If you’re an addict of beauty recipes then you probably already know that the best remedies for almost any skin, hair, nail or indeed even health condition lies in your humble kitchen. From lime and honey to baking soda and turmeric, a well-stocked kitchen (and even a sparsely-stocked one) will usually have the ingredients you need to give you a spa-like glow.
Tomatoes for Skin
Technically a fruit but largely accepted as a vegetable, the simple tomato is one of those easily available and magical ingredients that tackle problems most of us suffer from to some degree. The active ingredient in tomatoes that makes these amazing benefits possible is lycopene – an antioxidant that gives tomatoes their color. Let’s take a look at what you can do with this small offering from the bountiful gardens of nature.
Reduces Oiliness
Oily-skinned beauties, does your skin’s proclivity to shine cause you embarrassment and prevent you from looking your best at all times? Well, be grateful on the one hand because oily skin ages much slower than dry or normal skin! However, no one said you had to live with that shine forever. You can safely reduce the oiliness of your skin by regularly applying fresh tomato juice mixed with cucumber juice to your face. The more often you do, the more dramatic the results.
Dries Up Acne
Tomatoes contain vitamins A, C and K – all of which are necessary for maintaining skin health as well as battling skin problems. Many over-the-counter acne creams will often contain some of these ingredients in chemical form. Why resort to chemicals when there’s a natural remedy around? Applying tomato pulp or juice to your face will help reduce acne to a great degree.
Minimizes Pores
Big pores are the worst! Gaping and marring, they tend to make the skin tone look uneven and can make you feel insecure. Even if you are not vain about your looks and don’t mind the large pores, you have to admit that they collect a lot of dirt and pollution thus making you prone to breakouts. Tomatoes, thankfully, can help there too. Daily application of tomato juice with some lemon juice mixed in has shown massive improvement in those with large pores. Massaging it in and leaving it on for fifteen minutes or so should do.
An Effective Cleanser
If you haven’t guessed already, tomatoes make a pretty great natural cleanser. They make the skin soft, supple and smooth. Tomatoes are also thought to remove blackheads. So go ahead and use them either alone or mixed with honey to reveal glowing skin.
Sunscreen from Within
A ground-breaking study conducted on people particularly sensitive to the sun showed that eight weeks of eating tomatoes or including tomato paste in their diet everyday decreased their susceptibility to sun damage by more than 30%! This doesn’t mean you should throw out your sunscreen just yet, but do indeed include more tomatoes in your diet for extra protection from the sun.
Soothes Sunburn
The very same properties that protect against the sun also prevent your skin from getting too red when you do step out into the sun. In case you forget your sunscreen (and your hat and long-sleeved blouses) and end up getting sunburnt, apply freshly-mashed tomatoes mixed with yoghurt to all affected areas and wash off after twenty minutes. The yoghurt will boost the soothing properties of this remedy but it is the tomatoes that will reduce the redness and prevent the burn from getting too bad.
Anti-aging remedy
Can it get any better? Yes, it can! Instead of spending your hard-earned money on anti-aging creams that promise the world but deliver nest to nothing, buy a few extra tomatoes every week for natural anti-aging remedies from without and within. Research has shown that lycopene can reverse cell degeneration and boost blood flow to newer cells in addition to neutralising the very free radicals that cause rapid aging in the first place.
How to use Tomatoes for Skin?
Any way you want! Mash raw tomatoes and put the paste on your face. Cut slices and apply them where necessary. Eat them in your salads, add them to your recipes. Tomatoes will benefit your health whether you eat them, drink the juice, or apply it to any part of your body.
It’s always better to use fresh tomatoes as opposed to frozen ones or tomato puree. But even that will do if you have no other option. Just make sure that the commercial varieties are minimally processed with as few extra ingredients as possible. If the brand you are buying has too many unrecognizable names on the ingredient list, put it back on the shelf and hunt for one that has a simpler constitution. Remember that you want to get the benefits of the actual tomatoes, not the chemicals that go into making packaged food.
Keep in mind that you have to be consistent in your use of tomatoes for skin treatment before you start seeing results. Also note that you may not have the same results as somebody else. But rest assured that you will see some difference in your skin if you use tomatoes either as a scrub, cleanser, face pack or in your food.
Shutterstock