Better skin is usually one of the first positive outward signs of eating more nutritious foods. Certain fruits and healthy oils in particular can also be an effective external treatment for the skin for an immediate improvement in your appearance.
In the same way, many superfoods will improve the strength and shine of your hair over time. Some can also be made into treatments for your hair for a visible change you can see and feel today.
This smoothie for better skin is designed to provide plenty of the nutrition your skin needs to look its best.
The recipe is full to bursting with antioxidants, healthy fats and specific nutrients to help prevent and treat acne, eczema and other forms of skin inflammation.
Used regularly it may even help slow down the signs of skin aging caused by collagen breakdown, poor moisture balance and free radical damage to your skin cells.
This powerful smoothie recipe blends natural foods with specifically important nutritional elements for healthy hair into a great tasting drink.
It’s a simple and delicious way to give your hair follicles the valuable fatty acids, protein, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients they need to produce strong and beautiful hair.
Following on from the last page on using powdered amla scrubs for glowing skin, here are four face mask recipes for a deeper treatment to improve your skin tone and complexion.
First some quick precautions. Along with its strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties, amla fruit powder can have an astringent effect.
This is generally a good thing for minimizing pores and firming up your skin tone, but it may not be suitable for very dry skin.
Taking amla as a supplement can benefit your skin from the inside with its incredible range of antioxidants and other beneficial nutrients.
Amla facial scrubs have also been reported as effective for reducing acne and controlling oily skin. This page will focus on using the powdered amla as a topical treatment to improve your skin and tighten up your pores.
Amla is sometimes called amalaki or Indian gooseberry. The whole fruit powder, with its chopped up seeds, is a brilliant skin exfoliator with antibacterial and astringent properties.
Used as a skin scrub, amla powder can help break down the top layer of old, tired skin cells to reveal your natural glowing complexion underneath.
Amla hair oil is a popular treatment to promote hair growth and thicken and darken hair.
Commercial amla oil preparations are available but I wasn’t keen on the ingredients like unhealthy mineral oil and thought I could make something better at home. My results so far have been very encouraging so I thought I’d share the recipe and how to use it.
Here’s a quick and simple avocado face mask anyone can make up at home and be applying a couple of minutes.
Used regularly, perhaps a couple of times a week, most people will quickly see a real improvement in their skin’s texture and appearance.
There are only two ingredients in this facial mask – a little avocado and a touch of raw honey, preferably manuka honey, which itself has some amazing skin benefits. Regular heat treated honey from the supermarket won’t have the same properties unfortunately.
Most avocado mask recipes recommend using half an avocado. I don’t know about you but my face isn’t that big. Mashed up, avocado spreads well and you really don’t need a full half of one.
Pumpkin face masks are popular but here’s a simpler way to use pumpkin skin as a facial treatment that is quicker and I think more effective than regular masks.
You’ll need 3 ingredients for this facial treatment:
1. Pumpkin peel from a steamed pumpkin (butternut or a similar squash can also be used for this).
I keep the pumpkin rinds, with most of the pulp removed, from the process described in how to cook pumpkin in a sealed container in the fridge.
Most people have some discoloration of the delicate skin under their eyes to varying degrees, particularly after a long day or big night out. But for many of us this is a more persistent problem.
There are many potential causes of dark circles under the eyes. While some people may have a genetic disposition, more commonly they are caused by lack of sleep, stress, eating unhealthy junk food, excess alcohol, menstruation for women, smoking, sinusitis and poor circulation to this area of the face.
Dark circles under the eyes and not a great thing to wake up to in the mirror in the morning but there is a natural treatment can help.
Crushed parsley, applied topically, is a simple remedy for skin discoloration and puffiness, that you can easily make and use at home.
Parsley is well known for its skin lightening properties that can help reduce the appearance of dark spots and discolored skin on your face. It is also a beneficial acne treatment, particularly when used fresh.
Some commercial products trumpet the addition of parsley extract in their formulas. But why pay exorbitant prices for minuscule amounts, when you can easily make a parsley face mask at home for a fraction of the cost and at much greater strength and effectiveness?
Papaya is full of alpha hydroxy acids and enzymes like papain that break down dead skin cells when used topically.
Here are two simple facial treatments for better skin using papaya. The first is a homemade face mask using papaya and the second is a special way to use fresh papaya peel to improve your appearance.
Regular use of fresh papaya fruit on the face often leads to an improvement in the tone, texture and appearance of our skin and even a reduction in fine lines and wrinkles.
Many people report online that papaya facial treatments are also useful for treating acne, minor scarring, sunburn and age spots and the papaya mask recipes ahead may be useful for these conditions as well.
There are two ways to use flaxseed oil for hair and improving its strength and shine. Both of them rely on the extremely high omega-3 alpha linolenic acid content of flax seeds, which is concentrated even further in cold pressed flaxseed oil.
The first and most important is getting more omega-3 fatty acids in your diet. Many people report greatly improved hair and better health in general with a daily dosage of flax oil taken in a certain way.
You can use flax oil for dry skin in two different ways and this page will show how cold pressed flaxseed oil can help improve your facial skin tone and moisturization levels.
The first is by applying it to your face as an external moisturizer. Not only does the very high omega-3 content in the oil have an anti-inflammatory effect, it also helps normalize skin lipids and seal in moisture, both of which leads to improved hydration.