- sylviajast
One Hit Wonders: Yogurt
Hi beauty bees! Welcome to Wednesday’s new Skincare 101 post 🙂 It’s suuuper windy in Sydney today, so hopefully we don’t get blown away here 😉
You might be a little surprised at this one – but yes yogurt can do wonders for your skin and for your insides! I’ve been using yogurt as a face mask for a few months now and I love it <3 If you have acne, breakouts, inflammation, dull skin, uneven skin tone, sunburn, dry skin – it will help combat all of these issues! Yogurt is also so incredibly cheap and as long as you get the right kind, you will be saving your pennies. If I am at home (or even travelling) and I see that my skin is ‘distressed’ (starting to break out or if I look super tired/exhausted) I pop out to buy some yogurt at the supermarket both to eat and as a treat for my skin. It’s so so easy to do and makes a noticeable difference to your complexion.
What you need to remember is that you must get plain all natural yoghurt. It has to be totally unsweetened (no vanilla – just plain plain baby) and it also has to be full fat. My supermarket contains a huge isle of yogurt and funnily enough, only about 3 or 4 types of plain, natural full fat yogurt. You can choose a natural full fat Greek yogurt to. The reason is that artificial sweeteners will not do anything for your skin (and may cause irritation). Secondly, full fat yogurt contains more stabilised probiotics, vitamins and nutrients. Most vitamins are fat soluble and the fat in yogurt is a ‘complex fat’ meaning it performs lots of different functions within the body.
Once you have sourced your delectable natural full fat yogurt, pop some onto your already pre-cleansed face. You want an even layer all over your face. If it’s summer and it’s hot, you can take your yogurt straight out of the fridge and pop some onto your face. If it’s cold, then remove some yogurt from the pot and let it sit in the kitchen for a few minutes so that it warms up slightly and isn’t stone cold when you apply it to your face (that would suck in winter!). Leave it on your face for about 15 to 30 minutes. Wash it off with lukewarm water and marvel at the softness of you skin 🙂 Follow up with moisturiser. If you want to be diligent, use this mask 2-3 times a week during ‘trouble’ periods.
So what makes yogurt so good for your complexion? A few things actually!
Zinc – Zinc is an anti-inflammatory which helps to reduce swelling. It also has some mild-astringent qualities so it can help to tighten pores. Zinc is antibacterial so along with it’s anti-inflammatory properties, makes it perfect for fighting acne.
Lactic Acid – This is probably the wonder ‘ingredient’ (or one of the wonder ingredients I should say) found in dairy products (milk included). Lactic acid is a mild AHA, so it will gently exfoliate and help brighten your skin tone. If I use this mask regularly, I notice a big decrease in black heads on my nose! It also helps to hydrate your skin and proper hydration lessens the appearance of wrinkles. Because of the lactic acid breaking down dead skin cells, other moisturisers will then be able to penetrate and protect your skin better.
B Vitamins – Yogurt contains B vitamins, in particular B5, B2 and B12. B2 (riboflavin) is necessary for cell growth and regeneration (fighting against oxidative stress), so it will work on your skin should you eat it or apply it topically (so doing both won’t hurt!). B5 is great for maintaing healthy fat in cells, so your skin remains plump.
I was also reading two interesting dermatological journal articles this week, where an experiment was conduct to see whether the indigestion of probiotics (found in full fat yogurt) would actually make an improvement to the dermis (internally) as well as externally (providing that ‘glow’ that we associate with health). The experiment worked wonders in that the dermal layer in the rats actually increased in thickness. As we age we loose the fat, collagen and elastin in our skin which makes it appear ‘plump’ and full. Hair also grew quicker and shinier as the probiotics sped up the metabolic health of cells. It’s very likely that similar effects can be seen in humans. Obviously these particular effects were seen when the rats ingested high probiotic yogurt, but as I said above, both eatting it and using it as a mask doesn’t hurt – if anything you get great quick results from the mask and longer internal benefits by eating yogurt 🙂 (Levkovich T, Poutahidis T, Smillie C, Varian BJ, Ibrahim YM, et al. (2013) Probiotic Bacteria Induce a ‘Glow of Health’. PLoS ONE Vol. 8 Issue 1)
The second article spoke about the effects of probiotics on UV induced damage to the skin, atopic dermatitis, eczma, acne, allergic inflammation and the results were very good and promising. I really recommend both articles if you are interested. I do have to warn you that the second article is a tad long… (M. Rahmati Roudsari , R. Karimi & A. M. Mortazavian (2013): Health effects of probiotics on the skin, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition)
I hope you enjoyed today’s skin care 101 post since I haven’t done one of these in a little while 😉 Do check out the other posts from the the same series if you enjoyed this one!
One Hit Wonders: Sweet Rice Flour (DIY Dry Shampoo)
Catch you next time beauty bees!
Beauty Bee~
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