Skincare products have been extremely popular for thousands of years. The first evidence of skincare products being used stems from Ancient Egypt, approximately 6,000 years ago. However, these skincare products didn’t quite look the same in that era!
Since standardized cosmetics didn’t exist in Ancient Egypt, the Egyptians created their own natural skincare remedies using items they could collect from their surroundings. These included items like olive oil, ostrich eggs, dough, essential oils from herbs and plants, and milk!
Similar to the Egyptians, the Greeks and Romans also used natural skincare products like sand, oils, white lead, chalk and even crocodile dung to protect their skin. Using natural skincare products was even more common in Asia, particularly during 1760 BC when women used songyi mushrooms to lighten their skin.
So the question is, are natural remedies actually beneficial?
Home made remedies can help you in a certain ways, but they aren’t better than store-bought. Additionally, some ingredients can cause more harm than being useful.
Natural Ingredients to Avoid
1. Lemon Juice
One of the worst offenders when it comes to damaging and irritating the skin is lemon juice. Lemon is thought to be great for skin, as it has Vitamin C, an antioxidant that is great for getting rid of premature aging and skin damage. However, is way too harsh of a product to use on your face, as it is highly acidic.
Your skin will react to the juice through inflammation, ultimately resulting in hyperpigmentation.
2. Charcoal
Charcoal should be off anyone’s skincare radar given the fact that it is carcinogenic. It is thought to be good for cleaning the skin and for removing impurities deep in the skin. But it’s simply is too heavy as a molecule to penetrate the pores and draw out dirt. Not only that, it is hard to wash out of the skin and can clog pores if a product with charcoal isn’t created properly.
3. Turmeric
Talking about turmeric’s utter ineffectiveness is may be considered to be an insult towards the thousands of years of Indian beauty traditions using turmeric… but it’s true.
It is often thought that turmeric can add a glow to the skin due to its antioxidants and ant-inflammatory properties. But. there isn’t actually any scientific proof of it doing anything to reduce inflammation. In fact, turmeric inhibits melanin production in the skin, and can even make skin more susceptible to burning due to sun damage. Leave this spice for the food you eat!
4. Sandalwood
Sandalwood is an ingredient many believe to be effective for tackling acne and oily skin. Because of its antiseptic properties, it is thought to be good for preventing acne. As it is a highly fragrant ingredient, it can worsen skin irritation if you already have acne or rosacea.
5. Lavender essential oils
Lavender is known to be a calming herb, but what people don’t understand is that this only applies to its scent, not as a skincare product. It’s also thought to lessen acne, prevent premature aging, and light the skin.
However, it’s a concentrated essential oil and can cause chemical burns when applied to the skin. The fragrance is so intense that it can further inflame and irritate the skin, making it unsuitable to use on the face, especially on sensitive skin.
6. Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise is usually full of soy and egg, so it is believed to be an incredible hydrator for the skin. The truth is: while it may be good for sandwiches, but it’s really not so great for your skin! The ingredients in mayonnaise are mainly oil and fat, and so it can bring on a full face of acne, clogged pores, and can encourage skin bacteria to grow.
7. Cinnamon
Cinnamon is often thought to be good for the skin because of its anti-fungal, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties. Even so, it can wreak havoc on your face. Most of the time, even if you don’t have an actual allergy to cinnamon, if you apply it on your face it may create burns and redness. We’re talking irritation, blisters, and in some cases, even burns. There is no benefit for using cinnamon on your skin.
8. Baking Soda
Despite a huge number of dermatologists and articles advising people not to use it, some people are still using baking soda on their faces. People often think that it is a great skincare product because of its exfoliating properties, but that is not the case. Basically, it has a pH much higher than where healthy skin should live. Using baking soda will sensitize your skin, thus making it react badly to every single product we use. In addition, it thins out the skin, making it more prone to radical damage.
Natural Skincare Remedies to Avoid
1. Scrubs
Rubbing your skin raw with scrubs that aren’t designed for the face is a disaster in the making. Using harsh homemade scrubs can often result in scabs, scars, infections, or discolorations on your skin.
2. Face Masks
It’s no secret that the ingredients we find in our kitchen are quite similar to what we find in our skin care products. But, the problem with homemade masks is that most of the time, they come with questionable benefits!
For example: when you use egg whites as a firming mask, you are risking getting salmonella. Salmonella is a serious disease that causes gut issues. Also, rather than firming your skin, egg whites actually dry out your skin!
3. Acne treatments
Sometimes, people use toothpaste to try and dry out breakouts. Some may even use their nail clippers to pop their pimples! Both methods are basically ways to quickly destroy your skin.
The problem with conducting your own extractions lies in spreading bacteria from one area to another. This results in not just pain, but even more outbreaks!
Also, toothpaste is not actually a drying ointment. It has a basic pH, whereas skin has a naturally acidic pH. This means that applying toothpaste can ruin healthy skin! Sodium lauryl sulfate (baking soda) is another ingredient often found in toothpaste. It may be too harsh to be used on blemishes.
To conclude
Natural skincare remedies don’t have preservatives in them, so bacteria can easily develop and lead to breakouts. Raw ingredients can contain harmful bacteria that can disturb the balance of the skin barrier.
Additionally, these natural skincare remedies can potentially create microscopic cuts in the skin, leading to more bacteria entering your skin. This results in all the things we don’t want in our skin: more breakouts, damages, and discoloration.
Lastly, let’s also not forget the risking of allergies. Using raw and natural ingredients often triggers food allergies!
Ready to ditch natural skincare remedies and achieve your skin goals with skincare science. Download Picky on App Store and register a profile to use our Picky Match feature, which tells you how compatible a product is with your skin type based on its ingredient formula! Don’t forget to also follow us on Instagram and see more on our blog for more skincare science content!
