Every September is National Skincare Awareness Month. This year, we shared awesome organic skincare tips every day on our Instagram. They were so popular with all of our followers that we decided to compile all of them into this single blog post.

As you read through these tips, you might feel overwhelmed with all of the things we're recommending you do. If that's you, go easy on yourself, take a few steps back, and just try ONE new thing on this list. The simplest thing. Every tiny step in the direction of better skin will help.

We hope you enjoy the tips!

5 Remedies For Eczema

1. Baking Soda Bath - add 3 cups to warm water and soak for at least 30 minutes

 2. Sleep with a humidifier

 3. Redmond Clay water - Add 1 teaspoon per 16 ounces of water, shake it up, let it settle to the bottom overnight, and drink the mineral-rich water on top!

4. Salís Serum (regular or frankincense)

5. Apple Cider Vinegar - Mix 1 tbs with 8 tbs distilled water and apply to affected areas with cotton rounds or swabs. Let it sit for at least 3 hours then rinse off.

 

Drink More Water For Healthier Skin

It's true... Your organs love it when you drink water. Especially your skin, which is your largest organ. For optimal health and glowing skin, drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you would drink 75 ounces of water.

 

ACV For a Dry or Itchy Scalp 

If you ever get a dry or itchy scalp, put Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) into a squeeze bottle and then apply to the scalp and rub in. You can do it full strength on the scalp, but not on your face.

Put a shower cap on, and then sleep with it overnight. Yes, it totally stinks. It's not horrid if you can let it dry. Do that every night until it clears up. Some people are once, and some people need 3-4 nights.

Keeping your scalp healthy is keeping your skin healthy! And it allows for better hair growth.

5 Remedies For Wrinkles

1. Reduce refined sugars and processed foods in your diet

2. Raw Honey Mask - Smear on wrinkled areas and leave it on for 30 minutes 

3. Redmond Clay - Mix with water to a toothpaste consistency, leave on wrinkled areas until it dries and the skin starts pulsating

4. Take one tablespoon Daily of fish oil, cod liver oil, or flax oil.

5. Devita Hyaluronic Intensive Seru-gel.

 

Benefits Baking Soda Baths 

Anyone out there a fan of baking soda baths? They’re so beneficial for your skin!

1. Put 3 cups of baking soda (we like Bob’s Red Mill brand) in a warm bath!

2. Soak for as long as you can (at least a 1/2 hour preferred).

It helps soothe the skin and may help acne or eczema. It can give you a slight energy boost so avoid it late at night. Also great for sore muscles!

Blackhead Tip #1: Steam Your Face

Blackheads! We all get ‘em but don’t like ‘em. Captain obvious here, I know. We have three different blackheads tips for you to try.

The first tip is easy and it’s something you’re already kind of doing.... STEAM your face! It sounds simple but it works. Steaming your face for 15+ minutes can help pop those blackheads out, which makes them much easier to extract.

Step 1: Steam.

Step 2: Extract (which we’ll be talking more about below!)

So what are the most effective ways to steam? We’ll list them below in order of convenience...

1. The shower. Crank up the heat and turn off the fan to really get it going.

2. Pot/bowl of water and towel. Be careful not to burn yourself with this one!

3. Steam room at the gym/spa.

4. Humidifier and towel.

5. Facial Steamer - probably the most expensive option but might be worth it for you if the above options don’t work. 

Blackhead Tip #2: Use An Extractor

 

The second blackhead tip is to use an extractor tool like this one, especially for the deep blackheads! 

Start with the steam (from the last tip) and then use the extractor.

1. Use the metal loop side.

2. Don’t press too hard

3. Make sure you get it all out (you’ll usually see a little hole afterwards to indicate it's all out).

4. Push in the direction of the pore!

Snag a Salís Blemish Extractor here.

Blackhead Tip #3: Our Blackhead Removal Mask

This is our third and final tip for getting rid of blackheads... Our Blackhead Removal Mask (you probably saw this one coming ).

Learn more about how this "miracle mask" can help you on the product page. 

If you really want to dig into why it works and how to use it check out this video from our late founder, Laura Howe (that's her pictured above)!

5 Dry Skin Remedies 

1. Use a humidifier in your room at night when you sleep

2. Avoid beauty products with alcohol and/or Retinol

3. Banana Yogurt Mask - Mix 1 banana with plain organic yogurt and leave it on for 10-20 minutes

4. Raw Honey Mask - Smear on your face and leave it on for 30 minutes

5. Moisturize with jojoba or other skin-healthy oils (easy to do with our serums!)

Healthier Skin Takes Time

Alright, at this point in the post... it's time to remind you of that pesky word that we all love... PATIENCE 😂.

As much as we hate to say it, even the best products (ahem, ours lol) can take time to truly work their magic. This applies to any skincare/health/lifestyle change you’re making.

Keep at it... it’s worth it!

It's Not Only About Your Skin

They all contribute to how your skin looks and, more importantly, how you feel! Keep reading to learn how your diet may contribute to your skin's health.

 

Fascinating Facts About The Skin

1. Each square inch of skin contains millions of cells, 5 feet of blood vessels, 12 feet of nerves, 650 sweat glands, 100 oil glands, 65 hairs, and 1,300 nerve endings.

2. Your skin is 15% of your body weight.

3. The skin contains more than 1/2 to 2/3 of all of the blood in the body and 1/2 of the primary immune cells.

4. The skin is 70% water, 25% protein and less than 5% fat.  The skin can also generate as much as a gallon of sweat in two hours, and it also sheds about 9 pounds of dead skin cells a year.

Salís Products For Rosacea

As promised, here are the Salís products that may help reduce rosacea. Keep reading for a breakdown of how these products can help and click the tags in the image to learn more and/or buy them at the links below

Redmond Clay - When it comes down to it, rosacea is a pro-biotic issue. The clay is a pre-biotic, meaning it helps set up the gut lining to better absorb pro-biotics! To get that pre-biotic goodness, you drink it internally. It sounds weird but it helps. A lot. More instructions are on the clay product page. 

Frankincense Serum - Relieves the dryness caused by rosacea. 

Rose Healing Spray - Relieves the redness caused by rosacea.

Lavender & Jasmine, Sandalwood, and Calendula Salt Scrubs - Help moisturize the skin, kill bad bacteria, and relieve redness. If you could only use one product (besides the clay) for rosacea, use one of these.

Of course, a good probiotic is also a must. The Natren brand (search for it on Amazon) is our favorite. It’s expensive but worth it. You can try other brands, too! The key is to drink the clay water for a few weeks first to allow for better absorption! 

 

Eat These Foods For Skin That Glows

This tip is one that we preach a lot... Eat for beauty! Keep reading to see 9 foods you can eat to improve your skin (and overall health).

1. Flax and hemp seeds

2. Sea vegetables

3. Leafy greens

4. Cacao beans

5. Spirulina

6. Papaya

7. Avocado

8. Water

9. Radishes

Next, we’ll talk about problem foods to avoid along with some tips on how to eat less of them.

Avoid Refined Sugar 

This quote above is from our late founder, Laura. She would preach this all the time and we’d be remised if we didn’t remind you about it.

Skincare products can only do so much for you if you’re eating a lot of refined sugar. 

Here are three reasons why: 

1. Refined sugar may cause inflammation in the body. Inflammation is one of the main causes of redness in the skin and one of the main contributors to acne. Inflammation is the core problem of every skin condition.

2. The body does not treat refined sugar as a food, so it is stored in the fat tissue if the body can’t eliminate it.  Instead of digesting the sugar, the body will pull minerals from all over the body (including the bones) to detoxify the sugar out of the body.

3. If your body is too toxic, everything will start to build up in the body. The skin is the last area (usually) that your body uses to detoxify.

Next, we’ll be sharing some tips about how you can reduce the refined sugar in your diet and hopefully clear up your skin in the process. 

How to Consume Less Refined Sugar

1. Replace regular soda with naturally sweetened soda (Spindrift, la Croix, or bubbly are our faves!)

2. Trade regular candy and desserts for fruit (ideal) or other sweets that use natural sugars. However, even natural-sugar sweets may cause inflammation and skin issues so be aware of how this change makes you feel.

3. Get more sleep! Studies show that sleep-deprived people eat more sugar and processed foods.

It's All About Balance and Baby Steps

The last few tips have been about foods and habits to avoid to adopt for healthier-looking skin.

If you’re like me (Taylor) sometimes hearing about all the changes you need to make can leave you feeling a tad overwhelmed or discouraged.

And that’s the purpose of today’s tip... To tell you it’s okay to go slow and make small changes along the way.

No one is perfect but as long as you’re taking small baby steps in the direction you want to go, you’ll be good to go! ❤️ 

12 Common Skincare Ingredients to Avoid

These are 12 common ingredients to avoid in your skincare and beauty products along with the reasons to avoid them.

It’s especially important to avoid these ingredients after you switch to a natural skincare line like Salís! Why? Because the amazing “pulling” effects of the jojoba oil and clay we use in our products will literally pull these ingredients out of your skin, which may lead to an initial round of breakouts (your body’s way of cleansing).

So the sooner you can stop using them, the sooner your skin will look and feel the way you want it to! 

1. Parabens - mimic estrogen by locking into estrogen sites creating a ton of excess estrogen in the body.

2. Alcohol - causes drying to the skin and strips the acid mantle.

3. Mineral Oil - smothers the pores.

4. Emulsifying Wax - smothers the skin.

5. Retinols - Retinols are completely damaging to the outer layer of the skin. Retinols are a synthetic form of vitamin A.

They break down the top layer of the skin too harshly and cause drying.

In fact, Retinyl Palmitate has a 30% more likely chance to increase tumors in the skin after it is exposed to sunlight.

6. Diazolidinyl Urea (sheep urine) - It is used as a preservative and causes contact dermatitis. And, do you really want to put that on your skin?

7. Propylene Glycol (PEG) - Any PEG’s are petrochemicals that may cause allergic reactions.

8. Benzoyl Peroxide - It compromises the skin’s protective barrier.

9.  Dimethicone - It is a synthetic polymer that is used to make the product feel smoother.

10. Talc - It contains asbestos and has been linked to ovarian cancer.

11. Lanolin (sheep’s oil) - It clogs the pores.

12. Sodium Benzoate - They are still conducting a lot of research on sodium benzoate, but it has been shown to be highly toxic.

Moisturize With Oil For Less "Oily" Skin

Do you ever get this comment from someone right after you apply your serum? 😂... . It takes a minute for it to really sink into the skin.

The smaller molecular structure of the jojoba oil we use in our serums (and scrubs!) penetrates deeper into the skin than lotions do. 

With continual use, you may notice a decrease in wrinkles, less acne, less oily skin overall, and... more of a glow 🤩💁‍♀️😍 .

You can also use it on other dry spots all over your body 🙌🏻

5 Remedies For Skin Dullness

1 - Consume more antioxidant-rich foods like kale, blueberries, sweet potatoes, and others.

2 - Exfoliate at least once per week - We're biased towards using our salt scrubs for this step :)

3 - Reduce stress through exercise, meditation, sleep, or other self-care.

4 - Use serums and essential oils regularly

5 - Consume more omega-3-rich foods like salmon, flax seeds, chia seeds, and others.

Skin-Healthy Hot Cider Recipe

This is a delicious skin-healthy hot cider beverage 🍎 ☕️ 🍁.

Get the easy-to-make recipe here.

Seriously go check it out. Your skin and your taste buds will thank you 😊 

Smile More!

This is the cheapest and easiest skincare/beauty tip we’ll be sharing in this post... Show off those pearly whites of yours more often! 😁

 

The Skin-Healing Power of Clay Water!

Another must-see Instagram Live recording from Laura all about The Skin-Healing Power of Clay Water!

Yes, drinking clay water is probably one of the oddest things we’ll ever recommend... but it totally works! It’s been known to clear up acne, hormonal acne, eczema, rashes, dermatitis, rosacea, keratosis pilaris, and so much more!

Snag a jar from us here.  

Organic Sunscreen Tips

The best thing to do in the sun is to cover up. Sunlight on bare skin is beneficial for about 10-15 minutes either before noon or after 3 p.m.

If you do need to use a sunscreen, use one that has zinc oxide. We really like Soleo Organics or Living Libations - Everybody Loves the Sunshine.

That's All We Wrote :) 

Those are all the tips we shared. Let us know if you have any other questions in the comments!