Adding berries to your routine could be the best way to achieve a healthy radiant glow, according to British facial expert Caroline Hitchcock.
Berries have more antioxidants than almost any other fruit. Having berries incorporated into your weekly skin care routine can help give your skin a radiant glow and prevent damage of healthy skin cells by free radicals.
Anthocyanins, water-soluble pigments that give strawberries and blueberries their rich color, play a role in removing free radicals from the body. Often the culprit for wrinkles and tired skin, free radicals sabotage cell membranes, collagen and skin’s lipid barrier.
Manganese converts toxins within skin cells into oxygen to reduce skin damage, which is found in raspberries and strawberries. Also found in blackberries, the mineral increases the effects of vitamin E in protecting and repairing skin to make it healthy and supple.
Including berries in your diet is simply one way to keep your skin healthy and radiant. You can also create your own berry face treatment using strawberries, which exfoliate dead skin cells and brighten dull complexions with alpha-hydroxl acids, and blackberries, which improve skin conditions like psoriasis with polyphenols.
“Exposure to pollution, tobacco and toxins, consumed in excess at this time of year, leaves us vulnerable to free radical attack,” Hitchcock told Female First. “Berries are powerhouses for cell protection and the perfect snack for skin health.
“A dry mouth, familiar to every party goer, is not the only dehydrating effect of alcohol. Before you go to bed, sipping on a small smoothie packed with berries – which have high water content – will pour the necessary hydration and vitamins back into your body, to repair it ahead of the morning so you maintain your party glow.”
If you want to make your own berry skin care recipes, try these three.
Berry skin exfoliator
Start by blending strawberries with water to a pulp, then pour the mixture into ice cube trays to freeze. Once frozen, place an ice cube in the center of a square of muslin cloth, pulling all four corners together and tying with an elastic band. As the cube melts, place the flat edge on your face and massage it with small circular movements for about five minutes. This motion will naturally create an exfoliating effect, releasing vitamins and fruit acids into the skin and reducing puffiness with the coldness of the cube. Leave the berry residue on your skin for a few minutes before rinsing with cold water.
Ready to glow mask
Simply mash four strawberries, half an avocado and a dash of lemon juice into a smooth paste, apply to the face with a mask brush while avoiding the eye area and leave the mixture on your face for about 20 minutes before rinsing with cool water. The berry mask will create a hydrating effect, moisturizing, brightening and energizing the skin.
Mask fine lines
Mash a handful of blueberries, olive oil, lime juice, oats and turmeric into a paste, brush onto the skin and relax for 20 minutes before rinsing with cool water. Your skin will both look and feel rejuvenated.
If you or someone you know would like to learn more about skin care, please feel free to schedule a complimentary consultation or contact one of our Patient Coordinators today at (847) 367-8815.
