Monsoon Skincare Tips from Dr Snehal

Dr Snehal Sriram (MD), Kaya Skin Clinic shares a few tips on taking care of your skin this monsoon:

Summer is the season for growth - our skin cell turnover increases; this leads to piling up of dead layers of skin by the time monsoon begins. Also, the UV rays that harm the skin are invisible but do penetrate the clouds and harm the skin. Without right skin care, our skin starts looking dull and lifeless in the monsoon. Acidic water adds to our woes and hair tends to get rough and frizzy.

Skincare:
- Cleanse your skin daily using a soap free cleanser. Also make use of a gentle scrub (with uniform mild beads) once a day to get rid of dead cells.
- Cleansing should be followed by toning using an alcohol free toner, since increased humidity could open up your pores
- Use a sunscreen even on a cloudy day since the harmful UV radiations are capable of penetrating the clouds
- Use a light lotion based moisturizer or serum with a lightening agent as well as lactic acid – this will gently rehydrate your skin and also brighten it up
- Avoid heavy makeup and use waterproof make up when necessary
- Remember to nourish your skin - eat salads blanched in boiling water to disinfect them. Vegetable soup, consumed regularly, will also keep you warm and healthy.
- Just because it is raining, don’t reduce consumption of water. Drink your usual 8-10 glasses of water. Your skin is always thirstier than you are!

Care of Feet

- Effective cleansing of feet is very important as they would be exposed to lot of grime and muck
- Do not forget to completely dry your feet so as to prevent fungal infections
- Avoid wearing boots as these would hold water for longer duration sogging your feet
- Effective cleansing of the inside of your nails using orange stick dipped in hydrogen-peroxide would help prevent nail infections
- Home pedicure should be done once a week. It would consist of soaking feet in warm water to which you can add 3-4 drops of Savlon, for 15-20 minutes, followed by cleansing the inside of the nails with orange stick dipped in hydrogen peroxide and scrubbing the feet with foot scrapper. Complete the pedicure by applying light glycerine based moisturizer.
- When you go for pedicure to a beautician, ensure that the instruments used are sterilized/ cleansed with disinfectants. If possible use your personal instruments. Also instruct your beautician to avoid pushing of the cuticles as toe nail fungal infections are very common in monsoons.
(Guest Post)

Comments

Highly Effective Indian Home remedies For Delayed Periods

Delayed periods or Irregular menstrual periods have become very common these days for a lot of women in their reproductive age and they suffer great agonies when their period does not come on time. A delay of 4-5 days may be fine but if it exceeds 8 days, then it's certainly a cause for concern. In this post, I'll be sharing highly effective Indian home remedies for your delayed periods . I'd been a long sufferer of irregular periods during my teenage to early twenties. I've tried most of the recipes here, along with Kapalabhati pranayama, yoga poses, mudras and other lifestyle habits. Now my periods are extremely regular like clockwork; not a day less or more than 28. When I look back, I'm surprised how I managed those years of anxiety and fear about my late periods.

Pore shrinking mask recipes from home

A face with large open pores when seen from close quarters doesn’t look so good. While it’s quite common for oily skins to have a tendency towards open pores, an attack of pimples also leaves ugly scars and open pores behind. Even though the scars may fade away after some time, open pores appear to be more obstinate and hardly show any signs of shrinking. Age also takes its toll by giving an uneven/pigmented tone to the skin and making the open pores more prominent. Heredity could also be a contributing factor in determining your pore size. It’s not easy to get rid of these pores or shrink them completely or permanently using serums, lotions or face packs. Even resorting to drastic chemical/surgical procedures at the dermatologist’s isn’t quite capable of giving satisfactory results. Nevertheless, you can try and minimize their appearance at least temporarily with clever makeup and a few natural skin care masks such as these: * Cleanse your face with a mild ...

Home remedies for sleeplessness

The day dawns beautifully for those who have had a night of good sleep. But the same day drags on for those who have spent a disturbing, sleepless night. Sleep is a biological necessity even as eating and drinking are. Sufficient sleep renders a person normally sociable, lively and high-spirited. It’s a nature’s way of rejuvenating the person for the next day. Realize all this, and make sleep a physiological habit. The consequences of long time sleep deprivation can be very grave. Lack of sleep takes its toll on the skin and hair. It causes acne-breakouts and makes one look aged and haggard beyond years. Experts opine that during sleep as our metabolic rate falls, blood goes to those areas which need the most repairing. This also steps up the production of collagen and keratin, which aid the regeneration of skin cells and help resist premature ageing. So for a younger looking and a problem free skin you need to have a good quality of sleep every night.

Aspirin for acne-prone skin

Aspirin has been around for a long time and its health benefits are wide and varied. Aspirin , or acetylsalicylic acid is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains , as an antipyretic to reduce fever , and as an anti-inflammatory medication. Aspirin's greatest benefit is reducing cardiovascular events including heart attacks and strokes. According to the American Heart Assoc. virtually all women are at risk of heart disease and doctors should more strongly consider prescribing a daily aspirin for their female patients. There is growing evidence to suggest regular aspirin use may reduce cancer and dementia as well. Investigators from the Women's Health Study have reported important new findings demonstrating that aspirin reduces the risk of a first stroke in women. When given to someone immediately after a heart attack, aspirin decreases death by 25%.

Kapalabhati Pranayam for wrinkle-free, radiant complexion

Did you know that Kapalabhati Pranayam / kriya can also be used to enhance your beauty and ward off skin aging? Done the right way, Kapalabhati Pranayam can be used as a beauty aid - it can give you a wrinkle-free, luminous forehead and radiant complexion. Kapalabhati For Beauty ‘Kapalabhati’ Pranayam breathing exercise is an excellent way of maintaining good health and fighting diseases. ‘Kapala’ means ‘skull’ (and ‘forehead’ also) and ‘bhati’ means ‘shining’. By doing kapalabhati, the ‘nadis’(nerves) of the brain get good exercise. This is achieved by exercising the diaphragm. There will be a glow on the forehead. After the age of 25, the tell-tale signs of ageing start making their appearance in the form of fine lines on the forehead. A regular practice of Kapalabhati for 10-15 minutes everyday will give you a tight forehead sans wrinkles for many years to come. Avoid Botox, try Kapalabhati Why resort to Botox and other expensive chemical or surgica...