Look after your kids skin naturally

When looking after your kids’ skin, most people go the topical route and lather on creams and lotions.  Our skin is the largest organ in our body and it absorbs whatever we put on it.  This makes it especially important to pay close attention to the skin care products we choose to buy for our kids. 

While topical lotions can help, they can be loaded with nasties such as preservatives, parabens and formaldehyde (yikes).  We don’t like the idea of putting things we aren’t familiar with on their sensitive little bodies (or ours for that matter!).  So, we’ve recently been getting into making lotions and scrubs and we’re all loving it!!

Kids skin and nutrition

Radiant healthy skin starts with what you put into the body rather than what you rub on it.  Here are a few things their skin will thank you for: 

Step 1: HYDRATE

One of the most important things you can do is to make sure they drink plenty of water to keep their skin cells hydrated.  If your kids find water boring, try to add some natural flavourings.  Our personal favourite is a stick of cinnamon but you can add berries, apples, lemon, mint, cucumber… the possibilities are endless and the kids may even enjoy inventing new water flavours.

Step 2: EAT SKIN HEALTHY FOODS

• Omega 3 fats are great for skin because they are anti-inflammatory.  Inflammation is one of the contributing factors in skin conditions such as atopic eczema, acne and psoriasis.  Omega 3 fats can be found in oily fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel and veggie sources like flax and chia seeds.
• Vitamin C is an antioxidant that sweeps up free radicals and helps with the skin’s ability to make collagen.  Sources include citrus fruit, peppers and, dark green leafy veg.
• Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant that is found in abundance in avocados, seeds, nuts and olive oil.  Vitamin E is anti-inflammatory and defends the skin against free radical damage.
• Selenium is found in Brazil nuts and fish (e.g. salmon).  It is an essential component of the very powerful antioxidant glutathione.  This antioxidant helps protect skin against free radical damage that causes inflammation, aging, and skin cancer.
• Studies have indicated that zinc consumption improves wound healing and has anti-inflammatory effects.  Zinc sources include shellfish (e.g. mussels), red meat and chicken.
• Fermented foods are full of gut friendly bacteria.  Recent studies have shown a strong link between gut health and healthy skin.  Fermented foods include plain live yogurt, miso soup and kefir.

Step 3: LIMIT THESE FOODS

• Sugar and white flour as they both increase inflammation throughout the body and contain no nutrients.
• Saturated fats from animal sources and oxidised and trans fats found in fried and processed foods.  These are pro-inflammatory and as such tend to aggravate skin conditions such as atopic eczema, acne and psoriasis.

Recipes for making your own creams

So, why don’t you try to make your own creams and scrubs?  Try these recipes that we use and love and let us know what you think…

BROWN SUGAR SCRUB 

I came up with this when my eldest daughter had a bout of severe dry skin.   She had never had eczema before and all of a sudden her legs were red, itchy and scaly all over.  Poor baby was crying and scratching like mad.  So I did some digging, went to my local health store and put this together super quickly.  She loved it … who can possibly resist the idea of bathing in brown sugar?

Ingredients:
Organic Avocado Oil
Brown Sugar

Directions:
Add just enough avocado oil to brown sugar to make a grainy paste. The brown sugar helps to exfoliate while the avocado oil moisturises.  Use it as a scrub while you shower and enjoy how smooth your skin feels after.

CHOCOLATE BODY CREAM

My girls love this. It is very rich and feels super luxurious. I make loads of it but it never lasts long because I keep giving it away to everyone who asks for it!  The best part about it is that it smells like chocolate.  I think that’s one of the reasons everyone loves it so much.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup shea butter
1/2 cup cocoa butter
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup almond oil
1 tsp vitamin E oil

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and melt them in a bain-marie.
2. Once all the ingredients have melted, take your bowl off the heat and wait for it to cool down (about 10 minutes).
3. Place it in the freezer for about 20 minutes.  You want to wait until you see it just starting to solidify but isn’t too hard.
4. Take it out of the freezer and using an electronic whisk, whip it up until it starts to get fluffy and forms white peaks.
5. Spoon it into a clean jar with a tight fitting lid.

The butter melts in your hand so be careful how much you use.  A little goes a very long way.

Enjoy!!