Beauty Bytes: Natural, At-Home Remedies for Skin Problems

Antioxidant drinks are widely advertised for their healing qualities and their value to our skin. But the message often stops there. Where are the antioxidant-based foods that we can eat to improve our skin?

Did you know that you can use tomatoes to tighten skin? Or oranges peels to reduce that orange peel look on your thighs? By combining the scientifically proven benefits of antioxidants, here are a variety of “recipes” to improving your skin health from within.

ACNE

Apple Cider Vinegar, rich in Vitamin A, is an essential Vitamin for the improvement of acne.  In fact, a lacking of Vitamin A has been known to worsen the appearance of acne.  Apple Cider Vinegar is a natural product, found in your pantry or your local market.

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR BEAUTY BYTE

Tomatoes have more nutritional value once they have been cooked.  So, using a tomato paste has more benefits than a raw tomato.  Mix together ¼ cup of low sodium tomato paste, a teaspoon of olive oil, and Apple Cider Vinegar until you have a smooth paste.  Use as a neck and facial mask to alleviate acne.  Leave on for 15 minutes and then rinse of gently with warm water.  Then splash some cold water on your face, to close your pores.

**Go ahead and drink some of the Apple Cider Vinegar, as well.  It is detoxifying and has a natural effect of weight loss and removing toxins from your body.

APPLE CIDER MIST:  Add an even ratio 50:50 of Apple Cider Vinegar with purified water, and fill-up a mister/spray bottle.  Mist your face, after your typical cleansing routine.  It will act as a topical astringent.  Simple, DIY beauty “byte”!

ROSACEA

Improving Rosacea is certainly about avoiding the ingestion of spicy foods among others, which tend to trigger the symptoms of the skin “woe”.  Yet, Green Tea is widely known as a natural healing agent.  Actually drinking green tea reaches your skin, the largest organ in the body, through your bloodstream.

GREEN TEA EXTRACT CREAM BEAUTY BYTE

Ingredients to make your own Green Tea Extract Cream can be purchased at your local health food store.  The specific ingredients are the following, green tea extract, known to suppress inflammation, shea butter and peppermint oil, both known to stimulate cell generation.  This potent antioxidant “Beauty Byte” is fabulous for improving Rosacea and so simple to whip up at home.  Simply, mix the ingredients together until it becomes creamy.  Apply green tea cream to your affected areas of discoloration, associated with Rosacea.  Apply nightly and enjoy the healing benefits of your natural beauty “recipe”.

FINE LINES

Black olives are a great natural source of Vitamin E, a wonderful topical source for a variety of skin ailments, including scars, discolorations, and fine lines.  Black olives actually contain an anti-bacterial antioxidant.  Ingesting or externally applying antioxidant remedies promotes the reparation of damaged skin cells.

BLACK OLIVE  BEAUTY BYTE

Pour some extra virgin olive oil into a small bowl.  Finely slice the black olives and saturate them, by placing them in the bowl, absorbing the olive oil.  Gently remove the olive slices and place around the outer, optical bone in a half-moon of olives on each eye, where most fine lines have a tendency to develop.  Draw a bath, and place a dry wash cloth over your eyes to hold the black olive beauty “byte” in place.  Keep eyes closed.  After 15 minutes, remove olives and gently massage the remaining olive oil into your skin around the outer eye area.

DARK UNDER-EYE CIRCLES

“Pump some iron” into your life and diet, and in a few blinks of your eyes, you will say goodbye to dark circles.  Foods that contain iron, like the darkest leafy greens you can find, for instance kale and spinach, can vastly improve your eyes’ dark secret!

BRIGHT-EYED BEAUTY BYTE

Place 2 small spoons in your refrigerator for several minutes, or even overnight if you’d like to try this “beauty byte” first thing in the morning.  Upon awakening to your dark circles, gently lay the spoons directly under each eye, with minimal pressure.  Remember, the skin under your eyes is sensitive.  You should feel refreshed and “bright-eyed”.  Lightly dab some cucumber juice underneath the eyes, and begin your beautiful day!

PUFFY EYES

PRETTY PEEPERS BEAUTY BYTE

Placing warm chamomile tea bags over your closed eyes can do more than just de-puff.  The tea bag actually draws toxins away from your eyes.  Indeed, Chamomile is an anti-inflammatory and therefore reducing swelling, naturally.  So, if your eyes are irritated from an eyelash or mascara, or just puffy from too much salt in your diet, sooth your eyes and your soul with a relaxing tea detox.

GRATEFUL GRAPES BEAUTY BYTE

Yet another way to diminish under-eye puffiness is to place a frozen grape under each eye.  Frozen grapes work far better that ice, because they do not melt.  They are also the perfect size to cover the delicate, fine skin underneath your eye.  You can place them inside a sleeping mask, in order to hold the grapes in place.  Enjoy a warm bath, while your eyes de-puff!  No sour grapes here!

DISCOLORATION

Sun-spots and other mild discolorations call for a brightening of your complexion.  Beta-carotene and Vitamin C are vital for maintaining a bright complexion.  Certain foods are know for improving skin discolorations internally, yet there is a special fruit that brightens your complexion internally and topically!  This delicious, special fruit is the persimmon.  I grew-up with a huge persimmon tree in my backyard, and the antioxidant treat, was sweet and given to me as dessert!  My fondness for persimmons has expanded in the depths of its nutritional value it has for brightening one’s complexion.

BRIGHT PERSIMMON PEELS BEAUTY BYTE

Find a ripe organic persimmon at your local market.  Peel the persimmon, laying the fresh peel on a paper towel.  Slice the remaining fruit and enjoy as a raw food treat, which internally helps to brighten one’s complexion.  But, this generous fruit also lets us benefit from, topically.  On a cleansed face, place the fresh persimmon peels on your skin, focusing on the areas of discoloration.  Lay down, and relax for 15 minutes, while the persimmon peels do their magic!  Rinse your face with cool water to close the pores.  If there are some persimmon peels that you did not use to treat the discolorations, then by all means, they are edible.  Enjoy! It’s a bright, new day!

OILY SKIN

Lemons are naturally antibacterial and a natural astringent.  For oily skin, the main thing to avoid is removing too much oil, wherein your body overcompensates, and actually produces more oil.  So, I recommend a gentle, delicate approach to healing oily skin, the natural way.

‘LEMONADE OUT OF LEMONS’ BEAUTY BYTE

Simply mix 1 teaspoon of water with 1 teaspoon of the juice of one organic lemon.  Be sure to pick out the lemon’s seeds from the teaspoon—this is not an exfoliation! Gently splash the mixture onto your clean face, and allow itto absorb.  Rinse of with cool water to close the pores.  There’s nothing bitter about this lemon “beauty byte”!

VERY DRY SKIN

HONEYED HANDS BEAUTY BYTE

Organic, honeycomb can be found at your local farmer’s market, and it is Mother Nature’s moisturizer.  It also has medical, healing qualities for your throat, if ingested, as it is an anti-inflammatory substance.  Thank you buzzy bees!

“Honeyed Hands” may sound finger-licking good, but it is finger-smoothing good.  Find two clean socks that you do not mind discarding after use.  Use a paintbrush or a synthetic fiber make-up brush, and get ready to become a living work of art.  Dip the brush into a jar of raw honey, and generously “paint” a layer about ¼ inch thick onto one hand and then cover with saran wrap from your local market and cover with a clean sock, taken from the pair.  Then with your honey-mitten hand, do the same for your other hand.  Leave on for thirty minutes-watch your favorite show, and then rinse off thoroughly.  Your hands are another revealer of age, so smooth out very dry skin, and soften your hands with your “honey mask”.  Reverse the clock.

AVOCADO SMOOTHING FACIAL BEAUTY BYTE

Avocados can replenish moisture to the skin.  An avocado mask can improve very dry skin in a natural way, smoothing your skin to its natural supple state.   Smash half of one large avocado until whipped, and apply the soft skin home remedy about 1/4 inch thick to the face.  Rinse with warm water, and then a splash of cold water to close the pores.

SUN DAMAGE

If the eyes are the windows into our soul, then we should care for them like precious gems.  Grapes are rich in Vitamin A and Vitamin C, valuable vitamins to improve skin that has had over-exposure to the sun.

SUN SOOTHING BEAUTY BYTE

After a day at the beach, enjoying the sun’s warm rays, with sunscreen, of course, squeeze a handful of red seedless grapes into a small bowl.  Use a fork to smash the grapes, enough to squeeze the juice out and splash the “antioxidant juice” onto your face.  It will soothe your skin from your recent sun exposure.  Always follow your sun-grape beauty recipe by cleansing your face afterward.

DULL SKIN

PERFECT PORES BEAUTY BYTE

If your facialist is out of town, fear not!  Dull skin is NO match for boiling water…yes, it’s that simple.  Boil water in a medium pot over the stove, and allow the steam to rise to your face.  The heat and the moisture will open your skin’s pores, and release oxidants and toxins.  When you feel as thou your face has a sheath of wetness covering it, immediately cleanse with cool water, to rinse away the toxins you have sweated out and seal your pores.  This is a cleansing, natural way to release your skin of undesirable toxins and dullness.  It’s your at-home facial, compliments of water…the true drink of the gods.  So, let your radiant skin shine with the Perfect Pores “Beauty Byte”!

About the Author:

Elizabeth TenHouten is the author of Cooking Well: Beautiful Skin, Antioxidant-Rich Recipes for Glowing Skin” which will be in bookstores nationwide on Nov. 29. Visit her at www.elizabethtenhouten.com.