter. This helps to reduce the amount of moisture lost from the skin through evaporation.
Stay out of overheated rooms; avoid sudden changes in temperature; protect yourself from wind and sun. Remember, your face is fragile.
If you don't have a good, strong moisturizer on your face on a cold, windy winter day, don't go out! Cold will cause any moisture on your skin to evaporate. The wind will just accelerate the process.
At night, use a very creamy cleanser or oil (baby oil is perfectly all right). Remove residue with a spray of mineral water. Follow up with a night cream applied at least a half-hour before retiring. If you lie down immediately after applying cream, it will "puff-up" delicate tissues around the eyes.
Once a week, use a facial mask to clarify the skin and remove dull, dry surface skin cells. Blend together well 1 teaspoon green clay powder and 1 teaspoon raw honey. Apply the mixture to your face, avoiding the eye area. Leave it on for fifteen minutes, then rinse well with lukewarm water. While your skin is still slightly damp, apply a natural skin oil or liquid moisturizer.
If your skin is chapped or cracked, increase your consumption of water and essential fatty acids. Keep any chapped areas well lubricated and protected from the elements.
For cracked, dry skin on the fingers, use calendula cream or oil with comfrey, vitamin E oil, and aloe vera. Apply the mixture to hands at bedtime, then wear plastic gloves overnight.
Do not smoke. Smoking has a harmful effect on the skin for several reasons. Nicotine constricts the blood vessels, including the tiny capillaries that serve the skin. This deprives the skin of the oxygen and nutrients it needs for good health. Smoking also can make the skin dry and leathery.
Do not use harsh soaps, cold cream, or cleansing creams on your skin. Cleansing creams are made from hydrogenated oils, which can cause free radical damage to the skin, resulting in dryness and wrinkles. Instead, use pure olive, avocado, or almond oil to cleanse the skin. Pat the oil on, then wash it off with warm water and a soft cloth.
Do not use very hot water when bathing or showering.
As much as possible, stay out of the sun. The sun is responsible for most of the damage done to the skin. It causes dryness, wrinkles, and even rashes and blisters. Always apply a good sunscreen to all exposed areas of skin if you must be in the sun.
Herbs for Dry Skin
Aloe Vera: Aloe vera is soothing, healing, and moisturizing. It also helps to remove dead skin cells. Apply aloe vera gel topically on affected areas.
Calendula and comfrey have skin-softening properties. They can be used in a facial sauna or to make herbal or floral waters. Comfrey also reduces redness and soothes irritated skin.
Add 5 drops of lavender oil or oat extract to bath water. After the bath, apply diluted evening primrose oil or aloe vera cream.
Drink teas of camomile, dandelion or peppermint.
Borage, fennel, coltsfoot or calendula tea also helps improve the skin. Add 1 tsp. of herbs to 1 cup of boiling water and drink daily.
Tea tree oil has been known to penetrate into the skin's cellular level. Add 1 drop of oil to your favorite day or night cream to help moisturize and smooth skin.
Herbal Facial Sauna
A weekly facial sauna using the herbs chamomile, lavender, and peppermint is good for dry skin.
Using a glass or enameled pot, simmer a total of 2 to 4 tablespoons of dried or fresh herbs in 2 quarts of water. When the pot is steaming, place it on top of a trivet or thick potholder on a table, and sit with your face at a comfortable distance over the steam for fifteen minutes. You can use a towel to trap the steam if you wish.
After fifteen minutes, splash your face with cold water and allow your skin to air dry or pat it dry with a towel. Then either apply a good natural moisturizer or facial oil, or apply a clay mask.
After the sauna, you can allow the herbal water to cool and save it for use as a toning lotion to be dabbed on your face with a cotton ball after cleansing.
Diet Recommendations for Dry Skin
*
Eat a balanced diet that includes vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, and nuts. Eat quality protein from vegetable sources. Increase your intake of raw foods.
*
Eat foods such as garlic, onions, eggs, and asparagus that are high in sulfur, which helps to keep the skin smooth and youthful.
*
Consume plenty of yellow and orange vegetables. These are high in beta-carotene, an antioxidant. Carrots are especially good.
*
Unrefined, cold-pressed flax seed oil used daily on salads and baked potatoes, or mixed into any dishes which do not require heating to high temperatures will make dry skin moist and supple. Flax seed oil contains the essential fatty acids omega-3 alpha linolenic acid and omega-6 linoleic acid. These are converted in the body into hormone, like substances called Prostaglandins, which support skin health.
*
Cantaloupes, carrots and apricots are heating foods for dry skin because they are rich in the vitamins A and C, both important for a supple, smooth skin. Eat them whole or take as fresh juices. Eat foods rich in pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), such as quark, raw. milk cheese, natural plain yogurt, kefir, leafy green vegetables, nutritional yeast and wheat germ. Pantothenic acid is need for the synthesis of fats and oils used by the skin.
*
Drink at least 2 quarts of quality water every day to keep the skin well hydrated.
*
Avoid fried foods, animal fats, and heat-processed vegetable oils. Use cold- pressed oils only. Heating oils leads to the production of free radicals, which have a destructive effect on the skin.
*
Do not drink soft drinks or eat sugar, chocolate, potato chips, or other junk foods.
*
Avoid alcohol and caffeine. These substances have a diuretic effect, causing the body and skin cells to lose fluids and essential minerals.
Essential Oils For Dry Skin
Chamomile
Geranium
Hyssop
Lavender
Patchouli
Rose
Sandalwood
Ylang-Ylang
Common Sense Recommendations
*
Evening primrose oil supplements are beneficial for skin. They contain gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an essential fatty acid reputed to strengthen skin cells and boost their moisture content.
*
Get sufficient sleep as the skin's cellular repair activity is at its optimum during this resting phase.
*
Exercise benefits skin as it boosts circulation and encourages blood flow. Regular exercise will nourish and cleanse your skin from within.
*
To nourish and smooth the skin, mash half an avocado and mix with a few drops of fresh lemon juice and spread over the cleansed skin. Leave on for fifteen to twenty minutes, then dab off the excess with a soft tissue. Splash the skin alternately with cold and warm water.
*
For a quick and easy skin pack, mash a ripe banana with a fork and spread it thickly onto the face and throat. Leave on for ten to fifteen minutes and then rinse with lukewarm water.
Dryness is exacerbated by wind, extremes of temperature and air-conditioning, all of which cause the skin to flake, chap and feel tight. This type of skin is tightly drawn over bones. It looks dull, especially on the cheeks and around the eyes. There may be tiny expression lines on these spots and at the comers of the mouth.
Causes
*
The oil glands do not supply enough lubrication to the skin. As a result, the skin becomes dehydrated.
*
Skin gets exposed to the elements especially in winter.
*
Dry skin could be due to a genetic condition.
*
Poor diet. Nutritional deficiencies, especially deficiencies of vitamin A and the B vitamins, can also contribute to dry skin.
*
Environmental factors such as exposure to sun, wind, cold, chemicals, or cosmetics, or excessive bathing with harsh soaps.
*
Conditions such as dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, or seborrhea.
*
Dry Skin Could Also Be From:
Dry skin can be a sign of an underactive thyroid.
Serious skin complications can arise for people with diabetes.
Certain drugs, including diuretics, antispasmodics, and antihistamines, can contribute to dry skin.
How To Care for Dry Skin
Avoid the use of tap water when cleansing dry skin. The deposits are too drying on the skin. And never, ever use hot water. Use mineral water to freshen your face. Don't use a washcloth-a rough texture can irritate. In the morning, apply a spray of mineral water on your skin misted on with a plant sprayer. (Do not use a sprayer that had been used for spraying insecticides.) Lightly pat dry.
Dry skin needs plenty of thorough but gentle cleansing, regular stimulation with massage and generous quantities of oil and moisture. It also needs extra careful protection. Washing dry skin with soap and water not only removes grime but also the natural oils protecting the skin. A moisturizer increases the water content of the outer layers of the skin and gives it a soft, moist look.
Use nondetergent, neutral-pH products to cleanse your skin. Avoid using any commercial soap. And always touch your face gently. Double-cleanse with a cream, leaving a light, thin trace of it on the skin after the second cleansing.
Follow a bath or a shower with a mild application of baby oil. Massage your face with home-made nourishing cream every night before retiring. Be generous with the cream in the areas surrounding the eyes where tiny lines and crows feet are born.
Avoid coming in contact with highly alkaline soaps and detergents like washing sodas and powders which contain highly alkaline and drying ingredients.
Moistening with water, then applying a thin film of air-excluding moisturizer, restores the suppleness of the dry skin.
Morning Skin Cleanser/Rejuvenator
Every morning 15 minutes before taking your bath
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon orange juice
1 teaspoon olive oil and
few drops of rose water
few drops of lime juice
Mix the above ingredients together and apply on your skin.
Beauty Mask for Dry Skin
1 egg
1 teaspoon of honey,
1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and
few drops of rose water
Mix the ingredients thoroughly and use as a mask.
Night Moisturizing
After you clean and tone your skin, apply a splash of water or a water-misting. Pat almost dry with a soft towel, then smooth moisturizer from bosom to hairline. Allow five minutes for immediate absorption (cover your face and throat with warm washcloths to hasten penetration), then blot off any excess moisturizer with a tissue.
Men can skip the toner but should moisturize the delicate skin around the eye area.
Day Moisturizing
Apply a touch of your natural moisturizer over the freshly cleansed, toned, and dampened skin on your throat, cheeks, and around your eyes. Men should follow a two-step process. Apply moisturizer immediately after shaving. Wait ten minutes. Then moisturize again.
Milk Bath
Once a week take a milk bath. It will nourish and smoothen your skin. Warm your bath water and put in 250 gram of powdered milk, half tablespoon of almond oil and a few drops of your favorite perfume. Then just lie in it and let your mind wander while the wholesome foam works wonders on your dry skin.
If your lips chap, peel or crack then the best remedy is to massage them with a little cream of milk to which a few drops each of rose water and lime juice has been added every night before going to bed. Before applying lipstick, use a soft piece of towel for removing rough bits of chapped skin and rub a piece of raw beetroot gently on them. After applying lipstick add a little vaseline to keep your lips soft and pretty.
Moisturize your skin after cleansing to keep it from drying out. Use a liquid moisturizer or facial oil that contains nutrients and other natural ingredients. Avoid solid, waxy moisturizing creams.
Use a humidifier (or even a pan of water placed near a radiator) to humidify your environment, especially in winter. This helps to reduce the amount of moisture lost from the skin through evaporation.
Stay out of overheated rooms; avoid sudden changes in temperature; protect yourself from wind and sun. Remember, your face is fragile.
If you don't have a good, strong moisturizer on your face on a cold, windy winter day, don't go out! Cold will cause any moisture on your skin to evaporate. The wind will just accelerate the process.
At night, use a very creamy cleanser or oil (baby oil is perfectly all right). Remove residue with a spray of mineral water. Follow up with a night cream applied at least a half-hour before retiring. If you lie down immediately after applying cream, it will "puff-up" delicate tissues around the eyes.
Once a week, use a facial mask to clarify the skin and remove dull, dry surface skin cells. Blend together well 1 teaspoon green clay powder and 1 teaspoon raw honey. Apply the mixture to your face, avoiding the eye area. Leave it on for fifteen minutes, then rinse well with lukewarm water. While your skin is still slightly damp, apply a natural skin oil or liquid moisturizer.
If your skin is chapped or cracked, increase your consumption of water and essential fatty acids. Keep any chapped areas well lubricated and protected from the elements.
For cracked, dry skin on the fingers, use calendula cream or oil with comfrey, vitamin E oil, and aloe vera. Apply the mixture to hands at bedtime, then wear plastic gloves overnight.
Do not smoke. Smoking has a harmful effect on the skin for several reasons. Nicotine constricts the blood vessels, including the tiny capillaries that serve the skin. This deprives the skin of the oxygen and nutrients it needs for good health. Smoking also can make the skin dry and leathery.
Do not use harsh soaps, cold cream, or cleansing creams on your skin. Cleansing creams are made from hydrogenated oils, which can cause free radical damage to the skin, resulting in dryness and wrinkles. Instead, use pure olive, avocado, or almond oil to cleanse the skin. Pat the oil on, then wash it off with warm water and a soft cloth.
Do not use very hot water when bathing or showering.
As much as possible, stay out of the sun. The sun is responsible for most of the damage done to the skin. It causes dryness, wrinkles, and even rashes and blisters. Always apply a good sunscreen to all exposed areas of skin if you must be in the sun.
Herbs for Dry Skin
Aloe Vera: Aloe vera is soothing, healing, and moisturizing. It also helps to remove dead skin cells. Apply aloe vera gel topically on affected areas.
Calendula and comfrey have skin-softening properties. They can be used in a facial sauna or to make herbal or floral waters. Comfrey also reduces redness and soothes irritated skin.
Add 5 drops of lavender oil or oat extract to bath water. After the bath, apply diluted evening primrose oil or aloe vera cream.
Drink teas of camomile, dandelion or peppermint.
Borage, fennel, coltsfoot or calendula tea also helps improve the skin. Add 1 tsp. of herbs to 1 cup of boiling water and drink daily.
Tea tree oil has been known to penetrate into the skin's cellular level. Add 1 drop of oil to your favorite day or night cream to help moisturize and smooth skin.
Herbal Facial Sauna
A weekly facial sauna using the herbs chamomile, lavender, and peppermint is good for dry skin.
Using a glass or enameled pot, simmer a total of 2 to 4 tablespoons of dried or fresh herbs in 2 quarts of water. When the pot is steaming, place it on top of a trivet or thick potholder on a table, and sit with your face at a comfortable distance over the steam for fifteen minutes. You can use a towel to trap the steam if you wish.
After fifteen minutes, splash your face with cold water and allow your skin to air dry or pat it dry with a towel. Then either apply a good natural moisturizer or facial oil, or apply a clay mask.
After the sauna, you can allow the herbal water to cool and save it for use as a toning lotion to be dabbed on your face with a cotton ball after cleansing.
Diet Recommendations for Dry Skin
*
Eat a balanced diet that includes vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, and nuts. Eat quality protein from vegetable sources. Increase your intake of raw foods.
*
Eat foods such as garlic, onions, eggs, and asparagus that are high in sulfur, which helps to keep the skin smooth and youthful.
*
Consume plenty of yellow and orange vegetables. These are high in beta-carotene, an antioxidant. Carrots are especially good.
*
Unrefined, cold-pressed flax seed oil used daily on salads and baked potatoes, or mixed into any dishes which do not require heating to high temperatures will make dry skin moist and supple. Flax seed oil contains the essential fatty acids omega-3 alpha linolenic acid and omega-6 linoleic acid. These are converted in the body into hormone, like substances called Prostaglandins, which support skin health.
*
Cantaloupes, carrots and apricots are heating foods for dry skin because they are rich in the vitamins A and C, both important for a supple, smooth skin. Eat them whole or take as fresh juices. Eat foods rich in pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), such as quark, raw. milk cheese, natural plain yogurt, kefir, leafy green vegetables, nutritional yeast and wheat germ. Pantothenic acid is need for the synthesis of fats and oils used by the skin.
*
Drink at least 2 quarts of quality water every day to keep the skin well hydrated.
*
Avoid fried foods, animal fats, and heat-processed vegetable oils. Use cold- pressed oils only. Heating oils leads to the production of free radicals, which have a destructive effect on the skin.
*
Do not drink soft drinks or eat sugar, chocolate, potato chips, or other junk foods.
*
Avoid alcohol and caffeine. These substances have a diuretic effect, causing the body and skin cells to lose fluids and essential minerals.
Essential Oils For Dry Skin
Chamomile
Geranium
Hyssop
Lavender
Patchouli
Rose
Sandalwood
Ylang-Ylang
Common Sense Recommendations
*
Evening primrose oil supplements are beneficial for skin. They contain gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an essential fatty acid reputed to strengthen skin cells and boost their moisture content.
*
Get sufficient sleep as the skin's cellular repair activity is at its optimum during this resting phase.
*
Exercise benefits skin as it boosts circulation and encourages blood flow. Regular exercise will nourish and cleanse your skin from within.
*
To nourish and smooth the skin, mash half an avocado and mix with a few drops of fresh lemon juice and spread over the cleansed skin. Leave on for fifteen to twenty minutes, then dab off the excess with a soft tissue. Splash the skin alternately with cold and warm water.
*
For a quick and easy skin pack, mash a ripe banana with a fork and spread it thickly onto the face and throat. Leave on for ten to fifteen minutes and then rinse with lukewarm water.
caring-for-dry-skin-in-winter
Caring for dry skin in winter
Many experience to have more dry skin in winter, when humidity is low, and the skin has come easy to feel dry and tight and may begin. SKALLESLUGER of that. Do you have a tendency to dry skin? it is important that you prevent and treat it with moisturizer.
Guidelines for care of dry skin
* The more dry your skin is, the more fat you need in the creams you buy. Due. the low-fat lotion is not suitable for dry skin and skin with eczema.
* For the treatment of mild dry skin should use a fatter cream once or several times a day.
* If you have very dry skin or eczema, it may be necessary to use a special cream that contains extra large quantities of natural skin fats, which attaches directly to the skin as a gain of hudbarrieren. Ask your doctor if necessary.
Caring for dry skin is important
Dry skin is in itself annoying, but dry skin is also one of the first signs that the skin barrier is compromised, and the skin begins to scale and burst. The dry skin is less resistant to penetration by, inter alia, bacteria and other harmful substances.
If your skin is dry, you’ll be easier rash and irritation of the skin. Dry skin trigger itching, and it can help to exacerbate skin diseases.
Many experience to have more dry skin in winter, when humidity is low, and the skin has come easy to feel dry and tight and may begin. SKALLESLUGER of that. Do you have a tendency to dry skin? it is important that you prevent and treat it with moisturizer.
Guidelines for care of dry skin
* The more dry your skin is, the more fat you need in the creams you buy. Due. the low-fat lotion is not suitable for dry skin and skin with eczema.
* For the treatment of mild dry skin should use a fatter cream once or several times a day.
* If you have very dry skin or eczema, it may be necessary to use a special cream that contains extra large quantities of natural skin fats, which attaches directly to the skin as a gain of hudbarrieren. Ask your doctor if necessary.
Caring for dry skin is important
Dry skin is in itself annoying, but dry skin is also one of the first signs that the skin barrier is compromised, and the skin begins to scale and burst. The dry skin is less resistant to penetration by, inter alia, bacteria and other harmful substances.
If your skin is dry, you’ll be easier rash and irritation of the skin. Dry skin trigger itching, and it can help to exacerbate skin diseases.
dry-skin-care
How to go about this condition?
If you want to improve your social life a bit, some improvements must be made.In some cases, it is widely advised not to use ordinary tap water for cleansing your dry skin, the water carries deposits that dry an already affected skin, you should not use hot water and only mineral water for your face. Use also gentle cleansers, oils and moisturizers. Avoid high PH products and commercialized soaps as these can rub away more the oils in your skin. Sometimes, it is also attributed to genetic conditions, the way one eats. Deficiencies of Vitamins A and B these are other contributing factors to dry skin.
Sleep well. A good and well rested skin is a healthy skin. Regular use of rejuvenators, which will give it a soft, moist look, we’re all after that healthy baby skin look right? Try to massage the skin in your face to encourage the oil glands to produce more oils. Do this with soft moisturizers or light baby-oils, this is best done just before retiring at night.
If you don’t have a good strong moisturizer during those cold winter days, don’t go out! Cold causes the skin’s liquid’s to evaporate.
Do not to smoke. Remember the skin is connected to those tiny capillaries and which nicotine constricts. Try to care for your skin more, it covers you..
If you want to improve your social life a bit, some improvements must be made.In some cases, it is widely advised not to use ordinary tap water for cleansing your dry skin, the water carries deposits that dry an already affected skin, you should not use hot water and only mineral water for your face. Use also gentle cleansers, oils and moisturizers. Avoid high PH products and commercialized soaps as these can rub away more the oils in your skin. Sometimes, it is also attributed to genetic conditions, the way one eats. Deficiencies of Vitamins A and B these are other contributing factors to dry skin.
Sleep well. A good and well rested skin is a healthy skin. Regular use of rejuvenators, which will give it a soft, moist look, we’re all after that healthy baby skin look right? Try to massage the skin in your face to encourage the oil glands to produce more oils. Do this with soft moisturizers or light baby-oils, this is best done just before retiring at night.
If you don’t have a good strong moisturizer during those cold winter days, don’t go out! Cold causes the skin’s liquid’s to evaporate.
Do not to smoke. Remember the skin is connected to those tiny capillaries and which nicotine constricts. Try to care for your skin more, it covers you..
protect-your-skin-in-winter
You can protesct your skin in winter. We know that it is difficult for us. But now we will give you some tips about protecting your skin. Just watch.
7-advice-from-the-beautician-for-your-skin-care
7 advice from the beautician
1st
Get your skin type determined by a beautician - you get to know exactly how your skin is screwed together. So you can even choose which products to use in the future
2nd
Clean your face both morning and evening. Even if you are tired
3rd
Keep up the products with alcohol in. It makes your skin dry
4th
Peel your skin once a week - both body and face. It removes dead skin cells and get your skin to radiation
5th
Be sure to eat healthy and varied and eat any. a vitaminpille every day
6th
Wash your face in lukewarm water, because hot water dries the skin. It is important that your cleaning product can be rinsed off with lukewarm water
7th
Large sunglasses protects not only your eyes but also the skin around them
In addition, you can follow these tips if your skin is dry and irritated - for example, after much sun and sea:
* Avoid excessive use of water and soap, detergent and similar
* Use instead of cream or an oil-based cleaning agent
* Do not work too much with solvents and other chemicals
* Avoid using rubber gloves and tight fitting clothes often
* Avoid using products that can irritate the skin in the daily - ie. makeup, colored and perfumed creams and the like
* Avoid exposing your skin to the sun too often and ensure effective sunscreen
* Avoid high temperature at home
* Avoid smoking
* Drink plenty of water
* Use of oils and moisture entities will stimulate glands to function more normally and will give your skin moisture and nutrients
* Use a moisture mask at night around. once a week
1st
Get your skin type determined by a beautician - you get to know exactly how your skin is screwed together. So you can even choose which products to use in the future
2nd
Clean your face both morning and evening. Even if you are tired
3rd
Keep up the products with alcohol in. It makes your skin dry
4th
Peel your skin once a week - both body and face. It removes dead skin cells and get your skin to radiation
5th
Be sure to eat healthy and varied and eat any. a vitaminpille every day
6th
Wash your face in lukewarm water, because hot water dries the skin. It is important that your cleaning product can be rinsed off with lukewarm water
7th
Large sunglasses protects not only your eyes but also the skin around them
In addition, you can follow these tips if your skin is dry and irritated - for example, after much sun and sea:
* Avoid excessive use of water and soap, detergent and similar
* Use instead of cream or an oil-based cleaning agent
* Do not work too much with solvents and other chemicals
* Avoid using rubber gloves and tight fitting clothes often
* Avoid using products that can irritate the skin in the daily - ie. makeup, colored and perfumed creams and the like
* Avoid exposing your skin to the sun too often and ensure effective sunscreen
* Avoid high temperature at home
* Avoid smoking
* Drink plenty of water
* Use of oils and moisture entities will stimulate glands to function more normally and will give your skin moisture and nutrients
* Use a moisture mask at night around. once a week
how-can-i-get-rid-of-dry-skin
You can find alot of information about this question but it is really simple to care for your dry skin.
- Use vaseline or body lotion (hands and legs, apply before you go to sleep)
- Don’t wash your skin with hot water
- Eat fruits (vitamin A and E)
- Put baby oil on while you are still wet from the shower or bath and then dry it off with a towel.
- Use olive oil
- Use vaseline or body lotion (hands and legs, apply before you go to sleep)
- Don’t wash your skin with hot water
- Eat fruits (vitamin A and E)
- Put baby oil on while you are still wet from the shower or bath and then dry it off with a towel.
- Use olive oil
factors-that-reduce-moisture-to-the-skin
It should be noted that there are various factors that reduce moisture to the skin, among them are:
* Smoking.
* Consume alcohol.
* Diet deficient.
* Certain medicines.
* Climate change, because the heat induces sweating, and the cold reduces the role of the sebaceous glands.
However, dry skin usually present with features that can be easily recognized:
* Roughness.
* Feeling of tension.
* Possible itching.
* Cracking.
* Tendency to irritation and inflammation.
* Smoking.
* Consume alcohol.
* Diet deficient.
* Certain medicines.
* Climate change, because the heat induces sweating, and the cold reduces the role of the sebaceous glands.
However, dry skin usually present with features that can be easily recognized:
* Roughness.
* Feeling of tension.
* Possible itching.
* Cracking.
* Tendency to irritation and inflammation.
vitamins-for-dry-skin-and-skin-car
Vitamin A: Prevents the formation of wrinkles and counteract the harmful effects of the Sun.
Vitamin B1: It reduces dark circles and swelling in the eyelids and delay premature aging.
Vitamin B2: Reduces the secretion of fat in face, which prevents the emergence of mud, shins and black spots.
Vitamin B3: Strengthens the hair fibers, protects the collagen and blood vessels, moisturizes the skin and blocks the harmful effects of sunlight.
Vitamin B5: Regenerates and moisturize the skin.
Vitamin B6: It balances sebum production in the skin and fat prevents the outbreak of mud and shins.
Vitamin B8: Softens the skin and protects the seborrhea (overproduction of sebum in the scalp).
Vitamin C: Returns luminosity to the skin, improves elasticity, refined texture, fades stains your skin tone and uniform.
Vitamin E: Counteracts the aging of the skin.
Vitamin F: It helps restore the protective barrier of the skin.
Vitamin H: Stimulates the production of natural fatty acids, helping to give a glow to the face.
Vitamin K: Improving the look of fur with red zones.
As you can see, we have large variety of vitamins that can keep the skin soft and beautiful, so there are no excuses to neglect it, you would appreciate it and you look more attractive.
Vitamin B1: It reduces dark circles and swelling in the eyelids and delay premature aging.
Vitamin B2: Reduces the secretion of fat in face, which prevents the emergence of mud, shins and black spots.
Vitamin B3: Strengthens the hair fibers, protects the collagen and blood vessels, moisturizes the skin and blocks the harmful effects of sunlight.
Vitamin B5: Regenerates and moisturize the skin.
Vitamin B6: It balances sebum production in the skin and fat prevents the outbreak of mud and shins.
Vitamin B8: Softens the skin and protects the seborrhea (overproduction of sebum in the scalp).
Vitamin C: Returns luminosity to the skin, improves elasticity, refined texture, fades stains your skin tone and uniform.
Vitamin E: Counteracts the aging of the skin.
Vitamin F: It helps restore the protective barrier of the skin.
Vitamin H: Stimulates the production of natural fatty acids, helping to give a glow to the face.
Vitamin K: Improving the look of fur with red zones.
As you can see, we have large variety of vitamins that can keep the skin soft and beautiful, so there are no excuses to neglect it, you would appreciate it and you look more attractive.
what-can-cause-itchy-dry-skin
A lot of reasons for itchy dry skin, some of them:
-it could be excema. if it is, talk to the doc. about some cream. the other stuff doesn’t really work
-A dermotologist can tell you. Best thing for dry skin is lotion, but you may have some sort of physical problem if you bleed easily. See a doctor.
-It is cause of the Winter and the coldness. Use lotion (too bad I can’t use lotion cause I’m allergic)
-it could be excema. if it is, talk to the doc. about some cream. the other stuff doesn’t really work
-A dermotologist can tell you. Best thing for dry skin is lotion, but you may have some sort of physical problem if you bleed easily. See a doctor.
-It is cause of the Winter and the coldness. Use lotion (too bad I can’t use lotion cause I’m allergic)
how-to-avoid-dry-skin-video
Watch this video and learn how to avaoid drying skin.You sholud do some basic rules for protecting your skin. This video will help you how to protect …………
the-best-creams-for-dry-skin
Dry skin is the opposite of oily skin. A dry skin is that which is deficient in fat, which has a delicate skin, easily irritable with friction. When you rubbed it with something, is scaly with ease and it affects much the cold that tends to react with a marked redness, especially in the cheeks where the capillaries are marked clearly as Venita red. In contact with water, especially tap, which is usually a fairly hard water, is often more resect. Dry skin is presented with the pores sealed with a matte appearance.
This type of skin requires a very special and careful treatment is very important hydrated regularly with algúnremedio for dry skin especially the face that is very fragile. The food should be rich in antioxidant properties with many foods (foods rich in vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene)
For dry skin is better a cream containing more fat to make this type of skin is kept more moist. A day cream that draws the wheat germ oil, avocado oil, castor oil, soybean oil, beeswax and cocoa butter, could be used properly.
The cream was applied after the cleaning process of the skin. To do this, we will apply the cream with the pulp of the fingers, circular motion outwards and upwards.
The best lotion for dry skin
Among the many creams available, we can mention the following:
Formula 1
Cream of wheat germ for dry skin
Ingredients:
- 30 ml of wheat germ oil
- 1 tablespoon cocoa butter or margarine
- 1 tablespoon beeswax
- 20 ml of water of roses.
- Essence of orange blossom
Preparation:
- Place the cocoa butter and beeswax in a saucepan and bring to the water bath. Heat gently until it becomes liquid.
- Add wheat germ oil.
- Place in a saucepan of water to hand roses and heat it.
- Add the water rose to the mix before.
- Batirlo until everything is put thick.
- Add 3 drops of essence of orange blossom.
Use:
Apply after cleansing process of the skin for dry skin.
Formula 2
Cream of avocado for dry skin
Ingredients:
- A teaspoon of beeswax
- Half tablespoon of cocoa butter or margarine
- Two and a half tablespoons of avocado oil
- Essence of Tila
- 5 tablespoons water
Preparation:
- Place the wax, cocoa butter and avocado oil in a saucepan and bring to the water bath. Heat gently until it becomes liquid.
- Dilute a few drops of essence of Tila in 5 tablespoons of water.
- Mix the dilution prior to the butter mixture and avocado. Batirlo until everything is put thick.
- Keep the mixture inside a container in the refrigerator.
Use:
Apply after cleansing process of the skin for dry skin.
Formula 3
Calendula cream for dry skin
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons soy oil.
- A teaspoon of cocoa butter or margarine.
- 2 tablespoons of avocado oil.
- Essence of calendula
Preparation:
- Place the cocoa butter, soybean oil and avocado oil in a saucepan and bring to the bain marie. Heat gently until it becomes liquid.
- Dilute a few drops of essence of calendula in 5 tablespoons of water.
- Mix the previous dilution with the mixture of lard and soybean oils and avocados.
- Keep the mixture inside a container in the refrigerator.
Use:
Apply after cleansing process of the skin for dry skin.
This type of skin requires a very special and careful treatment is very important hydrated regularly with algúnremedio for dry skin especially the face that is very fragile. The food should be rich in antioxidant properties with many foods (foods rich in vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene)
For dry skin is better a cream containing more fat to make this type of skin is kept more moist. A day cream that draws the wheat germ oil, avocado oil, castor oil, soybean oil, beeswax and cocoa butter, could be used properly.
The cream was applied after the cleaning process of the skin. To do this, we will apply the cream with the pulp of the fingers, circular motion outwards and upwards.
The best lotion for dry skin
Among the many creams available, we can mention the following:
Formula 1
Cream of wheat germ for dry skin
Ingredients:
- 30 ml of wheat germ oil
- 1 tablespoon cocoa butter or margarine
- 1 tablespoon beeswax
- 20 ml of water of roses.
- Essence of orange blossom
Preparation:
- Place the cocoa butter and beeswax in a saucepan and bring to the water bath. Heat gently until it becomes liquid.
- Add wheat germ oil.
- Place in a saucepan of water to hand roses and heat it.
- Add the water rose to the mix before.
- Batirlo until everything is put thick.
- Add 3 drops of essence of orange blossom.
Use:
Apply after cleansing process of the skin for dry skin.
Formula 2
Cream of avocado for dry skin
Ingredients:
- A teaspoon of beeswax
- Half tablespoon of cocoa butter or margarine
- Two and a half tablespoons of avocado oil
- Essence of Tila
- 5 tablespoons water
Preparation:
- Place the wax, cocoa butter and avocado oil in a saucepan and bring to the water bath. Heat gently until it becomes liquid.
- Dilute a few drops of essence of Tila in 5 tablespoons of water.
- Mix the dilution prior to the butter mixture and avocado. Batirlo until everything is put thick.
- Keep the mixture inside a container in the refrigerator.
Use:
Apply after cleansing process of the skin for dry skin.
Formula 3
Calendula cream for dry skin
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons soy oil.
- A teaspoon of cocoa butter or margarine.
- 2 tablespoons of avocado oil.
- Essence of calendula
Preparation:
- Place the cocoa butter, soybean oil and avocado oil in a saucepan and bring to the bain marie. Heat gently until it becomes liquid.
- Dilute a few drops of essence of calendula in 5 tablespoons of water.
- Mix the previous dilution with the mixture of lard and soybean oils and avocados.
- Keep the mixture inside a container in the refrigerator.
Use:
Apply after cleansing process of the skin for dry skin.
practical-tips-on-dry-skin-care
Winter is approaching and I am sure most of you are probably worried about your skin. Dry skin is one of the hardest to maintain during the winter, especially when you put on makeup. Flakey skin is unattractive and makes you look unhealthy and dehydrated. These are some practical tips on dry skin care!
1) The cold weather during winter makes your skin not only dry, but sensitive as well. This is the best time to start changing your skin care. It’s best if you do not use commercial products that contain petroleum as well. Creams and other products that contain natural hypoallergenic ingredients will suit your skin the best. For example, Cocoa butter or Shea butter products are best for your body. These ingredients contain essential oils like Vitamins A, D, C and E. They heal, moisturize and has an anti-ageing effect!
2) If your skin is dry and irritates easily, use a mild soap while showering and shower with lukewarm water instead of hot water. A gentle body wash instead of a normal soap will also do your skin wonders! Also use a mild exfoilater that will gently remove dead cells from your skin! Apply your moisturizer/lotion within 3 minutes of getting out of the shower so that your skin will absorb the moisture well and seal it in.
3) If your skin has developed dry or itchy spots, try to avoid scratching! Apply a moisturizing lotion a few times a day and avoid water from coming in contact with the area. Dry skin is also prone to eczema and other skin conditions, so be sure to load your diet with lots of fish and essential oils!
4) During the winter, it is best to invest in a humidifier that will add moisture to the air in your room. This will help improve your skin condition almost immediately!
1) The cold weather during winter makes your skin not only dry, but sensitive as well. This is the best time to start changing your skin care. It’s best if you do not use commercial products that contain petroleum as well. Creams and other products that contain natural hypoallergenic ingredients will suit your skin the best. For example, Cocoa butter or Shea butter products are best for your body. These ingredients contain essential oils like Vitamins A, D, C and E. They heal, moisturize and has an anti-ageing effect!
2) If your skin is dry and irritates easily, use a mild soap while showering and shower with lukewarm water instead of hot water. A gentle body wash instead of a normal soap will also do your skin wonders! Also use a mild exfoilater that will gently remove dead cells from your skin! Apply your moisturizer/lotion within 3 minutes of getting out of the shower so that your skin will absorb the moisture well and seal it in.
3) If your skin has developed dry or itchy spots, try to avoid scratching! Apply a moisturizing lotion a few times a day and avoid water from coming in contact with the area. Dry skin is also prone to eczema and other skin conditions, so be sure to load your diet with lots of fish and essential oils!
4) During the winter, it is best to invest in a humidifier that will add moisture to the air in your room. This will help improve your skin condition almost immediately!
practical-tips-on-dry-skin-care
Winter is approaching and I am sure most of you are probably worried about your skin. Dry skin is one of the hardest to maintain during the winter, especially when you put on makeup. Flakey skin is unattractive and makes you look unhealthy and dehydrated. These are some practical tips on dry skin care!
1) The cold weather during winter makes your skin not only dry, but sensitive as well. This is the best time to start changing your skin care. It’s best if you do not use commercial products that contain petroleum as well. Creams and other products that contain natural hypoallergenic ingredients will suit your skin the best. For example, Cocoa butter or Shea butter products are best for your body. These ingredients contain essential oils like Vitamins A, D, C and E. They heal, moisturize and has an anti-ageing effect!
2) If your skin is dry and irritates easily, use a mild soap while showering and shower with lukewarm water instead of hot water. A gentle body wash instead of a normal soap will also do your skin wonders! Also use a mild exfoilater that will gently remove dead cells from your skin! Apply your moisturizer/lotion within 3 minutes of getting out of the shower so that your skin will absorb the moisture well and seal it in.
3) If your skin has developed dry or itchy spots, try to avoid scratching! Apply a moisturizing lotion a few times a day and avoid water from coming in contact with the area. Dry skin is also prone to eczema and other skin conditions, so be sure to load your diet with lots of fish and essential oils!
4) During the winter, it is best to invest in a humidifier that will add moisture to the air in your room. This will help improve your skin condition almost immediately!
1) The cold weather during winter makes your skin not only dry, but sensitive as well. This is the best time to start changing your skin care. It’s best if you do not use commercial products that contain petroleum as well. Creams and other products that contain natural hypoallergenic ingredients will suit your skin the best. For example, Cocoa butter or Shea butter products are best for your body. These ingredients contain essential oils like Vitamins A, D, C and E. They heal, moisturize and has an anti-ageing effect!
2) If your skin is dry and irritates easily, use a mild soap while showering and shower with lukewarm water instead of hot water. A gentle body wash instead of a normal soap will also do your skin wonders! Also use a mild exfoilater that will gently remove dead cells from your skin! Apply your moisturizer/lotion within 3 minutes of getting out of the shower so that your skin will absorb the moisture well and seal it in.
3) If your skin has developed dry or itchy spots, try to avoid scratching! Apply a moisturizing lotion a few times a day and avoid water from coming in contact with the area. Dry skin is also prone to eczema and other skin conditions, so be sure to load your diet with lots of fish and essential oils!
4) During the winter, it is best to invest in a humidifier that will add moisture to the air in your room. This will help improve your skin condition almost immediately!
Homemade-masks-for-dry-skin
Homemade recipes for natural treatment of dry skin and sensitive
Dry skin is characterized as very sensitive, making it necessary, apply often masks to make good the lack of fat, the nurture and protect. The homemade masks for dry skin, for its high content of vegetable oils, inhibit the formation of wrinkles and premature aging of the skin dry. Learn how to develop the best masks for dry skin, in your own home.
Taking care of dry skin, which is more sensitive than other types of skin, needs special attention, since it tends to cause wrinkling prematurely. Masks with a high content of vegetable oils and other natural nutrients are ideal for the lack of fat, nourish and protect dry skin from attacks from cold, wind and sun, which are particularly sensitive.
Below is a selection of the best recipes for homemade masks for the treatment of natural and your skin dry. Try them out and choose the one that best suits your skin type, you can start today, as they generally require only simple ingredients, it’s likely you have in your home.
* The egg for their high nutrient content and natural fats is a classic in the development of homemade masks for dry skin. If you need to know how to make an egg mask for dry skin, you can choose any of these recipes:
or mask recipe for homemade egg and honey
or recipe for homemade mask of egg yolk
* Another of the favorites in the preparation of homemade masks for dry skin is the avocado. The properties of avocado, related to its high content of vegetable oils, fruit makes this an ideal ingredient for the treatment of homemade dry skin, you can try this recipe for homemade avocado mask.
* Nuts such as almonds, are another rich source of vegetable oils, very appropriate for the beauty of your skin dry. This recipe for homemade almond mask is excellent, if you have this skin type.
* They are known the benefits of drinkable yogurt for a skin look natural, though not the only way that this derived from milk can contribute to the beauty of your skin. Also, can you elaborate masks of yogurt, ideal for toning, cool and at the same time, nourish your skin dry.
* It can not be absent from this selection of masks, the brewer’s yeast. The recipe for homemade mask of brewer’s yeast is indicated for the treatment of a revitalization of dry skin, which has been subjected to the elements sun, wind or cold.
Dry skin is characterized as very sensitive, making it necessary, apply often masks to make good the lack of fat, the nurture and protect. The homemade masks for dry skin, for its high content of vegetable oils, inhibit the formation of wrinkles and premature aging of the skin dry. Learn how to develop the best masks for dry skin, in your own home.
Taking care of dry skin, which is more sensitive than other types of skin, needs special attention, since it tends to cause wrinkling prematurely. Masks with a high content of vegetable oils and other natural nutrients are ideal for the lack of fat, nourish and protect dry skin from attacks from cold, wind and sun, which are particularly sensitive.
Below is a selection of the best recipes for homemade masks for the treatment of natural and your skin dry. Try them out and choose the one that best suits your skin type, you can start today, as they generally require only simple ingredients, it’s likely you have in your home.
* The egg for their high nutrient content and natural fats is a classic in the development of homemade masks for dry skin. If you need to know how to make an egg mask for dry skin, you can choose any of these recipes:
or mask recipe for homemade egg and honey
or recipe for homemade mask of egg yolk
* Another of the favorites in the preparation of homemade masks for dry skin is the avocado. The properties of avocado, related to its high content of vegetable oils, fruit makes this an ideal ingredient for the treatment of homemade dry skin, you can try this recipe for homemade avocado mask.
* Nuts such as almonds, are another rich source of vegetable oils, very appropriate for the beauty of your skin dry. This recipe for homemade almond mask is excellent, if you have this skin type.
* They are known the benefits of drinkable yogurt for a skin look natural, though not the only way that this derived from milk can contribute to the beauty of your skin. Also, can you elaborate masks of yogurt, ideal for toning, cool and at the same time, nourish your skin dry.
* It can not be absent from this selection of masks, the brewer’s yeast. The recipe for homemade mask of brewer’s yeast is indicated for the treatment of a revitalization of dry skin, which has been subjected to the elements sun, wind or cold.
Natural-remedies-for-acne
FITOTERAPIA
(Prepared with plants for acne)
The main function of herbal medicine in the treatment of acne involves the use of a number of plants that are fundamental goal:
- Sewage plant,
- Plants bactericides to remove the germs
- Plants that help clean the affected area of fat
- Plants that reduce the production of fat in the area
Internal Use
We recommend the use of treatment plants that remove toxins from the body and improve the health of the skin. The skin is an organ that often manifest in the health status of our interior.
Most of these plants produce a profit debugged the body by increasing urination, so it should not be taken in those cases in the presence of hypotension. Likewise the presence of tannins in many of these plants can cause intestinal discomfort and their use should be avoided if patients present gastrointestinal ulcers or gastritis.
Oats (Avena sativa) (Decoction of 5 tablespoons per plant dry glass of water for 30 minutes. Take a pair of glasses, broken into several shots throughout the day)
Bistorta: (Decoction of 5 deg. Of rhizome. Take three cups a day, outside of meals)
Boxwood: Decoction of some pieces of dried bark per liter of water for a quarter of an hour. One cup a day, divided into 4 shots. Do not take during pregnancy!
Brecina: Infusion of a handful of sumidades floriferous per cup of water for 15 minutes. A cup after the three main meals.
Pony tail: Decoction for 30 minutes of a handful of dried plant in a liter of water. Take 3 cups a day)
Juniper: Decoction during 12 minutes of one tablespoon of crushed dried berries per cup of water. Take 3 cups a day. Do not take during pregnancy!
Filipendula: Infusion of a spoonful of dried plant in a cup of hot water without coming to the boil order not to destroy the salicylic acid - Take 4 cups a day outside of meals.
Gatuña: (Decoction to 5% of the dried roots. 5 cups a day)
Strawberry: (Three to four cups a day of the infusion of leaves and roots)
Black currant: (Infusion of 2 to 2.5 teaspoons of dried leaves per liter of water. Take a couple of glasses a day)
Lemon: (Taking juice to cool the plant will)
Nettle: (Decoction of dried roots for 10 minutes. Take 3 cups per day) (Infusion of two tablespoons of dried leaves per liter of water. Take three times daily before meals.)
Parietaria: (Two or three infusions per day for a couple of teaspoons of dried leaves per liter of water can be used in the ailments for which it is useful to remove fluid from the body (this remedy may be replaced by dyeing. In If this were taken 40 drops daily diluted in water divided into three daily)
Spring: (Decoction of a handful of flowers in half a liter of water. Take several small glasses a day)
Bloodthirsty: Infusion of a spoonful of dessert sumidades floriferous. Take three cups a day.
Saponaria: Decoction of 50 deg. of dried leaves per liter of water. Filter without leave to stand to avoid the formation of toxins. Take 2 glasses per day)
Willow: (Decoction to 3% of the crust, for I quarter hour. Take three cups a day)
Pine: (Decoction for 10 minutes, 5 tablespoons of dried leaves per liter of water. Allow to cool and drink 3 cups a day.)
Verbena: (Infusion for 15 minutes of one tablespoon of dried plant per cup of water. Take 3 cups a day) do not take during pregnancy!
Yucca: (one or two capsules or tablets per day of extract of the plant)
Vid red: The use of this plant favors the elimination of liquids and helps purify the blood and improve the treatment of abnormalities associated with excessive retention of body fluids, such as in the edema, gout or arthritis. (Decoction for 1 / 2 hours, 30 grams of tendrils in a liter of water. Allow to cool for 30 minutes more, color and make 2 glasses per day)
Tila : The flowers of linden have properties diaphoretic, which means that they can increase the body sweat. Through the sweat, the body is able to eliminate many toxins, so you sweat in abundance is very effective in case of rheumatism or gout. The elimination of toxins through the sweat allows ease joints and lessen the nuisance caused by these diseases. (Infusion of half teaspoon of dried flowers per cup of water. Take a couple of cups a day. Maintain treatment for a couple of weeks.)
(Prepared with plants for acne)
The main function of herbal medicine in the treatment of acne involves the use of a number of plants that are fundamental goal:
- Sewage plant,
- Plants bactericides to remove the germs
- Plants that help clean the affected area of fat
- Plants that reduce the production of fat in the area
Internal Use
We recommend the use of treatment plants that remove toxins from the body and improve the health of the skin. The skin is an organ that often manifest in the health status of our interior.
Most of these plants produce a profit debugged the body by increasing urination, so it should not be taken in those cases in the presence of hypotension. Likewise the presence of tannins in many of these plants can cause intestinal discomfort and their use should be avoided if patients present gastrointestinal ulcers or gastritis.
Oats (Avena sativa) (Decoction of 5 tablespoons per plant dry glass of water for 30 minutes. Take a pair of glasses, broken into several shots throughout the day)
Bistorta: (Decoction of 5 deg. Of rhizome. Take three cups a day, outside of meals)
Boxwood: Decoction of some pieces of dried bark per liter of water for a quarter of an hour. One cup a day, divided into 4 shots. Do not take during pregnancy!
Brecina: Infusion of a handful of sumidades floriferous per cup of water for 15 minutes. A cup after the three main meals.
Pony tail: Decoction for 30 minutes of a handful of dried plant in a liter of water. Take 3 cups a day)
Juniper: Decoction during 12 minutes of one tablespoon of crushed dried berries per cup of water. Take 3 cups a day. Do not take during pregnancy!
Filipendula: Infusion of a spoonful of dried plant in a cup of hot water without coming to the boil order not to destroy the salicylic acid - Take 4 cups a day outside of meals.
Gatuña: (Decoction to 5% of the dried roots. 5 cups a day)
Strawberry: (Three to four cups a day of the infusion of leaves and roots)
Black currant: (Infusion of 2 to 2.5 teaspoons of dried leaves per liter of water. Take a couple of glasses a day)
Lemon: (Taking juice to cool the plant will)
Nettle: (Decoction of dried roots for 10 minutes. Take 3 cups per day) (Infusion of two tablespoons of dried leaves per liter of water. Take three times daily before meals.)
Parietaria: (Two or three infusions per day for a couple of teaspoons of dried leaves per liter of water can be used in the ailments for which it is useful to remove fluid from the body (this remedy may be replaced by dyeing. In If this were taken 40 drops daily diluted in water divided into three daily)
Spring: (Decoction of a handful of flowers in half a liter of water. Take several small glasses a day)
Bloodthirsty: Infusion of a spoonful of dessert sumidades floriferous. Take three cups a day.
Saponaria: Decoction of 50 deg. of dried leaves per liter of water. Filter without leave to stand to avoid the formation of toxins. Take 2 glasses per day)
Willow: (Decoction to 3% of the crust, for I quarter hour. Take three cups a day)
Pine: (Decoction for 10 minutes, 5 tablespoons of dried leaves per liter of water. Allow to cool and drink 3 cups a day.)
Verbena: (Infusion for 15 minutes of one tablespoon of dried plant per cup of water. Take 3 cups a day) do not take during pregnancy!
Yucca: (one or two capsules or tablets per day of extract of the plant)
Vid red: The use of this plant favors the elimination of liquids and helps purify the blood and improve the treatment of abnormalities associated with excessive retention of body fluids, such as in the edema, gout or arthritis. (Decoction for 1 / 2 hours, 30 grams of tendrils in a liter of water. Allow to cool for 30 minutes more, color and make 2 glasses per day)
Tila : The flowers of linden have properties diaphoretic, which means that they can increase the body sweat. Through the sweat, the body is able to eliminate many toxins, so you sweat in abundance is very effective in case of rheumatism or gout. The elimination of toxins through the sweat allows ease joints and lessen the nuisance caused by these diseases. (Infusion of half teaspoon of dried flowers per cup of water. Take a couple of cups a day. Maintain treatment for a couple of weeks.)
Dry Skin Cares
The skin is the largest human organ. In an adult man weighing on about 3 kg. and covers an approx. 2 meters high surface.
Why skincare?
The skin has a wide range of functions, which protect the organism is the most important. Your skin forms a protective barrier that prevents bacteria and other harmful micro-organisms and substances from entering your body where they can do harm.
If your skin is very dry or damaged by a skin disease, it can destroy the skin barrier effect, and allow micro-organisms easier passage through the skin. It can either trigger or exacerbate an eczema or a skin disease.
Another function of the skin is that it ensures that holdepå the fluid, which represents around. 75 percent of your body. If Skin barrier effect will be reduced, which evaporates too much water from the skin, which såbliver dry and scaly and begynderat slot. It further reduces the skin
Why skincare?
The skin has a wide range of functions, which protect the organism is the most important. Your skin forms a protective barrier that prevents bacteria and other harmful micro-organisms and substances from entering your body where they can do harm.
If your skin is very dry or damaged by a skin disease, it can destroy the skin barrier effect, and allow micro-organisms easier passage through the skin. It can either trigger or exacerbate an eczema or a skin disease.
Another function of the skin is that it ensures that holdepå the fluid, which represents around. 75 percent of your body. If Skin barrier effect will be reduced, which evaporates too much water from the skin, which såbliver dry and scaly and begynderat slot. It further reduces the skin
Dry Skin
The skin has a wide range funtioner. The most important thing is that it is as a protective layer, as a screen body’s internal parts against knocks and keeps bacteria and other harmful micro-organisms and substances out of the body.
Your skin functions:
* The skin forms a barrier to prevent bacteria, microorganisms and other harmful substances from entering the body.
* The skin helps regulate the body’s fluid balance, since it prevents the liquid from evaporate.
* The skin regulates body temperature.
* The skin protects the internal organs, etc. against stroke.
* The skin participates in the formation of vitamin D, which is important for the successful formation of calcium in your bones.
* The skin excrete salts, urea and organic matter through sweating.
* The skin acts as a sensory organ, which provides information from the external environment, such as heat, cold, touch and pain.
Your skin functions:
* The skin forms a barrier to prevent bacteria, microorganisms and other harmful substances from entering the body.
* The skin helps regulate the body’s fluid balance, since it prevents the liquid from evaporate.
* The skin regulates body temperature.
* The skin protects the internal organs, etc. against stroke.
* The skin participates in the formation of vitamin D, which is important for the successful formation of calcium in your bones.
* The skin excrete salts, urea and organic matter through sweating.
* The skin acts as a sensory organ, which provides information from the external environment, such as heat, cold, touch and pain.
Dry Skin Care-
Skin, which will be injected with sufficient moisture and fat is smooth, while dry skin loses its elasticity and begin to scale and burst. When the skin dries out, destroying the barrier, therefore its power and makes it harder for it to protect itself against incoming bacteria and other harmful substances. If your skin is dry, you’ll be easier rash and eczema, and dry skin could, at worst, help to trigger a chronic skin disease.
It is therefore a good idea that you prevent your skin dries out, in the care of skin care products, which adds the moisture and fat.
The wet profession
Pay special attention to protect your skin if you work in one of the so-called “wet professions”, as are the jobs where your skin many times during a day in contact with water, soap or chemicals. For example, if you washer up or washes hands frequently, causing it to fat between the skin cells removed and the protective barrier is destroyed. The profession is, for example, wet cleaning, hairdressing and nursing.
To protect your skin you should wear rubber gloves, whenever possible, and you should lubricate your skin with moisturizer several times during the day. This allows a wide range of skin irritations prevented and hindered.
Older people
Older people generally have a tendency to dry skin due to lower production from the sebaceous glands. Older people are often needed, that their skin is lubricated with a bold cream, which can keep’s skin smooth and elastic and preserve its barrier function.
It is therefore a good idea that you prevent your skin dries out, in the care of skin care products, which adds the moisture and fat.
The wet profession
Pay special attention to protect your skin if you work in one of the so-called “wet professions”, as are the jobs where your skin many times during a day in contact with water, soap or chemicals. For example, if you washer up or washes hands frequently, causing it to fat between the skin cells removed and the protective barrier is destroyed. The profession is, for example, wet cleaning, hairdressing and nursing.
To protect your skin you should wear rubber gloves, whenever possible, and you should lubricate your skin with moisturizer several times during the day. This allows a wide range of skin irritations prevented and hindered.
Older people
Older people generally have a tendency to dry skin due to lower production from the sebaceous glands. Older people are often needed, that their skin is lubricated with a bold cream, which can keep’s skin smooth and elastic and preserve its barrier function.
Dry Skin
Dry skin, it’s itchy, specially at night and certain times during the day, that’s because they tend to feel tight as they sometimes chap. It’s basically the inability of your skin to retain moisture, where your oil glands do not supply enough lubrication for your skin. In my area it’s mainly due to the weather, dryness exacerbated by the wind here, which leaves my skin dry and dehydrated. It’s not genetic, poor diet, dermatitis, eczema nor psoriasis as some would associate it with. I also don’t have complications like diabetes.
This condition leaves me looking dull. It’s when the skin tends to be drawn over the bones, and the dullness are apparent around the cheeks and eyes. Lips tend to chap and crack. Got to constantly use lip balm. And there’s the tiny expression lines in your face that become apparent also around the corners of your mouth that looks like dried saliva at times, parched look and flaking which sometimes can be seen around your forearms and shoulders.
This condition leaves me looking dull. It’s when the skin tends to be drawn over the bones, and the dullness are apparent around the cheeks and eyes. Lips tend to chap and crack. Got to constantly use lip balm. And there’s the tiny expression lines in your face that become apparent also around the corners of your mouth that looks like dried saliva at times, parched look and flaking which sometimes can be seen around your forearms and shoulders.
Skin Care
Skin Care
Maintaining an intact, soft and smooth skin is very important for our general well-being. The skin is our “face” and reflects how to thrive, both physically and mentally.
The skin is exposed daily to many pressures, for example:
* Weather
* Cold / hot
* Sun
* Temperature and humidity in the home
* Cleaning with water and detergents
* Working loads with cold water, paper, chemicals, oil, etc.
* Personal hygiene similar
Skin outer layer called the “hudbarrieren”. It is built of horn cells bound together by the barrier fats. These fats bind cells close together as bricks in a wall. The barrier is only 1 / 100 mm thick, yet surprisingly durable, given that the daily exposed to high mechanical and chemical loads.
Barrier Fat fabrics are produced continuously.
The barrier can not withstand anything.
If the burden becomes too great, the barrier is leaking, water evaporation from the body increases and the skin dries out. Microorganisms and other harmful substances can penetrate the body.
Everyone - young and old - can experience signal from the skin in the form of slightly dry skin, for example. after the bath work, cleaning, after an ordinary day in the sun and wind, or perhaps simply as a result of a dry indoor.
Listening to the skin can not signals in time it would later develop into more skin problems for example in the form of eczema. Therefore, it is important to prevent!
Which skin care means you have to use, depends on the sum of skin exposed to pressures of what skin type (normal, sensitive or ill) and you have the time of year.
Why should it care skin?
Dry skin is a warning sign! Dry skin is a sign of a damaged hudbarriere! Avoid drying out! Barrier damage should be repaired as soon as possible with a barrier cream repaired. A defective hudbarriere increases the risk of developing eczema.
Improvement of barrier function
As a barrier injury means increased water evaporation, we must speak, “stifle” the skin to reduce evaporation after the damage until the skin returns to normal.
It does so by applying a cream that protects the barrier and which can serve as an “artificial” closure on the skin.
Barrier repair will be promoted among other things by applying a cream with hudfysiologiske barrier fats, ie. give the skin the fat back as it has lost. This will reduce water loss from the skin without affecting the skin’s own production of fats, which are an important part of the repair process. This will restore skin moisture balance and hudbarrierens protective effect.
Fat or water?
The cream should be applied, depends partly on skin type, barrier-scale of the damage and the season. The water content is increased most by reducing evaporation by using a relatively bold cream. What are the cream contains fats are also important because hudfysiologiske fats in the right quantity and balance have an active impact on the repair of hudbarrieren. The hudfysiologiske barrier fats are bl. a. ceramide, cholesterol and free fatty acids
New research has shown that there are skin-care products, which both have a neutral, negative or positive effect on the barrier recovery. In other words it is important to choose a skin care agent, which has no negative impact on the restoration of hudbarrieren. Some skin-care products can even affect the skin’s own fat production to be delayed.
Important!
Avoid as far as possible, creams, which blocks the signals that causes the skin to produce extra barrier fats. Ask for evidence of the efficacy of skin water evaporation throughout the repair process.
What harm hudbarrieren?
Acute barrier damage
Water, detergents and solvents
Organic solvents and cleaning agents
Physical wear
Acute solforbrænding
Osmotic leaching of water (offsetting the concentration / salt balance) as at sea
Chemical peeling of the skin
Chronic barrier damage
1st Chronic physiological stress, as work-related
2nd Structural changes, as hereditary skin disease
3rd Inflammatory (skin diseases with inflammation, as eczema).
Maintaining an intact, soft and smooth skin is very important for our general well-being. The skin is our “face” and reflects how to thrive, both physically and mentally.
The skin is exposed daily to many pressures, for example:
* Weather
* Cold / hot
* Sun
* Temperature and humidity in the home
* Cleaning with water and detergents
* Working loads with cold water, paper, chemicals, oil, etc.
* Personal hygiene similar
Skin outer layer called the “hudbarrieren”. It is built of horn cells bound together by the barrier fats. These fats bind cells close together as bricks in a wall. The barrier is only 1 / 100 mm thick, yet surprisingly durable, given that the daily exposed to high mechanical and chemical loads.
Barrier Fat fabrics are produced continuously.
The barrier can not withstand anything.
If the burden becomes too great, the barrier is leaking, water evaporation from the body increases and the skin dries out. Microorganisms and other harmful substances can penetrate the body.
Everyone - young and old - can experience signal from the skin in the form of slightly dry skin, for example. after the bath work, cleaning, after an ordinary day in the sun and wind, or perhaps simply as a result of a dry indoor.
Listening to the skin can not signals in time it would later develop into more skin problems for example in the form of eczema. Therefore, it is important to prevent!
Which skin care means you have to use, depends on the sum of skin exposed to pressures of what skin type (normal, sensitive or ill) and you have the time of year.
Why should it care skin?
Dry skin is a warning sign! Dry skin is a sign of a damaged hudbarriere! Avoid drying out! Barrier damage should be repaired as soon as possible with a barrier cream repaired. A defective hudbarriere increases the risk of developing eczema.
Improvement of barrier function
As a barrier injury means increased water evaporation, we must speak, “stifle” the skin to reduce evaporation after the damage until the skin returns to normal.
It does so by applying a cream that protects the barrier and which can serve as an “artificial” closure on the skin.
Barrier repair will be promoted among other things by applying a cream with hudfysiologiske barrier fats, ie. give the skin the fat back as it has lost. This will reduce water loss from the skin without affecting the skin’s own production of fats, which are an important part of the repair process. This will restore skin moisture balance and hudbarrierens protective effect.
Fat or water?
The cream should be applied, depends partly on skin type, barrier-scale of the damage and the season. The water content is increased most by reducing evaporation by using a relatively bold cream. What are the cream contains fats are also important because hudfysiologiske fats in the right quantity and balance have an active impact on the repair of hudbarrieren. The hudfysiologiske barrier fats are bl. a. ceramide, cholesterol and free fatty acids
New research has shown that there are skin-care products, which both have a neutral, negative or positive effect on the barrier recovery. In other words it is important to choose a skin care agent, which has no negative impact on the restoration of hudbarrieren. Some skin-care products can even affect the skin’s own fat production to be delayed.
Important!
Avoid as far as possible, creams, which blocks the signals that causes the skin to produce extra barrier fats. Ask for evidence of the efficacy of skin water evaporation throughout the repair process.
What harm hudbarrieren?
Acute barrier damage
Water, detergents and solvents
Organic solvents and cleaning agents
Physical wear
Acute solforbrænding
Osmotic leaching of water (offsetting the concentration / salt balance) as at sea
Chemical peeling of the skin
Chronic barrier damage
1st Chronic physiological stress, as work-related
2nd Structural changes, as hereditary skin disease
3rd Inflammatory (skin diseases with inflammation, as eczema).
Dry Acne Skin
Acne is a skin disease that produces events like shins, papules or pustules, and has its peak in adolescence, a period in which affects more than 80% of individuals of both sexes. In most cases heal spontaneously, constituting only an image problem that involves a matter of concern and even emotional problems among the youth population. At other times, there are more serious inflammations that require medical intervention.
SYMPTOMS:
Black spots on the skin, elevated mound in the skin with a white exterior and hard to the touch, lifting in a mound of skin with a reddish appearance, Sebaceous secretion, scars, shins, pustules, bumps, mud, grit, and so on.
CAUSES:
- Puberty: For an increase in male hormones in males and females during puberty, there is an increased secretion of fat in order to protect and soothe the skin. The pores of the skin can be blocked by this fat resulting in various anomalies in the skin: small white bulky item, a result which holds the shutter fat, called papules Sometimes presents a blackened, a consequence of the accumulation of dead cells with abundant melanin, called shins. Other times are elevations of the skin, reddish-containing pus inside them and are called pustules. When the infection is deep, by accumulating a lot of fat, can cause cysts.
- Other strong moments with hormonal changes: Other periods of life in which there is an increase hormonal as menstruation or pregnancy
- Genetic factors: There is a hereditary predisposition to suffer from this alteration those whose background and suffered.
- Food? : Not shown, as is sometimes claimed, that eating greasy foods such as meat animals, chocolate, bakery products or may induce or exacerbate this condition. However, in some individuals, ingestion of certain foods may aggravate the disease.
- Causes Environmental: The aggression exerted by the external skin contaminants, such as industrial products, soaps or detergents with a lot of cosmetics with many skins fats or oils on certain medications, can sometimes be the cause of this disease.
- Heat and clothing: the rubbing of the skin with clothing, especially during times of heat can cause some of these problems.
TREATMENT:
Such demonstrations disappear with the passage of years. Generally do not require treatment except when infected. In this case, leading to major infections that require treatment with antibiotics.
Has prevented the removal of items by pressing the packages with nails, which aggravates the injury and can cause infections. It should never drawn a shin manually. If it is suspected that there may be events other than acne, it is recommended to visit a dermatologist.
A proper cleaning of the skin with soap natural, free of chemical irritants, may be the most appropriate way to prevent the formation of shins.
Sunbathing and promotes recovery makes it as easy its appearance
The natural acne treatment involves the use of a series of natural resources that help prevent or ameliorate the symptoms of acne
SYMPTOMS:
Black spots on the skin, elevated mound in the skin with a white exterior and hard to the touch, lifting in a mound of skin with a reddish appearance, Sebaceous secretion, scars, shins, pustules, bumps, mud, grit, and so on.
CAUSES:
- Puberty: For an increase in male hormones in males and females during puberty, there is an increased secretion of fat in order to protect and soothe the skin. The pores of the skin can be blocked by this fat resulting in various anomalies in the skin: small white bulky item, a result which holds the shutter fat, called papules Sometimes presents a blackened, a consequence of the accumulation of dead cells with abundant melanin, called shins. Other times are elevations of the skin, reddish-containing pus inside them and are called pustules. When the infection is deep, by accumulating a lot of fat, can cause cysts.
- Other strong moments with hormonal changes: Other periods of life in which there is an increase hormonal as menstruation or pregnancy
- Genetic factors: There is a hereditary predisposition to suffer from this alteration those whose background and suffered.
- Food? : Not shown, as is sometimes claimed, that eating greasy foods such as meat animals, chocolate, bakery products or may induce or exacerbate this condition. However, in some individuals, ingestion of certain foods may aggravate the disease.
- Causes Environmental: The aggression exerted by the external skin contaminants, such as industrial products, soaps or detergents with a lot of cosmetics with many skins fats or oils on certain medications, can sometimes be the cause of this disease.
- Heat and clothing: the rubbing of the skin with clothing, especially during times of heat can cause some of these problems.
TREATMENT:
Such demonstrations disappear with the passage of years. Generally do not require treatment except when infected. In this case, leading to major infections that require treatment with antibiotics.
Has prevented the removal of items by pressing the packages with nails, which aggravates the injury and can cause infections. It should never drawn a shin manually. If it is suspected that there may be events other than acne, it is recommended to visit a dermatologist.
A proper cleaning of the skin with soap natural, free of chemical irritants, may be the most appropriate way to prevent the formation of shins.
Sunbathing and promotes recovery makes it as easy its appearance
The natural acne treatment involves the use of a series of natural resources that help prevent or ameliorate the symptoms of acne
Insurance
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Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating loss. An insurer is a company selling the insurance; an insured is the person or entity buying the insurance. The insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Principles of insurance
* 2 Indemnification
* 3 Insurers' business model
o 3.1 Underwriting and investing
o 3.2 Claims
* 4 History of insurance
* 5 Types of insurance
o 5.1 Auto insurance
o 5.2 Home insurance
o 5.3 Health
o 5.4 Disability
o 5.5 Casualty
o 5.6 Life
o 5.7 Property
o 5.8 Liability
o 5.9 Credit
o 5.10 Other types
o 5.11 Insurance financing vehicles
o 5.12 Closed community self-insurance
* 6 Insurance companies
* 7 Global insurance industry
* 8 Controversies
o 8.1 Insurance insulates too much
o 8.2 Complexity of insurance policy contracts
o 8.3 Redlining
o 8.4 Insurance patents
o 8.5 The insurance industry and rent seeking
o 8.6 Criticism of insurance companies
* 9 Glossary
* 10 See also
* 11 Notes
* 12 External links
[edit] Principles of insurance
Financial market
participants
Collective investment schemes
Credit Unions
Insurance companies
Investment banks
Pension funds
Prime Brokers
Trusts
Finance series
Financial market
Participants
Corporate finance
Personal finance
Public finance
Banks and Banking
Financial regulation
v • d • e
Commercially insurable risks typically share seven common characteristics.[1]
1. A large number of homogeneous exposure units. The vast majority of insurance policies are provided for individual members of very large classes. Automobile insurance, for example, covered about 175 million automobiles in the United States in 2004.[2] The existence of a large number of homogeneous exposure units allows insurers to benefit from the so-called “law of large numbers,” which in effect states that as the number of exposure units increases, the actual results are increasingly likely to become close to expected results. There are exceptions to this criterion. Lloyd's of London is famous for insuring the life or health of actors, actresses and sports figures. Satellite Launch insurance covers events that are infrequent. Large commercial property policies may insure exceptional properties for which there are no ‘homogeneous’ exposure units. Despite failing on this criterion, many exposures like these are generally considered to be insurable.
2. Definite Loss. The event that gives rise to the loss that is subject to insurance should, at least in principle, take place at a known time, in a known place, and from a known cause. The classic example is death of an insured person on a life insurance policy. Fire, automobile accidents, and worker injuries may all easily meet this criterion. Other types of losses may only be definite in theory. Occupational disease, for instance, may involve prolonged exposure to injurious conditions where no specific time, place or cause is identifiable. Ideally, the time, place and cause of a loss should be clear enough that a reasonable person, with sufficient information, could objectively verify all three elements.
3. Accidental Loss. The event that constitutes the trigger of a claim should be fortuitous, or at least outside the control of the beneficiary of the insurance. The loss should be ‘pure,’ in the sense that it results from an event for which there is only the opportunity for cost. Events that contain speculative elements, such as ordinary business risks, are generally not considered insurable.
4. Large Loss. The size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost of issuing and administering the policy, adjusting losses, and supplying the capital needed to reasonably assure that the insurer will be able to pay claims. For small losses these latter costs may be several times the size of the expected cost of losses. There is little point in paying such costs unless the protection offered has real value to a buyer.
5. Affordable Premium. If the likelihood of an insured event is so high, or the cost of the event so large, that the resulting premium is large relative to the amount of protection offered, it is not likely that anyone will buy insurance, even if on offer. Further, as the accounting profession formally recognizes in financial accounting standards, the premium cannot be so large that there is not a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the insurer. If there is no such chance of loss, the transaction may have the form of insurance, but not the substance. (See the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board standard number 113)
6. Calculable Loss. There are two elements that must be at least estimable, if not formally calculable: the probability of loss, and the attendant cost. Probability of loss is generally an empirical exercise, while cost has more to do with the ability of a reasonable person in possession of a copy of the insurance policy and a proof of loss associated with a claim presented under that policy to make a reasonably definite and objective evaluation of the amount of the loss recoverable as a result of the claim.
7. Limited risk of catastrophically large losses. The essential risk is often aggregation. If the same event can cause losses to numerous policyholders of the same insurer, the ability of that insurer to issue policies becomes constrained, not by factors surrounding the individual characteristics of a given policyholder, but by the factors surrounding the sum of all policyholders so exposed. Typically, insurers prefer to limit their exposure to a loss from a single event to some small portion of their capital base, on the order of 5 percent. Where the loss can be aggregated, or an individual policy could produce exceptionally large claims, the capital constraint will restrict an insurer's appetite for additional policyholders. The classic example is earthquake insurance, where the ability of an underwriter to issue a new policy depends on the number and size of the policies that it has already underwritten. Wind insurance in hurricane zones, particularly along coast lines, is another example of this phenomenon. In extreme cases, the aggregation can affect the entire industry, since the combined capital of insurers and reinsurers can be small compared to the needs of potential policyholders in areas exposed to aggregation risk. In commercial fire insurance it is possible to find single properties whose total exposed value is well in excess of any individual insurer’s capital constraint. Such properties are generally shared among several insurers, or are insured by a single insurer who syndicates the risk into the reinsurance market.
[edit] Indemnification
Main article: Indemnity
The technical definition of "indemnity" means to make whole again. There are two types of insurance contracts;
1. an "indemnity" policy and
2. a "pay on behalf" or "on behalf of"[3] policy.
The difference is significant on paper, but rarely material in practice.
An "indemnity" policy will never pay claims until the insured has paid out of pocket to some third party; for example, a visitor to your home slips on a floor that you left wet and sues you for $10,000 and wins. Under an "indemnity" policy the homeowner would have to come up with the $10,000 to pay for the visitor's fall and then would be "indemnified" by the insurance carrier for the out of pocket costs (the $10,000)[4].
Under the same situation, a "pay on behalf" policy, the insurance carrier would pay the claim and the insured (the homeowner) would not be out of pocket for anything. Most modern liability insurance is written on the basis of "pay on behalf" language[5].
An entity seeking to transfer risk (an individual, corporation, or association of any type, etc.) becomes the 'insured' party once risk is assumed by an 'insurer', the insuring party, by means of a contract, called an insurance 'policy'. Generally, an insurance contract includes, at a minimum, the following elements: the parties (the insurer, the insured, the beneficiaries), the premium, the period of coverage, the particular loss event covered, the amount of coverage (i.e., the amount to be paid to the insured or beneficiary in the event of a loss), and exclusions (events not covered). An insured is thus said to be "indemnified" against the loss events covered in the policy.
When insured parties experience a loss for a specified peril, the coverage entitles the policyholder to make a 'claim' against the insurer for the covered amount of loss as specified by the policy. The fee paid by the insured to the insurer for assuming the risk is called the 'premium'. Insurance premiums from many insureds are used to fund accounts reserved for later payment of claims—in theory for a relatively few claimants—and for overhead costs. So long as an insurer maintains adequate funds set aside for anticipated losses (i.e., reserves), the remaining margin is an insurer's profit.
[edit] Insurers' business model
[edit] Underwriting and investing
The business model can be reduced to a simple equation: Profit = earned premium + investment income - incurred loss - underwriting expenses.
Insurers make money in two ways: (1) through underwriting, the process by which insurers select the risks to insure and decide how much in premiums to charge for accepting those risks and (2) by investing the premiums they collect from insured parties.
The most complicated aspect of the insurance business is the underwriting of policies. Using a wide assortment of data, insurers predict the likelihood that a claim will be made against their policies and price products accordingly. To this end, insurers use actuarial science to quantify the risks they are willing to assume and the premium they will charge to assume them. Data is analyzed to fairly accurately project the rate of future claims based on a given risk. Actuarial science uses statistics and probability to analyze the risks associated with the range of perils covered, and these scientific principles are used to determine an insurer's overall exposure. Upon termination of a given policy, the amount of premium collected and the investment gains thereon minus the amount paid out in claims is the insurer's underwriting profit on that policy. Of course, from the insurer's perspective, some policies are winners (i.e., the insurer pays out less in claims and expenses than it receives in premiums and investment income) and some are losers (i.e., the insurer pays out more in claims and expenses than it receives in premiums and investment income).
An insurer's underwriting performance is measured in its combined ratio. The loss ratio (incurred losses and loss-adjustment expenses divided by net earned premium) is added to the expense ratio (underwriting expenses divided by net premium written) to determine the company's combined ratio. The combined ratio is a reflection of the company's overall underwriting profitability. A combined ratio of less than 100 percent indicates underwriting profitability, while anything over 100 indicates an underwriting loss.
Insurance companies also earn investment profits on “float”. “Float” or available reserve is the amount of money, at hand at any given moment, that an insurer has collected in insurance premiums but has not been paid out in claims. Insurers start investing insurance premiums as soon as they are collected and continue to earn interest on them until claims are paid out.
In the United States, the underwriting loss of property and casualty insurance companies was $142.3 billion in the five years ending 2003. But overall profit for the same period was $68.4 billion, as the result of float. Some insurance industry insiders, most notably Hank Greenberg, do not believe that it is forever possible to sustain a profit from float without an underwriting profit as well, but this opinion is not universally held. Naturally, the “float” method is difficult to carry out in an economically depressed period. Bear markets do cause insurers to shift away from investments and to toughen up their underwriting standards. So a poor economy generally means high insurance premiums. This tendency to swing between profitable and unprofitable periods over time is commonly known as the "underwriting" or insurance cycle. [6]
Property and casualty insurers currently make the most money from their auto insurance line of business. Generally better statistics are available on auto losses and underwriting on this line of business has benefited greatly from advances in computing. Additionally, property losses in the United States, due to unpredictable natural catastrophes, have exacerbated this trend.
[edit] Claims
Finally, claims and loss handling is the materialized utility of insurance; it is the actual "product" paid for, though one hopes it will never need to be used. Claims may be filed by insureds directly with the insurer or through brokers or agents. The insurer may require that the claim be filed on its own proprietary forms, or may accept claims on a standard industry form such as those produced by ACORD.
Insurance company claim departments employ a large number of claims adjusters supported by a staff of records management and data entry clerks. Incoming claims are classified based on severity and are assigned to adjusters whose settlement authority varies with their knowledge and experience. The adjuster undertakes a thorough investigation of each claim, usually in close cooperation with the insured, determines its reasonable monetary value, and authorizes payment. Adjusting liability insurance claims is particularly difficult because there is a third party involved (the plaintiff who is suing the insured) who is under no contractual obligation to cooperate with the insurer and in fact may regard the insurer as a deep pocket. The adjuster must obtain legal counsel for the insured (either inside "house" counsel or outside "panel" counsel), monitor litigation that may take years to complete, and appear in person or over the telephone with settlement authority at a mandatory settlement conference when requested by the judge.
In managing the claims handling function, insurers seek to balance the elements of customer satisfaction, administrative handling expenses, and claims overpayment leakages. As part of this balancing act, fraudulent insurance practices are a major business risk that must be managed and overcome. Disputes between insurers and insureds over the validity of claims or claims handling practices occasionally escalate into litigation; see insurance bad faith.
[edit] History of insurance
Main article: History of insurance
In some sense we can say that insurance appears simultaneously with the appearance of human society. We know of two types of economies in human societies: money economies (with markets, money, financial instruments and so on) and non-money or natural economies (without money, markets, financial instruments and so on). The second type is a more ancient form than the first. In such an economy and community, we can see insurance in the form of people helping each other. For example, if a house burns down, the members of the community help build a new one. Should the same thing happen to one's neighbour, the other neighbours must help. Otherwise, neighbours will not receive help in the future. This type of insurance has survived to the present day in some countries where modern money economy with its financial instruments is not widespread (for example countries in the territory of the former Soviet Union).
Turning to insurance in the modern sense (i.e., insurance in a modern money economy, in which insurance is part of the financial sphere), early methods of transferring or distributing risk were practised by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, respectively. Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practised by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender's guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen.
Achaemenian monarchs of Iran were the first to insure their people and made it official by registering the insuring process in governmental notary offices. The insurance tradition was performed each year in Norouz (beginning of the Iranian New Year); the heads of different ethnic groups as well as others willing to take part, presented gifts to the monarch. The most important gift was presented during a special ceremony. When a gift was worth more than 10,000 Derrik (Achaemenian gold coin) the issue was registered in a special office. This was advantageous to those who presented such special gifts. For others, the presents were fairly assessed by the confidants of the court. Then the assessment was registered in special offices.
The purpose of registering was that whenever the person who presented the gift registered by the court was in trouble, the monarch and the court would help him. Jahez, a historian and writer, writes in one of his books on ancient Iran: "[W]henever the owner of the present is in trouble or wants to construct a building, set up a feast, have his children married, etc. the one in charge of this in the court would check the registration. If the registered amount exceeded 10,000 Derrik, he or she would receive an amount of twice as much."[1]
A thousand years later, the inhabitants of Rhodes invented the concept of the 'general average'. Merchants whose goods were being shipped together would pay a proportionally divided premium which would be used to reimburse any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during storm or sinkage.
The Greeks and Romans introduced the origins of health and life insurance c. 600 AD when they organized guilds called "benevolent societies" which cared for the families and paid funeral expenses of members upon death. Guilds in the Middle Ages served a similar purpose. The Talmud deals with several aspects of insuring goods. Before insurance was established in the late 17th century, "friendly societies" existed in England, in which people donated amounts of money to a general sum that could be used for emergencies.
Separate insurance contracts (i.e., insurance policies not bundled with loans or other kinds of contracts) were invented in Genoa in the 14th century, as were insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates. These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, a separation of roles that first proved useful in marine insurance. Insurance became far more sophisticated in post-Renaissance Europe, and specialized varieties developed.
Toward the end of the seventeenth century, London's growing importance as a centre for trade increased demand for marine insurance. In the late 1680s, Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house that became a popular haunt of ship owners, merchants, and ships’ captains, and thereby a reliable source of the latest shipping news. It became the meeting place for parties wishing to insure cargoes and ships, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. Today, Lloyd's of London remains the leading market (note that it is not an insurance company) for marine and other specialist types of insurance, but it works rather differently than the more familiar kinds of insurance.
Insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London, which in 1666 devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England's first fire insurance company, "The Fire Office," to insure brick and frame homes.
The first insurance company in the United States underwrote fire insurance and was formed in Charles Town (modern-day Charleston), South Carolina, in 1732. Benjamin Franklin helped to popularize and make standard the practice of insurance, particularly against fire in the form of perpetual insurance. In 1752, he founded the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Franklin's company was the first to make contributions toward fire prevention. Not only did his company warn against certain fire hazards, it refused to insure certain buildings where the risk of fire was too great, such as all wooden houses. In the United States, regulation of the insurance industry is highly Balkanized, with primary responsibility assumed by individual state insurance departments. Whereas insurance markets have become centralized nationally and internationally, state insurance commissioners operate individually, though at times in concert through a national insurance commissioners' organization. In recent years, some have called for a dual state and federal regulatory system (commonly referred to as the Optional federal charter (OFC)) for insurance similar to that which oversees state banks and national banks.
[edit] Types of insurance
Any risk that can be quantified can potentially be insured. Specific kinds of risk that may give rise to claims are known as "perils". An insurance policy will set out in detail which perils are covered by the policy and which are not. Below are (non-exhaustive) lists of the many different types of insurance that exist. A single policy may cover risks in one or more of the categories set out below. For example, auto insurance would typically cover both property risk (covering the risk of theft or damage to the car) and liability risk (covering legal claims from causing an accident). A homeowner's insurance policy in the U.S. typically includes property insurance covering damage to the home and the owner's belongings, liability insurance covering certain legal claims against the owner, and even a small amount of coverage for medical expenses of guests who are injured on the owner's property.
Business insurance can be any kind of insurance that protects businesses against risks. Some principal subtypes of business insurance are (a) the various kinds of professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity insurance, which are discussed below under that name; and (b) the business owner's policy (BOP), which bundles into one policy many of the kinds of coverage that a business owner needs, in a way analogous to how homeowners insurance bundles the coverages that a homeowner needs.[7]
[edit] Auto insurance
Main article: Vehicle insurance
A wrecked vehicle
Auto insurance protects you against financial loss if you have an accident. It is a contract between you and the insurance company. You agree to pay the premium and the insurance company agrees to pay your losses as defined in your policy. Auto insurance provides property, liability and medical coverage: (1) Property coverage pays for damage to or theft of your car. (2) Liability coverage pays for your legal responsibility to others for bodily injury or property damage. and (3) Medical coverage pays for the cost of treating injuries, rehabilitation and sometimes lost wages and funeral expenses. An auto insurance policy is comprised of six different kinds of coverage. Most countries require you to buy some, but not all, of these coverages. If you're financing a car, your lender may also have requirements.
Most auto policies are for six months to a year. Your insurance company should notify you by mail when it’s time to renew the policy and to pay your premium. [8]
[edit] Home insurance
Main article: Home insurance
Home insurance provides compensation for damage or destruction of a home from disasters. In some geographical areas, the standard insurances excludes certain types of disasters, such as flood and earthquakes, that require additional coverage. Maintenance-related problems are the homeowners' responsibility. The policy may include inventory, or this can be bought as a separate policy, especially for people who rent housing. In some countries, insurers offer a package which may include liability and legal responsibility for injuries and property damage caused by members of the household, including pets.[9]
[edit] Health
Main articles: Health insurance and Dental insurance
Almost all developed countries have government-supplied insurance for health
Health insurance policies by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom (NHS) or other publicly-funded health programs will cover the cost of medical treatments. Dental insurance, like medical insurance, is coverage for individuals to protect them against dental costs. In the U.S., dental insurance is often part of an employer's benefits package, along with health insurance. Most countries rely on public funding to ensure that all citizens have universal access to health care.
[edit] Disability
* Disability insurance policies provide financial support in the event the policyholder is unable to work because of disabling illness or injury. It provides monthly support to help pay such obligations as mortgages and credit cards.
* Disability overhead insurance allows business owners to cover the overhead expenses of their business while they are unable to work.
* Total permanent disability insurance provides benefits when a person is permanently disabled and can no longer work in their profession, often taken as an adjunct to life insurance.
* Workers' compensation insurance replaces all or part of a worker's wages lost and accompanying medical expenses incurred because of a job-related injury.
[edit] Casualty
Casualty insurance insures against accidents, not necessarily tied to any specific property.
Main article: Casualty insurance
* Crime insurance is a form of casualty insurance that covers the policyholder against losses arising from the criminal acts of third parties. For example, a company can obtain crime insurance to cover losses arising from theft or embezzlement.
* Political risk insurance is a form of casualty insurance that can be taken out by businesses with operations in countries in which there is a risk that revolution or other political conditions will result in a loss.
[edit] Life
Main article: Life insurance
Life insurance provides a monetary benefit to a decedent's family or other designated beneficiary, and may specifically provide for income to an insured person's family, burial, funeral and other final expenses. Life insurance policies often allow the option of having the proceeds paid to the beneficiary either in a lump sum cash payment or an annuity.
Annuities provide a stream of payments and are generally classified as insurance because they are issued by insurance companies and regulated as insurance and require the same kinds of actuarial and investment management expertise that life insurance requires. Annuities and pensions that pay a benefit for life are sometimes regarded as insurance against the possibility that a retiree will outlive his or her financial resources. In that sense, they are the complement of life insurance and, from an underwriting perspective, are the mirror image of life insurance.
Certain life insurance contracts accumulate cash values, which may be taken by the insured if the policy is surrendered or which may be borrowed against. Some policies, such as annuities and endowment policies, are financial instruments to accumulate or liquidate wealth when it is needed.
In many countries, such as the U.S. and the UK, the tax law provides that the interest on this cash value is not taxable under certain circumstances. This leads to widespread use of life insurance as a tax-efficient method of saving as well as protection in the event of early death.
In U.S., the tax on interest income on life insurance policies and annuities is generally deferred. However, in some cases the benefit derived from tax deferral may be offset by a low return. This depends upon the insuring company, the type of policy and other variables (mortality, market return, etc.). Moreover, other income tax saving vehicles (e.g., IRAs, 401(k) plans, Roth IRAs) may be better alternatives for value accumulation. A combination of low-cost term life insurance and a higher-return tax-efficient retirement account may achieve better investment return.
[edit] Property
Main article: Property insurance
This tornado damage to an Illinois home would be considered an "Act of God" for insurance purposes
Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, inland marine insurance or boiler insurance.
* Automobile insurance, known in the UK as motor insurance, is probably the most common form of insurance and may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage to the insured's vehicle itself. Throughout the United States an auto insurance policy is required to legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. In some jurisdictions, bodily injury compensation for automobile accident victims has been changed to a no-fault system, which reduces or eliminates the ability to sue for compensation but provides automatic eligibility for benefits. Credit card companies insure against damage on rented cars.
o Driving School Insurance insurance provides cover for any authorized driver whilst undergoing tuition, cover also unlike other motor policies provides cover for instructor liability where both the pupil and driving instructor are equally liable in the event of a claim.
* Aviation insurance insures against hull, spares, deductibles, hull wear and liability risks.
* Boiler insurance (also known as boiler and machinery insurance or equipment breakdown insurance) insures against accidental physical damage to equipment or machinery.
* Builder's risk insurance insures against the risk of physical loss or damage to property during construction. Builder's risk insurance is typically written on an "all risk" basis covering damage due to any cause (including the negligence of the insured) not otherwise expressly excluded.
* Crop insurance "Farmers use crop insurance to reduce or manage various risks associated with growing crops. Such risks include crop loss or damage caused by weather, hail, drought, frost damage, insects, or disease, for instance."[10]
* Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage. Most earthquake insurance policies feature a high deductible. Rates depend on location and the probability of an earthquake, as well as the construction of the home.
* A fidelity bond is a form of casualty insurance that covers policyholders for losses that they incur as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees.
* Flood insurance protects against property loss due to flooding. Many insurers in the U.S. do not provide flood insurance in some portions of the country. In response to this, the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program which serves as the insurer of last resort.
* Home insurance or homeowners' insurance: See "Property insurance".
* Landlord insurance is specifically designed for people who own properties which they rent out. Most house insurance cover in the U.K will not be valid if the property is rented out therefore landlords must take out this specialist form of home insurance.
* Marine insurance and marine cargo insurance cover the loss or damage of ships at sea or on inland waterways, and of the cargo that may be on them. When the owner of the cargo and the carrier are separate corporations, marine cargo insurance typically compensates the owner of cargo for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier or the carrier's insurance. Many marine insurance underwriters will include "time element" coverage in such policies, which extends the indemnity to cover loss of profit and other business expenses attributable to the delay caused by a covered loss.
* Surety bond insurance is a three party insurance guaranteeing the performance of the principal.
* Terrorism insurance provides protection against any loss or damage caused by terrorist activities.
* Volcano insurance is an insurance that covers volcano damage in Hawaii.
* Windstorm insurance is an insurance covering the damage that can be caused by hurricanes and tropical cyclones.
[edit] Liability
Main article: Liability insurance
Liability insurance is a very broad superset that covers legal claims against the insured. Many types of insurance include an aspect of liability coverage. For example, a homeowner's insurance policy will normally include liability coverage which protects the insured in the event of a claim brought by someone who slips and falls on the property; automobile insurance also includes an aspect of liability insurance that indemnifies against the harm that a crashing car can cause to others' lives, health, or property. The protection offered by a liability insurance policy is twofold: a legal defense in the event of a lawsuit commenced against the policyholder and indemnification (payment on behalf of the insured) with respect to a settlement or court verdict. Liability policies typically cover only the negligence of the insured, and will not apply to results of wilful or intentional acts by the insured.
* Directors and officers liability insurance protects an organization (usually a corporation) from costs associated with litigation resulting from mistakes made by directors and officers for which they are liable. In the industry, it is usually called "D&O" for short.
* Environmental liability insurance protects the insured from bodily injury, property damage and cleanup costs as a result of the dispersal, release or escape of pollutants.
* Errors and omissions insurance: See "Professional liability insurance" under "Liability insurance".
* Prize indemnity insurance protects the insured from giving away a large prize at a specific event. Examples would include offering prizes to contestants who can make a half-court shot at a basketball game, or a hole-in-one at a golf tournament.
* Professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity insurance, protects insured professionals such as architectural corporation and medical practice against potential negligence claims made by their patients/clients. Professional liability insurance may take on different names depending on the profession. For example, professional liability insurance in reference to the medical profession may be called malpractice insurance. Notaries public may take out errors and omissions insurance (E&O). Other potential E&O policyholders include, for example, real estate brokers, Insurance agents, home inspectors, appraisers, and website developers.
[edit] Credit
Main article: Credit insurance
Credit insurance repays some or all of a loan when certain things happen to the borrower such as unemployment, disability, or death.
* Mortgage insurance insures the lender against default by the borrower. Mortgage insurance is a form of credit insurance, although the name credit insurance more often is used to refer to policies that cover other kinds of debt.
[edit] Other types
* Collateral protection insurance or CPI, insures property (primarily vehicles) held as collateral for loans made by lending institutions.
* Defense Base Act Workers' compensation or DBA Insurance provides coverage for civilian workers hired by the government to perform contracts outside the U.S. and Canada. DBA is required for all U.S. citizens, U.S. residents, U.S. Green Card holders, and all employees or subcontractors hired on overseas government contracts. Depending on the country, Foreign Nationals must also be covered under DBA. This coverage typically includes expenses related to medical treatment and loss of wages, as well as disability and death benefits.
* Expatriate insurance provides individuals and organizations operating outside of their home country with protection for automobiles, property, health, liability and business pursuits.
* Financial loss insurance protects individuals and companies against various financial risks. For example, a business might purchase coverage to protect it from loss of sales if a fire in a factory prevented it from carrying out its business for a time. Insurance might also cover the failure of a creditor to pay money it owes to the insured. This type of insurance is frequently referred to as "business interruption insurance." Fidelity bonds and surety bonds are included in this category, although these products provide a benefit to a third party (the "obligee") in the event the insured party (usually referred to as the "obligor") fails to perform its obligations under a contract with the obligee.
* Kidnap and ransom insurance
* Locked funds insurance is a little-known hybrid insurance policy jointly issued by governments and banks. It is used to protect public funds from tamper by unauthorized parties. In special cases, a government may authorize its use in protecting semi-private funds which are liable to tamper. The terms of this type of insurance are usually very strict. Therefore it is used only in extreme cases where maximum security of funds is required.
* Nuclear incident insurance covers damages resulting from an incident involving radioactive materials and is generally arranged at the national level. See the Nuclear exclusion clause and for the United States the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act)
* Pet insurance insures pets against accidents and illnesses - some companies cover routine/wellness care and burial, as well.
* Pollution Insurance, which consists of first-party coverage for contamination of insured property either by external or on-site sources. Coverage for liability to third parties arising from contamination of air, water, or land due to the sudden and accidental release of hazardous materials from the insured site. The policy usually covers the costs of cleanup and may include coverage for releases from underground storage tanks. Intentional acts are specifically excluded.
* Purchase insurance is aimed at providing protection on the products people purchase. Purchase insurance can cover individual purchase protection, warranties, guarantees, care plans and even mobile phone insurance. Such insurance is normally very limited in the scope of problems that are covered by the policy.
* Title insurance provides a guarantee that title to real property is vested in the purchaser and/or mortgagee, free and clear of liens or encumbrances. It is usually issued in conjunction with a search of the public records performed at the time of a real estate transaction.
* Travel insurance is an insurance cover taken by those who travel abroad, which covers certain losses such as medical expenses, loss of personal belongings, travel delay, personal liabilities, etc.
[edit] Insurance financing vehicles
* Fraternal insurance is provided on a cooperative basis by fraternal benefit societies or other social organizations.[11]
* No-fault insurance is a type of insurance policy (typically automobile insurance) where insureds are indemnified by their own insurer regardless of fault in the incident.
* Protected Self-Insurance is an alternative risk financing mechanism in which an organization retains the mathematically calculated cost of risk within the organization and transfers the catastrophic risk with specific and aggregate limits to an insurer so the maximum total cost of the program is known. A properly designed and underwritten Protected Self-Insurance Program reduces and stabilizes the cost of insurance and provides valuable risk management information.
* Retrospectively Rated Insurance is a method of establishing a premium on large commercial accounts. The final premium is based on the insured's actual loss experience during the policy term, sometimes subject to a minimum and maximum premium, with the final premium determined by a formula. Under this plan, the current year's premium is based partially (or wholly) on the current year's losses, although the premium adjustments may take months or years beyond the current year's expiration date. The rating formula is guaranteed in the insurance contract. Formula: retrospective premium = converted loss + basic premium × tax multiplier. Numerous variations of this formula have been developed and are in use.
* Formal self insurance is the deliberate decision to pay for otherwise insurable losses out of one's own money. This can be done on a formal basis by establishing a separate fund into which funds are deposited on a periodic basis, or by simply forgoing the purchase of available insurance and paying out-of-pocket. Self insurance is usually used to pay for high-frequency, low-severity losses. Such losses, if covered by conventional insurance, mean having to pay a premium that includes loadings for the company's general expenses, cost of putting the policy on the books, acquisition expenses, premium taxes, and contingencies. While this is true for all insurance, for small, frequent losses the transaction costs may exceed the benefit of volatility reduction that insurance otherwise affords.
* Reinsurance is a type of insurance purchased by insurance companies or self-insured employers to protect against unexpected losses. Financial reinsurance is a form of reinsurance that is primarily used for capital management rather than to transfer insurance risk.
* Social insurance can be many things to many people in many countries. But a summary of its essence is that it is a collection of insurance coverages (including components of life insurance, disability income insurance, unemployment insurance, health insurance, and others), plus retirement savings, that requires participation by all citizens. By forcing everyone in society to be a policyholder and pay premiums, it ensures that everyone can become a claimant when or if he/she needs to. Along the way this inevitably becomes related to other concepts such as the justice system and the welfare state. This is a large, complicated topic that engenders tremendous debate, which can be further studied in the following articles (and others):
o National Insurance
o Social safety net
o Social security
o Social Security debate (United States)
o Social Security (United States)
o Social welfare provision
* Stop-loss insurance provides protection against catastrophic or unpredictable losses. It is purchased by organizations who do not want to assume 100% of the liability for losses arising from the plans. Under a stop-loss policy, the insurance company becomes liable for losses that exceed certain limits called deductibles.
[edit] Closed community self-insurance
Some communities prefer to create virtual insurance amongst themselves by other means than contractual risk transfer, which assigns explicit numerical values to risk. A number of religious groups, including the Amish and some Muslim groups, depend on support provided by their communities when disasters strike. The risk presented by any given person is assumed collectively by the community who all bear the cost of rebuilding lost property and supporting people whose needs are suddenly greater after a loss of some kind. In supportive communities where others can be trusted to follow community leaders, this tacit form of insurance can work. In this manner the community can even out the extreme differences in insurability that exist among its members. Some further justification is also provided by invoking the moral hazard of explicit insurance contracts.
In the United Kingdom, The Crown (which, for practical purposes, meant the Civil service) did not insure property such as government buildings. If a government building was damaged, the cost of repair would be met from public funds because, in the long run, this was cheaper than paying insurance premiums. Since many UK government buildings have been sold to property companies, and rented back, this arrangement is now less common and may have disappeared altogether.
[edit] Insurance companies
Insurance companies may be classified into two groups:
* Life insurance companies, which sell life insurance, annuities and pensions products.
* Non-life, General, or Property/Casualty insurance companies, which sell other types of insurance.
General insurance companies can be further divided into these sub categories.
* Standard Lines
* Excess Lines
In most countries, life and non-life insurers are subject to different regulatory regimes and different tax and accounting rules. The main reason for the distinction between the two types of company is that life, annuity, and pension business is very long-term in nature — coverage for life assurance or a pension can cover risks over many decades. By contrast, non-life insurance cover usually covers a shorter period, such as one year.
In the United States, standard line insurance companies are "mainstream" insurers. These are the companies that typically insure autos, homes or businesses. They use pattern or "cookie-cutter" policies without variation from one person to the next. They usually have lower premiums than excess lines and can sell directly to individuals. They are regulated by state laws that can restrict the amount they can charge for insurance policies.
Excess line insurance companies (aka Excess and Surplus) typically insure risks not covered by the standard lines market. They are broadly referred as being all insurance placed with non-admitted insurers. Non-admitted insurers are not licensed in the states where the risks are located. These companies have more flexibility and can react faster than standard insurance companies because they are not required to file rates and forms as the "admitted" carriers do. However, they still have substantial regulatory requirements placed upon them. State laws generally require insurance placed with surplus line agents and brokers not to be available through standard licensed insurers.
Insurance companies are generally classified as either mutual or stock companies. Mutual companies are owned by the policyholders, while stockholders (who may or may not own policies) own stock insurance companies. Demutualization of mutual insurers to form stock companies, as well as the formation of a hybrid known as a mutual holding company, became common in some countries, such as the United States, in the late 20th century. Other possible forms for an insurance company include reciprocals, in which policyholders 'reciprocate' in sharing risks, and Lloyds organizations.
Insurance companies are rated by various agencies such as A. M. Best. The ratings include the company's financial strength, which measures its ability to pay claims. It also rates financial instruments issued by the insurance company, such as bonds, notes, and securitization products.
Reinsurance companies are insurance companies that sell policies to other insurance companies, allowing them to reduce their risks and protect themselves from very large losses. The reinsurance market is dominated by a few very large companies, with huge reserves. A reinsurer may also be a direct writer of insurance risks as well.
Captive insurance companies may be defined as limited-purpose insurance companies established with the specific objective of financing risks emanating from their parent group or groups. This definition can sometimes be extended to include some of the risks of the parent company's customers. In short, it is an in-house self-insurance vehicle. Captives may take the form of a "pure" entity (which is a 100% subsidiary of the self-insured parent company); of a "mutual" captive (which insures the collective risks of members of an industry); and of an "association" captive (which self-insures individual risks of the members of a professional, commercial or industrial association). Captives represent commercial, economic and tax advantages to their sponsors because of the reductions in costs they help create and for the ease of insurance risk management and the flexibility for cash flows they generate. Additionally, they may provide coverage of risks which is neither available nor offered in the traditional insurance market at reasonable prices.
The types of risk that a captive can underwrite for their parents include property damage, public and product liability, professional indemnity, employee benefits, employers' liability, motor and medical aid expenses. The captive's exposure to such risks may be limited by the use of reinsurance.
Captives are becoming an increasingly important component of the risk management and risk financing strategy of their parent. This can be understood against the following background:
* heavy and increasing premium costs in almost every line of coverage;
* difficulties in insuring certain types of fortuitous risk;
* differential coverage standards in various parts of the world;
* rating structures which reflect market trends rather than individual loss experience;
* insufficient credit for deductibles and/or loss control efforts.
There are also companies known as 'insurance consultants'. Like a mortgage broker, these companies are paid a fee by the customer to shop around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. Similar to an insurance consultant, an 'insurance broker' also shops around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. However, with insurance brokers, the fee is usually paid in the form of commission from the insurer that is selected rather than directly from the client.
Neither insurance consultants nor insurance brokers are insurance companies and no risks are transferred to them in insurance transactions. Third party administrators are companies that perform underwriting and sometimes claims handling services for insurance companies. These companies often have special expertise that the insurance companies do not have.
The financial stability and strength of an insurance company should be a major consideration when buying an insurance contract. An insurance premium paid currently provides coverage for losses that might arise many years in the future. For that reason, the viability of the insurance carrier is very important. In recent years, a number of insurance companies have become insolvent, leaving their policyholders with no coverage (or coverage only from a government-backed insurance pool or other arrangement with less attractive payouts for losses). A number of independent rating agencies, such as Best's, Fitch, Standard & Poor's, and Moody's Investors Service, provide information and rate the financial viability of insurance companies.
[edit] Global insurance industry
Life insurance premia written in 2005
Non-life insurance premia written in 2005
Global insurance premiums grew by 8.0% in 2006 (or 5% in real terms) to reach $3.7 trillion due to improved profitability and a benign economic environment characterised by solid economic growth, moderate inflation and strong equity markets. Profitability improved in both life and non-life insurance in 2006 compared to the previous year. Life insurance premiums grew by 10.2% in 2006 as demand for annuity and pension products rose. Non-life insurance premiums grew by 5.0% due to growth in premium rates. Over the past decade, global insurance premiums rose by more than a half as annual growth fluctuated between 2% and 11%.
Advanced economies account for the bulk of global insurance. With premium income of $1,485bn, Europe was the most important region, followed by North America ($1,258bn) and Asia ($801bn). The top four countries accounted for nearly two-thirds of premiums in 2006. The U.S. and Japan alone accounted for 43% of world insurance, much higher than their 7% share of the global population. Emerging markets accounted for over 85% of the world’s population but generated only around 10% of premiums. The volume of UK insurance business totalled $418bn in 2006 or 11.2% of global premiums. [12]
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Insurance insulates too much
By creating a "security blanket" for its insureds, an insurance company may inadvertently find that its insureds may not be as risk-averse as they might otherwise be (since, by definition, the insured has transferred the risk to the insurer). This problem is known to the insurance industry as moral hazard. To reduce their own financial exposure, insurance companies have contractual clauses that mitigate their obligation to provide coverage if the insured engages in behavior that grossly magnifies their risk of loss or liability.
For example, life insurance companies may require higher premiums or deny coverage altogether to people who work in hazardous occupations or engage in dangerous sports. Liability insurance providers do not provide coverage for liability arising from intentional torts committed by the insured. Even if a provider were so irrational as to want to provide such coverage, it is against the public policy of most countries to allow such insurance to exist, and thus it is usually illegal.
[edit] Complexity of insurance policy contracts
Insurance policies can be complex and some policyholders may not understand all the fees and coverages included in a policy. As a result, people may buy policies on unfavorable terms. In response to these issues, many countries have enacted detailed statutory and regulatory regimes governing every aspect of the insurance business, including minimum standards for policies and the ways in which they may be advertised and sold.
For example, most insurance policies in the English language today have been carefully drafted in plain English; the industry learned the hard way that many courts will not enforce policies against insureds when the judges themselves cannot understand what the policies are saying.
Many institutional insurance purchasers buy insurance through an insurance broker. Brokers represent the buyer (not the insurance company), and typically counsel the buyer on appropriate coverage and policy limitations. A broker generally holds contracts with many insurers, thereby allowing the broker to "shop" the market for the best rates and coverage possible.
Insurance may also be purchased through an agent. Unlike a broker, who represents the policyholder, an agent represents the insurance company from whom the policyholder buys. An agent can represent more than one company.
[edit] Redlining
Redlining is the practice of denying insurance coverage in specific geographic areas, supposedly because of a high likelihood of loss, while the alleged motivation is unlawful discrimination. Racial profiling or redlining has a long history in the property insurance industry in the United States. From a review of industry underwriting and marketing materials, court documents, and research by government agencies, industry and community groups, and academics, it is clear that race has long affected and continues to affect the policies and practices of the insurance industry.[13]
All states have provisions in their rate regulation laws or in their fair trade practice acts that prohibit unfair discrimination, often called redlining, in setting rates and making insurance available.[14]
In determining premiums and premium rate structures, insurers consider quantifiable factors, including location, credit scores, gender, occupation, marital status, and education level. However, the use of such factors is often considered to be unfair or unlawfully discriminatory, and the reaction against this practice has in some instances led to political disputes about the ways in which insurers determine premiums and regulatory intervention to limit the factors used.
An insurance underwriter's job is to evaluate a given risk as to the likelihood that a loss will occur. Any factor that causes a greater likelihood of loss should theoretically be charged a higher rate. This basic principle of insurance must be followed if insurance companies are to remain solvent. Thus, "discrimination" against (i.e., negative differential treatment of) potential insureds in the risk evaluation and premium-setting process is a necessary by-product of the fundamentals of insurance underwriting. For instance, insurers charge older people significantly higher premiums than they charge younger people for term life insurance. Older people are thus treated differently than younger people (i.e., a distinction is made, discrimination occurs). The rationale for the differential treatment goes to the heart of the risk a life insurer takes: Old people are likely to die sooner than young people, so the risk of loss (the insured's death) is greater in any given period of time and therefore the risk premium must be higher to cover the greater risk. However, treating insureds differently when there is no actuarially sound reason for doing so is unlawful discrimination.
What is often missing from the debate is that prohibiting the use of legitimate, actuarially sound factors means that an insufficient amount is being charged for a given risk, and there is thus a deficit in the system. The failure to address the deficit may mean insolvency and hardship for all of a company's insureds. The options for addressing the deficit seem to be the following: Charge the deficit to the other policyholders or charge it to the government (i.e., externalize outside of the company to society at large).
[edit] Insurance patents
Further information: Insurance patent
New insurance products can now be protected from copying with a business method patent in the United States.
A recent example of a new insurance product that is patented is Usage Based auto insurance. Early versions were independently invented and patented by a major U.S. auto insurance company, Progressive Auto Insurance (U.S. Patent 5,797,134 ) and a Spanish independent inventor, Salvador Minguijon Perez (EP patent 0700009).
Many independent inventors are in favor of patenting new insurance products since it gives them protection from big companies when they bring their new insurance products to market. Independent inventors account for 70% of the new U.S. patent applications in this area.
Many insurance executives are opposed to patenting insurance products because it creates a new risk for them. The Hartford insurance company, for example, recently had to pay $80 million to an independent inventor, Bancorp Services, in order to settle a patent infringement and theft of trade secret lawsuit for a type of corporate owned life insurance product invented and patented by Bancorp.
There are currently about 150 new patent applications on insurance inventions filed per year in the United States. The rate at which patents have issued has steadily risen from 15 in 2002 to 44 in 2006. [15]
Inventors can now have their insurance U.S. patent applications reviewed by the public in the Peer to Patent program.[16]
[edit] The insurance industry and rent seeking
Certain insurance products and practices have been described as rent seeking by critics.[citation needed] That is, some insurance products or practices are useful primarily because of legal benefits, such as reducing taxes, as opposed to providing protection against risks of adverse events. Under United States tax law, for example, most owners of variable annuities and variable life insurance can invest their premium payments in the stock market and defer or eliminate paying any taxes on their investments until withdrawals are made. Sometimes this tax deferral is the only reason people use these products.[citation needed] Another example is the legal infrastructure which allows life insurance to be held in an irrevocable trust which is used to pay an estate tax while the proceeds themselves are immune from the estate tax.
[edit] Criticism of insurance companies
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page. (September 2008)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
Some people believe that modern insurance companies are money-making businesses which have little interest in insurance.[citation needed] They argue that the purpose of insurance is to spread risk so the reluctance of insurance companies to take on high-risk cases (e.g. houses in areas subject to flooding, or young drivers) runs counter to the principle of insurance.[citation needed]
Other criticisms include:
* Insurance policies contain too many exclusion clauses. For example, some house insurance policies do not cover damage to garden walls.[citation needed]
* Many insurance companies now use call centres and staff attempt to answer questions by reading from a script.[citation needed] It is difficult to speak to anybody with expert knowledge.[citation needed] While policyholders find their premium payments decrease when dealing with companies who sacrifice the use of trained insurance agents, they also risk greater financial loss due to inadequate coverage protection.[citation needed] Those companies who invest in educated insurance agents provide a valued service to the community. Policyholders who work with knowledgeable insurance agents are more likely to identify needs, evaluate options, purchase sufficient insurance protection, and minimize the risk of heavy financial loss for themselves and their family.[citation needed]
[edit] Glossary
* 'Combined ratio' = loss ratio + expense ratio + commission ratio. Loss ratio is calculated by dividing the amount of losses (sometimes including loss adjustment expenses) by the amount of earned premium. Expense ratio is calculated by dividing the amount of operational expenses by the amount of written premium. A lower number indicates a better return on the amount of capital placed at risk by an insurer.
* 'SSA' = subscriber savings account.
* 'AIF' = attorney in fact.
Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for a premium, and can be thought of as a guaranteed small loss to prevent a large, possibly devastating loss. An insurer is a company selling the insurance; an insured is the person or entity buying the insurance. The insurance rate is a factor used to determine the amount, called the premium, to be charged for a certain amount of insurance coverage. Risk management, the practice of appraising and controlling risk, has evolved as a discrete field of study and practice.
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Principles of insurance
* 2 Indemnification
* 3 Insurers' business model
o 3.1 Underwriting and investing
o 3.2 Claims
* 4 History of insurance
* 5 Types of insurance
o 5.1 Auto insurance
o 5.2 Home insurance
o 5.3 Health
o 5.4 Disability
o 5.5 Casualty
o 5.6 Life
o 5.7 Property
o 5.8 Liability
o 5.9 Credit
o 5.10 Other types
o 5.11 Insurance financing vehicles
o 5.12 Closed community self-insurance
* 6 Insurance companies
* 7 Global insurance industry
* 8 Controversies
o 8.1 Insurance insulates too much
o 8.2 Complexity of insurance policy contracts
o 8.3 Redlining
o 8.4 Insurance patents
o 8.5 The insurance industry and rent seeking
o 8.6 Criticism of insurance companies
* 9 Glossary
* 10 See also
* 11 Notes
* 12 External links
[edit] Principles of insurance
Financial market
participants
Collective investment schemes
Credit Unions
Insurance companies
Investment banks
Pension funds
Prime Brokers
Trusts
Finance series
Financial market
Participants
Corporate finance
Personal finance
Public finance
Banks and Banking
Financial regulation
v • d • e
Commercially insurable risks typically share seven common characteristics.[1]
1. A large number of homogeneous exposure units. The vast majority of insurance policies are provided for individual members of very large classes. Automobile insurance, for example, covered about 175 million automobiles in the United States in 2004.[2] The existence of a large number of homogeneous exposure units allows insurers to benefit from the so-called “law of large numbers,” which in effect states that as the number of exposure units increases, the actual results are increasingly likely to become close to expected results. There are exceptions to this criterion. Lloyd's of London is famous for insuring the life or health of actors, actresses and sports figures. Satellite Launch insurance covers events that are infrequent. Large commercial property policies may insure exceptional properties for which there are no ‘homogeneous’ exposure units. Despite failing on this criterion, many exposures like these are generally considered to be insurable.
2. Definite Loss. The event that gives rise to the loss that is subject to insurance should, at least in principle, take place at a known time, in a known place, and from a known cause. The classic example is death of an insured person on a life insurance policy. Fire, automobile accidents, and worker injuries may all easily meet this criterion. Other types of losses may only be definite in theory. Occupational disease, for instance, may involve prolonged exposure to injurious conditions where no specific time, place or cause is identifiable. Ideally, the time, place and cause of a loss should be clear enough that a reasonable person, with sufficient information, could objectively verify all three elements.
3. Accidental Loss. The event that constitutes the trigger of a claim should be fortuitous, or at least outside the control of the beneficiary of the insurance. The loss should be ‘pure,’ in the sense that it results from an event for which there is only the opportunity for cost. Events that contain speculative elements, such as ordinary business risks, are generally not considered insurable.
4. Large Loss. The size of the loss must be meaningful from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums need to cover both the expected cost of losses, plus the cost of issuing and administering the policy, adjusting losses, and supplying the capital needed to reasonably assure that the insurer will be able to pay claims. For small losses these latter costs may be several times the size of the expected cost of losses. There is little point in paying such costs unless the protection offered has real value to a buyer.
5. Affordable Premium. If the likelihood of an insured event is so high, or the cost of the event so large, that the resulting premium is large relative to the amount of protection offered, it is not likely that anyone will buy insurance, even if on offer. Further, as the accounting profession formally recognizes in financial accounting standards, the premium cannot be so large that there is not a reasonable chance of a significant loss to the insurer. If there is no such chance of loss, the transaction may have the form of insurance, but not the substance. (See the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board standard number 113)
6. Calculable Loss. There are two elements that must be at least estimable, if not formally calculable: the probability of loss, and the attendant cost. Probability of loss is generally an empirical exercise, while cost has more to do with the ability of a reasonable person in possession of a copy of the insurance policy and a proof of loss associated with a claim presented under that policy to make a reasonably definite and objective evaluation of the amount of the loss recoverable as a result of the claim.
7. Limited risk of catastrophically large losses. The essential risk is often aggregation. If the same event can cause losses to numerous policyholders of the same insurer, the ability of that insurer to issue policies becomes constrained, not by factors surrounding the individual characteristics of a given policyholder, but by the factors surrounding the sum of all policyholders so exposed. Typically, insurers prefer to limit their exposure to a loss from a single event to some small portion of their capital base, on the order of 5 percent. Where the loss can be aggregated, or an individual policy could produce exceptionally large claims, the capital constraint will restrict an insurer's appetite for additional policyholders. The classic example is earthquake insurance, where the ability of an underwriter to issue a new policy depends on the number and size of the policies that it has already underwritten. Wind insurance in hurricane zones, particularly along coast lines, is another example of this phenomenon. In extreme cases, the aggregation can affect the entire industry, since the combined capital of insurers and reinsurers can be small compared to the needs of potential policyholders in areas exposed to aggregation risk. In commercial fire insurance it is possible to find single properties whose total exposed value is well in excess of any individual insurer’s capital constraint. Such properties are generally shared among several insurers, or are insured by a single insurer who syndicates the risk into the reinsurance market.
[edit] Indemnification
Main article: Indemnity
The technical definition of "indemnity" means to make whole again. There are two types of insurance contracts;
1. an "indemnity" policy and
2. a "pay on behalf" or "on behalf of"[3] policy.
The difference is significant on paper, but rarely material in practice.
An "indemnity" policy will never pay claims until the insured has paid out of pocket to some third party; for example, a visitor to your home slips on a floor that you left wet and sues you for $10,000 and wins. Under an "indemnity" policy the homeowner would have to come up with the $10,000 to pay for the visitor's fall and then would be "indemnified" by the insurance carrier for the out of pocket costs (the $10,000)[4].
Under the same situation, a "pay on behalf" policy, the insurance carrier would pay the claim and the insured (the homeowner) would not be out of pocket for anything. Most modern liability insurance is written on the basis of "pay on behalf" language[5].
An entity seeking to transfer risk (an individual, corporation, or association of any type, etc.) becomes the 'insured' party once risk is assumed by an 'insurer', the insuring party, by means of a contract, called an insurance 'policy'. Generally, an insurance contract includes, at a minimum, the following elements: the parties (the insurer, the insured, the beneficiaries), the premium, the period of coverage, the particular loss event covered, the amount of coverage (i.e., the amount to be paid to the insured or beneficiary in the event of a loss), and exclusions (events not covered). An insured is thus said to be "indemnified" against the loss events covered in the policy.
When insured parties experience a loss for a specified peril, the coverage entitles the policyholder to make a 'claim' against the insurer for the covered amount of loss as specified by the policy. The fee paid by the insured to the insurer for assuming the risk is called the 'premium'. Insurance premiums from many insureds are used to fund accounts reserved for later payment of claims—in theory for a relatively few claimants—and for overhead costs. So long as an insurer maintains adequate funds set aside for anticipated losses (i.e., reserves), the remaining margin is an insurer's profit.
[edit] Insurers' business model
[edit] Underwriting and investing
The business model can be reduced to a simple equation: Profit = earned premium + investment income - incurred loss - underwriting expenses.
Insurers make money in two ways: (1) through underwriting, the process by which insurers select the risks to insure and decide how much in premiums to charge for accepting those risks and (2) by investing the premiums they collect from insured parties.
The most complicated aspect of the insurance business is the underwriting of policies. Using a wide assortment of data, insurers predict the likelihood that a claim will be made against their policies and price products accordingly. To this end, insurers use actuarial science to quantify the risks they are willing to assume and the premium they will charge to assume them. Data is analyzed to fairly accurately project the rate of future claims based on a given risk. Actuarial science uses statistics and probability to analyze the risks associated with the range of perils covered, and these scientific principles are used to determine an insurer's overall exposure. Upon termination of a given policy, the amount of premium collected and the investment gains thereon minus the amount paid out in claims is the insurer's underwriting profit on that policy. Of course, from the insurer's perspective, some policies are winners (i.e., the insurer pays out less in claims and expenses than it receives in premiums and investment income) and some are losers (i.e., the insurer pays out more in claims and expenses than it receives in premiums and investment income).
An insurer's underwriting performance is measured in its combined ratio. The loss ratio (incurred losses and loss-adjustment expenses divided by net earned premium) is added to the expense ratio (underwriting expenses divided by net premium written) to determine the company's combined ratio. The combined ratio is a reflection of the company's overall underwriting profitability. A combined ratio of less than 100 percent indicates underwriting profitability, while anything over 100 indicates an underwriting loss.
Insurance companies also earn investment profits on “float”. “Float” or available reserve is the amount of money, at hand at any given moment, that an insurer has collected in insurance premiums but has not been paid out in claims. Insurers start investing insurance premiums as soon as they are collected and continue to earn interest on them until claims are paid out.
In the United States, the underwriting loss of property and casualty insurance companies was $142.3 billion in the five years ending 2003. But overall profit for the same period was $68.4 billion, as the result of float. Some insurance industry insiders, most notably Hank Greenberg, do not believe that it is forever possible to sustain a profit from float without an underwriting profit as well, but this opinion is not universally held. Naturally, the “float” method is difficult to carry out in an economically depressed period. Bear markets do cause insurers to shift away from investments and to toughen up their underwriting standards. So a poor economy generally means high insurance premiums. This tendency to swing between profitable and unprofitable periods over time is commonly known as the "underwriting" or insurance cycle. [6]
Property and casualty insurers currently make the most money from their auto insurance line of business. Generally better statistics are available on auto losses and underwriting on this line of business has benefited greatly from advances in computing. Additionally, property losses in the United States, due to unpredictable natural catastrophes, have exacerbated this trend.
[edit] Claims
Finally, claims and loss handling is the materialized utility of insurance; it is the actual "product" paid for, though one hopes it will never need to be used. Claims may be filed by insureds directly with the insurer or through brokers or agents. The insurer may require that the claim be filed on its own proprietary forms, or may accept claims on a standard industry form such as those produced by ACORD.
Insurance company claim departments employ a large number of claims adjusters supported by a staff of records management and data entry clerks. Incoming claims are classified based on severity and are assigned to adjusters whose settlement authority varies with their knowledge and experience. The adjuster undertakes a thorough investigation of each claim, usually in close cooperation with the insured, determines its reasonable monetary value, and authorizes payment. Adjusting liability insurance claims is particularly difficult because there is a third party involved (the plaintiff who is suing the insured) who is under no contractual obligation to cooperate with the insurer and in fact may regard the insurer as a deep pocket. The adjuster must obtain legal counsel for the insured (either inside "house" counsel or outside "panel" counsel), monitor litigation that may take years to complete, and appear in person or over the telephone with settlement authority at a mandatory settlement conference when requested by the judge.
In managing the claims handling function, insurers seek to balance the elements of customer satisfaction, administrative handling expenses, and claims overpayment leakages. As part of this balancing act, fraudulent insurance practices are a major business risk that must be managed and overcome. Disputes between insurers and insureds over the validity of claims or claims handling practices occasionally escalate into litigation; see insurance bad faith.
[edit] History of insurance
Main article: History of insurance
In some sense we can say that insurance appears simultaneously with the appearance of human society. We know of two types of economies in human societies: money economies (with markets, money, financial instruments and so on) and non-money or natural economies (without money, markets, financial instruments and so on). The second type is a more ancient form than the first. In such an economy and community, we can see insurance in the form of people helping each other. For example, if a house burns down, the members of the community help build a new one. Should the same thing happen to one's neighbour, the other neighbours must help. Otherwise, neighbours will not receive help in the future. This type of insurance has survived to the present day in some countries where modern money economy with its financial instruments is not widespread (for example countries in the territory of the former Soviet Union).
Turning to insurance in the modern sense (i.e., insurance in a modern money economy, in which insurance is part of the financial sphere), early methods of transferring or distributing risk were practised by Chinese and Babylonian traders as long ago as the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, respectively. Chinese merchants travelling treacherous river rapids would redistribute their wares across many vessels to limit the loss due to any single vessel's capsizing. The Babylonians developed a system which was recorded in the famous Code of Hammurabi, c. 1750 BC, and practised by early Mediterranean sailing merchants. If a merchant received a loan to fund his shipment, he would pay the lender an additional sum in exchange for the lender's guarantee to cancel the loan should the shipment be stolen.
Achaemenian monarchs of Iran were the first to insure their people and made it official by registering the insuring process in governmental notary offices. The insurance tradition was performed each year in Norouz (beginning of the Iranian New Year); the heads of different ethnic groups as well as others willing to take part, presented gifts to the monarch. The most important gift was presented during a special ceremony. When a gift was worth more than 10,000 Derrik (Achaemenian gold coin) the issue was registered in a special office. This was advantageous to those who presented such special gifts. For others, the presents were fairly assessed by the confidants of the court. Then the assessment was registered in special offices.
The purpose of registering was that whenever the person who presented the gift registered by the court was in trouble, the monarch and the court would help him. Jahez, a historian and writer, writes in one of his books on ancient Iran: "[W]henever the owner of the present is in trouble or wants to construct a building, set up a feast, have his children married, etc. the one in charge of this in the court would check the registration. If the registered amount exceeded 10,000 Derrik, he or she would receive an amount of twice as much."[1]
A thousand years later, the inhabitants of Rhodes invented the concept of the 'general average'. Merchants whose goods were being shipped together would pay a proportionally divided premium which would be used to reimburse any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during storm or sinkage.
The Greeks and Romans introduced the origins of health and life insurance c. 600 AD when they organized guilds called "benevolent societies" which cared for the families and paid funeral expenses of members upon death. Guilds in the Middle Ages served a similar purpose. The Talmud deals with several aspects of insuring goods. Before insurance was established in the late 17th century, "friendly societies" existed in England, in which people donated amounts of money to a general sum that could be used for emergencies.
Separate insurance contracts (i.e., insurance policies not bundled with loans or other kinds of contracts) were invented in Genoa in the 14th century, as were insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates. These new insurance contracts allowed insurance to be separated from investment, a separation of roles that first proved useful in marine insurance. Insurance became far more sophisticated in post-Renaissance Europe, and specialized varieties developed.
Toward the end of the seventeenth century, London's growing importance as a centre for trade increased demand for marine insurance. In the late 1680s, Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house that became a popular haunt of ship owners, merchants, and ships’ captains, and thereby a reliable source of the latest shipping news. It became the meeting place for parties wishing to insure cargoes and ships, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. Today, Lloyd's of London remains the leading market (note that it is not an insurance company) for marine and other specialist types of insurance, but it works rather differently than the more familiar kinds of insurance.
Insurance as we know it today can be traced to the Great Fire of London, which in 1666 devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England's first fire insurance company, "The Fire Office," to insure brick and frame homes.
The first insurance company in the United States underwrote fire insurance and was formed in Charles Town (modern-day Charleston), South Carolina, in 1732. Benjamin Franklin helped to popularize and make standard the practice of insurance, particularly against fire in the form of perpetual insurance. In 1752, he founded the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Franklin's company was the first to make contributions toward fire prevention. Not only did his company warn against certain fire hazards, it refused to insure certain buildings where the risk of fire was too great, such as all wooden houses. In the United States, regulation of the insurance industry is highly Balkanized, with primary responsibility assumed by individual state insurance departments. Whereas insurance markets have become centralized nationally and internationally, state insurance commissioners operate individually, though at times in concert through a national insurance commissioners' organization. In recent years, some have called for a dual state and federal regulatory system (commonly referred to as the Optional federal charter (OFC)) for insurance similar to that which oversees state banks and national banks.
[edit] Types of insurance
Any risk that can be quantified can potentially be insured. Specific kinds of risk that may give rise to claims are known as "perils". An insurance policy will set out in detail which perils are covered by the policy and which are not. Below are (non-exhaustive) lists of the many different types of insurance that exist. A single policy may cover risks in one or more of the categories set out below. For example, auto insurance would typically cover both property risk (covering the risk of theft or damage to the car) and liability risk (covering legal claims from causing an accident). A homeowner's insurance policy in the U.S. typically includes property insurance covering damage to the home and the owner's belongings, liability insurance covering certain legal claims against the owner, and even a small amount of coverage for medical expenses of guests who are injured on the owner's property.
Business insurance can be any kind of insurance that protects businesses against risks. Some principal subtypes of business insurance are (a) the various kinds of professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity insurance, which are discussed below under that name; and (b) the business owner's policy (BOP), which bundles into one policy many of the kinds of coverage that a business owner needs, in a way analogous to how homeowners insurance bundles the coverages that a homeowner needs.[7]
[edit] Auto insurance
Main article: Vehicle insurance
A wrecked vehicle
Auto insurance protects you against financial loss if you have an accident. It is a contract between you and the insurance company. You agree to pay the premium and the insurance company agrees to pay your losses as defined in your policy. Auto insurance provides property, liability and medical coverage: (1) Property coverage pays for damage to or theft of your car. (2) Liability coverage pays for your legal responsibility to others for bodily injury or property damage. and (3) Medical coverage pays for the cost of treating injuries, rehabilitation and sometimes lost wages and funeral expenses. An auto insurance policy is comprised of six different kinds of coverage. Most countries require you to buy some, but not all, of these coverages. If you're financing a car, your lender may also have requirements.
Most auto policies are for six months to a year. Your insurance company should notify you by mail when it’s time to renew the policy and to pay your premium. [8]
[edit] Home insurance
Main article: Home insurance
Home insurance provides compensation for damage or destruction of a home from disasters. In some geographical areas, the standard insurances excludes certain types of disasters, such as flood and earthquakes, that require additional coverage. Maintenance-related problems are the homeowners' responsibility. The policy may include inventory, or this can be bought as a separate policy, especially for people who rent housing. In some countries, insurers offer a package which may include liability and legal responsibility for injuries and property damage caused by members of the household, including pets.[9]
[edit] Health
Main articles: Health insurance and Dental insurance
Almost all developed countries have government-supplied insurance for health
Health insurance policies by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom (NHS) or other publicly-funded health programs will cover the cost of medical treatments. Dental insurance, like medical insurance, is coverage for individuals to protect them against dental costs. In the U.S., dental insurance is often part of an employer's benefits package, along with health insurance. Most countries rely on public funding to ensure that all citizens have universal access to health care.
[edit] Disability
* Disability insurance policies provide financial support in the event the policyholder is unable to work because of disabling illness or injury. It provides monthly support to help pay such obligations as mortgages and credit cards.
* Disability overhead insurance allows business owners to cover the overhead expenses of their business while they are unable to work.
* Total permanent disability insurance provides benefits when a person is permanently disabled and can no longer work in their profession, often taken as an adjunct to life insurance.
* Workers' compensation insurance replaces all or part of a worker's wages lost and accompanying medical expenses incurred because of a job-related injury.
[edit] Casualty
Casualty insurance insures against accidents, not necessarily tied to any specific property.
Main article: Casualty insurance
* Crime insurance is a form of casualty insurance that covers the policyholder against losses arising from the criminal acts of third parties. For example, a company can obtain crime insurance to cover losses arising from theft or embezzlement.
* Political risk insurance is a form of casualty insurance that can be taken out by businesses with operations in countries in which there is a risk that revolution or other political conditions will result in a loss.
[edit] Life
Main article: Life insurance
Life insurance provides a monetary benefit to a decedent's family or other designated beneficiary, and may specifically provide for income to an insured person's family, burial, funeral and other final expenses. Life insurance policies often allow the option of having the proceeds paid to the beneficiary either in a lump sum cash payment or an annuity.
Annuities provide a stream of payments and are generally classified as insurance because they are issued by insurance companies and regulated as insurance and require the same kinds of actuarial and investment management expertise that life insurance requires. Annuities and pensions that pay a benefit for life are sometimes regarded as insurance against the possibility that a retiree will outlive his or her financial resources. In that sense, they are the complement of life insurance and, from an underwriting perspective, are the mirror image of life insurance.
Certain life insurance contracts accumulate cash values, which may be taken by the insured if the policy is surrendered or which may be borrowed against. Some policies, such as annuities and endowment policies, are financial instruments to accumulate or liquidate wealth when it is needed.
In many countries, such as the U.S. and the UK, the tax law provides that the interest on this cash value is not taxable under certain circumstances. This leads to widespread use of life insurance as a tax-efficient method of saving as well as protection in the event of early death.
In U.S., the tax on interest income on life insurance policies and annuities is generally deferred. However, in some cases the benefit derived from tax deferral may be offset by a low return. This depends upon the insuring company, the type of policy and other variables (mortality, market return, etc.). Moreover, other income tax saving vehicles (e.g., IRAs, 401(k) plans, Roth IRAs) may be better alternatives for value accumulation. A combination of low-cost term life insurance and a higher-return tax-efficient retirement account may achieve better investment return.
[edit] Property
Main article: Property insurance
This tornado damage to an Illinois home would be considered an "Act of God" for insurance purposes
Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, inland marine insurance or boiler insurance.
* Automobile insurance, known in the UK as motor insurance, is probably the most common form of insurance and may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage to the insured's vehicle itself. Throughout the United States an auto insurance policy is required to legally operate a motor vehicle on public roads. In some jurisdictions, bodily injury compensation for automobile accident victims has been changed to a no-fault system, which reduces or eliminates the ability to sue for compensation but provides automatic eligibility for benefits. Credit card companies insure against damage on rented cars.
o Driving School Insurance insurance provides cover for any authorized driver whilst undergoing tuition, cover also unlike other motor policies provides cover for instructor liability where both the pupil and driving instructor are equally liable in the event of a claim.
* Aviation insurance insures against hull, spares, deductibles, hull wear and liability risks.
* Boiler insurance (also known as boiler and machinery insurance or equipment breakdown insurance) insures against accidental physical damage to equipment or machinery.
* Builder's risk insurance insures against the risk of physical loss or damage to property during construction. Builder's risk insurance is typically written on an "all risk" basis covering damage due to any cause (including the negligence of the insured) not otherwise expressly excluded.
* Crop insurance "Farmers use crop insurance to reduce or manage various risks associated with growing crops. Such risks include crop loss or damage caused by weather, hail, drought, frost damage, insects, or disease, for instance."[10]
* Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage. Most earthquake insurance policies feature a high deductible. Rates depend on location and the probability of an earthquake, as well as the construction of the home.
* A fidelity bond is a form of casualty insurance that covers policyholders for losses that they incur as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees.
* Flood insurance protects against property loss due to flooding. Many insurers in the U.S. do not provide flood insurance in some portions of the country. In response to this, the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program which serves as the insurer of last resort.
* Home insurance or homeowners' insurance: See "Property insurance".
* Landlord insurance is specifically designed for people who own properties which they rent out. Most house insurance cover in the U.K will not be valid if the property is rented out therefore landlords must take out this specialist form of home insurance.
* Marine insurance and marine cargo insurance cover the loss or damage of ships at sea or on inland waterways, and of the cargo that may be on them. When the owner of the cargo and the carrier are separate corporations, marine cargo insurance typically compensates the owner of cargo for losses sustained from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier or the carrier's insurance. Many marine insurance underwriters will include "time element" coverage in such policies, which extends the indemnity to cover loss of profit and other business expenses attributable to the delay caused by a covered loss.
* Surety bond insurance is a three party insurance guaranteeing the performance of the principal.
* Terrorism insurance provides protection against any loss or damage caused by terrorist activities.
* Volcano insurance is an insurance that covers volcano damage in Hawaii.
* Windstorm insurance is an insurance covering the damage that can be caused by hurricanes and tropical cyclones.
[edit] Liability
Main article: Liability insurance
Liability insurance is a very broad superset that covers legal claims against the insured. Many types of insurance include an aspect of liability coverage. For example, a homeowner's insurance policy will normally include liability coverage which protects the insured in the event of a claim brought by someone who slips and falls on the property; automobile insurance also includes an aspect of liability insurance that indemnifies against the harm that a crashing car can cause to others' lives, health, or property. The protection offered by a liability insurance policy is twofold: a legal defense in the event of a lawsuit commenced against the policyholder and indemnification (payment on behalf of the insured) with respect to a settlement or court verdict. Liability policies typically cover only the negligence of the insured, and will not apply to results of wilful or intentional acts by the insured.
* Directors and officers liability insurance protects an organization (usually a corporation) from costs associated with litigation resulting from mistakes made by directors and officers for which they are liable. In the industry, it is usually called "D&O" for short.
* Environmental liability insurance protects the insured from bodily injury, property damage and cleanup costs as a result of the dispersal, release or escape of pollutants.
* Errors and omissions insurance: See "Professional liability insurance" under "Liability insurance".
* Prize indemnity insurance protects the insured from giving away a large prize at a specific event. Examples would include offering prizes to contestants who can make a half-court shot at a basketball game, or a hole-in-one at a golf tournament.
* Professional liability insurance, also called professional indemnity insurance, protects insured professionals such as architectural corporation and medical practice against potential negligence claims made by their patients/clients. Professional liability insurance may take on different names depending on the profession. For example, professional liability insurance in reference to the medical profession may be called malpractice insurance. Notaries public may take out errors and omissions insurance (E&O). Other potential E&O policyholders include, for example, real estate brokers, Insurance agents, home inspectors, appraisers, and website developers.
[edit] Credit
Main article: Credit insurance
Credit insurance repays some or all of a loan when certain things happen to the borrower such as unemployment, disability, or death.
* Mortgage insurance insures the lender against default by the borrower. Mortgage insurance is a form of credit insurance, although the name credit insurance more often is used to refer to policies that cover other kinds of debt.
[edit] Other types
* Collateral protection insurance or CPI, insures property (primarily vehicles) held as collateral for loans made by lending institutions.
* Defense Base Act Workers' compensation or DBA Insurance provides coverage for civilian workers hired by the government to perform contracts outside the U.S. and Canada. DBA is required for all U.S. citizens, U.S. residents, U.S. Green Card holders, and all employees or subcontractors hired on overseas government contracts. Depending on the country, Foreign Nationals must also be covered under DBA. This coverage typically includes expenses related to medical treatment and loss of wages, as well as disability and death benefits.
* Expatriate insurance provides individuals and organizations operating outside of their home country with protection for automobiles, property, health, liability and business pursuits.
* Financial loss insurance protects individuals and companies against various financial risks. For example, a business might purchase coverage to protect it from loss of sales if a fire in a factory prevented it from carrying out its business for a time. Insurance might also cover the failure of a creditor to pay money it owes to the insured. This type of insurance is frequently referred to as "business interruption insurance." Fidelity bonds and surety bonds are included in this category, although these products provide a benefit to a third party (the "obligee") in the event the insured party (usually referred to as the "obligor") fails to perform its obligations under a contract with the obligee.
* Kidnap and ransom insurance
* Locked funds insurance is a little-known hybrid insurance policy jointly issued by governments and banks. It is used to protect public funds from tamper by unauthorized parties. In special cases, a government may authorize its use in protecting semi-private funds which are liable to tamper. The terms of this type of insurance are usually very strict. Therefore it is used only in extreme cases where maximum security of funds is required.
* Nuclear incident insurance covers damages resulting from an incident involving radioactive materials and is generally arranged at the national level. See the Nuclear exclusion clause and for the United States the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act)
* Pet insurance insures pets against accidents and illnesses - some companies cover routine/wellness care and burial, as well.
* Pollution Insurance, which consists of first-party coverage for contamination of insured property either by external or on-site sources. Coverage for liability to third parties arising from contamination of air, water, or land due to the sudden and accidental release of hazardous materials from the insured site. The policy usually covers the costs of cleanup and may include coverage for releases from underground storage tanks. Intentional acts are specifically excluded.
* Purchase insurance is aimed at providing protection on the products people purchase. Purchase insurance can cover individual purchase protection, warranties, guarantees, care plans and even mobile phone insurance. Such insurance is normally very limited in the scope of problems that are covered by the policy.
* Title insurance provides a guarantee that title to real property is vested in the purchaser and/or mortgagee, free and clear of liens or encumbrances. It is usually issued in conjunction with a search of the public records performed at the time of a real estate transaction.
* Travel insurance is an insurance cover taken by those who travel abroad, which covers certain losses such as medical expenses, loss of personal belongings, travel delay, personal liabilities, etc.
[edit] Insurance financing vehicles
* Fraternal insurance is provided on a cooperative basis by fraternal benefit societies or other social organizations.[11]
* No-fault insurance is a type of insurance policy (typically automobile insurance) where insureds are indemnified by their own insurer regardless of fault in the incident.
* Protected Self-Insurance is an alternative risk financing mechanism in which an organization retains the mathematically calculated cost of risk within the organization and transfers the catastrophic risk with specific and aggregate limits to an insurer so the maximum total cost of the program is known. A properly designed and underwritten Protected Self-Insurance Program reduces and stabilizes the cost of insurance and provides valuable risk management information.
* Retrospectively Rated Insurance is a method of establishing a premium on large commercial accounts. The final premium is based on the insured's actual loss experience during the policy term, sometimes subject to a minimum and maximum premium, with the final premium determined by a formula. Under this plan, the current year's premium is based partially (or wholly) on the current year's losses, although the premium adjustments may take months or years beyond the current year's expiration date. The rating formula is guaranteed in the insurance contract. Formula: retrospective premium = converted loss + basic premium × tax multiplier. Numerous variations of this formula have been developed and are in use.
* Formal self insurance is the deliberate decision to pay for otherwise insurable losses out of one's own money. This can be done on a formal basis by establishing a separate fund into which funds are deposited on a periodic basis, or by simply forgoing the purchase of available insurance and paying out-of-pocket. Self insurance is usually used to pay for high-frequency, low-severity losses. Such losses, if covered by conventional insurance, mean having to pay a premium that includes loadings for the company's general expenses, cost of putting the policy on the books, acquisition expenses, premium taxes, and contingencies. While this is true for all insurance, for small, frequent losses the transaction costs may exceed the benefit of volatility reduction that insurance otherwise affords.
* Reinsurance is a type of insurance purchased by insurance companies or self-insured employers to protect against unexpected losses. Financial reinsurance is a form of reinsurance that is primarily used for capital management rather than to transfer insurance risk.
* Social insurance can be many things to many people in many countries. But a summary of its essence is that it is a collection of insurance coverages (including components of life insurance, disability income insurance, unemployment insurance, health insurance, and others), plus retirement savings, that requires participation by all citizens. By forcing everyone in society to be a policyholder and pay premiums, it ensures that everyone can become a claimant when or if he/she needs to. Along the way this inevitably becomes related to other concepts such as the justice system and the welfare state. This is a large, complicated topic that engenders tremendous debate, which can be further studied in the following articles (and others):
o National Insurance
o Social safety net
o Social security
o Social Security debate (United States)
o Social Security (United States)
o Social welfare provision
* Stop-loss insurance provides protection against catastrophic or unpredictable losses. It is purchased by organizations who do not want to assume 100% of the liability for losses arising from the plans. Under a stop-loss policy, the insurance company becomes liable for losses that exceed certain limits called deductibles.
[edit] Closed community self-insurance
Some communities prefer to create virtual insurance amongst themselves by other means than contractual risk transfer, which assigns explicit numerical values to risk. A number of religious groups, including the Amish and some Muslim groups, depend on support provided by their communities when disasters strike. The risk presented by any given person is assumed collectively by the community who all bear the cost of rebuilding lost property and supporting people whose needs are suddenly greater after a loss of some kind. In supportive communities where others can be trusted to follow community leaders, this tacit form of insurance can work. In this manner the community can even out the extreme differences in insurability that exist among its members. Some further justification is also provided by invoking the moral hazard of explicit insurance contracts.
In the United Kingdom, The Crown (which, for practical purposes, meant the Civil service) did not insure property such as government buildings. If a government building was damaged, the cost of repair would be met from public funds because, in the long run, this was cheaper than paying insurance premiums. Since many UK government buildings have been sold to property companies, and rented back, this arrangement is now less common and may have disappeared altogether.
[edit] Insurance companies
Insurance companies may be classified into two groups:
* Life insurance companies, which sell life insurance, annuities and pensions products.
* Non-life, General, or Property/Casualty insurance companies, which sell other types of insurance.
General insurance companies can be further divided into these sub categories.
* Standard Lines
* Excess Lines
In most countries, life and non-life insurers are subject to different regulatory regimes and different tax and accounting rules. The main reason for the distinction between the two types of company is that life, annuity, and pension business is very long-term in nature — coverage for life assurance or a pension can cover risks over many decades. By contrast, non-life insurance cover usually covers a shorter period, such as one year.
In the United States, standard line insurance companies are "mainstream" insurers. These are the companies that typically insure autos, homes or businesses. They use pattern or "cookie-cutter" policies without variation from one person to the next. They usually have lower premiums than excess lines and can sell directly to individuals. They are regulated by state laws that can restrict the amount they can charge for insurance policies.
Excess line insurance companies (aka Excess and Surplus) typically insure risks not covered by the standard lines market. They are broadly referred as being all insurance placed with non-admitted insurers. Non-admitted insurers are not licensed in the states where the risks are located. These companies have more flexibility and can react faster than standard insurance companies because they are not required to file rates and forms as the "admitted" carriers do. However, they still have substantial regulatory requirements placed upon them. State laws generally require insurance placed with surplus line agents and brokers not to be available through standard licensed insurers.
Insurance companies are generally classified as either mutual or stock companies. Mutual companies are owned by the policyholders, while stockholders (who may or may not own policies) own stock insurance companies. Demutualization of mutual insurers to form stock companies, as well as the formation of a hybrid known as a mutual holding company, became common in some countries, such as the United States, in the late 20th century. Other possible forms for an insurance company include reciprocals, in which policyholders 'reciprocate' in sharing risks, and Lloyds organizations.
Insurance companies are rated by various agencies such as A. M. Best. The ratings include the company's financial strength, which measures its ability to pay claims. It also rates financial instruments issued by the insurance company, such as bonds, notes, and securitization products.
Reinsurance companies are insurance companies that sell policies to other insurance companies, allowing them to reduce their risks and protect themselves from very large losses. The reinsurance market is dominated by a few very large companies, with huge reserves. A reinsurer may also be a direct writer of insurance risks as well.
Captive insurance companies may be defined as limited-purpose insurance companies established with the specific objective of financing risks emanating from their parent group or groups. This definition can sometimes be extended to include some of the risks of the parent company's customers. In short, it is an in-house self-insurance vehicle. Captives may take the form of a "pure" entity (which is a 100% subsidiary of the self-insured parent company); of a "mutual" captive (which insures the collective risks of members of an industry); and of an "association" captive (which self-insures individual risks of the members of a professional, commercial or industrial association). Captives represent commercial, economic and tax advantages to their sponsors because of the reductions in costs they help create and for the ease of insurance risk management and the flexibility for cash flows they generate. Additionally, they may provide coverage of risks which is neither available nor offered in the traditional insurance market at reasonable prices.
The types of risk that a captive can underwrite for their parents include property damage, public and product liability, professional indemnity, employee benefits, employers' liability, motor and medical aid expenses. The captive's exposure to such risks may be limited by the use of reinsurance.
Captives are becoming an increasingly important component of the risk management and risk financing strategy of their parent. This can be understood against the following background:
* heavy and increasing premium costs in almost every line of coverage;
* difficulties in insuring certain types of fortuitous risk;
* differential coverage standards in various parts of the world;
* rating structures which reflect market trends rather than individual loss experience;
* insufficient credit for deductibles and/or loss control efforts.
There are also companies known as 'insurance consultants'. Like a mortgage broker, these companies are paid a fee by the customer to shop around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. Similar to an insurance consultant, an 'insurance broker' also shops around for the best insurance policy amongst many companies. However, with insurance brokers, the fee is usually paid in the form of commission from the insurer that is selected rather than directly from the client.
Neither insurance consultants nor insurance brokers are insurance companies and no risks are transferred to them in insurance transactions. Third party administrators are companies that perform underwriting and sometimes claims handling services for insurance companies. These companies often have special expertise that the insurance companies do not have.
The financial stability and strength of an insurance company should be a major consideration when buying an insurance contract. An insurance premium paid currently provides coverage for losses that might arise many years in the future. For that reason, the viability of the insurance carrier is very important. In recent years, a number of insurance companies have become insolvent, leaving their policyholders with no coverage (or coverage only from a government-backed insurance pool or other arrangement with less attractive payouts for losses). A number of independent rating agencies, such as Best's, Fitch, Standard & Poor's, and Moody's Investors Service, provide information and rate the financial viability of insurance companies.
[edit] Global insurance industry
Life insurance premia written in 2005
Non-life insurance premia written in 2005
Global insurance premiums grew by 8.0% in 2006 (or 5% in real terms) to reach $3.7 trillion due to improved profitability and a benign economic environment characterised by solid economic growth, moderate inflation and strong equity markets. Profitability improved in both life and non-life insurance in 2006 compared to the previous year. Life insurance premiums grew by 10.2% in 2006 as demand for annuity and pension products rose. Non-life insurance premiums grew by 5.0% due to growth in premium rates. Over the past decade, global insurance premiums rose by more than a half as annual growth fluctuated between 2% and 11%.
Advanced economies account for the bulk of global insurance. With premium income of $1,485bn, Europe was the most important region, followed by North America ($1,258bn) and Asia ($801bn). The top four countries accounted for nearly two-thirds of premiums in 2006. The U.S. and Japan alone accounted for 43% of world insurance, much higher than their 7% share of the global population. Emerging markets accounted for over 85% of the world’s population but generated only around 10% of premiums. The volume of UK insurance business totalled $418bn in 2006 or 11.2% of global premiums. [12]
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Insurance insulates too much
By creating a "security blanket" for its insureds, an insurance company may inadvertently find that its insureds may not be as risk-averse as they might otherwise be (since, by definition, the insured has transferred the risk to the insurer). This problem is known to the insurance industry as moral hazard. To reduce their own financial exposure, insurance companies have contractual clauses that mitigate their obligation to provide coverage if the insured engages in behavior that grossly magnifies their risk of loss or liability.
For example, life insurance companies may require higher premiums or deny coverage altogether to people who work in hazardous occupations or engage in dangerous sports. Liability insurance providers do not provide coverage for liability arising from intentional torts committed by the insured. Even if a provider were so irrational as to want to provide such coverage, it is against the public policy of most countries to allow such insurance to exist, and thus it is usually illegal.
[edit] Complexity of insurance policy contracts
Insurance policies can be complex and some policyholders may not understand all the fees and coverages included in a policy. As a result, people may buy policies on unfavorable terms. In response to these issues, many countries have enacted detailed statutory and regulatory regimes governing every aspect of the insurance business, including minimum standards for policies and the ways in which they may be advertised and sold.
For example, most insurance policies in the English language today have been carefully drafted in plain English; the industry learned the hard way that many courts will not enforce policies against insureds when the judges themselves cannot understand what the policies are saying.
Many institutional insurance purchasers buy insurance through an insurance broker. Brokers represent the buyer (not the insurance company), and typically counsel the buyer on appropriate coverage and policy limitations. A broker generally holds contracts with many insurers, thereby allowing the broker to "shop" the market for the best rates and coverage possible.
Insurance may also be purchased through an agent. Unlike a broker, who represents the policyholder, an agent represents the insurance company from whom the policyholder buys. An agent can represent more than one company.
[edit] Redlining
Redlining is the practice of denying insurance coverage in specific geographic areas, supposedly because of a high likelihood of loss, while the alleged motivation is unlawful discrimination. Racial profiling or redlining has a long history in the property insurance industry in the United States. From a review of industry underwriting and marketing materials, court documents, and research by government agencies, industry and community groups, and academics, it is clear that race has long affected and continues to affect the policies and practices of the insurance industry.[13]
All states have provisions in their rate regulation laws or in their fair trade practice acts that prohibit unfair discrimination, often called redlining, in setting rates and making insurance available.[14]
In determining premiums and premium rate structures, insurers consider quantifiable factors, including location, credit scores, gender, occupation, marital status, and education level. However, the use of such factors is often considered to be unfair or unlawfully discriminatory, and the reaction against this practice has in some instances led to political disputes about the ways in which insurers determine premiums and regulatory intervention to limit the factors used.
An insurance underwriter's job is to evaluate a given risk as to the likelihood that a loss will occur. Any factor that causes a greater likelihood of loss should theoretically be charged a higher rate. This basic principle of insurance must be followed if insurance companies are to remain solvent. Thus, "discrimination" against (i.e., negative differential treatment of) potential insureds in the risk evaluation and premium-setting process is a necessary by-product of the fundamentals of insurance underwriting. For instance, insurers charge older people significantly higher premiums than they charge younger people for term life insurance. Older people are thus treated differently than younger people (i.e., a distinction is made, discrimination occurs). The rationale for the differential treatment goes to the heart of the risk a life insurer takes: Old people are likely to die sooner than young people, so the risk of loss (the insured's death) is greater in any given period of time and therefore the risk premium must be higher to cover the greater risk. However, treating insureds differently when there is no actuarially sound reason for doing so is unlawful discrimination.
What is often missing from the debate is that prohibiting the use of legitimate, actuarially sound factors means that an insufficient amount is being charged for a given risk, and there is thus a deficit in the system. The failure to address the deficit may mean insolvency and hardship for all of a company's insureds. The options for addressing the deficit seem to be the following: Charge the deficit to the other policyholders or charge it to the government (i.e., externalize outside of the company to society at large).
[edit] Insurance patents
Further information: Insurance patent
New insurance products can now be protected from copying with a business method patent in the United States.
A recent example of a new insurance product that is patented is Usage Based auto insurance. Early versions were independently invented and patented by a major U.S. auto insurance company, Progressive Auto Insurance (U.S. Patent 5,797,134 ) and a Spanish independent inventor, Salvador Minguijon Perez (EP patent 0700009).
Many independent inventors are in favor of patenting new insurance products since it gives them protection from big companies when they bring their new insurance products to market. Independent inventors account for 70% of the new U.S. patent applications in this area.
Many insurance executives are opposed to patenting insurance products because it creates a new risk for them. The Hartford insurance company, for example, recently had to pay $80 million to an independent inventor, Bancorp Services, in order to settle a patent infringement and theft of trade secret lawsuit for a type of corporate owned life insurance product invented and patented by Bancorp.
There are currently about 150 new patent applications on insurance inventions filed per year in the United States. The rate at which patents have issued has steadily risen from 15 in 2002 to 44 in 2006. [15]
Inventors can now have their insurance U.S. patent applications reviewed by the public in the Peer to Patent program.[16]
[edit] The insurance industry and rent seeking
Certain insurance products and practices have been described as rent seeking by critics.[citation needed] That is, some insurance products or practices are useful primarily because of legal benefits, such as reducing taxes, as opposed to providing protection against risks of adverse events. Under United States tax law, for example, most owners of variable annuities and variable life insurance can invest their premium payments in the stock market and defer or eliminate paying any taxes on their investments until withdrawals are made. Sometimes this tax deferral is the only reason people use these products.[citation needed] Another example is the legal infrastructure which allows life insurance to be held in an irrevocable trust which is used to pay an estate tax while the proceeds themselves are immune from the estate tax.
[edit] Criticism of insurance companies
The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page. (September 2008)
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Some people believe that modern insurance companies are money-making businesses which have little interest in insurance.[citation needed] They argue that the purpose of insurance is to spread risk so the reluctance of insurance companies to take on high-risk cases (e.g. houses in areas subject to flooding, or young drivers) runs counter to the principle of insurance.[citation needed]
Other criticisms include:
* Insurance policies contain too many exclusion clauses. For example, some house insurance policies do not cover damage to garden walls.[citation needed]
* Many insurance companies now use call centres and staff attempt to answer questions by reading from a script.[citation needed] It is difficult to speak to anybody with expert knowledge.[citation needed] While policyholders find their premium payments decrease when dealing with companies who sacrifice the use of trained insurance agents, they also risk greater financial loss due to inadequate coverage protection.[citation needed] Those companies who invest in educated insurance agents provide a valued service to the community. Policyholders who work with knowledgeable insurance agents are more likely to identify needs, evaluate options, purchase sufficient insurance protection, and minimize the risk of heavy financial loss for themselves and their family.[citation needed]
[edit] Glossary
* 'Combined ratio' = loss ratio + expense ratio + commission ratio. Loss ratio is calculated by dividing the amount of losses (sometimes including loss adjustment expenses) by the amount of earned premium. Expense ratio is calculated by dividing the amount of operational expenses by the amount of written premium. A lower number indicates a better return on the amount of capital placed at risk by an insurer.
* 'SSA' = subscriber savings account.
* 'AIF' = attorney in fact.
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