Honey has been used in skin care for many centuries. In ancient times, honey was greatly valued for its remarkable healing properties. It has been traditionally used by Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese to heal wounds and also used in ancient India to treat eye infections. It has been increasingly recognized for its medicinal and nutritional properties in modern times too.

It is your best skin care agent in the winter as it is a natural emollient, moisturizer, and rejuvenating agent. Here are a few of its properties that make it a skin care agent of choice.

• Honey promotes healing of wounds and sores and acts as an antiseptic, a pain reliever, and a cooling balm that speeds recovery from burns
• Honey contains important minerals like iron, manganese, and copper
• It is antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory in nature
• It is a humectant that helps to retain and preserve moisture
• It has anti-wrinkle benefits by providing moisture and nutrition to the skin
• It can help promote and build collagen

The unique process that creates honey makes it especially valuable for cosmetic uses, such as clearing acne, healing scars, and evening out skin tone. According to an older study, honey can help with improving the skin’s appearance. It can help stop wrinkles from forming, keep the skin looking young, and prevent infections on the skin that can accelerate aging.

Use honey in your daily facial regimen: Honey face mask

After washing your face with soap and water, apply unpasteurized, raw honey to your face. Leave the honey on your skin for several minutes before rinsing off.

You can also dilute honey with water and spray this honey water on your face in summer to prevent any heat related damage.

Always do an allergy test when you use a new ingredient on your skin. If you have never used honey before, please apply a small amount on your skin and look for any adverse reaction before using it as a face mask.

The post Honey – Nature’s skin care cosmetic appeared first on Increedible India.

Skincare and beauty regimen have become a routine of our everyday life and we rely on a multitude of chemical cosmetics to aid us in retaining our beauty for as long as possible. What if we could find the solution to our beauty problems from nature, namely our kitchens. Ayurveda is a science that adopted the ‘beauty from within mantra’ 5000 years ago, promoting that a holistic approach to beauty would result in a long-term solution to all beauty problems.

This section of our website will be devoted to giving new beauty tips every week derived from nature and Ayurveda.

The beauty tip of this week originates from the Ayurvedic approach of knowing your skin type before adopting any skin care regimen, so take the time to understand your skin type and how your lifestyle affects changes within your skin. Also, it is especially important to adopt a seasonal approach in your daily skin care routine to change as per the season’s requirements.

Ask yourself these basic questions

Is your skin type dry, normal, or oily?

Does the change of season affect your skin, If so in what way?

Do your food habits change the way your skin behaves?

Write down your observations in a beauty diary to come up with the regimen of skin care and beauty products that will work best with your skin type.

This week’s beauty tip

A face mask of coconut oil and/or sesame oil can be greatly beneficial to moisturize dry skin in the winter.

Coconut oil is cooling, anti-inflammatory, hydrating and antimicrobial in nature, making it highly beneficial for the skin. In cold weather, coconut oil can be mixed with warming Sesame oil to make it excellent for face massage and as an oil mask.

In case of oily skin, coconut milk or regular milk can be used as a cleanser and moisturizer and will have the same effect on the skin while still maintaining the oil balance of an oily skin. Milk is a natural moisturizer and lactic acid in milk is an exfoliating ingredient of most anti-ageing creams in the market today.

In case of normal skin both the above regimens will work, providing the necessary hydration in dry winter months.

Written by: Anu Darbha

The post Beauty Tips from Nature -The Ayurveda Way appeared first on Increedible India.