Cooling Ingredients to Incorporate For Clear Skin

September 12, 2019

We all know there are certain ingredients like cucumbers, mint, and yogurt are known in the skincare world for its cooling effects. But have you ever asked yourself why specific foods have cooling effects to the skin? One way to understand it is with the eastern concept of yin and yang. The principle is that there is a coexistence of opposing forces to create a healthy balance and everything around us. Through yin and yang, we can understand a lot about ourselves, particularly when it comes to our skin and body.

Determining Our Skin Types

When we’re born, we’re given a set of traits and skin types. This explains why some of us have dry skin while others have oily skin. When applying the eastern concept of yin and yang, we can see that those with dry skin and poor blood circulation would predominantly be yin, or cold. People who have high body temperatures can experience excessive sweating and acne. Likewise these people would fall under yang, or hot. Going an extra step further, we see that this balance of yin and yang is what needs to be achieved for healthy skin and body. So if you find that you are more on yang (heat), you would focus on eating yin (cold) foods to bring it back to balance and vice versa.

Cooling Ingredients to Look For

Watermelon

We know watermelon as a must have refreshing food to eat during hot summer days. But did you know that watermelon makes one of the many cooling ingredients to benefit those with oily and acne prone skin? Watermelon is also known for citrulline, which is an active ingredient found specifically from the fruit. Citrulline is a chemical that raises the level of urea in the blood and urine. The seed of the watermelon also plays a role in clearing up urinary tract infections in your system.

Watermelon peel is also found to provide benefits to the body. It is rich in potassium, increases the secretion of urine, and alleviates water retention. This helps to expel excess salt from our body and reduces edema. Edema is the abnormal accumulation of fluids within the body. Furthermore, watermelons are high in water content, which provides hydration and moisture to our skin and bodies from the inside-out.

Yogurt

Yogurt contains lactic acid which helps to exfoliate the skin. It also contains zinc which helps to calm inflammation and acne.

Goji Berries

We’re seeing goji berries not just in our açai bowls but in skincare — for good reason! Goji berry has long been known for its ability to help the skin look and be more radiant. It promotes the production of fluids in the body which helps us to balance and support our hormones and nourish the skin. Goji berries are one of the highest sources of carotenoids, which are pigments that give color to pumpkins, carrots, mangoes. Carotenoids are a group of phytochemicals that have shown to slow down the aging process of the skin.

Aloe Vera

Other than being super hydrating and soothing, it’s the go-to sunburn ointment because it naturally contains super anti-inflammatory and healing properties. Aloe is rich in antioxidants, enzymes, amino acids, and polysaccharides (long chain sugars that benefit our immune system). It has a content of over 99% water, which provides deep hydration and moisturization to the skin. Aloe is also high in sulfur compounds, which helps to maintain our skin’s elasticity, and flexibility.

Mushroom

Not only are mushrooms great to eat, but they are another skin relieving ingredient that aids in reducing inflammation in the body. Mushrooms like Reishi and Chaga also have stress relieving properties and liver strengthening abilities. This can then help improve liver function which can then speed up the detoxing process in our blood.