Glowing Skin Tips

Believe it or not, glowing skin is more about what’s going on inside of you then outside.

Let’s talk about luminosity for a second. No, not that brain game with the creepy ads.

Luminosity is the intensity of light reflected off your skin to an observer's eye. Also known as the glow your skin gets when it’s happy (my definition).

The cool thing is that luminosity is connected to how you feel inside. 

Luminosity and glow is your body’s signal that you are happy and well -- literally radiating out through your skin.

There’s a massive cosmetic industry selling products that ‘put on’ a glow from the outside. They market all sorts of remedies to achieve said glow.

The truth is that glowing skin isn’t some mask you can put on. It happens from the inside out. 

Glowing Skin Without Chemicals

You don’t need to subject your skin to a bunch of chemicals to enjoy luminous skin. You can do the right things to create it from within.

Ever notice how your skin has a wonderful glow when you’re well rested or when you’re having a fantastic day?

Stress and skin health is a real thing.

But life happens, and sometimes we don’t prioritize the basics: sleep, health and wellness. Maybe you’re on a work deadline or up all night feeding a newborn (in my sisters case, hi baby Grayson!)

When you’re in the thick of it, how do you make your skin glow without using expensive chemicals?

Here’s a few quick tips you can try to create glowing skin.

These are easy things you can do throughout your day. They don’t require a vacation, booking a massage or a walk in the forest.

#1. Work up a sweat

Exercise and sweat is one of the best ways to get healthy skin. 

Sweat is incredibly beneficial for your skin. The minerals and salt in your sweat naturally exfoliate your skin. The water in your sweat hydrates your skin and the uric acid released in sweat helps to combat dry skin. 

Sweating also purges skin of oil, impurities and bacteria. What’s crazy is that the optimal pH for glowing skin is the same pH release in your sweat (1). 

Pro tip: Wash your face before you work out. This helps to reduce impurities on your skin as you work out.

Have access to a sauna? Great! This is a great way to get your sweat on.

Exercise also helps to improve your circulation, kickstart your bodily repair processes and elevate your heart rate for metabolic health.

The best part is that exercise brings blood to your skin surface. If you’re sweating, even better. 

The good news is that any kind of exercise or movement that gets your heart rate up will work. 

If you’re into dancing, yoga or going to the gym, these are all great options! If you’re not into formal exercise, then It pays to frame movement around your whole day, as opposed to the ‘45 minutes in the gym.’

You can think of work in the garden or house cleaning as a fun way to get your heart rate up.

I pack a lot of boxes of bone broth to ship to our customers. I often treat this as my exercise on busy days.

20 minutes of exercise is enough if you’re doing more intense exercise. Or you can simply go for a brisk walk. Brisk is key as you need to get your heart rate up to reap the skin health benefits. 

#2. Hydrate

I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m the worst when it comes to drinking water. My running friends refer to me as ‘the camel’ because I rarely drink while running. I also don’t drink much during the day because I forget and don’t feel thirsty.

Hydration is crucial to the function of all of our bodies processes, especially our skin. Our skin needs moisture to function properly. 

If your skin is not getting enough water, it will lack hydration and turn into dry, tight and flaky skin.

Dry skin is less resilient and more prone to those dreaded wrinkles.

I have to remind myself to drink water. You can use tricks and prompts to drink more. For example, I’ll drink a cup of water upon waking or anytime someone offers me a drink (like in a meeting).

And obviously, carrying a water bottle with you throughout the day is the ultimate way to ensure you’re hydrated.

The tricky part is that large, infrequent cups of water does not hydrate you the same way frequent smaller sips of water does.

You want to disperse your water intake throughout the day for proper hydration. 

Chicken bone broth is also a great way to hydrate. It is full of electrolytes!

If your skin is looking lifeless then try drinking lots of water or tea to bring that glow back to your skin. 

Read: 7 Superfoods for Healthy Skin

#3. Skip the soap

Bear with me, I am not a complete anti-soaper. So let’s not do anything rash. 

What you should keep in mind is this. While drinking water keeps you hydrated from the inside out, skipping soap can do the same from the outside in.

The big nasty secret about soap is that it dries out your skin. It zaps your skin's moisture and strips away natural oils. These two things mean less glowing skin. No luminosity. 

But we need soap to clean ourselves. We can’t get rid of the soap, can we? That’s sacrilege! 

I hear you, what I’ll offer is that you can try using a gentle cleanser in place of soap. Some cleansers help to remove impurities without drying up your skin. 

You can also use soap sparingly. And only in the places that you actually need it. 

You don’t need to lather your entire body head to toe. 

What are your tips for glowing skin? Let me know in the comments below!

 

Image courtesy of Grants Pass Water Lab
Image by wileydoc from Pixabay