How to create a simple, sustainable skin-care routine in just 3 steps

Create your personalised skin care routine based on the core principles of Ayurveda, India's ancient system of good health, in just 3 simple steps.

Following a regular skincare regimen often takes a backseat when juggling responsibilities on various fronts. However, maintaining the health of your skin is as important as the rest of your body. And you need not spend a fortune on a load of products or spend hours doing that. Just a couple of right products, a few minutes of your time daily and your skin will thank you for it for the rest of your life. Here's how you can do it.

Step 1 - Find the right products:

• Whether you use a single broad-based product suitable for the whole body or a number of them, each focused for specific areas (like face, body, lips, heels etc.), there are a few things you should keep in mind while buying them:

  • Select a product that suits and balances your skin type--oily, dry or combination. Even an oily skin needs to be moisturized. 
  • It should have minimal or no chemicals added (best to avoid those with parabens, SLS, SLES, and chemical-based active ingredients like serums. To know why, refer to our blog "Reading and Understanding Labels").
  • Go for products that contain time-tested beneficial ingredients like Turmeric, virgin cold pressed oils and specific plant extracts with natural anti-oxidants or essential oils.
  • Make sure they are pH balanced (to prevent skin reactions).
  • They should have been tested to be non-allergenic or hypoallergenic (some cause skin reactions while others can cause inhalant allergies or even trigger asthma).
  • They should be suitable for special skin conditions if you have any, like itchy skin, eczema, dermatitis or acne (but remember to consult a physician to get down to the cause if its a serious, long-standing matter).

Whichever product you buy, even if it is a natural one, always test on a small patch of skin for the effect of contact and aroma. Yes, you may be allergic to natural ingredients too!

Confused on what will work for you given the noise signal of a plethora of products in the market? You can't go wrong if you apply natural edible oils or creams on a moist skin instead! If you feel oils are too greasy, just mix with a little water in your palm and you get an instant moisturizer! 

Step 2. Create a daily routine based on your lifestyle and follow it relentlessly-

• Bathe with cool or lukewarm water (avoid very hot water, which can dry out your skin in the long term).
• Use a pH-balanced nourishing cleanser. preferably a soap-free exfoliating scrub. If you feel the need to use a soap, then use only those made with cold-pressed oils and following the cold-processed method.
• Pat your skin dry and use an oil or butter (a moisturizing agent) to massage the body and face while the skin is still damp. This works as a base coat for any stay-on cosmetics you may apply over it, and creates a barrier between the chemicals in those products and your skin.

• Carry a natural moisturizing agent to use when you’re on the move. Apply a little after every hand wash and on your face if you are in very drying conditions like a dry climate or an air-conditioned office. 

• Before retiring for the night, cleanse your skin or take a bath if there’s been exposure to grime, dust or stay-on cosmetics during the day
• Use an oil as a deep-pore cleanser and make-up remover. Oils do not deplete the natural lipids in the skin
• Provide extra nourishment with an intense moisturizing agent for your skin through the night
• Massage your feet and tired muscles to aid sleep. Sound sleep ensures that the skin looks refreshed and nourished the next day
• Apply a few drops of hair oil in the scalp, to aid sleep and also prevent issues like dandruff or hair fall, and resultant issues like acne.   

Step 3. Listen to your body to augment or vary your daily routine if required -

• Winter (dryness due to external conditions)
• Monsoons (dryness due to internal metabolic reasons)
• Summer (skin inflammations due to excessive heat or perspiration)
• Spring-time (when there is higher probability of acne)

• Teenage / puberty (typical issues of acne break-outs, odour-control)
• Pregnancy and child-birth (need for increased skin suppleness, purity of products and to counter stretch-marks, nursing-related injuries)
• Menopause (before, during and after menopause, there are fluctuations between oily or clammy skin to dry skin)

• travel (the body and the skin get dehydrated)
• long working hours or sleep deprivation (dehydration and skin dryness)
• surgery (post surgery scars or keloids, etc.)
• marriage (a pre-nuptial routine so that you can get a natural skin glow by the big day)

If you like, and can take that time out of your daily routine, go for special indulgent or elaborate add-ons, like face packs, steams, facials, massages, spa treatments, on a weekly, monthly or annual basis 

You know your body best. Listen to it. Be sensitive to its needs. And tweak routines to suit changing needs, if required. But be consistent.

What’s worked for me in my busy, active schedule has been a simple 2-MINUTE ROUTINE DAILY, with some SEASONAL CHANGES. (Find out more in our blog "DRIP IRRIGATION FOR YOUR SKIN").

So if you choose your products carefully, create a routine based on your preferences and stick to it consistently and relentlessly, you are unlikely to face any skin issues and a HEALTHY, RADIANT, AGE-LESS skin shall follow for sure!

Parama Naturals brings to you a range of product made from the purest of ingredients recommended by Ayurveda for skincare. These products are exactly what you need--quick, no-mess, no-fuss, safe, pure, gentle and effective. Packed with the goodness of all time-tested, natural ingredients. Try them once and we're sure you'll be back for more.