Natural Treatment for Skin health

In today’s time, cosmetics and personal care products are in high demand to improve and maintain skin health. But, our ancestors always trusted in different natural beautifying ingredients to boost and maintain beauty. They believed that the inner beauty of skin can enhance, endure and uphold external beauty. Gradually this belief regenerated in this present era. Nowadays, people are more inclined to natural ingredients than synthetic products.  This has forced many cosmetic brands to replace synthetic ingredients with natural ingredients to match public demand. Natural cosmetics contain natural ingredients and the entire product development process need to be environmentally friendly.

Why Natural cosmetics are on demand?

Natural products are obtained from living organisms present in the natural earth. Using different natural products to treat diseases or improve health condition is subsequent phenomena of human evolution. There are many folk medicines, usually obtained from different plant sources are traditionally used to treat different disease conditions. Among these, skin problems are one of the most common dermatological condition which is treated by using natural ingredients. The term cosmoceutical means cosmetics used for medicinal purpose. Cosmeceuticals often contain ingredients which have therapeutic properties to treat diseases. There are many natural ingredients which possess cosmoseutical properties, means they not only improve skin appearance and prevent skin damage due to regular wear and tear but also treat common skin problems. Natural ingredients are usually obtained from plant products and are rich in bioactive phytochemicals which have a wide range of therapeutic values.  These natural phytochemicals have potential pharmacological activities due to their antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-infective, antimitotic, anti-ageing, antiangiogenic, and anticarcinogenic properties.

In the present era, people are more concern about their health and holistic wellness. They often try to avoid unnecessary side effect burden of synthetic products. The growing interest drives researchers to establish the safety and efficacy of different natural ingredients. Several evidential human and animal research data supports the disease prevention and treatment potentiality of natural ingredients. Application of raw natural ingredients is often considered as a tedious job and that limit the application of these valuable products. Time crunch and sedentary lifestyle become a barrier to the restricted application of natural raw ingredients. But public interest and research support are progressively reinforcing the natural ingredient based formulation productions.

Skincare is a regular process and every individual applies cosmetics to improve and maintain their beauty. Gradually people showed their interest to treat skin problems with different natural kitchen ingredients according to their grandma’s skincare tips. The positive treatment outcome has increased the use of different raw natural ingredients, such as honey, lemon, milk, turmeric etc. Formulation of different natural cosmetic products eases the application of different herbal and natural ingredients. In recent days, the natural cosmetic industry has become one of the booming industry.

Selection of Natural ingredients depending upon skin type

Cosmetic industries offer multiple skin products for skin nourishment and to improve skin quality. But it is important to mention that determining of skin type and the selection of appropriate skin care product as per the skin type is vital to get the optimum product benefits. Conventional classification of skin types, including dry, oily, pigmented, non-pigmented, wrinkled or tight skin need specific skin care. But most of us do not have any particular type of skin. Generally, our skin is a combination of these types. According to expert dermatologist Rubinstein, 16 potential skin-type permutations are possible based on conventional characteristic features of skin types. Diet, climate, exposure to sun rays, heat and even cosmetics we used can also influence the alteration of skin type. For example, most of us have dry skin in winter due to lack of humidity in the weather. Therefore, certain skin treatment may not be suitable for all over the year. Following are some natural skin care tips for different skin types.  

Skincare for dry skin

Individuals having dry skin has to maintain the proper moisture content. Locking the water-content of the skin by applying some occlusive agents can help to achieve this goal.

•   Soybean oil, grape-seed oil are two natural occlusive agents that prevent water loss from the skin and also provide the emollient effect.

•  Honey is a natural humectant usually added in moisturizer preparation. Honey helps to attract water from the external environment and the deeper part of the epidermis layer to hydrate the skin and to maintain the moisture balance in the skin.

•   Buttermilk and sugarcane juice are also good ingredients for dry skin care, as these natural sources contain glycolic acid and lactic acids. These active ingredients act as humectant and exfoliants. Milk improves keratinocytes functioning. Application of natural humectant and exfoliants significantly reduce blotchiness, skin coarseness, and sallowness.

•   Natural mineral oil contains oils and lipids and acts as emollient. Application of emollient smoothen the skin surface by rejuvenating skin. Almond oil is an important source of vitamin E and is often added in natural moisturizer, and sunscreen lotions. Almond oil possesses a good emollient property and prevents skin dryness.

All the above mentioned natural ingredients also promote collagen and polypeptides production to prevent wrinkle development and skin roughness.

Skincare for Sensitive skin

People having sensitive skin usually suffers from different skin conditions including acne, rosacea, and stinging problem. 

• Lemon, essential oil derived from cinnamon bark, topical probiotics and oatmeal containing natural cosmetic ingredients are helpful to reduce acne problem. Lemon is a rich source of vitamin C and citric acid. Citric acid has an anti-bacterial effect and prevents acne. Vitamin C nourishes skin.

• The essential oil derived from cinnamon has antiseptic property and prevent acne attacks.

• Oatmeal has cleansing property and removes dirt from skin deep. Thus, it helps in nutrient penetration in the skin deep and makes skin healthy and prevents acne.

• Topical application of probiotics (yogurt is a natural probiotic) maintain the skin microbiota and prevent attacks of harmful acne causing microorganism.

• Many natural ingredients including aloe vera, arnica, chamomile, colloidal oatmeal, cucumber extract are effective to treat rosacea symptoms anti-inflammatory, antioxidant properties.

• Skin sensitivity stimulates neural activities and causes a stinging problem. Natural sources of vitamin C including orange extract, the lemon extract can subside stinging sensation.

• Some individuals have the tendency to develop skin pigmentation and alter the skin color. This type of skin problems is also more prominent in people having sensitive skin.  Mulberry extract and licorice extracts prevent melanin formation by inhibiting tyrosinase.

• Soy-containing proteins, Bowman-Birk inhibitor and soybean trypsin inhibitor able to hinder the skin pigmentation by affecting melanosome transportation pathway. Reduction of melanosome transfer to keratinocytes prevents and treat skin pigmentation. Broadspectrum natural sunscreen may contain this soy protein.

Skincare for Skin-Aging

Skin aging is one of the primary symptoms which affects our external appearance due to prominent wrinkle formation. Hyaluronic acid, collagen, and elastin are reduced with increasing age and skin aging symptoms become prominent. Multiple botanical sources including green tea, coffee, caffeine, grape seed extract, resveratrol, berry, ferulic acid, rosemary, feverfew, pomegranate, idebenone, Pycnogenol, mushrooms, and silymarin supply abundant amount of vitamin C, vitamin E, and Coenzyme Q10. These herbs also have potent antioxidant properties and prevent generation of reactive oxygen species. They have a protective effect against photoaging, developed due to the detrimental effect of ultraviolet rays. Another product to consider would be purtier placenta.

Skincare For Oily Skin

Acne is one of the major problems with oily skin. Therefore, the selection of non-greasy water-based skincare products is ideal for individuals having oily skin. Following are some tips for oily skin:

• Much herbal cosmetic preparation contains a combination of Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), pot marigold (Calendula officinalis) and Common wheat (Triticum aestivum). This combination is ideal for oily skin to prevent and treat acne.

•  Sebum secretion increases in both boys and girls before puberty and makes the skin oily. Acne and pimples increase during adolescence due to hormonal changes.Vitex agnus-castus, also known as a chaste tree is very effective to control this problem. Select Vitex agnus-castus containing natural products for the adolescence age group.

• A moisturizer containing Ginkgo biloba, aloe vera, green tea, licorice and allantoin botanical is good for oily skin.

•  Witch hazel has astringent property and is effective for oily skin treatment.

•   Basil (Ocimum gratissimum) leaves and turmeric (Curcuma longa) are used to treat acne or reduce pimple marks, as they have wound healing property.

References

• Leslie Baumann, Understanding and Treating Various Skin Types: The Baumann Skin Type Indicator, Dermatologic Clinics · August 2008. DOI: 10.1016/j.det.2008.03.007 · Source: PubMed

• Azila Abd. Aziz, Zarani Mat Taher, Rohaiza Muda and Ramlan Aziz. Cosmeceuticals and Natural Cosmetics. Cosmeceuticals and Natural Cosmetics. December 2017.