Healthy, radiant skin helps us feel more vibrant and youthful, and is well worth some pampering, especially during the summer when many of us joyously bask in abundant sunlight. Beauty is one good reason to protect our skin, but another is the fact that our skin provides the first line of defense against foreign pathogens. Healthy skin means a healthier you!
While our skin makes up only 7% of our body tissue, most of us think about this 7% each morning as we look in the mirror, so here are some tips for summer skin care.
Protect your skin from the outside:
Researchers suggest that 80% of all visible skin aging is due to sunlight exposure, so protecting our skin from UV radiation is critical. (1)
1. Guard against excessive ultraviolet radiation.
Use protective clothing and non-toxic mineral-based sunscreens. A buying guide to safe sunscreens is offered by the Environmental Working Group.
2. After cleansing, use a lighter plant-based moisturizer.
I like Ayurvedic formulas such as the VPK cream from Maharishi AyurVeda Products.
3. Enjoy a homemade moisturizer.
My favorite is an Ayurvedic moisturizer made by mixing ½ cup honey, 4 teaspoons oatmeal, and 2 teaspoons olive oil. Apply this tasty mix and leave it on for 10 minutes, then wash off. This serves as both a moisturizer and a facial scrub.
4. Nourish your skin.
Use a cooling coconut oil full-body massage before bathing or at bedtime. Coconut oil cools the body and helps retain skin moisture.
5. Get the chlorine out!
Remove chlorine odor from skin and hair naturally with a homemade vitamin C spray. Mix 1 teaspoon of vitamin C crystals in a pint-size spray bottle and spray yourself after getting out of the pool, then rub this vitamin C spray into your skin and shower as usual!
Protect your skin from the inside:
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated by ultraviolet radiation and summer skin damage results from too much oxidative damage and too few free-radical-quenching antioxidants.
6. Increase your vitamin C intake.
7. Supplement with quercetin dehydrate.
Quercetin is a plant flavonoid and potent antioxidant that works synergistically with vitamin C. Specifically, quercetin reduces redness, itching, and inflammation of damaged skin. It also helps restore skin barrier function by increasing hydration and reducing water loss. (2)
8. Think about CoQ10.
9. Consider using a broad-spectrum professional-grade multivitamin/mineral.
10. Follow the Alkaline for Life® Diet.
During the sunny summer months, we need a high antioxidant diet, and mother nature is prepared. The summer months offer an abundance of colorful fruits and vegetables, all teaming with antioxidants and plant compounds that protect our skin from the inside. Alkalizing your chemistry by making these wholesome foods the basis of your summer eating plan will go a long way towards protecting your skin. (P.S. You can test to see if your summer eating program is alkalizing by using our Alkaline for Life® Diet Starter Kit.)
11. And finally, stay well hydrated.
Consuming at least 8 to 10 glasses of alkalizing spring or mineral water each day. Also, enjoy other high antioxidant, alkalizing drinks such as iced green tea, lemon-, lime- or apple-cider-vinegar water with a bit of honey—all these refresh, alkalize, and provide much-needed antioxidants.
References:
- Amaro-Ortiz, A., et al. 2014. Ultraviolet radiation, aging and the skin: Prevention of damage by topical cAMP manipulation. Molecules 19(5):6202-6219.
- Maramaldi, G., et al. 2016. Soothing and anti-itch effect of quercetin phytosome in human subjects: A single-blind study. Clinical, Cosmetic, and Investigational Dermatology 9:55-62.
- Knott, A., et al. 2015. Topical treatment with coenzyme Q10-containing formulas improves skin’s Q10 level and provides antioxidative effects. BioFactors 41(6):383-390.
- Žmitek, K., et al. 2017. The effect of dietary intake of coenzyme Q10 on skin parameters and condition: Results of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. BioFactors 43(1):132-140.
