Know The WHYs And HOWs To Detox Your Skin Naturally

In today's fast-paced world, our skin is constantly exposed to various environmental pollutants, stress, and unhealthy lifestyle choices. This can take a toll on our skin, leaving it dull, congested, and prone to various skin issues. However, Ayurveda offers effective remedies for detoxifying the skin and restoring its natural radiance. By integrating traditional Ayurvedic wisdom in our daily skin routine, we can rejuvenate our skin from within and achieve a natural glow.  

Skin Detoxification

The skin is the largest organ in the body and performs numerous vital functions. However, it is also prone to accumulate dead skin cells, dirt, oil, and other substances that can damage and clog the skin. Technically speaking, our body removes toxins through the kidneys, liver, and immune system. While skin itself acts as a shield against toxins, it is important to maintain the barrier. Skin detox can be understood as practices that can help get rid of harmful substances that can damage the skin. It is an amalgamation of practices that a person can perform on the surface of their skin to protect it from the outside elements and also help clear out what's troubling the skin on the inside. 

Signs our skin needs detoxification 

Our skin sends multiple signs for us to understand that something is not right and that its balance has been disrupted. However, it's time to change things up, when the following signs appear: 

• A patchy or uneven skin tone
• Dull, sensitive, dry, or oily skin
• Sagging and wrinkled skin

There are several reasons why the skin experiences the troubles mentioned above. These include: 

• Exposure to harsh chemicals: Constant exposure to certain chemicals may lead to skin irritation and inflammation. This exposure and inflammation may permanently or temporarily affect the skin.

For example include exposure to corrosive¹ substances like strong alkaline (basic) materials or acids that can cause severe damage to the skin. These can include burning, skin corrosion, and permanent scarring. 

Solvents² are frequently used by numerous people for many jobs. However, they may cause prolonged acne and dermatitis. 

• UV rays: Excessive sun exposure can also contribute to damaging the skin and causing the signs of aging skin to appear prematurely and make your scars, age spots, and fine lines more noticeable.⁹
• Diet and lifestyle habits: A diet full of processed sugar-rich foods can also cause skin troubles, including inflammation and hormonal imbalance, triggering acne. Further according to latest research³ processed food can also increase the risk of developing skin inflammation diseases. In addition to this, smoking, drinking alcohol, excessive dehydration, and inadequate sleep can allow toxins to damage your skin. 
• Stress: Your skin may experience acne, inflammation, and redness as a result of high levels of stress⁴.
• Congestion: Clogged hair follicles, makeup, and dead skin cells, dirt, or oil accumulation in the pores can lead to congestion. This acts as a breeding ground for acne-causing bacteria and other skin issues.¹⁰ 

Ayurvedic practices for promoting skin detoxification and rejuvenation⁸

According to Ayurvedic wisdom, many factors play a significant role in maintaining the health and youthfulness of our skin⁵.Following mentioned are the ways to achieve such balance:  

• Exfoliation: Gentle cleaning, and exfoliation is a great way to detoxify the skin as it helps. Remove dead skin cells and promote the growth of new cells. Regular gentle exfoliation can potentially help improve overall skin health and complexion, stimulate collagen synthesis, and improve skin texture, and lymphatic drainage. Ayurveda attributes multiple benefits to scrubbing/exfoliating. Regular herbal exfoliation can help stimulate blood circulation to the skin’s surface, promote lymphatic drainage, and thus potentially facilitate skin detoxification, promote cellular health, and offer radiant skin⁶. 

• Steam Therapy or Swedhanam : Swedha means sweat in Sanskrit; thus, swedhanam can be understood as a herbal steam bath treatment. This particular Ayurvedic treatment focuses on removing toxins through our sweat. Ideally, for this procedure, vapors are exposed to the person's skin in an enclosed steam chamber for 20 to 30 minutes. The herbal steam potentially helps to maintain the skin’s health by delivering natural moisturizing factors and antimicrobial peptides to the skin’s surface⁷. It is a great therapy for toning the skin and giving a special glow.

• Yoga: There is a deep interrelation between the two vital facets of wellness, Ayurveda and Yoga. Practices like pranayama can help detoxify your body, improve blood circulation, and give a boost to your immune system. Practicing yoga and meditation can potentially help you get a healthy mind and body.

• Abhyanga: Another Ayurvedic way to help detox the skin is by performing a full-body self-massage with warm oil. This traditional Ayurvedic procedure is known as abhyanga, and it can potentially soothe, hydrate, and nourish our skin. Abhyanga can help support blood circulation, reduce body stress, balance the doshas, promote skin radiance, helps enhance complexion, and improve lymphatic drainage¹¹. Abhyanga is a potentially effective Ayurvedic procedure for detoxifying our skin. The practice involves full-body massage with warm oil accompanied by long strokes toward the heart for 15-20 minutes. The oil used may vary depending on your dosha. Taking a warm shower after a massage can enhance the calming and relaxing effects of the self-mas

Read more about abhyanga here!

• Healthy diet: What we eat directly affects our skin's health and radiance. Having a healthy diet that suits our dosha and maintains a healthy digestive fire is very important to maintain healthy skin and detoxify it⁸. By indulging in organic and cleanly sourced food products and staying away from processed food can help save the body from toxins. Therefore it is crucial to have a diet rich in fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Avoid indulging in alcohol, cigarettes and processed food.

Know the ultimate 10 principles for a healthy diet

• Herbs and ingredients that help detox and metabolize: Our liver plays a vital role in eliminating unwanted toxins from our bodies. Therefore the health of our liver is critical as it can impact our skin health as well. Therefore, for skin health, it is important to detox and metabolize to reduce the chances of dullness, breakouts, redness, inflammation, and other skin issues. Thus consuming herbs and ingredients that clean our body from the inside is vital. Herbs like neem, guduchi, turmeric, and triphala are effective in cleansing and detoxifying.

Try these Ayurveda-inspired cleansers to bring out a rejuvenated look!

Conclusion 

Taking care of our skin from the inside as well as outside is critical to ensure its health. Since our skin is exposed to harsh weather and other factors more than it ever was, it is time to take active steps to detox  and nourish it. Ayurvedic practices have stood the test of time and offer a plethora of benefits to our skin. Therefore we must take some time to perform regular skin massages, do yoga, exfoliate our skin, and have a healthy and balanced lifestyle.  

References

1. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/skin/default.html
2. https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/aex-892207
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8685501/
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5722010/
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272771761_SKIN_CARE_IN_AYURVEDA_A_LITERARY_REVIEW
6. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224892687_Skin_Care_with_Herbal_Exfoliants
7. https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/index.php?title=Swedana#Mode_of_action_of_induced_sweating
8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371155729_An_Ayurveda_approach_of_Skin_Care_wsr_to_Deha_Prakriti_Body_Constitution_A_Review_Study
9. Potential of herbs in skin protection from ultraviolet radiation - PMC (nih.gov)
10. https://www.niams.nih.gov/health-topics/acne#:~:text=Doctors%20and%20researchers%20believe%20that%20one%20or%20more,pore.%203%20Growth%20of%20bacteria%20in%20the%20pore.
11. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318312556_Abhyanga_Different_contemporary_massage_technique_and_its_importance_in_Ayurveda