4 Tips to Protect and Treat Your Skin (with Chocolate Masks!)
I’m so excited to come out of hibernation and spend more time in the summer sun! It’s always good to get a reminder of some easy ways to protect our skin, so I checked with guru Laura Bradford of Salís Skincare to recommend some easy tips she’d share to protect and then treat our skin this summer.
Protect
1 Protect Your Skin – Wear a Hat:
Always make sure to wear a hat. Your skin on your face is more delicate than the rest of your body. When people’s faces burn, the skin produces a little brown spot, because your body’s producing melanin to protect it.
2 Protect Your Skin – Use Zinc Oxide:
Sunscreen is important, but only protects against two forms of skin cancer, not all three. Be sure to buy a rub in sunscreen with zinc oxide. Zinc oxide blocks the sun’s rays. The challenge with sunscreen is that it washes off and people forget to reapply sunscreen. Even if you wear sunscreen, I still recommend wearing a hat for that added protection. Making sure you don’t burn your skin is the most important thing.
A lot of plant oils, especially olive oil and jojoba, have natural sunscreen. Most have a natural spf of 9, which isn’t super high, but at least it is some light protection. You can rub oils directly onto your skin.
3 Protect Your Skin – Gradually Re-introduce Your Skin to the Sun
While it’s important to avoid burning your skin, it is very important to get enough sunlight and vitamin D. But instead of staying out all day in the sun after not being in the sun all winter, it’s really important to get into the sun gradually. Start with 5 minutes a day, then move up to 10, then 20, then 30 minutes. Then you’re less likely to burn.
4 Protect Your Skin – Wash Your Face
People confess to me all the time that they don’t wash their face for a few days. Washing your face is really important because your skin releases bacteria & sweat. You don’t have to have a major skin regime, but at least wash your face once a day.
Also, ladies, make sure you don’t sleep with make up on. Sleeping with make up on can cause future damage because it suffocates the skin, not allowing it to breathe (which causes wrinkles.)
Treat
1 Treat Your Skin – Rub in a Few Drops of Oil at Night
Plant oils are really good for your skin, and several make a great nighttime moisturizer. Make sure you add a few drops of olive or jojoba oil to your face at night. Gently rub the oil in, then let it sit for a few minutes and then re-rub the oil back into your skin.
2 Treat Your Skin – Dark Chocolate Mask or Chocolate Truffle Mousse
Melt dark chocolate (I love Dagoba or SuperVital Foods Cacao) and add some baking soda and your choice of essential oils! Apply for 20 minutes and rinse. The dark chocolate has lots of antioxidants that will help rejuvenate your skin!
Nourish your skin from the inside out! This chocolate truffle mousse recipe has all the healthy fats that nourish your skin and it doesn’t cause breakouts.
3 Treat Your Skin – Add Moisture
Add moisture to your skin! Drink lots of water, sleep with a humidifier, or even steam your skin for 30 minutes and then apply essential oils like Sandalwood, Frankincense, and Myrrh. It’s important to keep the skin hydrated inside and out to maintain a youthful glow!
4 Treat Your Skin – Make Changes to Your Diet
Eliminate refined sugar and artificial sweeteners. Even after only a few days, you’ll notice your skin being less puffy with fewer breakouts, and looking healthier and cleaner. Eat more protein and higher quality grains. Skin and hair are made up of protein and quality protein matters. Eat bread from sprouted grains. And of course, green vegetables, and other non-starchy vegetables add to your skin’s overall health.