Holistic Beauty from the Inside Out (18 page)

Cooling skin mist:
Prepare 1 cup peppermint tea and 1 cup green tea, and then combine in a bottle with a spray top. Keep in a refrigerator for a refreshing mist after a hot summer day. This simple recipe works wonders on sun-drenched complexion and helps soothe sunburns.

Cucumber skin rejuvenator:
Extract juice from 1
cucumber either using a juicer or simply by processing the chopped cucumber and then squeezing out the juice from the pulp. Combine with witch hazel for a pore-tightening and cooling drink of moisture for your skin.

Herbal ice cubes:
Chop fresh dill, parsley, rosemary, mint, or any other herbs you may have in your garden or on the windowsill and place them in a bowl. Pour some boiling water on top of the herbs and allow to sit until completely cooled (cover the bowl with a saucer to prevent precious essential oils from evaporating). Transfer the herbal water with bits of herbs into ice cube trays and freeze. Use ice cubes to wipe your face after cleansing.

Chamomile skin lightener:
Prepare a cup of chamomile tea and add a pinch of vitamin C. Chamomile has a mild brightening effect on your complexion. Shake well and use with a cotton pad. Store this toner in a refrigerator.

Red wine antiaging toner:
Add 2–3 teaspoons of good quality red wine (cabernet variety is the best) to 1 cup of rose water or any other steam distillate you prefer. Use with a cotton pad or as a skin mist.

Exfoliate to Rejuvenate

Exfoliating at least twice a week is essential for a glowing, clear complexion, but many conventional scrubs contain harsh exfoliating grains that can leave your skin dry, red, and irritated. If you scrub your face too vigorously, you will remove the protective barrier leaving your skin vulnerable to environmental aggressors including UV rays.

Making your own facial scrub or peel is very easy. I am sure you already own lots of things that can be used in your own scrub, including breakfast cereals, baking soda, fine sea salt, fine sugar,
salt, fine polenta, fine oatmeal, rice grains, and even ground coffee. You can make a super-easy scrub with one or more of these ingredients by adding some water or plant hydrosol to a teaspoon of the exfoliating granules of your choice.

Make sure to gently massage your exfoliating cream into your skin, concentrating on the areas where dead skin cells tend to build up: around your nose, chin, and the sides of your face. Do not forget the upper neck area. Unlike harsh conventional scrubs, gentle homemade solutions mildly remove only very superficial skin cells without causing micro-tears.

Here are basic skin scrubs that you can customize to your liking with essential oils and vitamins C and E, if desired.

Sugar and yogurt scrub:
Combine 1 teaspoon very fine sugar or even castor sugar with 1 teaspoon yogurt and stir well to mix completely. This scrub is suitable for all skin types.

Almond and sour cream scrub:
Combine a teaspoon of ground almonds with a teaspoon of sour cream. This scrub is excellent for dry skin.

Green tea scrub:
Empty the contents of one sachet of green tea or chai drink and add a little boiling water. Allow to cool and use to exfoliate your skin with a paste that is bursting with antioxidants.

Honey and oatmeal face rub:
Combine ½ cup warm water with 2 tablespoons of oatmeal and 1 teaspoon honey. To use, gently massage your skin with a dollop of the cleanser. You can store the unused product in the refrigerator. This cleanser is especially suitable for people with sensitive skin who cannot tolerate foaming cleansers.

If you have uneven skin texture with large pores and possibly some discolorations from past blemishes and too much sun exposure, facial peels will help achieve a smoother, more even
complexion and possibly lighten discolorations. Unlike the scrub that physically removes the top layer of dead skin cells, peels dissolve dead skin cells and also deliver brightening and lightening ingredients deeper into the epidermis.

Please remember that even natural skin peels made with fruit acids can leave your skin liable to sun damage. That’s why if you decide to brighten things up a little using alpha-or beta-hydroxy acids in a ready-made facial peel, or to prepare a peeling solution of your own, make sure to protect your skin with a natural sun block with zinc oxide.

Lemon skin peel:
Add 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice to 1 tablespoon of fruit jelly and stir well. Apply to cleansed skin and allow to sit for ten to twelve minutes, then rinse and pat skin dry.

Apple skin peel:
Add 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar to 1 tablespoon applesauce. If the paste is too runny, add a little corn flour (cornstarch) to make it easier to apply. Spread over your cleansed skin and allow to sit for ten to fifteen minutes, and then rinse with cool water and pat face dry.

Potato skin brightener:
Unlike peels, this recipe lightens your skin thanks to the enzyme catecholase in the raw potato, which normalizes the production of skin pigment melanin. Grate 1 raw potato and squeeze the juice from the pulp. Add a little corn or potato starch to create a paste and apply over your cleansed face. Allow to sit for ten to fifteen minutes, rinse with tepid water, and pat face dry.

Moisturizing and Protecting

A good moisturizer can’t be too rich or too thin. The skin is in a constant process of renewal, and when wrapped in a protective blanket of a moisturizer, skin can recuperate from dryness and
improve its resilience. Ideally, you should moisturise twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. However, your morning moisturizer can double as a sunscreen, and your evening moisturizer can be a light facial oil or an intensive treatment serum. You can also hydrate your skin throughout the day—just a mist of a cooling toner or mineral water can do wonders to rejuvenate tired skin.

Every moisturizer is a mix of ingredients that form a barrier on the skin to slow down the evaporation of water and help skin heal and recuperate: humectants, which act as moisture magnets; and emollients, which add lubrication and help the skin look smoother. It’s a myth that a moisturizer “sinks in” the skin, feeding it moisture. Any water in its formula evaporates off the skin surface within minutes after application. Most often, moisturizers contain quite a lot of alcohol which helps evaporate the water even more quickly. Unless the moisturizer contains ingredients that attract the water from outside, it does not supply any water to your skin. All it does is lock the skin’s natural moisture inside with oil, plant wax, or beeswax. In conventional moisturizers, paraffin and mineral oil work to lock the moisture inside the skin.

To soften the skin, a moisturizer must contain a natural emollient, which could be a plantderived silicone from mushrooms or squalane from olives. To attract the moisture from outside, nothing beats glycerine or various sugars such as maltitol or sorbitol. Throw in some mighty antioxidants such as oil-soluble vitamin C called L-ascorbic acid, vitamin E (natural tocopherols and tocotrienols), green tea extract, alpha lipoic acid, coenzyme Q10, or lycopene, and your moisturizer will become a powerful tool to help your skin retain its youthful and blemish-free looks.

The most important function of a moisturizer is maintaining your skin’s own protective barrier. Young skin has a strong protective barrier thanks to its thicker epidermis, healthier sebum composition, denser collagen fibers, and better circulation in the skin. As we age, our skin loses its vitality and its protective barrier becomes less efficient. Pollution, smoking, poor diet, too
much sun exposure, and hormonal fluctuations mean more wear and tear on the protective barrier. As a result, our skin loses its ability to hold its own moisturizer, water. When water evaporates more easily, our skin looks and feels tight and dry, possibly even flaky and cracking. That’s when the moisturizer should step in.

One of the most important ingredients in your moisturizer is natural oil. Such oils lock moisture in more efficiently than any petrochemical, and in the meantime accelerate the skin’s own repair process. Some of the most beneficial oils for your skin are coconut, jojoba, grapeseed, rice bran, olive, and shea butter. They work to strengthen the skin’s own protective barrier, and nourish skin cells with essential fatty acids. Although water is often the most abundant ingredient in a moisturizer, it does not do our skin any good. In fact, high water content in a cream or a lotion is worse to our skin than high oil content. In the next chapter you will learn why plant oil is your skin’s best friend and how you can use wonderful oil combinations to heal and protect your skin.

Another goal of modern-day moisturizers is encouraging the skin to generate its own natural moisturizers. Alpha hydroxy acids (AHA s) like glycolic acid and lactic acid help dry skin restore itself in partly by sloughing off dead skin cells, but in high enough concentrations (at least 2 percent) and chemically effective formulas, they actually stimulate the skin’s production of hyaluronic acid—a naturally occurring humectant that can hold up to one thousand times its weight in water. But if you have sensitive skin, you should approach acid-containing moisturizers with caution, as they can trigger sensitivities that can be quite intense. Never combine fruit acids with vitamin A derivatives, which you can identify as “retinol” or “retinyl” in the ingredients list.

For the maintenance of the skin’s barrier, nothing does as good a job as the skin can do for itself. As you work to protect your skin from moisture loss, you allow it to become healthier and resilient on its own. Here are some tips to making your moisturizing cream or lotion work best for your skin:

1. Never apply the moisturizer on damp skin. Of course, we all have seen those commercials that recommend applying a moisturizer on damp skin “to lock in moisture.” This only works if you are applying neat oil. If you apply a moisturizer (which is already made of 50 percent water) to damp skin, you only dilute all those beneficial ingredients, so you end up with a thinner layer of moisturizer after the water has evaporated. To reap all benefits of moisturizer’s oils, humectants, and emollients, pat your skin dry after cleansing or toning and only then apply a dime-size amount to your face.
   
2. Always apply a moisturizer using upward strokes. In two or three weeks you will notice that your skin has become more toned and resilient. Pulling your skin down only helps the gravity to sag your skin even more.
   
3. Moisturize your environment too. Install a humidifier and fill it with distilled water, possibly adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil. Plants help normalize the humidity levels too. Choose leafy, rich green varieties and definitely not cacti! For a quick and cheap humidifier, place a dish filled with water and possibly some essential oil near or under the radiator.
   
4. Don’t be afraid to mix and match your moisturizers, serums, and night creams, as long as you don’t apply acids and vitamin A at the same time. There’s nothing wrong in combining a moisturizer from one brand with a serum from another one, as long as they both work well for your skin. To avoid spending lots of money on ready-made facial oil, turn to the next chapter, where you will find amazingly effective recipes for treatment oils for your skin type.
   
5. Always do a patch test on the inner side of your elbow if you are thinking of buying a new moisturizer. You can encounter an adverse reaction even to a well-known brand or a pure organic balm containing only “skin-friendly” butters. Our bodies are put on high alert due to all the chemicals attacking our immune systems. There’s no chance of predicting how your skin reacts to even the most nonthreatening ingredient. Even chamomile, green tea, beeswax, and olive oil can trigger sensitivities in some people. Always try to obtain a sample of a new product to give it a good try before you buy. At least, ask for a permission to decant a small amount to your own clean jar—most stores will be happy to help. Just a reminder: avoid parabens, petrochemicals, alcohol, and artificial fragrances (masking under “perfume” on the label) to ensure your skin’s healthy looks for many years ahead.
   

Of course, the greenest and most cost-effective way to combine all the best ingredients in one moisturizer is to cook one from scratch. Making your own moisturizer at home is difficult, but it can be done. For complete instructions you can turn to my book,
Green Beauty Recipes: Easy Homemade Recipes to Make Your Own Organic and Natural Skincare, Hair Care and Body Care Products
. If you can make custard or béchamel sauce, you can make face cream.

NATURAL SUN PROTECTION

We are all brainwashed to believe that we need sun protection 24/7, even in winter, even when in the underground garage, definitely on our eyelids and lips, and optionally on the nails. But going extreme with sun protection is not going to guarantee you comprehensive insurance against wrinkles and skin cancer.

In fact, frequent use of sunscreen has been shown as a risk factor for the deadliest form of cancer, melanoma. What happens in reality is that people covered in sunscreen tend to stay out in the sun carelessly, for much longer than in the olden days when an extra five minutes under midday sun would mean painful and embarrassing sunburn. Another reason lies in conventional sunscreen formulations themselves. To begin with, most chemical sunscreens, such as benzophenone varieties or cinnamates, are allergens and estrogen mimickers. To work their magic, they need to penetrate the skin, where they start a complex chemical cookery session with the sun’s rays, with leftovers poured into our bloodstream. During these chemical reactions with UV rays, our skin becomes more vulnerable to free radicals. Second, most sunscreens are loaded with potentially toxic chemicals including petrochemicals, preservatives, and artificial fragrances, which enter our bloodstream more eagerly in hot humid summer conditions. And third, nearly every chemical sunscreen on the market contains a dangerous form of vitamin A, retinyl palmitate, which may increase skin damage by free radicals and make it more susceptible to dangerous effects of UV radiation.