Personalise your routine
Cleansing, toning, moisturising and the occasional scrub are recommended for everyone but that doesn’t mean that everyone’s skin responds to the routine in the same way. When it comes to your skin, yes, there are some rules that you need to follow blindly – such as taking off your makeup before you head to bed, moisturising after you cleanse and applying sunscreen but how much and how often depends on your skin type. So invest enough time into figuring out what products and regimes work best for you and then follow them religiously. There’s a certain comfort in routine as they say, and no one will appreciate it more than your skin.
Get moving!
Physical activity in any form will benefit not just those muscles but even your skin. By default, our limbs were meant to move, and there’s a very good reason why exercise in any form is good for your body, soul and even your skin. Exercise improves blood circulation throughout your body delivering nutrition and oxygen to your skin cells, nourishing them to look soft, supple and healthy. When you sweat, your body is essentially getting rid of the all the toxins in your body in the most natural way possible. So adopt a workout regime of your choice, whether it’s running and yoga, or Pilates and mixed martial arts but get moving to keep your skin looking radiant and acne free.
Don’t eat convenient, eat right
Everything that you put into your body will show up on your body in the form of fat, muscle, acne or glowing skin, so pay just a little more attention to what you eat. This doesn’t mean measuring every calorie, it means making healthier choices as far as possible like having a nutritious, healthy breakfast with fruits or a juice instead of a hurried slice of buttered toast, cutting down on those many cups of coffee that can dehydrate your skin or replacing your hot beverages with coconut water or buttermilk, opting for almonds and dates instead of chips and so on. Instead of planning your meals around convenience, plan them around nutrition and good health for you and your skin.
Load up on the liquids
There is no dearth of evidence to show that keeping your body hydrated at all times is super beneficial for your skin, and yet we forget to drink our regular two litres of water every day. Chances are that this is because we’re stuck in air conditioned offices that don’t really make us all that thirsty (but still continue to dehydrate us). When your skin is hydrated from deep within it’ll show. Apart from appearing more moisturised, less flaky and less prone to skin infections and acne, it’ll look healthier and more radiant. If you, like us, have an issue with drinking water too often (yes, there is something like that) you can always intersperse it with flavoured water (opt for natural over artificial flavourings), fresh fruit juices, coconut water, chaas or even lime water for that matter.
Sleep is an investment
Your skin needs sleep as much as your body does. In fact sleep is the only time your skin gets to recover from whatever it has been subjected to throughout the day. It’s the time when your skin rests and rejuvenates, gets rid of toxins, ditches old cells for new ones and repairs itself. What we don’t realise is when we don’t get adequate rest, not only do we look tired, but since we also feel drowsy throughout the day, we reach for the sugars, caffeinated drinks and carbs a lot more to help us stay awake, which in turn horribly affect our skin.
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Written by Girija Naiksatam on 22nd Jul 2014