Skin Secrets of India

Steeped in holistic habits of physical health, spiritual wellness, and beauty, India is a culture that I am fascinated by and thought it would be fun to share some of the beauty secrets that I've uncovered in my research that hail from there.

Cleansing With Milk: Cleansing milks may be a product you find on the shelves. But cleansing with milk is something that people in India have been doing for thousands of years and do still to this day. Both cow's milk and goats milk are popular choices. The natural fats in milk work to feed and also moisturize the skin while the lactic acid has a natural antibacterial effect to clean the pores and mildly resurface the skin without stripping.

Using Spices to Stimulate Circulation: Whether ingested or incorporated into topical products, spices are abundant through the traditional Indian foods and remedies. Spices are especially good for the skin in that they stimulate circulation and boost up skin's natural renewal and healing processes and also help to work through and therefore reduce inflammation. Face masks formulated with warming spices such as cinnamon, clove, and turmeric with all their similar and unique properties are wonderful for addressing acne breakouts in a nondrying fashion as the fresh blood and oxygen stirred up from the heating action of the spices nourishes your tissues as the breakout is calmed. Drier and/or more sensitive skins can also receive these benefits of spices, but you may have to be more careful in your frequency of use when you have these skin types. Ironically, however, some skincare formulators suggest that gentle and consistent use of certain spices in skincare can help (over time) to address the inflammation, pain, and flushing associated with more chronically inflammatory conditions such as perioral dermatitis.

Drinking Water From Copper Vessels: This was one of the most fascinating tips I discovered in researching Indian beauty secrets. Drinking water is obvious to overall health and skin wellness for the need to have well-hydrated tissues and to help cleanse the body efficiently, but making sure that water is taken from a copper vessel also has additional benefits. Copper is a trace mineral that is often hard to come by in the right amounts from food, but while we don't need a lot of it, it is important to our health. Copper particularly helps to aid with efficient digestion and the health of our gut lining and microbiome, which has a direct effect on the health and quality of our skin in both its appearance and also elasticity and ability to heal. Having your water in a copper vessel allows some of that copper to leech into your water, so you are getting a mineral boost without even noticing it!

Gracefully Aging Through Moisture and Balancing: The general approach to anti-aging in traditional Indian culture has much more to do with moisturizing and feeding the skin, rather in stimulating newer fresher skin (as is the case with retinol and a lot of other popular anti-aging ingredients). Regular use of rich-feeling substances such as honey and coconut are widely used throughout a person's life, but are especially relied on to assist skin as it matures to feed back its health and vitality through moisturization and balancing it with these also coincidentally naturally antimicrobial ingredients. As a quick recipe suggestion simply mixing honey with a bit of Tulsi (also known as Holy Basil) powder (you can buy capsules at many pharmacies and grocery stores) is a great moisturizing and firming mask to use at any age and will have a wonderful calming and mildly cooling effect from the Tulsi herb,

Remembering The Mind-Body Connection: Every culture has its own ways and practices of approaching healing and also its own reverence for the "mind-body" connection. India, however, might be one of the most popularly known for it. We may think of this as just rolling out the yoga mat and doing poses, but it is really so much more about seeing the human body and experience as one complete picture. What you eat is a part of your skin's health. How you sleep affects your stress responses. Your mood plays in to your skin. You can see it is all a circle and India through its traditions of Ayuerveda, massage techniques, and meditation practice, is a culture that exemplifies this connection for sure. Even if you don't take any of the specific practices listed here as a part of your own beauty or lifestyle routine, still paying attention to what your mind and insides need is perhaps the most crucial piece of skincare advice to be remembered.

it was so interesting to learn about some of India's approaches to beauty and wellness for this article, and I hope to explore and share with you more from there and many other countries from around the word.