What ever happened to our skin?

As a part of the natural aging process, collagen production slows, and elastin, the substance that enables skin to snap back into place, now has less of the snap.

Dead skin cells don’t shed as quickly as they once did, and the turnover of new skin cells has decreased. And that’s not all!

External factors act alongside the normal aging process to prematurely age our skin. Factors such as sun exposure, repetitive facial expressions, gravity and smoking.

What do we do? Don’t agonise, moisturise!

Moisturise!

Wear sunscreen: Daylight, even dim, obscure daylight, causes skin damage, which means it slowly becomes less and less able to hold moisture or feel smooth.

Apply, reapply and reapply moisturiser again over the the course of a day. Keep a moisturiser in your purse, at your desk, on the kitchen sink and in your glove box as well as the bathroom.

Face up to Fruit to Moisturise
Below are three face masks I have used myself time and time again. My skin has always been on the dry side and now of course it’s dryer than ever. I don’t know about you, but I just don’t have the spare cash to lay out on most shop-bought creams and balms. I mix up these masks exactly the way that my mother and her sisters did.

Fruit Masks

Egg and Honey Mask - Prepare a mixture by adding 1 egg ,1 teaspoon of honey, 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and few drops of rose water. I can never find rosewater anymore so I just go ahead without it.

Banana Mask - Mash up a ripe banana with a fork and spread it thickly onto the face and throat. Especially on the throat.

Leave it on for ten to fifteen minutes and then wash off gently with lukewarm water.

I swear by this one. It was a severe shock to me when a cyclone destroyed half of the banana crop at the start of the year. Bananas were almost worth their weight in gold! Instead of bananas I used avocado.

Avocado Mask - Mash half an avocado and mix with a few drops of fresh lemon juice and spread over the cleansed skin.

Leave on for fifteen to twenty minutes, and then remove the excess with a soft tissue. Wash your skin (gently) alternately with cold and warm water.

Once a week take a milk bath to nourish and smoothen your skin.

Tags: skin