Making Makeup EasierMaking Makeup Easier

Your skin is an important barrier for your body and is your largest organ, as it protects your body from temperature extremes, the sun's ultraviolet rays, and from harmful infections. As it is important to take care of your skin with proper hydration and moisturizing each day, you can take your skin care one step further to treat and improve your skin's appearance. Here are tips to help reduce and lighten your skin's age spots, and even out your complexion.

Reduce the Appearance of Age Spots

Age spots, also called liver spots, occur when excess skin pigmentation accumulates, causing darker spots on your skin from the effects of overexposure to the sun's ultraviolet light. Any area on your skin exposed to the sun long enough can form age spots, especially on your hands, shoulders, and face. The best prevention for age spots is wearing sun screen or covering up any skin exposed to the sun's rays while you are outside. 

Although it is difficult to remove age spots, you can do some at-home treatments to help lighten them. Make sure you wear a protective sun hat, gloves, or a sunscreen while you are in the sun, because you can undo weeks of age spot-lightening efforts in just a few minutes of sun exposure. All you need is some common ingredients from your kitchen to make this treatment to help lighten your age spots.

Mix up a bowl of plain instant oatmeal by adding boiling water to the contents of one package, per the oatmeal's package instructions. Mix in one tablespoon of lemon juice, then use your fingers to apply the paste to your face. Allow it to sit on your face for 30 minutes, then rinse it off, repeating this process daily.

If you are a little bit short on time, you can try a different lightening treatment. Mix together in a bowl, one-quarter cup of plain yogurt with one-eighth cup apple cider vinegar and one teaspoon of aloe vera gel. Juice one-quarter of a lemon into the mixture and combine it until it forms a cream, then apply it to your age spots. You only need to leave this treatment on your skin for ten minutes, then rinse it with cool water.

Even Out Your Complexion

If you aren't dealing with age spots, but you want to help smooth your complexion and even out your skin tone, you can make a turmeric facial treatment. Combine one-half teaspoon of turmeric with two tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt. If you don't have turmeric in your spice cabinet at home, you can find this spice in most grocery store's spice and seasonings section. Apply this homemade cream to your face, neck, and decollete, leaving it on for up to thirty minutes. Rinse it off with water and a wash cloth. This paste can stain your wash cloth, so be sure to use a wash cloth in which staining is not a concern.

This treatment works to even out the appearance your skin's surface, as turmeric powder has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric inhibits tyrosinase, which is a main enzyme in your skin that produces pigment, and has been used to even out complexions in India for hundreds of years.

To learn more, contact a company like Center Of Dermatology PC/Herschel E Stoller MD.