Is the SUN still BURNing you?

The Summer of 2015 has surely been quite a heat wave. Whilst we wait for the monsoon to come and chill us, here are a few home remedies for sun burns:

1. ICE: Of course it is common sense that if you have a burn, you should put something cold on it. And it’s true, experts agree that a cold shower, ice pack, can surely help cool the skin and make it feel better.
2. Aloe Vera has a long history of providing sunburn relief because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Try the fresh gel from the plant; it is surely better than over-the-counter products.
3. Shaving Cream: As weird as it sounds, shaving cream has menthol and other chemicals, that are cooling and feel good to the skin. Menthol is a highly volatile compound that evaporates fast and takes the heat from the sunburn leaving a cooling effect.
4. Vinegar: Specifically the apple cider vinegar is a famous home remedy for sunburn. It works as an antiseptic and helps to cool the skin as it evaporates. Theoretically, vinegar helps to balance the body’s pH levels to take away the stinging feeling.
5. Milk is known to help soothe pain, itching and burning when used in cold compression. Yogurt also seems to have a similar effect.
6. Honey is an antibacterial and multiple studies have shown that honey can help to heal wounds. Because of this, applying honey to a sunburn could help the skin re-epithelize (grow new epithelial skin cells).
7. Lastly Tomato: Yes, it may sound crazy, but rubbing tomato on sunburn can help soothe the burn.

So if you have had many days by the beach and burnt your skin out, run into your closets and apply any of the above the heal your sun burn!

If you have any other easy home remedies, do share! 🙂

Summer is GLARING!

Gone are the carefree days where our skin longed for the sun. With the summer sun heating up the city, we need to buck up and get out our sun protection gear. While we begin to take shelter behind our fashionable glares, hats and scarves, it is our skin that takes the worse beating from the sun’s harmful UV rays. Apart from sunburn, sun spots and blemishes, unprotected exposure to the sun can also cause skin cancer. Therefore, it becomes very important to protect your skin from the summer sun at all times. Follow these simple tips to stay protected.

1. Avoid the sun between 11am and 3pm
The sun’s rays are most powerful during 11am and 3pm. Prolonged exposure to the summer sun at these hours can be very harmful. However, if you must go out at this time, ensure that you take the right precaution by covering your skin and applying a good sunscreen.

2. Always apply sunscreen before you leave the house
Even if you use an umbrella or a hat, the sun’s rays can still reach you by reflecting off the floor. Therefore, it is extremely important that you apply sunscreen every time you step out of your house. This also applies to the days when the sky seems cloudy as UV radiation also penetrates through the clouds.

3. Use the right sunscreen
Using just about any sunscreen doesn’t suffice. You have to choose the right sunscreen for the right purpose. If you have acne prone skin, you will have to choose a gel based sunscreen. You will also have to choose a sunscreen with the right amount of SPF. It is advisable to use a sunscreen that has SPF 30 or above to protect you from the Indian summer.

4. Apply sunscreen 20 minutes before you go out
Putting on sunscreen right before you go out is one of the most common mistakes people make. In order for it to work well, you need to apply sunscreen at least 20 minutes before you step out into the sun.

5. Reapply sunscreen every two hours
When you perspire, the sunscreen gets wiped away, thereby exposing your skin to the sun again. Therefore, it is important to reapply sunscreen after 2 hours for complete protection.

Stay protected, stay stylish!

Work on your Face Value…

Be it men or women, we all long for a naturally flawless and gorgeous complexion. All of us want a beautiful, clean, salon-free, make-up free skin. And believe it or not we can have it. How? Well, everyone is born with flawless beautiful skin, however the pollution, impurities and stress of this big bad urban world takes it away from us. All we need to do is… work towards getting it back – by nurturing and protecting our skin so that it looks amazing every morning.

We all have our morning skin pampering routines, from cleansing to moisturizing. The most common mistake here is, we ignore to pamper our skin just before we sleep. There is a reason why we call it the ‘beauty sleep’. Therefore for your perfect ‘beauty sleep’ follow this routine and pump up your face value:

1. Wash: Over the course of the day, makeup, dirt, and oil builds on the face, therefore cleansing (with a suitable facewash) of the skin must be a part of the daily bedtime routine.

2. Tone: A toner removes excess oil and dirt from the skin and also closes the pores. Not everyone needs to use a toner, but it is essential for some (oily skin type).

3. Moisturize: Using lotion in the morning acts as a base for makeup. Moisturizing at night repairs the skin and keeps the wrinkles off. Bottom line is, it’s one of the best things you can do for an ever glowing skin.

4. Exfoliate: For dry and flaky skin, a weekly exfoliation will clear out the dead skin. Use a natural exfoliant (e.g.: a scrub of sugar mixed with honey) that has a super fine grains, and rub it on the face using light pressure and gentle motions.

A once in a while pampering facial or clean up is always a treat, but to keep the glow, avoid ignoring your flawless beauty and pamper yourself every night, waking up fresh and radiant!