7 Tips for Naturally Healthy Skin

Healthy skin is a product of not only what products you use, but also your overall health. Eating right, exercising regularly, staying hydrated, and avoiding chemicals that can irritate your skin are all truly critical to your skin's health.

Simple enough, but honestly who has time? Well, we are going to break it down into 7 simple tips that will help you achieve naturally healthy skin. All are quick and easy to work into your daily routine. By making just a few simple changes you may be surprised just how quickly you'll be rocking healthy nourished skin!

#1 Take Care of Skin from the Inside-Out

As the outermost organ of the body, your skin is a great overall health indicator. Its condition depends on how well you treat your body as a whole.

No matter what ingredients you apply to the outside, if you’re not truly caring for your skin from the inside, it won’t function at its best. The best thing you can do for your skin? Feed it the natural, clean foods it truly craves and hydrate often. For the vibrant and radiant complexion that we all want, we must provide the right building blocks – those vital nutrients found in whole foods.

Think of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables as “beauty foods” for the proven effects they have on the skin. Superfoods like blueberries, dark grapes, kale, spinach, and sweet potatoes packed with nutrients can deliver the vitamins and other substances your body needs like nothing else. The balance of crucial minerals – like magnesium, phosphorus, and iodine – with essential B vitamins, and Vitamins A, E, C, and D, found in a skin-healthy, whole-foods diet cannot be replicated in any other way.

What will your skin do with all the nutrients? Boost collagen production, maintain healthy levels of hyaluronic acid and defend itself against free radicals for starters.

That’s why our tip #1 for naturally healthy skin is to find simple and doable recipes that you will actually enjoy, using the best whole foods you can find.

Did you know? Our modern-day lifestyle is as damaging to the microbiome as it is to the visible environment. Caring for your body’s microbiome by eating a probiotic diet can be a terrific way to support the immune system, heal the body of the effects of stress and poor nutrition, and aid in delivering the nutrients your skin needs.

#2 Keep Your Skincare Routine Simple and Doable

When it comes to skincare, minimalism is your friend. Too many products and you run the risk of disrupting the skin’s natural defense mechanisms (such as the acid mantle) and upsetting the natural balance of moisture to oil. Don’t overdo it.

Instead, keep it simple but effective, using powerful natural ingredients that are right for your skin type (see tip#6) in formulas that deliver proven results. These three daily steps will do it:

Cleanse in the morning.
Protect in the morning (from both the sun and environmental stressors).
Cleanse and replenish (with vitamins and moisture) at night.

Beyond those three steps, it really is all about the ingredients you choose. Cleanse with a safe, non-toxic, and exfoliating product that adds moisture rather than depletes it.

Protect with antioxidant-rich natural ingredients like carrot seed and jojoba oils, and nourish at night by returning all the nutrients and moisture your skin has lost throughout the day. If your skin can handle it, vitamin A in the form of retinol at night is an effective way to boost collagen production and repair damage at the cellular level.

Did you know? Some estheticians recommend a “skin fast” once a week. This means going to bed with a cleansed but un-moisturized face free of any products. It’s thought that this enhances the skin’s natural ability to produce adequate moisture and keeps oil and moisture production in balance.

#3 Hydrate with Snacks and Avoid Drinks that Dehydrate

The most common cause of a dull complexion is dehydration. And let’s face it, sometimes drinking the recommended amount of water in a busy day can be a challenge. Luckily you can keep your skin hydrated from the inside out and still keep it simple. One of our favorite ways to increase water intake? Snacks!

Snacking on water-rich foods throughout the day is a tasty way to keep your skin healthy and boost your vitamin intake at the same time. You can also slice and add fruits and vegetables to your water for more flavor and to up that intake. Here are some of our favorite options:

Blueberries
Melon
Peaches
Plums
Cucumbers

Believe it or not, one of the worst culprits for damaging and robbing the moisture from your skin are beverages. The top offenders are alcoholic beverages, sugary beverages, and energy drinks loaded with caffeine.

Did you know? The skin around your eyes is the thinnest of all the skin on your face, which means it can lose moisture quickly. Cucumbers are an age-old home remedy for good reason, they’re rich in Vitamin C and folic acid (Vitamin B9) which aid the skin’s resilience.

#4 Flush Away Free Radicals

Stimulate the circulation of blood and oxygen to the surface of your skin to maintain a vibrant glow and healthy cells. Ever wonder why clay feels so good when applied to the skin? The answer lies, surprisingly, in its molecular makeup.

Most pollutants and toxic chemicals carry a positive charge. The negatively charged ions in red clays, such as the Hawaiian red clay in our KioKio Coconut Beauty Bar, attract the positively charged ions in harmful pollutants and damaging chemicals, allowing them to be washed away. In the process, blood flow improves, and fresh nutrients have access to the cells closer to the skin’s surface.

While a free radical is not to be confused with an ion (it does have at least one unpaired electron, but it doesn’t carry a charge like an ion), red clay can help your skin deal with free radicals. The increased circulation and clearing away of debris makes way for antioxidants to work their magic – removing free radicals and their damage from the cells. Meanwhile, at a deeper level, the increased blood flow caused by the exfoliating clay ultimately helps increase collagen production and improves the skin’s overall elasticity – bonus!

Did you know? Antioxidants not only excel at stopping the damage caused by free radicals to the cells but can even reverse the damage. FYI, it’s the skin of grapes, apples, and potatoes that contain most of the antioxidants in those foods.

#5 Avoid Skin-Damaging Foods and Products

Another important step to take towards protecting and defending your skin naturally is knowing what to avoid. Skin-damaging foods to avoid include:

Foods containing sugar
Processed foods
Fried foods
Over-salty foods

Commonly-used products that damage the skin include harsh alkaline cleansers and those containing synthetic dyes and fragrances. The skin is naturally on the acidic side at the surface with a pH of around 4.7. Some cleansers have a pH as high as 10.

Repeated use of such alkaline cleansers will eventually disrupt the acid mantle of the skin and lower the skin’s defenses in the process, making it vulnerable to attack by bacteria. Choosing cleansers with natural ingredients will avoid this common mistake and also help you avoid the damaging chemicals in synthetic dyes and fragrances.

Did you know? A Mayo Clinic patch test study published in 2010 estimates that 1 in 7 of the general population is allergic to synthetic fragrance.

#6 Know Your Skin Type

Your skin type, as opposed to your skin’s condition, is determined largely by genetics. In other words, you were born with it. Knowing your skin type means knowing how it’s most likely to react in different situations and knowing how best to nourish and protect it. Many people mistakenly judge their skin type by its condition under the stress and strain of too many products and constant exposure to a busy lifestyle.

The best way to discover your true skin type is to let it rest for 12-24 hours after gently cleansing and then observe it free of any products. That’s when you’ll be able to see whether it’s naturally dry and flaky, oily, combination, normal (not too oily/not too dry), or sensitive (patches of redness or irritation).

Although you can’t change your skin type, once you know its true type, you can provide what it needs to look and feel its best. Dry skin needs humectants to help prevent the loss of moisture. Oily skin needs gentle cleansers that won’t increase oil production in the long run. And sensitive skin needs soothing allergy-friendly products with minimal ingredients to do the job.

When dealing with a skin type that’s less than ideal, keep this in mind: a simple mindset shift – from thoughts of doing battle with problem skin to thoughts of nurturing your skin and providing the best possible conditions in which it can thrive – can be a game-changer. Love the skin you have, and watch it love you back!

Did you know? In a national study by CeraVe, researchers found that the majority of Americans make the mistake of using hand or body soap or just plain water to wash their face each day.

#7 Choose Products That Multitask

As we mentioned earlier, one of the healthiest things you can do for your skin is to keep it simple. Not only will you reduce the number of possible irritants and toxins your skin is exposed to, but you’ll also increase the odds that you’ll stay consistent and committed to a naturally healthy skin-care regimen. With our busy lifestyles today, simplicity is key. That’s why our final tip is to choose powerful multi-tasking products that have the capacity to nourish, replenish, and defend your skin naturally in one simple step.

Hawaiian Healing Pure Revitalizing Cream is formulated to restore moisture and deliver vital nutrients all while stimulating collagen production and promoting new cell growth. This superfood for the skin can cut your skin-care routine down by several steps while gently bringing out your skin’s natural fresh glow and vitality. A vitality you may not have seen lately due to an overload of chemicals or a lack of hydration and nutrition.

Did you know? Growing coconuts doesn’t require pesticides or herbicides, and they’re harvested by hand rather than machinery. At Hawaiian Healing Skin Care we work with local producers to source the purest fresh ingredients and then formulate those in small handcrafted batches to maintain the highest quality.

Hawaiian Healing Skin Care Products are FILLED with the finest natural and organic ingredients. Our glass and bamboo packaging help to support sustainability and are eco-friendly. By having some of the most luxurious ingredients sourced directly from the islands of Hawai’i, and all over the globe, Hawaiian Healing Skin Care is able to provide your skin with the best all-natural and organic skincare products available.