People typically associate good health and vitality with clear and smooth skin. That’s because our body’s internal processes do affect how our skin will feel and look on the outside.
Of course, skin condition isn’t only based on health and hormonal factors. In fact, the weather and your lifestyle choices can also affect it just as much.
As the largest organ of the body, the skin’s primary function is to protect our internal parts. As a result, it’s incredibly important that we take the effort to keep it as healthy as possible.
In this post, we’ll discuss a few skincare tips that can help you get that healthy glow. Additionally, we’ll talk about season-specific tips to ensure that your skin remains in great shape regardless of the weather.
Healthy Glow: Home Ingredients & Lifestyle Changes for Better Skin
Most of us may think that we need expensive products to improve our skin. However, having great skin can actually all start at home.
Listed below are 7 of the best home remedies and tips for glowing skin:
1. Use Coconut Oil
Studies show that coconut oil is one of the best natural moisturizers. It’s highly recommended for dry and normal skin because it keeps the skin hydrated.
If you’re not allergic to coconuts, you can use a small amount to massage your face. Leave it be for a few minutes before cleansing.
2. Wear Yogurt on Your Face
If you’re fond of yogurt, you can also repurpose it for skincare. Apparently, it’s not only good for your digestion, because it also works great as a face mask.
Plain yogurt works best for this tip. Generally, you’ll only need up to ½ cup at most. You can apply it as is.
Alternatively, you may choose to add a teaspoon of turmeric, honey, or olive oil. These are other skin-boosting ingredients that work well with a yogurt mask.
3. Apply raw potato
The raw potato is mainly composed of potassium, sulfur, copper, calcium, vitamin B and vitamin C. The combination of these elements enhances the renewal of the skin and lightens the spots on the face.
If you have a latex allergy, avoid using raw potato on your face
4. Milk and Honey face mask
The honey and milk mask is a highly recommended and acclaimed natural option by naturopathic medicine (used to combat acne) and also by beauty professionals.
Its combined components work as a very powerful natural emollient as well as being easy to apply.
5. Refreshing Rose Mist
Rose water contains a high degree of vitamin C and not only that, but it stimulates the production of collagen, protecting the skin from free radicals.
Apply it daily to notice changes, in addition to delaying the premature appearance of fine lines.
And some tips:
6. Take Probiotics
Probiotics are good for general health. As it improves your digestion and immune system, it consequently improves your skin as well.
In fact, research shows that taking probiotics can make your skin and hair noticeably healthier.
7. Drink Water Regularly
This is probably the easiest tip to follow in this whole list. As we already drink water every day anyway, we simply have to commit to hydrating regularly.
Skin cells require water to function at its best. Hence, drinking at least 8 glasses of water daily ensures that your skin remains strong, supple, and smooth.
Youthful Aura: Natural Solutions Against Skin Aging
Wrinkles are part of the natural aging process. Although it’s impossible to hold back the hands of time, there are ways to age in style.
Here are 6 natural anti-aging skin remedies and tips that can help you minimize the most obvious signs of aging:
1. Clean Up Your Diet
Most of the things that affect our health all comes down to our diet. Hence, minimizing wrinkles can actually start with eating healthier meals.
Proteins keep the skin strong and healthy. Meanwhile, Vitamin C helps synthesize collagen, a compound that maintains skin elasticity.
Generally, choosing whole and unprocessed food items is the first step to cleaning up your diet. Thus, you want to stay away from all the junk foods — or at least, limit your consumption of it as much as possible.
2. Use Aloe Vera
Aloe vera is widely known for its healing and restorative properties. In fact, research shows that topical aloe gel helps with skin hydration.
Additionally, it can also minimize wrinkles with consistent use. This is because it stimulates the skin to produce more collagen.
3. Use Topical Vitamin C
As mentioned earlier, consuming vitamin C improves your skin’s collagen production. In the same manner, topical vitamin C enhances your skin from the outside.
In fact, research shows that using topical treatments with vitamin C and vitamin E can significantly improve the skin’s elasticity and radiance. Thus, when you’re looking for skincare products, consider buying ones that are infused with vitamin C.
4. Try Essential Oils
Essential oils are typically used to heal the skin, but certain combinations with carrier oils can also reduce wrinkles.
It’s worth noting, however, that many essential oils are highly concentrated. Hence, it’s recommended to perform a patch test first before officially using it. This ensures that your skin won’t have any adverse reactions to your chosen product.
Some essential oils that you can try out include:
- Geranium: antioxidant and anti-aging properties.
- Lavender: moisturizes the skin.
- Frankincense: effective in reducing the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines.
- Myrrh: reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
- Pomegranate: fights cellular aging
- Rosemary: helps decongest acne and oily skin types
- Ylang-ylang: skin renewal booster.
They should be used with vegetable oils to nourish your skin. Some of the best carrier oils are: Argan, Jojoba, Grapeseed, Olive, Avocado.
5. Apply Sunscreen
One of the most common causes of premature skin wrinkling is sun damage. Thus, it’s incredibly important that you regularly apply sunscreen. This is especially necessary if you’ll be outdoors for long periods of time.
On top of that, it’s also recommended to keep your eyes protected by wearing a hat and a pair of sunglasses. This will prevent you from squinting when it’s too bright outside.
Squinting may seem trivial, but it can actually cause wrinkles if you do it often.
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6. Avoid Cigarettes
This effort goes both ways. You have to avoid smoking yourself, and you also have to avoid second-hand smoke.
This is because cigarette smoke has a lot of chemical toxins which can lead to premature skin aging. Hence, if you want to keep your skin as healthy, stay as far away from cigarettes as possible.
Seasonal Skincare Tips
Summer Months: Minimizing Skin Oiliness
You may have noticed that your skin behaves differently depending on the season. This is why you’ll need to tweak your skincare routine accordingly.
Looking for home remedies for oily skin in summer? Listed below are 5 tips that can help you manage it:
1. Use Lukewarm Water for Cleansing
Understandably, no one really wants to use warm water for bathing or cleansing during summer. However, it can help keep your face’s oil production at bay.
2. Consider a Gel-Based Moisturizer
Even if your face is already making so much oil from the summer heat, moisturizers are still a must. That’s because it hydrates your skin in a way that prevents sebum (oil) overproduction.
During summer, go for gel-based moisturizers instead of the cream-based ones. This will keep your skin from becoming a greasy mess during the day.
3. Wear a Honey Mask
Acne is typically caused by excess oil and bacteria. Fortunately, the honey jar in your kitchen can help you out with this.
Honey is naturally antibacterial. Thus, applying a honey mask on your face will help you get rid of unwanted bacteria and lock in your skin’s moisture.
4. Use Oatmeal Scrubs
Another kitchen item that you can use as a mask is oatmeal. Since it has anti-inflammatory properties, it does a great job of calming your skin. The grains don’t only absorb excess oil, but it also exfoliates your skin gently.
5. Exfoliate Weekly
Speaking of exfoliation, make sure that you exfoliate one to two times weekly. Regular exfoliation will help remove dead skin cells and dirt that may be clogging your pores.
Winter Months: Minimizing Skin Dryness
Of course, the winter season brings its own set of skin problems. While summer is the season of excessively oily skin, winter is the exact opposite. If you’re not careful, your skin may end up extremely dry and chafed.
Thus, here are 4 winter skincare home remedies that can help you keep your skin in check during the cold months:
1. Minimize Hot Showers
As tempting as hot showers and baths may be during winter, it’s best to keep them short and sweet.
That’s because heat will only cause your skin to dry up faster, especially in cold weather. Hence, your skin will be better off with a 10-minute lukewarm shower at most.
2. Limit Use of Astringents and Toners
Cream-based cleansers are highly recommended during winter. As for toners and astringents, you can do away with them for the meantime. That’s because these products contain alcohol, a substance which can lead to dry skin.
3. Use a Thick Moisturizer
Thick moisturizers are essential for keeping your skin hydrated for the whole season. Although it’s typically recommended to use them right after showers, you can use them as often as needed.
4. Use a Humidifier
Humidifiers keep the moisture in the air, especially when you’ve turned the heater up. See, when the air that surrounds you is cold and dry, water evaporates from your skin at a faster rate.
This is why it’s a good idea to invest in a good humidifier. Plus, drinking extra glasses of water will also help in keeping your skin hydrated.
Natural Skincare Supplements
Lastly, we’re going to briefly talk about skincare products.
It’s highly recommended to go for products that have natural ingredients. Some ingredients that are worth considering include:
- Vitamin A: Minimizes the size of your sebaceous glands
- Vitamin C: Has antioxidant properties that protect your skin from external damage
- Vitamin E: Neutralizes free radicals that usually cause premature skin aging
- Fatty Acids: Helps maintain the skin’s protective barrier, which makes it stronger against external damage
- Collagen Supplements: Improves skin elasticity and stimulates collagen production in your skin
Try Out These Tips for a Healthier Skin!
Having a healthier and more radiant skin doesn’t have to take much effort. In fact, it’s relatively easy to integrate most of the tips listed above into your daily routine.
You can try them out one at a time just to get your momentum going. In the long run, these mini steps will make it easier for you to build your very own skincare regimen.