Ayurveda for Great Skin

In my lit­tle quest to get my skin back on track from mess­ing around with too many prod­ucts, I recently re-acquainted myself with the ancient med­ical sys­tem of Ayurveda.

If you are not famil­iar with Ayurveda, it is an excel­lent addi­tion to your cur­rent skin care and nutri­tion prac­tices. I love Ayurveda because it ties in closely to what I already know and fol­low in regards to car­ing for my over­all health and phys­i­cal appear­ance. There is an intri­cate, insep­a­ra­ble con­nec­tion between your inner health and outer beauty, since the state of your inner health is reflected out­side and any prob­lems (e.g. acne, dry­ness, hair loss, etc.) are not to be ignored. To use Ayurveda prop­erly, you should know your dosha (i.e. body type) by tak­ing a free test that will help you deter­mine if you are a pitta, vata, or kapha dosha — or even a mix of two or all three.

Here are some resources for free dosha tests (I rec­om­mend you take 2–3 to make sure you get the most accu­rate out­come):
What’s Your Dosha?
The Chopra Dosha Quiz
Ayurveda Test for Body Type
Atharv Ayur Dosha Calculator

Once you know your dosha, the sites I rec­om­mend above have infor­ma­tion on your dosha and how to bal­ance it. I dis­cov­ered that my dosha is Pitta-Vata, and that I had too much fire (pitta) in my sys­tem which was exac­er­bat­ing my dry skin prob­lem. Essen­tially I just needed to relax and quell the fire! So I have taken a tem­po­rary break from my usual cir­cuit train­ing and replaced it with more yoga, I’m lis­ten­ing to relax­ing music (right now iTunes is play­ing an album by Deepak Chopra), I’m avoid­ing peo­ple that are neg­a­tive and stressed out, and I’ve been eat­ing more “sooth­ing” fats from salmon and almond but­ter. My skin has gone from look­ing sun­burned to being it’s nor­mal white color in a mat­ter of 3 days, plus I feel calm and relaxed instead of rushed and wor­ried about every­one. Even if any of this sounds new-agey to you, I would try to get past that (I cer­tainly did — I’m pretty fond of clin­i­cal stud­ies and micro­scopes) and try some of the sug­ges­tions because Ayurveda is a valid sys­tem with some won­der­ful “tricks” for get­ting your­self back in balance.

{VATA}

Vata types have dry, thin, del­i­cate skin with small or invis­i­ble pores. Your skin may be cool to the touch, or you may only be cold in your hands and feet. Bal­anced vata skin is very pretty, even, and refined (porcelain-like) when in bal­ance. Unbal­anced vata skin exces­sively dry, rough and flaky. Vata has a ten­dency toward eczema and men­tal stress, which leads to tired skin and pre­ma­ture aging.

Mois­tur­ize with a paraben-free, fragrance-free mois­tur­izer (plain coconut oil or shea but­ter are also great). Eat a warm diet with healthy fats like olive oil, almond but­ter, fish and fish oil, and ghee (if you are acne prone due in part to a dairy allergy, then avoid ghee). Eat sweet foods like fresh fruit (melon, berries, apples, pears, plums, etc.). While you might favor salty foods, make sure the salt you use is sea salt (not iodized or kosher salt) and not exces­sive, since this can cause fluid reten­tion and bloat­ing. Foods to avoid include: dry, baked goods like bread, cakes, and crack­ers; refined sugar; alco­hol; choco­late; and caf­feine. It is espe­cially impor­tant for vata types to be on a reg­u­lar rou­tine (espe­cially when it comes to bed­time), drink lots of room tem­per­a­ture or warm water, and avoid any skin care prod­ucts that con­tain alcohol.

{PITTA}

Pitta types have soft, warm skin that tends to be fair with a rosy glow and some freck­les. When out of bal­ance from stored emo­tional aggra­va­tions and stress, pitta types can get acne, rashes, and even rosacea.

Avoid hot tem­per­a­tures, steam/sauna, hot show­ers, and direct sun­light, since this can aggra­vate pitta skin exces­sively. Eat sweet, juicy fruits, dark leafy greens, brown rice, goat yogurt (sweeten with honey or ste­via, since pitta types don’t really like sour tastes), and sea­son­ings like cin­na­mon, turmeric, car­damom, and mint. Avoid hot, spicy, salty, and sour foods. Cool and room tem­per­a­ture foods are great for pitta types, as is drink­ing lots of cool and luke­warm water. It is also best for pitta types to avoid red meat, caf­feine, and alco­hol which warm the body and aggra­vate pitta. Sooth­ing herbal teas, yoga, and med­i­ta­tion are also great for calm­ing pitta types. As with vata, you will want to avoid skin care prod­ucts con­tain­ing alcohol.

{KAPHA}

Kapha types have soft, thick, oily skin that tends to age slowly and is very lovely and glow­ing when bal­anced. Unbal­anced kapha skin tends to get acne, enlarged pores, edema (water reten­tion and bloat­ing), and even eczema.

Eat light, savory, stim­u­lat­ing foods like gin­ger, cit­rus (if you are acne prone, use only lemon for your cit­rus source), fish, fresh fruit, dark leafy greens, and olive oil. Avoid exces­sive fats, dairy, refined sugar, cold food, and fried food. Avoid oily skin care prod­ucts like cream cleansers and thick, heavy mois­tur­iz­ers. Use light foam or gel cleansers and light serums (oil serums are fine as long as they are organic, nat­ural and made from qual­ity oils). Kapha may not need as much water as pitta and vata types, but be sure to drink a good amount of room tem­per­a­ture water every day.

Let me know what your dosha is and if you found this help­ful!
~Stephanie
xx

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• 12 Must-Have Prod­ucts of 2010
• Top 5 Nat­ural Scrubs & Exfoliators
• 3 “Secrets” to Clear Skin (No More Acne!)