When it comes to black skin care products there is a lot of mystery and a lot of misinformation about what products really work well for African American skin. But first let’s talk about African American skin care in general. African-Americans have special needs for their skin primarily because of their skin tone and it’s proneness to dryness,discoloration and hyperpigmentation. Over all black skin doesn’t age as rapidly as white skin because it’s pigment resist the damage from sun rays. Although “black don’t crack” it does droop so products that work for elasticity.
Other ethnic specific skin problems include razor bumps and ashy skin. Some traditions in black culture are to use natural products including shea butter and coca butter. These products in their raw form have natural healing abilities however when heated and processed shea butter and cocoa butter loses a lot of be natural healing ability.
So what should a consumer look for when finding the best face product? The first rule is to know your skin. Identify your specific skin issues do you have dry skin or oily skin rough skin?
If you have oily skin avoid products that use mineral oil in their formulation. In turn if you have dry skin finds products with key ingredients mineral oil and a moisture sun screen should be a part of every African American skin care regime. Sun screen as well as products that help stop discoloration. Also avoid products with a high percentage of alcohol and peroxide that drys ethnic skin.
We also recommend a product that has sunscreen in it because hyperpigmentation is a huge problem in the African-American community. Very few black skin care products address it effectively. These are some basis rules of thumb when choosing black skin care products.
Coconut as a whole plays a very important part in our lives. From leafs to the oil everything has become very useful to us. Coconut oil is widely used for your hair and many may have seen the results it has provided. With the growth in the market we have been exposed to n number of creams, which have proved to be worthless. In this stiff competition coconut oil has risen as a thorough winner.
The oil seems to do wonders for your skin. It softens the skin as well as cures it from any damages providing you with a radiant and young look. It helps the skin to avoid liver spots and blemishes caused due to aging and sunlight. By regular use of the oil a soft and supple skin is developed keeping it wrinkle free. The damage to the skin by sun rays is restricted with the use of coconut oil. It brings back the shine and lost charm of the skin.
The presence of antiseptic fatty acids prevents any fungal and bacterial infection. Some of the infections it keeps fighting on regular basis are the acne, ringworm, herpes, boils, athlete’s foot and warts. Coconut oil or coconut butter has been widely used as a moisturizer. It provides a shield on your skin to protect the natural moisture.
For Skin Care -Apply grinded betel leaf with coconut oil on black spots, to lighten it -Paste of mehendi (henna) with little oil should be applied on your face to lighten black spots -Apply the mixture of coconut water and thick pineapple juice for a glowing skin -For soft skin make a paste of red sandal powder with coconut milk. Apply it on your face. Rinse it later. -To remove pimples. Use thick curd; add turmeric and drops of oil. Put it on your face. -Coconut oil mixed with crushed garlic when applied at night helps to cure plantar warts and athlete’s foot -Coconut butter can be used as lip balm -Massage your face with coconut oil before going to bed this would help in premature ageing
For Hair Care
-Add a teaspoon of camphor to 1/2 a liter can of coconut oil. Store it. Massage this oil on your scalp before going to bed. This would help you get rid of dandruff -A mixture of castor, mustard and coconut oil massaged on your scalp can help you with dandruff problems -One part lemon juice with two parts coconut oil to be massaged to the roots of your hair to ward of dandruff problem -Hair loss problem can be solved by massaging coconut or almond oil for 10 to 15 minutes
Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautions while following instructions on the recipes from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.
By: Kevin Pederson
African American skin care is most often overlooked, yet is still very important. It can be a great challenge since it is influenced by some variables such as geography, eating habits and the level of skin darkness. Dark skin contains more melanin than light skin. For this reason African Americans are more equipped to deal with the sun than Caucasians and other ethnic groups. With that said, black skin care must not be neglected.
Let’s take a little side trip and talk about melanin. It’s a skin pigment that gives color to your skin. If you see a light-skinned person with freckles, what you are seeing is a person with little spots of melanin. A freckle is created by small concentration of melanin. When you become tanned by the sun, what is in fact happening is that the sun triggers melanocytes which are cells in your skin to produce more melanin. The melanin moves to the outer layer of skin and creates a darker skin color.
Having more melanin in ones body is a benefit, but definitely not a reason to neglect African American skin care. Sure, it blocks the powerful sun rays better than sun block. It also aids in slowing down the marking of time on the skin and that is why people with dark skin look younger than those with light skin. Nevertheless, melanin is the biggest factor affecting water loss in the skin. The darker the skin, the more water it loses and thus the skin becomes less elastic. Different studies of babies determined that the water loss starts in an early age, making black skin care vital even at youth.
While skin comes in dry, normal, and oily no matter of the color or level of melanin, there are some fundamental differences in the skin’s ability to protect itself. The extra melanin creates a barrier to the skin that protects it but at the same time, it also makes it harder to have a skin care treatment penetrate deep into the skin. This means that you might need heavier oil as the base of the skin care treatment so that it can treat the skin and yet not be too oily. In other words, your skin does not need more oil quite as much as it needs oil that can work into the layers of your skin. In short, smaller molecules.
Fortunately, there is emerging technology that addresses just this problem of creating precise ingredients with small molecules for greater penetration of the skin. The bad news is that only the very high end product lines have yet to incorporate this technology, which means higher prices.
The essential thing to watch for is that your skin care treatment is designed for deep penetration. Black skin care is important. Don’t think that just because your skin has good natural protection it does not need tender loving care that is customized for your skin type. Keep searching for African American skin care treatments that work for you.
By: Ron King