Since your skin is your first layer of defense from daily exposure to the environment, it’s important to take good care of your skin. When you have high levels of melanin, your skin will be darker than those with less pigmentation. To prevent any skin issue, you will need some natural skin care tips for black skin. Every skin tone has its own set of potential problems, but black skin care demands focus on dry, ashy or acne and pigmentation issues.
Keep your skin looking healthy with these easy natural skin care tips for black skin.
Natural Skin Care Tips Remedies Found In Your Kitchen
It used to be difficult to find adequate black skin care products on the shelves. Even today, when you do find products for people of color, the ingredients are often far from natural. There are natural skin care lines, but sometimes it’s easier to look around your own house to find some of the best solutions to natural black skin care.
Rejuvenate your skin with a face mask consisting of citrus fruit and cucumber juices. Add honey, jojoba oil, coconut oil, or Shea butter for an added boost of nutrients. Create your own black skin care routine with cleansing, exfoliation, toning, and moisturizing ingredients that are as natural as sugar, water, sea salt, orange juice, cocoa butter, honey, and yogurt.
Cleansing
The first step to any skin care routine is to get a fresh, clean start by cleansing the skin. Making sure you begin with clean skin is very important to remove any dirt or microbes lingering on the skin, but it can lead to excessive dryness and causing dark skin to turn ashy.
The best solution to avoid drying out is to use non-soapy cleanser. If you tend to break out, avoid creamy soaps and cleansers. Water and oil don’t mix, and water actually dries out the skin.
Cleanse naturally, use oil. It may sound counterproductive, but certain kinds of oils dissolve other oils. Mix Extra Virgin Olive Oil with Unprocessed Castor Oil. For dry skin, use three parts olive oil to one part castor oil. If you have oily skin, use three parts castor oil to one part olive oil. For combination skin, use two parts castor oil to 2 parts olive oil. Warm the oil mixture and apply to your face gently massaging it into your skin. Soak a cloth in hot water, and squeeze out the excess before draping it over your face to let it sit until it becomes cool. Wipe away the dirt and oil using the cooled washcloth.
Exfoliation
Exfoliating your skin is important regardless of the color. It helps to smooth the skin and keep it free of blemishes. The process of exfoliating helps to remove dead skin cells from the surface to expose younger, healthier skin and to keep the dead cells from clogging pores. Create your own exfoliate with something as simple as mixing sugar with water or adding a couple tablespoons of coarse sea salt to a bowl and mixing it with orange juice until it forms a paste. Rub it on your skin, and then rinse with cool water to close your pores.
Toning
Proper toning will cut down your risk of experiencing outbreaks of acne since it helps to balance and maintain the skin’s natural pH balance. It removes traces of makeup or residue that cleansing may have missed. Natural toning ingredients that you probably have around the house include witch hazel, aloe Vera, apple cider vinegar, and essential oils like orange, fennel, rose, or frankincense.
Moisturizing
Black skin requires a lot of hydration. Be careful when you select your moisturizer to choose one that won’t clog your pores. Choose water-based moisturizers rather than those that contain oils. Follow up your exfoliation with a deep moisturizing by combining honey with equal parts of yogurt before you bathe or shower and rinse. Or, use items like cocoa butter are great for adding moisture to the skin and smoothing rough elbows and knees while calming down hyper pigmentation and reducing the appearance of stretch marks.
Skin Protection
Since dark skin is rich in melatonin, the skin’s pigment tends to provide some amount of protection from ultraviolet rays that burn skin with very little pigmentation. Because of this, you may assume that you don’t need to worry about sunscreen. However, the extra melanin increases acne and pigmentation problems. Even darker skin tones need protection from harsh sunlight to prevent pigmentation, so always apply at least an SPF15 sunscreen product before spending a lot of time outdoors. Preferably choose a sunscreen that is oxybenzone and paraben free and leaves no white residue. Natural oils like carrot seed, raspberry seed, avocado, olive, or coconut oil actually contain properties for providing protection from the sun.
Treating Acne
Caring for acne on dark skin is tricky, since scarring or pigmentation can be the result of using acne medications that have a bleaching effect on the skin. To attack the root problem of acne, which is inflammation and bacteria, you will probably be recommended to use a retinoid-based ointment or cream that will prevent skin pigmentation. While retinoid creams sometimes are rich in vitamin A, they are not always naturally derived and some creams require a prescription. For a more natural approach, add a few drops of concentrated tea tree oil to your skin cleansing mixture. Blueberries are also a secret weapon against acne. Both eating them for nutrients and applying them to your skin help ward off acne.
Treating Skin Pigmentation
The darker your skin, the higher level of melanin is present. This means your skin is sensitive to injury and inflammation which cause dark spots or hyperpigmentation. You could fade the dark patches with products that contain hydroquinone or with a chemical peel. But, there are more natural and gentler ways to address skin pigmentation:
- Prevent skin pigmentation by using a naturally derived retinoid-based cream everyday to keep melanin from building up.
- Also, start with items you are probably already eating but never thought of putting on your skin.
- Drink plenty of water to keep your skin hydrated.
- Squeeze a few drops of lemon onto the areas of hyperpigmentation. on your skin.
- Tomatoes also act as a bleaching agent. Leave it on for about 15 minutes, and wash it off before moisturizing.
- Cut up a raw potato, add a few drops of water, and rub it on your skin.
- Apple cider vinegar also makes a great astringent and also acts as a skin lightening agent.
- Mix turmeric with water and honey to create a fantastic skin mask that also serves as an exfoliate.
- Strawberries and oranges are rich in vitamin C and you can mix them together to make a great skin mask.
Conclusion:
The skin is the largest organ of your body and its function is to protect it from the daily exposure of the environment. By following our natural skin care tips for black skin you can prevent other issues. Remember to protect your skin from the sun, keep it hydrated and moisturized. Avoid the use of chemicals, instead try to use natural products, sometimes you can find them in your own kitchen.