Contestant #4 in our blog contest: Article by Michelle Howard
In the wonderful world of beauty we are bombarded with skin care tips, techniques and topics. Big time beauty moguls will tell you that you need to use their latest and greatest product to protect your skin from wrinkles and sun damage.
All over the internet you’ll find articles, tutorials and videos that include everything from following a daily regimen for your skin type to avoiding certain chemicals that make up the packaging and the products.
There can be a lot of confusion around what you should do vs. what you need to do to maintain healthy skin. Let me simplify it for you by focusing on the most important element in any healthy skin regime.
H20 – The Under Rated Life Giver
Your body is composed of approximately 70% water. Therefore, water is vital for feeding your cells – inside and out. You need it to help digest your food and you need it to maintain your body’s temperature.
There are many reasons why water is the ultimate life giver but for the sake of this article, let’s focus on how it benefits your skin.
Water + Your Skin
A plan to have healthy skin is incomplete without recognizing the important role water plays. To cleanse your body of toxins that lead to drab looking skin, you need to drink at least ½ your body weight in ounces of water daily.
When buying moisturizer, focusing on the importance of water in the product is relevant. A moisturizer is not effective without water as the FIRST ingredient (followed by a natural oil). How can you hydrate anything without water?
Cleansing your skin is impossible without water. Have you ever stopped to think that the type of water you use to cleanse with also has an effect on your skin? Filtered is cleaner and much better for your skin than tap water – a bonus for sensitive skin.
A Purifying System for Bigger Benefits
Multi-Pure is one such purifying system that can remove the pollutants from your water so that you can gently cleanse your skin, as well as flush toxins from your body.
Pay more attention to the benefits of water to work toward having healthier skin. Drink more of it, look for it in your skin care products and invest in it for ultimate health.
Author Bio: Michelle Howard helps women of color to improve the appearance of their ethnic skin by providing easy to understand information and handcrafted beauty products. You’ll find her on Facebook at http://facebook.com/blended.naturals or on her blog where she shares about brown beauty.
OMG, when I saw “1/2 your body weight in water” I gasped! And then I saw “in ounces”, phew. = >
And you’re completely right about hydration in skin care products. I used to work for a spa that did it’s own in house line of facial products and for the moisturizers, water was always near the top of the ingredients list.
Michelle, Thank you so much for your contribution. It is true that drinking water plays a very important roll in our skin care regime. Wishing you much success and good luck in the contest!
Laura
Thank you so much for publishing my article and the opportunity to share my knowledge on skin care.
Often, people don’t attribute to the fact that your skin’s appearance is what’s going on inside your body.
Michelle
Awesome article! Michelle, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and it was very informative. I personally LOVE to drink water, but I am not drinking “enough” of it like I should. You have enlightened me on some things that I did not know, and for that I appreciate you! 🙂
You’re welcome Shenina! Water is definitely necessary.
I actually learned a lot from this blog too. I knew bottled water wasn’t best but its difficult not to drink it when you are commuting.
“you need to drink at least ½ your body weight in ounces of water daily.”
So if I weigh 200 lbs., then I need to drink 100 ozs a day? That’s a lot of water.
I’ll see what I can do. 🙂
I have started having a big glass of water on my desk when I work, but even so I suspect I probably don’t drink enough
When it comes to drinking water, I definitely need to be reminded… especially during the winter months. So, thanks, Michelle. Off to fill my glass!
Great article Michelle, will try and drink more water 🙂
Wow! I knew you needed to keep up with your water intake for health & happiness, but I didn’t know it was that much!
Will be working on upping my intake.
Thnx for an informative article. :>
Interesting Michelle. I never realized how much water we need to intake, when you think about it without water is without life.
Thanks for the reminder Michelle. The skin is basically a huge sponge so it makes sense that water really helps it. I suppose it won’t be long before someone slaps a “Great for your skin” label their brand of water.
p.s. I agree with your comment that it’s hard to travel without bottled water. I started carrying a small thermos instead and it works well. Not quite as convenient but worth it not to ingest chemicals from the bottle.
It’s so simple and so effective, isn’t it Michelle! The hardest part is remembering to drink it during our busy days.
Michelle,
I can see I do not drink anywhere enough water. Even though I’m careful to filter the water I drink, I hadn’t thought about using it for skin care. Now that you mention it, I do find the tap water very drying.
@Conrad, surprisingly yes that’s the minimum 🙂 Do your best though!
@Sarah thank you. Fill that glass!
@Robyn, you are right. Do you know you can go without food for as much as 40 days but only 3 days can you go without water.
Thank you for the great tips ! 🙂
Now I KNOW to really drink water. Feeling dehydrated is not the best feeling.
What an awesome article, Michelle! I think I’m doing pretty good at keeping toxins out of my beauty and household products. I totally agree with you regarding the moisturizer ingredients. My skin being combination/oily, simply can’t tolerate heavy formulas hence I always opt for lighter formulas containing more water/aloe vera juice. Great tips!
Michelle, your tip about what ingredients to look for in a moisturizer is so important: thanks for sharing it! I’m going to start reading labels more carefully. 🙂
Great tips here Michelle! I drink lots of water and really love it, but didn’t realize about purifying the water to use as cleanser. Thanks!
I usually drink 8 glasses (8 oz) of water a day. But I also get water through soups and lots of fresh veggies and fruit. Nice article, Michelle!
Thanks Michelle, I do already drink a ton of water, ok not quite a ton but a lot – I do sometimes worry if I’m overdoing it! I’ve read you can end up flushing out important vitamins – what’s you take on that?
Water is underrated! Love any and all water tips you’ve got!
@Mike, every the jokester LOL. Yes I suppose someone may come up with a brand of products based on water.
@Pamela, mosts people think that if water is the first ingredient in a skin care product then it’s diluted or watered down. That may be true for shampoos or even household products but for moisturizer, it’s important for water to be the first ingredient followed by an oil which will seal in the moisture.
@Rachel, you’re right about too much water. Many athletes are at risk for water poisoning. Seems weird right? I think you’re safe if you stick to the 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water daily 🙂 I definitely wouldn’t drink more
At the very least 64 ounces a day is a great amount to ingest.
@Michelle, oh yes Aloe juice in combination with water is very beneficial. It even comes in flavors I hear but I’m not sure if it’s natural flavoring.
Thank you all for your comments!
Great water is the basis of my diet and I drink at least a gallon a day and add plenty of electrolytes to make sure I stay hydrated. Every preventative medicine practicioner I know encourages drinking lots of pure water, so keep up the great work in promoting this basic for good health!
Thanks Gayle for reconfirming the importance of drinking water – and good clean water!