Treat your skin the right way: Ayurvedic tips for healthy and radiant skin

The skin loves natural ingredients. It’s safe, chemical-free, and full of nourishment! And that’s just what Ayurveda is all about.

Well before big-name cosmetic and pharma brands came out with age-defying skin care solutions, Ayurveda used natural herbal remedies to keep skin looking youthful. Did you know that Ayurveda views skin care from multiple fronts just like the modern holistic approach to health?

By addressing elements such as varnya (brightening skin), sandhaniya (regenerating cells), shothahara (fighting inflammation), vranaropana (healing), and tvagrasayana (slowing aging), ayurvedic remedies can keep your skin looking and feeling great.

An ayurvedic regimen for skin care involves eating right (according to your body type or dosha), using an appropriate ubtan or mix of flours, legumes, and herbal remedies, and moisturizing with organic oils. Here is a closer look at the treatments, herbal formulations, and remedies you could explore.

Want to slow down aging? Make a herbal pack!

Certain herbs like gotu kola are used in ayurveda to keep skin looking youthful and defy aging — in an activity called vayasthapana which allows all the three doshas of the body to be held in balance. Here are the three doshas you need to know.

DIY: Make a combination of clay, honey, aloe vera juice or spring water, evening primrose oil, and rosa mosqueta.

Looking for radiance? Grab a lemon and papaya

That ever-elusive “naturally radiant,” glowing skin that we all covet is something ayurveda addresses through varnya herbal remedies. Homemade sandalwood paste-based remedies or those that use Indian madder, Indian sarsaparilla, or vetiver can work well.

Face packs can be made from a variety of fruit and vegetables, depending on your skin type. A simple homemade facepack of lemon, which has varnya properties, and papaya, a natural face cream which softens the skin and removes blemishes, can do wonders for your complexion.

Herbal cleansing powders made from powdered herbs of aloe vera, manjistha, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, lemon peel, vetiver, comfrey, tulsi, nutmeg, and sandalwood mixed with clay/chickpea flour can be used for a variety of skin types. Simply change the base you mix it with for different effects.

If you have dry skin, try mixing it with aloe vera juice or fresh cream or milk; if you have oily skin use yogurt or a lemon juice base; and for normal skin you could use spring water or any herbal tea.

Use sesame oil or buttermilk for moisturization

You already know that moisturizing the skin is an important step to keep it looking good and retaining that youthfulness for longer. Ayurvedic remedies use this same principle to treat skin naturally.

Nurture your body from within with the right foods rich in antioxidants and, on the outside, with ingredients like rose petal, gotu kola, costus, grapefruit extract, and bombax.

Traditional face masks make use of goat’s milk or even buttermilk for their ability to soothe and soften the skin and enrich the skin with vitamins A, E, B6, and B12. Sesame oil is a popular base due to its biologically active compounds that act as antioxidants and moisturize as well.

Put some aloe vera for inflammation and sunburn

Use anti-inflammatory ayurvedic ingredients to protect your body from the relentless assault of chemicals, allergens, stress, and other inflammatory substances. Shothahara herbs like aloe vera, rose petal, and bombax are effective remedies and preventive agents.

Aloe vera can be used easily, by pulping the leaves or using its juice, to soothe sunburn and heal and smoothen skin. For skin that is irritated, red sandalwood paste combined with powdered paste of the root of khas is useful in treating allergic reactions on the skin or other skin irritations.

Repair damaged skin with honey or gotu kola

Rebuild tissue, heal your skin, and repair it using sandhaniya herbs such as shameplant. If that healing needs to be deeper, you should turn to vranaropana herbs such as gotu kola. Honey has both properties and can be used in topical applications as well as internally to heal wounds to the skin and enhance the activity of medication.

Give ksheera sekam and navarakizhi therapies a try for plumpy skin

A range of specially designed therapies and massages in ayurveda can help nourish your skin. A nourishing warm oil massage conditions your skin from the outside and helps improve circulation. Herbal exfoliants are used in gharshana, an ayurvedic dry massage, to help slough away dry, old skin and reveal fresh, glowing skin beneath.

The ksheera sekam therapy, where a medicated milk bath is used to allow your skin to soak up nutrients directly, and the navarakizhi, where rice-herb bundles dipped in milk are applied to your skin, both help tone up your skin and nourish it.

Ayurveda looks at your skin type and suggests a natural face pack for you in a therapy called mukhalepam or lepa. A skin-nourishing face pack can be made from clay, aloe vera juice, egg white (or water), and honey for those with dry or normal skin; or clay, aloe vera juice, honey, and lemon juice or fennel tea if the skin is oily.

Also, eat amla and turmeric to keep your skin happy from within

Avoid rich oily or heavily spiced foods that can overload your digestive system, causing breakouts on your skin. Light food that you can digest easily eases this load. Think leafy greens, cauliflower, zucchini, apples, melons, and pears. You can also turn to cooling vata-normalizing and pitta-pacifying herbs like coriander seed, cardamom, or fennel to keep your skin glowing.

Eat more vitamin and antioxidant-rich foods like the amla (Indian gooseberry) as well as spices like turmeric, which can help fight free radical damage and photodamage. They can give your skin the nourishment it needs to replenish and heal itself. Antioxidants can also help you avoid wrinkles and inflammation or breakouts.

Amla, when taken with neem, can help stave off pimples caused by blood impurities. Turmeric is a potent anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial remedy that can help you from the outside and within. It has been used historically to make skin look fresh and glowing and to keep off bacteria.

Already following all-natural skin routine? Let us know what your skin loves!