Ramadan Skincare
Taking care of your skin the right way
It has been a week into the holy month and we hope everything is going great for you. Prior to Ramadan, we shared with you ways to safely maintain/lose weight if you're fasting and also recipes to our favorite smoothies that you can use for suhoor or iftar. This round, we’re sharing with you our skincare routine during Ramadan to let you know how we keep our skin hydrated and fresh throughout the day.
Eve Writes | 12 May 2019
Style & Beauty : Beauty Care
Not having enough fluid is one of the reasons why our skin is dehydrated.
And not having enough fluid is common during Ramadan because we’re unable to drink for almost up to 12 hours in a day. This can have negative effect to your skin, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t drink enough water even during non-fasting month.
If you feel your skin tend be dryer and duller during Ramadan, then these tips we have for you should help keep your skin hydrated and still look radiant throughout the fasting month.
Water, water, and more water
Do you know that it’s still possible to have enough fluid even though you’re fasting? This is because not only your body is conserving as much water as possible when you didn’t supplement it with fluid, the water you take during suhoor can really help in maintaining a healthy level of water in your body.
While it may be quite a challenge for us to drink 8 full glasses of water during suhoor, you can make sure that you’re drinking enough from iftar right up until it’s time for you to suhoor. When you break fast, make sure you drink as much as water as you can to replenish the fluid in your body, but you also need to keep drinking water every now and then before you go to bed. When you wake up, drink 1-2 glasses of water before you eat for suhoor. Try to avoid coffee or tea for suhoor because the caffeine in these drinks makes you urinate more often.
Keeping to this habit throughout the month of Ramadan should help your body to maintain enough water intake.
Mind the food
In our previous article, we talked about the importance of eating the right combination of food during Ramadan to make sure you’re still able to maintain a healthy body. True to ‘you are what you eat,’ eating clean and healthy food can go a long way in maintaining a clear and radiant skin.
One of the major reasons why our skin can appear dull is because we’re not eating enough food with antioxidant to fight free radicals. Free radicals are groups of atoms without electron and thus they are unstable and highly reactive. In order to stabilise itself, it will bond with other atoms. In this process, the weak bond of electron is sometimes destroyed, causing cell damage, or the bond is left with uneven atom. This process caused your body to lose electron and can result in cell damage or speed up aging.
Increasing your intake of food with high antioxidant during Ramadan can help eliminate free radicals as well as supplement your body with adequate vitamins and nutrients. Among great sources of antioxidants are broccoli, raspberries, apricot, watermelon, cherries, oranges, spinach, peaches, and corn. You can take these food in salad form or raw or you can also add them into your smoothie. If you’re unfamiliar with smoothie diet, you can learn more about smoothie 101 here before you start or if you’re already a smoothie junkie, you can get the recipes to our favourite smoothies here.
Other than taking food that’s high in antioxidants, you can also supplement your diet during Ramadan with good fat. Even though fat has been in the bad light for many years, more and more research are proving that the right kind of healthy fats (or essential fats) can help maintain a healthy body as well as healthy skin. Choose food that’s high in omega-3 fatty acid such as salmon, sea-bass, chia seed, walnut, avocado, and egg yolk.
Cleanse, tone, moisturise. But don’t forget serum/oil, block, and mist
We can’t stress this enough even though we’re sure almost everyone knows the importance of good skincare. Every day, we’re exposed to harsh elements such as sun rays, dust, and smoke. For a busy woman who is actively out and about, we know how much our skin can be exposed to a myriad of pollutant.
During Ramadan, on top of your skin lacking hydration, external factors can also cause dull and dry skin. So make sure you don’t skip your skincare routine. Cleansing, toning, and moisturise is the holy trinity, but you should also not forget to apply face serum/oil, use sunblock, and spray on face mist as often as you can.
There are literally thousands of skincare products out there so you need to know which is the most suitable for you. Here we share our favorite items that have been tried and tested by Eve Ladies.
Cleanser
For a cleanse that is deep, thorough, and refreshing, we super love ERBA Natural Cleansing Gel. Even though the texture is rich and thick, it’s actually very light and doesn’t leave your skin feeling covered or matted. Because its rich and thick texture, you only need a small amount each time you use it. Its olive and aloe vera formula is refreshing and hydrating.
Toner
Toner helps to maintain your skin Ph balance as well as get rid of any cleanser residue and fine impurities. The Naveen Rose Revitalizing Toner is an excellent formula that keeps our skin fresh and clean for a long time. Use only a small amount on your cotton pad and you will feels your skin transform. It contains certified organic rose oil and undaria pinnatifida extract, which is a brown seaweed that stimulates the synthesis of collagen. Plus, its sweet rose scent is just so wonderful!
Moisturiser
It’s not uncommon for some of us to skip moisturiser just because we have oily complexion. But moisturising your skin is still very important. We love the Chamomile Moisturizing Lotion by Naveen because it’s specially formulated to soothe dry and flaky skin as well as acne. It contains organic jojoba oil, organic sweet almond oil, and chamomile flower water. Just tiny dabs around your face and neck is enough to keep your skin fresh and moisturised.
Some of us are spoiled for choice, but some of us are content with one or two choices. This is why the next step is pretty much up to you even though it’s equally important. Ideally, you use all of the three i.e. essence, serum, and oil. But if you’re not able to use all three, you need to use at least one of it because these products can help to maintain a healthy, glowing skin and protect it from harsh elements. Here are our favorite of the three.
Face serum
The ERBA Marvel Serum is absolutely marvelous that we carry it with us all the time! It’s rich formula penetrate deep within our skin and helps to repair scar, treat acne, and keep our skin absolutely soft and supple. Skin serum is similar to moisturiser, but because it’s made of smaller molecules, it goes deeper into the skin and deliver high concentration of active ingredients.
Face oil
Face oil is another skin moisturiser, but it has a different purpose. While it also penetrates your skin deeper than moisturiser does, it functions to smooth your skin and lock in the ingredients from the serum. If you’re not using any serum, you can still use face oil after your moisturiser. Apply an even amount of nutrient-rich face oil and smooth on areas you want to treat e.g. corner of your eyes and your laugh lines.
We really love Infinity Face Oil by Organic Touch Malaysia. The luxurious golden oil really is made for the Cleopatra in you. It combines argan oil and rosehip oil to deliver ultimate moisturisation and the tea tree oil and lemon essential oil are great to treat old scars and reduce wrinkles.
Sunblock
When you’re out and about, the sun can be your worst enemy. It does get really hot these days so you have to make sure you give your skin all the protection it needs. Using sunblock on your face is one of the best thing you can do to make sure your skin is not damaged by the strong sun rays. Generally, you can use any sunblock that contains at least SPF 30 to ensure adequate protection from the sun.
When it comes to sunblock, we love Dermalogica Solar Defense Booster SPF50. This sunblock packs a punch because it has antioxidants of vitamin C and E to enhance photo protection, a combination of grape seed and tea tree as soothing agents, and also safflower essence for enhanced moisturisation. Even though this sunblock is made of rich formula, it’s light enough to be combined with your moisturiser and applied at the same time.
Face mask
Rehydrating and rejuvenating your skin after a long hot day is important. You need to calm and soothe your skin with a good face mask.
Cadeau Moisturizing Hydrogel Mask is absolutely wonderful. Its gel-like texture locks the serum into our skin. Containing wild orchid extracts, this mask helps to restore and maintain a bright complexion on our skin.
Face mist
Finally, in your skincare routine during Ramadan, you must remember to keep your skin hydrated throughout by using a face mist every now and then. Just spritz on some face mist whenever you feel dry can help to maintain your skin’s hydration.
For Ramadan, we love to use Lemon Marigold Face Mist by Organic Touch Malaysia. Its light and super refreshing formula not only keep our skin fresh and hydrated, it also rejuvenates our senses during long afternoon!
Good skin care should always be your priority. If you have never truly taken care of your skin in earnest, perhaps after this holy month, you can continue to maintain a good skincare routine. It really does go a long way when you invest in a proper skincare routine.
Ramadan is always a good month to make or break a habit because the holy month teaches us patience, fortitude, and temperance. If you’re starting a new self-care habit this Ramadan, be it skincare or healthy eating, we hope you will achieve your goal and make you a better person inside and outside!
