Beautiful African American Skin. Let’s face it, you’re always reading about secrets when it comes to your skin and hair. Are they really secrets or just things you don’t do, or know to do, to keep your skin beautiful?
For me it was a combination of both. Yes, even I stray and I know better. When there’s a deadline and stress rears it’s ugly head, a pimple either pops up in the middles of my forehead or on my nose.
What happens next? I either try to pop it “professionally” or go at it the quick way and create more of a problem.
There are at least 10 things you can do to have beautiful skin. They’re not secrets, you just didn’t know or think about them. Let’s take a look at:
10 Not So Secret Ways To Beautiful African American Skin
1. Have a Daily Skin Care Regimen.
You gotta keep your skin clean! Cleansing, toning and moisturizing is a great first step.
• Cream based cleansers are good for all skin types. They’ll help you gently cleanse your skin without stripping it of its natural oils.
• Toners bring your skin’s pH level back into balance after cleansing. They can often tighten your pores to prevent the appearance of sagging skin.
• Moisturizers provide a layer of protection from the elements. They also prepare your skin for makeup if you wear it. Bottom line: Your Black won’t crack if it’s properly moisturized on a daily basis.
2. Exfoliate Twice a Week.
In your body’s natural cycle, the visible layer of skin cells sheds about every 30 days. As we mature, it can be every 40 days. If you don’t remove them, they will cause ashy, dry or uneven skin tones. Here’s where exfoliation becomes key .
• An exfoliant is a coarse ingredient such as sugar, salt, pumice or loofah, that’s used to slough away dead skin. This is important because when dead skin cells lay on top of your skin, without being removed, your skin can’t breathe.
• Exfoliating “gently sands away” the dead skin cells. This allows your skin to breathe and restores it to a radiant glow.
• Because your skin blemishes and scars easily, it’s best to use gentle exfoliating products, especially for your face. Look for ingredients such as glycolic acid or jojoba wax beads in your facial products. For your body, fine sea salts and sugar will work well for your skin.
3. Prioritize Getting a Full Body Massage
What does a full body massage have to do with your skin. There’s nothing like a full body massage for blood circulation. When your blood flows properly throughout your body, it feeds your cells. Your skin cells are nourished and provide the energy needed to renew and maintain your youthful glow.
• Massage not only energizes your skin tissues, it also soothes your nervous system. This is how body massages help reduce your stress and do away with listlessness or feeling drained.
• Full body massages purge unwanted metabolic waste fluids such as lactic acid and uric acid. This increase in circulation also brings energy-producing nutrients and oxygen to your cells. Overall, massage increases your body’s oxygen-carrying red blood cell count. They take even more oxygen to your cells making them healthy.
• Hopefully, your massage therapist will use essential oils during your massage. Essential oils are known to create a relaxing, luxurious experience that balances your mind body and spirit. Their therapeutic properties help reduce stress, and stress related conditions. They’re also known to help reduce inflammation in your skin.
4. You Are What You Eat!
Your skin isn’t merely a protective covering that helps hold in your bones and muscles. It’s actually your body’s largest elimination system and it communicates to you with breakouts.
• Whenever you see breakouts, they are more often than not, because of something going on inside. Nutrients from your foods have been known to eliminate certain outbreaks and build your immune system.
• Switching your diet to include a lot more raw, natural foods, gives your entire body a HUGE benefit. Fresh foods – i.e., fruits, vegetables and nuts – are easier to digest. They also nourish your body in the form of nutrients, enzymes, minerals and vitamins. Plus, healthy foods flush the toxins out of your body. Meats and starchy foods can take a toll on you. The meats you eat are shot up with hormones. Those hormones mixing with your hormones, can wreck havoc on your skin.
5. African American Skin Needs a Sunscreen
Don’t believe the hype! You have a wealth of melanin in your skin. It’s what makes you unique in your beauty. However, you still need some protection from the sun’s warming rays. Yes, skin cancer is less common, but can be more deadly for those of us with darker skin.
• Darker complexions typically don’t burn as quickly as fair skin. Yet constant exposure can lead to a host of skin care issues down the road. Hyperpigmentation, and uneven skin tone topping the list. Years of casual sun exposure can make your skin its victim as you mature.
• What strength sunscreen do you need? A mentor once shared that your melanin provides you with an automatic SPF 15-30.
If you want to use a formula try this: First, calculate how fast your skin burns. Multiply the time it takes you to burn by the amount of SPF in a sunscreen. For example, if it takes you 15 minutes to burn, then you’ll be protected for 150 minutes with an SPF of 15, or 300 minutes with an SPF of 30. If you’re sweating or you’re hopping in and out of the pool or ocean, reapply the sunscreen frequently to ensure you stay protected.
6. Use One of the Best Product Ingredients for African American Skin
One of the best ingredients for African American skin is Shea butter, especially if you’re using it on your body. It’s a natural moisturizer and can often be the best foundation moisturizer for black skin.
• Shea (pronounced “shay”) butter is a therapeutic emollient that’s extremely helpful for healing cracked, aged and damaged skin. Its Its chemical constituents help resolve bruising and soreness. It penetrates the skin, leaving it feeling extremely soft and smooth.
• Shea butter is rich in vitamins A and E, two healthy skin powerhouses! It’s a creamy solid substance similar to the butter in your fridge. It comes from the natural fat obtained from the karite tree of West and Central Africa. It’s also referred to as karite butter.
• For extra benefits, look for Shea butter products that are combined with natural booster ingredients such as jojoba oil, meadow foam oil, sweet almond oil, cocoa butter, mango butter, vitamin E, sea salt or essential oils, to name a few.
7. Exercise … Make It An Event!
You’d be surprised at how well exercise can help with inflammation challenges in your skin.
• Your goal needn’t be to break a serious sweat or lose weight. Just taking a brisk walk, for example, for a half-hour four or five days a week, will do.
• But to make exercising extra fun, do it as a regular night of salsa dancing, swimming three times a week, or even strength training like rock climbing.
• Exercise increases blood circulation and the delivery of nutrients to skin cells,. This helps in whisking away potentially damaging toxins. It also gives your skin the optimum conditions for making collagen, which supports fibers that help keep away fine lines and wrinkles.
• Last but hardly least, exercise diminishes your stress level. So, your adrenal glands will produce less of the male-type hormones that are often associated with acne flare-up. Go figure!
8. Get a Professional Facial
Did you know that most people believe a facial is nothing more than a pampering indulgence for special occasions? This couldn’t be further from the truth! The key here is to find a Black Skin Care Therapist that understands and specializes in caring for your skin.
• The health benefits of a facial far outweigh the beauty benefits. The major health benefits of regular facials are regulation of the immune system, detoxification, a reduction in fluid build-up, exfoliation, and stress relief. These benefits are achieved in a facial that incorporates exfoliation treatments, acupressure, aromatherapy, and lymphatic drainage.
• Getting facials that include lymphatic drainage massage play a vital role in your body by regulating your immune system. Your lymph system, which is carried through a colorless fluid, runs alongside your blood vessels system. When your lymphatic system becomes blocked, lymphatic fluid builds up and becomes toxic. Lymphatic drainage massages help remove the metabolic wastes and toxins, clearing your lymph nodes under your jaw line and at the base of your neck.
• Monthly facials and a weekly routine of exfoliation can keep your skin clean and smooth with an even tone. Discolorations will fade and often disappear. Your skin will look and act more youthful. A facial also has a calming effect on the nervous system, helping reduce stress and tension.
• If your skin is in distressed, get professional help in a hurry! Whether your problem is acne or another condition, it’s easier to prevent exacerbating it if you address it promptly. A trip to a dermatologist can save or restore your beautiful skin — and even save you money by preventing you from purchasing the wrong or weak products trying to battle the condition.
9. Serums and Masques Play An Important Role
The drying effects of cold weather, air conditioning, harsh sun and pollution can cause your skin to look fatigued, dull and blotchy. Combine this with the maturing of your skin, lack of sleep, stressful lifestyle and pore-clogging makeup … and your skin begins to look older and faster than it should.
Serums:
• To retrieve your youthful appearance, apply facial serums and masques treatments on a weekly basis. Both are key to hydrating your skin and keeping it clean and clear.
• Facial serums are an ultimate nutrient delivery system, especially when caring for mature skin. Because of their extended application time and the inner warmth generated, serums open your pores and allow nutrients to penetrate your skin more efficiently. • Regular use of a good serum can significantly decrease facial lines and wrinkles. This helps improve the appearance of dark circles under your eyes, crow’s fee and firmness in your skin.
Facials:
• Some facials are meant to exfoliate, clarify and unclog pores. They work by causing an abrasive action against your skin that removes the top layer of dead cells from your skin and accumulated dirt, leaving behind fresh, healthy-looking skin. A good clay mask will help with this.
• Other facial masks contain antioxidants to protect against free radicals. Facial masks for dry skin hold water in your skin, making it softer and more flexible. These oil-free masques peel away dead skin cells and refine the pores.
• If you’re looking to hydrate your skin, a honey masque will do the trick. Honey is a natural hydrator when used for skin care and makes it feel soft and supple.
10. Take Frequent Breaks Away From It All.
Every notice how well rested and glowing your skin looks after a vacation? That’s because you got-away from it all.! If a full blown vacation is not in the budget right now, find a way to get two or three days on the beach or in a hotel stay.
Stress is one of the contributing factors to skin eruptions. Finding a way to relieve stress will help your skin tremendously.
There you have it. Beautiful African American skin is really no secret. Your job is to find a way to give yourself time and attention to the things on this list. It’ll at least get your started.
That’s it for this week. As always …
Dedicated to Your Beauty,
Juliette Samuel,
Esthetician/Author/Publisher,
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