*Herbs Can SAVE Your SKIN*

Herbs and spices may play an essential role in your favorite recipes, but these natural wonders can also be secret ingredients in your skin care regimen. Herbs and spices are filled with lots of goodness and contain high levels of antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, and nutrients your skin and hair need to look healthy!

Below are several of our favorites along with descriptions of what they can do for YOU and your loved ones!

Chamomile Helps Calm Razor Burn

Patches of redness, flaking, itching, and general irritation around the shaved area can resemble sunburn. Fortunately, nature’s most soothing herbal leaf can heal distressed and razor burned skin quickly. Chamomile is a natural anti-inflammatory, with the power to reduce redness, itchiness, and swelling, and it’s a great alternative to cortisone.

Cinnamon for a Glowing Complexion

Cinnamon adds a kick to cookies and hot drinks, but it’s also packed with antioxidants — substances that fight skin damage. Cinnamon has more antioxidant value than half a cup of blueberries. For an easy antioxidant boost, sprinkle half a teaspoon of cinnamon on your coffee grounds before brewing.

Garlic for Healthy Hair

While garlic may be harsh for your breath, it’s a lifesaver for thin hair! Your hair follicle needs nutrients to produce thick, healthy hair. When you aren’t eating the right ones, your hair pays the price. Foods that are high in cysteine, an amino acid found in garlic, can help reinvigorate your follicles.

Green Tea for Sun Protection

Here’s one more reason to go green: Green tea has a high concentration of catechins, which have strong anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-aging effects on skin. Topical green tea can also help thicken the epidermis, speed the healing of wounds, and inhibit an enzyme in your skin that causes uneven pigmentation, which means fewer sun spots.

Hot Peppers to Fight Wrinkles

Hot peppers like chili, paprika, cayenne, and jalapeño do more than put your taste buds on alert — they also defend your skin. Vitamins A and C in peppers help combat free radicals, preventing the breakdown of collagen to maintain the integrity of our skin. The colorful peppers also contain capsaicin, which acts like a sunscreen to shield skin from damage caused by UV rays. You have to ingest peppers to enjoy their regenerative powers, though, as the capsaicin that works wonders for skin internally will burn if applied topically. Hot peppers are so easy to add to any dish: Try jalapeño or cayenne in guacamole, and chili peppers in curry sauce. You can also make a rub for fish or chicken with paprika!

Red Clover to Ease Eczema

Medicinal herbalists have long used red clover to help soothe the red, scaly, and maddeningly itchy patches of skin that plague eczema sufferers. Herbs like red clover help eliminate toxins in the bloodstream that appear to trigger inflammation. Red clover can be ingested as a tea or applied topically. If you’re going to drink the tea, steep one to two teaspoons of dried flowers in hot water for half an hour, and sip two to three cups daily to reap the benefits. If you want to take red clover as a supplement, 40 to 160 mg per day is recommended. Ointments are also available that contain 10 to 15 percent red clover flower.

Turmeric to Reduce Inflammation

Turmeric has been used in India for thousands of years; the herb has powerful anti-inflammatory benefits because of its high concentration of the antioxidant curcumin. Research has shown that curcumin may also help fight melanoma when the affected skin is treated topically with turmeric. Add turmeric to deviled eggs, pasta, and potato salads, as well as hearty savory soups, chili, and brown rice. Mixed with ginger, it also makes a tasty tea!

Lavender for Skin Nourishment and Healing

Lavender, like chamomile, is one of nature’s essential herbs for skin nourishment and healing. There are over 20 species and many subspecies in the Lavendula genus. Acne, eczema, dermatitis, insect bites, burns… you name it, lavender can help. Lavender essential oil not only smells divine, it is an antiseptic, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory, helping skin to heal and renew itself. The scent of pure lavender essential oil can be very calming, and a couple of drops massaged into the temples can help relieve a headache.

AND The Ever so Loved…ALOE VERA

Last but certainly not least, is the amazing aloe vera. Humans have used aloe vera for skin treatment for over 5000 years. Papyrus texts from Ancient Egypt showed Cleopatra and Nerfertiti bathed in aloe juice to retain their youthful and beautiful skin, while modern research has shown the tremendous healing powers of aloe vera when used both externally and internally. Aloe vera has six antiseptic agents (sulphur, lupeol, salicylic acid, cinnamic acid, urea nitrogen and phenol), which provide antimicrobial activity. Researchers have found aloe vera applied to skin has the ability to penetrate the skin’s layers and reach the deepest body tissues. You can apply the gel straight from the leaf to burns and scalds, insect bites and stings and it’s especially soothing for sunburn. Burn clinics have found that aloe vera is 50% more effective for burn treatment than other remedies. When applied to wounds, aloe can quickly stop bleeding and the antibacterial action of aloe stops inflammation. Men can use the gel from an aloe leaf as an after-shave lotion and for a quick and soothing treatment for razor cuts.

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See you beauties soon 😉

Love & Light