Cleansing -A Skin Ritual
The first step in taking care of your skin health externally is cleansing it. Perspiration, dust, grease, make-up and bacteria all collect on your skin and need to be removed completely.
For starters splashing your face with water is a great cleanser. It makes your skin clean as well as fresh but does not get rid of all impurities. For that you need to take more pains and more care.
Most importantly one needs to know how to apply a cleanser. Well, a cleanser should always be massaged into the skin with light upward and outward movements paying particular attention on areas that have open pores like the nose, neck and ear lobes.
It is necessary that one uses cotton wool to cleanse ones face and you need to be particular about the cotton. It should be moist while cleansing. Repeat the process till the cotton is clean and has no dirt on it.
When it comes to cleansing, rose water is the best cleansing agent. Take cotton wool dab it with rose water and apply it on the face to feel fresh and clean immediately. Taking steam is beneficial for cleansing all types of skin too as it gets rid of the surface dirt and unclogs pores.
Naturopathy suggests masks as one of the oldest beautifying cleansing treatments. You can make a natural cleansing mask made up of…
- ½ tablespoon of yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon orange juice
- 1 teaspoon carrot juice and
- 1 tea spoon olive oil
Mix these ingredients into make a paste, apply it on your face for 15minutes till it dries and then wipe with out with cotton wool dipped in cold milk. Wait for five minutes and the wash your face with water. You can use this mask twice a week.
Another cleansing mask that has great results is the Papaya Mask. Mash two large pieces of ripe papaya and apply it evenly on your face. Rinse off after 20 minutes with warm water. After doing this take a small piece of cotton moist it with butter milk and apply on the face using outward strokes for 5 minutes and then wash with cold water.
Now, if you have dry skin besides cleansing one needs to Scrub their skin. While scrubbing always use small circular movements as scrubbing stimulates the skin, brings blood to the surface, removes dead cells and cleans the skin. The best natural scrub is either an Oatmeal scrub where one takes grounded oatmeal powder mixes it with a little milk making it a thick paste and apply it or a scrub made of one teaspoon of finely grounded orange peel and grounded almonds mixed in little warm water or butter milk to make a thick paste. Apply these and scrub for 5 to 10 minutes and then wipe off with rose water followed by cold water after 10 minutes.
I have given you many cleansers for your face but to cleanse ones body skin you can add some ingredients to your bath water as well. For example if you have itchy, dry skin add a cup of vinegar to your bath water. It is exceptionally helpful.
Adding a spoon of honey to your bath water relieves you of tiredness and sleepiness, it also makes your skin extremely soft and clean. A mixed herb bath is also great for good skin. Add a few aloe vera leaves, tulsi leaves, mint leaves and a pinch of salt to your warm water and see your skin glow.
Lastly I want to suggest a brilliant mixed herb pack for cleansing one’s body and face. Take 1 table spoon of grounded orange peel
- 1 table spoon of grounded lemon peel
- 2 table spoon of grounded almond
- A pinch of salt
- 1 table spoon of grounded thyme
- Almond oil or olive oil enough to make a thick paste
- Apply this paste on your face and body liberally to cleanse your skin, make it supple and add glow.
After telling you all about cleansing your skin naturally lets move on to our next skin care essential- Toning. Part two of this column is coming up next Tuesday: Toning your skin naturally.
Tip of the Day:
Potato contains Vitamin C it helps in cleansing skin of blemishes. Mix 1 tablespoon of potato juice with multani mitti and apply it on the face it makes for a great cleanser. Multani Mitti absorbs dirt and grease from one’s skin.
