Natural beauty products are all the rage with supermodels, Bollywood stars and the girl next door. Mother Nature offers gentler and prettier ways of making your skin and hair glow. Best of all, they have lower levels of synthetic ingredients, preservatives and chemicals that can cause adverse reactions and they're kinder to the environment as well. On Nykaa you can choose from a host of fresh picks packed with the goodness of nature’s finest botanical ingredients. Natural ingredients such as Honey, Neem, Aloe Vera and Tulsi are choc-a-bloc with multiple health and beauty benefits for beautiful skin and silken tresses. In a two part series, Nykaa highlights some popular natural ingredients, their beauty quotient, and the best brands bursting with nature’s goodness.
Presenting the 5 best natural skin care products:
1. As sweet as honey
Honey’s ability to absorb and retain moisture makes it the perfect ingredient in a range of beauty products from face washes and face packs to soaps and shampoos. Honey is a natural humectant, which means it attracts and retains moisture. Its natural antioxidant and anti-microbial properties help protect skin from the sun's damaging UVA and UVB rays, promoting rejuvenation and replenishment, making it a key ingredient in many products formulated for dry skin and hair.
Honey is a deep-reaching cleanser, absorbing impurities from pores. It’s also a popular ingredient in acne treatment remedies because of its healing effect on occasional breakouts caused by hormonal changes.
2. Glowing skin with turmeric (haldi)
Turmeric or haldi is a common kitchen ingredient in Indian homes. It’s rich in curcuminoids, antioxidants that have powerful antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. As part of a face mask, haldi fights acne and gives a youthful glow, hence its use as a face pack before weddings. Turmeric also fights wrinkles and pigmentation, working equally well on dry and oily skins. Mixed with lemon juice or egg whites, haldi restores an unblemished glow to all skin types.
It‘s antiseptic properties make it the go-to in many homes for fungal infections and an inexpensive remedy to treat cracked heels. It works equally well on hair, effectively treating dandruff and an itchy scalp.
3. Healing with Tea Tree oil
This skin miracle ingredient has been used by Australia’s aborigines for thousands of years. Thanks to its healing properties, it’s now a popular ingredient of many shampoos, face soaps and ointments. It’s powerful anti-viral and anti-fungal properties make it an essential in Australian soldiers’ first aid kits. It is proven to heal skin problems such as ring worm, corns, warts, cuts and scrapes, insect bites, dandruff and acne.
Tea tree’s anti-bacterial properties make it an excellent cure for scalp and hair problems. Tea tree-infused shampoos help treat fungal and bacterial infections. It can also unblock hair follicles to prevent bacteria build-up, all the while moisturizing the scalp. Applying a mixture of tea tress oil infused with carrier oil is an excellent insect repellant as well.
4. Soothe with Aloe Vera
Although a native of hot, arid Africa, this fleshy cactus now thrives around the world. The juice extracted from the leaf’s base and the gel in the leaves is used as a key ingredient in myriad skin and hair products. It has a cooling effect with remarkable healing properties on burns and ulcers, and skin conditions like eczema and rosacea. It moisturizes the skin and its rich enzyme content helps skin regeneration and tightening. It is also used as an effective digestion remedy.
Aloe Vera contains complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), essential vitamins and minerals that boost immune cells, making it a powerful immunity booster. The juice is rich in salicylic acid, saponins and sterols, making it a potent analgesic with anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties. The ideal ingredient to make you glow inside out.
5. Lavender, the fragrant herb
Many people know that lavender scent is used in aromatherapy, mainly to treat sleep disorders. However, the beauty benefits of lavender are less well known. It is an excellent skin rejuvenator and a natural facial cleanser Lavender is an antiseptic, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory that reduces scarring and speeds up healing. Using skin care products containing lavender essential oil decreases acne breakouts and eruptions after insect bites.
Lavender is well known for its soothing effects on the skin and efficacy in reducing skin redness, blotchiness and uneven skin tone. The herb also helps in improving oxygenation and blood flow, thus boosting cell turnover.
