Clear, beautiful skin is often a good sign of health. In many cases, people with glowing, blemish-free skin are those who eat well, sleep well, and stay on top of their hygiene routine.
But what if a person has dark bags under their eyes? Or acne on their cheek? Or dry and itchy skin? There’s a good chance their skincare routine and health habits are lacking.
Up to 50 million Americans experience acne every day, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Additionally, 1 in 10 Americans experiences some degree of skin irritation (i.e. dermatitis) in their lifetime.
Taking care of your body is one of the most important tasks you’ll ever have. With a few simple changes, you can go a long way toward making your skin look and feel younger and healthier.
What Your Skin Does for You
The skin is the biggest organ of the human body — weighing 8 pounds and covering 22 square feet! And it’s responsible for more than you might imagine, including:
- Sensation: packed with nerves and receptors, skin allows you to detect touch, pressure, pleasure, pain, and temperature to help you understand the environment and stay safe
- Protection: retains moisture, shields against UV radiation, and stops many harmful toxins from getting in
- Regulation: produces and modifies various hormones and is highly sensitive to hormones produced in other organs (ex. acne can signal hormone imbalances)
- Temperature: fat in the dermis insulates us from external temperatures; blood vessels contract or dilate, adjusting blood flow and heat loss; sweating also regulates temperature, cooling us down as the liquid evaporates
- Detoxification: toxins, including heavy metals, pushed out through the skin via sweat, especially when the liver and kidneys are overloaded
What to Eat for Glowing, Healthy Skin
One of the best ways to improve your skin and your entire body is with nutrition. Many skin problems originate in the gut, and are an immune response to toxins and acidic food. For example, when your diet is acidic, your skin produces more oil (sebum), leading to greasy acne-prone skin.
Eat Fruits and Vegetables
You should include as many foods chock full of minerals and nutrients as you can. And what has these in spades? Vegetables and fruits! We’re especially fond of cherry and plum tomatoes, avocados, and seeded red grapes. These are excellent sources of lycopene, antioxidants, and resveratrol, all of which are helpful for healthy skin and general health.
Get More Omega Fatty Acids
Omega fatty acids are nutrients you must get from your diet because your body can’t produce them. And you don’t want to skip out on these because they’re shown to improve skin elasticity and reduce wrinkles. You can get omegas from walnuts and olive oil.
Drink Plenty of Water
Drinking more water is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get dazzling skin. Water helps flush out toxins in your body that cause inflammation and dullness, leading to more youthful, supple, and healthy skin. Plus, it can reduce how oily and irritated your skin may be.
When you’re dehydrated, your skin ends up dry, weak, fragile, and less elastic over time. This increases your risk of developing inflamed skin that easily cracks, splits, and bleeds, which also increases your risk of infection.
For optimal skin health, Dr. Sebi recommended drinking 1 gallon of spring water every day. Spring water contains health-supporting minerals and is naturally alkalinizing.
Tips for Beautiful, Healthy Skin
Cleanse Your Skin Regularly
This may seem obvious, but keeping a regular cleansing routine works wonders for your skin. With regular cleansing, your skin's pores will be able to maintain the proper size. This leads to better skin hydration which helps reduce wrinkles, keeps skin looking younger, and prevents uncomfortable dryness. Cleansing also minimizes the production of excess skin oils.
Wash with natural, chemical-free soaps that maintain your skin’s pH balance. When trying to figure out which cleanser is right for you, start by looking for one that’s gentle. You want to avoid ones that are likely to irritate or dry out your skin.
Once you’ve found one that works for you, use lukewarm water to wet and rinse your face to avoid stripping the skin of its natural oils. Gently rub your fingertips in circular motions to remove dead skin cells, allowing your skin to breathe and regenerate.
Clean Up Your Makeup and Skincare
Make-up and cosmetics get into pores, and when left overnight can cause acne, pimples, and dry skin. Before you get into bed, cleanse your skin, and remove make-up. Be aware that many cosmetic brands use chemicals that damage skin. Avoid these ingredients:
- Acetylated lanolin, benzaldehyde, and isopropyl palmitate, which can cause or worsen acne
- Parabens and salicylate, which can lead to an allergic skin reaction
- Ethylhexyl palmitate, which can irritate skin
- Lauroyl lysine, which can clog pores
- Fragrances and preservatives, which can cause dermatitis
Exfoliate Your Body
Naturally, your body sheds skin, and sometimes those dead skin cells build up on the surface. That’s where exfoliating comes in. A physical exfoliator (e.g. sugar scrub, salt scrub, etc.) uses a rough texture to break up dead skin cells, so all you have to do is rinse them off.
This clears away old skin cells that have lost their luster. Once gone, newer, younger-looking skin cells take their place. It also makes moisturizing more effective, removes dirt and impurities, and provides an instant glow. Be sure to give extra attention to your knees, elbows, and heels, as those tend to have rough patches.
But don’t overdo it or scrub too hard, or you’ll damage the outermost layer of your skin. This layer is necessary for maintaining moisture, so if it becomes damaged, you’ll end up with rough, dry skin. It’s best to exfoliate once a week or twice a week at most.
Moisturize Your Skin
Moisturizing is important for protecting your skin and making it feel nice and soft. It acts as a skin barrier that protects you from irritation, dryness, and weather that is bad for your skin (e.g. cold and dry air). Without a moisturizer, your skin is susceptible to the elements and more likely to feel and look worse.
In most cases, you’ll notice the difference if you use moisturizer one day and not the next. There is a feeling of dryness and a lack of suppleness. But it can all come back with a simple application of moisturizer. It barely takes any time to add moisturizer to your skin (especially compared to some of the other skincare tips here), so there’s no reason not to do it.
Protect Yourself from the Sun
Although some sun exposure is good for your health and circadian rhythm, even just a little too much can lead to earlier wrinkles and fine lines. If you have to go out, then make sure to wear protective clothing. There are clothing brands with UV protection built in. Hats are great accessories but also help protect you from intense rays.
Get Enough Sleep
Get a good night’s sleep to look young and healthy. While you sleep, your body goes into recovery mode, repairing itself and ensuring you’re looking and feeling your best the next day.
But there’s a caveat. And it’s that you get roughly 7 to 9 hours every night. Any less, and you’re putting your skin’s appearance on the line. But if you can get plenty of sleep every night, you’ll have fewer wrinkles, glowing skin, less puffy eyes, and even a fuller head of hair. Of course, the rejuvenating feeling of a full night’s rest is also amazing.
Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol is a diuretic, which leads to water loss, leaving the skin dry, dull, and more prone to fine lines and wrinkles. It also depletes the body of essential nutrients that are crucial for skin repair and collagen production.
Additionally, alcohol can cause inflammation by triggering an immune response, which may result in redness, puffiness, or even long-term conditions like rosacea. Over time, alcohol-induced oxidative stress accelerates the aging process by damaging skin cells and reducing elasticity.
Don’t Smoke
This list wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t add that you should avoid smoking. Smoking causes heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and so much more. It also deprives your skin of nutrients that can interfere with its elasticity. Therefore, if you currently smoke, make strides to quit smoking.
Supplements for Skin and Hair Health
In addition to the food you eat, it’s possible to feed the skin from the outside! Your skin eats and drinks everything you apply — soaking up 8 full glasses of water every time you shower.
- Dr. Sebi’s Eva Salve helps restore skin elasticity and is rich in herbal nutrition. Soothing and softening shea butter is synergized with anti-inflammatory herbs and essential oils that reduce pain, stop itching, slow the signs of aging, encourage wound healing and protect the skin from infection.
- Dr. Sebi's Hair Food Oil feeds the skin on your head. Nourish the scalp, strengthen hair, and make it smell delightful, thanks to the nutrients and protection from Olive Oil, Batana, and Coconut Oil.
- Dr. Sebi’s Bromide Plus offers nourishing minerals that help improve skin health by protecting cell health. It’s rich in antioxidants that support a youthful appearance, helping prevent dry skin, inflammation, and breakouts. This formula also supports the thyroid gland, helping improve hormonal balance, which also dictates skin health.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the layers of the skin?
- Epidermis: upper, visible, waterproof layer of skin — most visible cells are dead
- Dermis: under epidermis and contains blood vessels, hair follicles, nerve endings, and sweat glands
- Hypodermis: layer of fat and connective tissue that supports the physical structure of the skin
What happens if you stop washing your face?
If you don’t clean your face properly, it could lead to clogged pores and possibly serious acne issues. You could also experience some facial irritation and dryness. If you scratch your face when it’s dirty, it could create a break in the skin and open you up to infections. And in general, your face will look greasy and maybe even older if you don’t clean it.
How often should I shower?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Some experts suggest that a daily shower is reasonable for most people, but for others, it could cause issues with their skin. It depends on your lifestyle and skin type. For instance, if you have oily skin or allergies, you’d need to shower more often than someone with dry skin. If you’re working hard in the yard all day, you’ll likely need to shower more often.
When is the best time to shower?
While a morning shower can help jumpstart your day, it might not be the absolute best time of day to do so. Evening showers may be better because you’re removing the germs, dust, and pollution accumulated during the day. In addition, we tend to sweat throughout the day, so cleansing your skin before bed can ensure you don’t bring those things into bed.
