MY BODY TEMPLE
Lesson 17: Taking Care of Your Skin
Many years ago, at a great celebration, a
little boy was covered all over with varnish and gold leaf, so as
to make him look like a golden angel. The little boy looked very
pretty for a short time, but soon he became very sick, and in a
few hours he was dead. There were two reasons: The chemicals from
the varnish went into his skin, and the pores of his skin were
stopped up, so that they could not put out the poisons from his
body.
Did you ever meet someone who had their skin
varnished? Probably not, people know not to do that! But there are
people who do not wash their skin as often as they should, and the
sweat, oil, and dead skin form a sort of varnish which plugs up
the little ducts and prevents the air from getting to the skin,
like a coat of varnish would do.
The sweat glands and ducts are like little
sewer pipes made to carry away some of the impurities of the body.
There are so many of them that, if they were all put together,
they would make a tube two or three miles long. These little
sewers drain off almost a quart of impurities in the form of sweat
every day. So you see that it is very important for the skin to be
kept clean and healthy.
A bird takes a bath every day if it can. Dogs
and many other animals like to go into the water to bathe. Some of
you may have seen a great elephant take a bath by showering the
water over himself with his trunk. To keep the skin healthy we
should bathe frequently.
When we take a bath for cleanliness it is
good idea to use a little soap, so as to remove the oil which is
mixed up with the dry sweat, dead skin, and dirt which may have
become attached to the skin.
It is not good to take extremely hot baths
all the time, but they are very helpful in treating certain
sicknesses. A frequent warm bath or shower is the best way to keep
the skin clean and healthy. A cold wash or shower is refreshing
and can help our skin become healthier and boost our immune
system.
The skin should be protected by proper
clothing that covers our arms and legs as well as our body. Being
outdoors in the sunshine and fresh air is healthy for our skin,
but we should not stay uncovered in the hot sun for too long until
we get sunburned. Having our rooms too hot in the wintertime can
make our skin dry and itchy.
The scalp and hair should be kept clean by
frequent washing with shampoo and daily brushing. The habit of
biting and picking the fingernails, keeps the nails broken and
unhealthy. The nails should be kept clean and carefully trimmed
with a pair of nail clippers.
Make-up or cosmetics like powder and eye
paint and lipstick are very harmful to the skin as they clog up
pores and the chemicals in them go into the skin. People who use
them a lot can ruin their skin permanently. The oils in many of
these lipsticks and face paints come from smelly old dead animals
that are boiled down in huge kettles until the grease rises to the
top; then it is skimmed off of the smelly mess and sold to the
cosmetic people. Now do you really want that on your face?
The use of harmful things like alcohol and
tobacco also makes the skin dull and unhealthy. Next time you see
an older woman who smokes, notice how leathery her skin looks.
Cleanliness, drinking enough water, and a good, natural, whole
food diet with lots of fruits and vegetables is the secret to
having beautiful and healthy skin. =^..^=
Question: Have you ever seen a bird or animal take a bath?
 
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