Best Ways To Use Lemons for Your Health and Beauty Routine
While it can be tempting to resort to expensive cosmetics that include artificial ingredients to accomplish your hair, skin, and nails routines, plenty of natural options are available that accomplish the job just as well as common over-the-counter exfoliants and toners. Lemons are one example of safe and natural solutions that you can use to help your body heal and thrive, and there are countless ways to use these common fruits in your daily health and beauty routine. However, there's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to discovering how to use lemons to make your hair shine, your skin glow, and your nails glisten, so I've collected a few of my favorite lemon remedies and beauty treatments for your consideration. Plus, I've included a few of the top ways that you can use lemons to improve your overall health and well-being.1. Cut It and Rub It
My first technique for using lemon on your skin is deceptively simple; all you need to do is cut a lemon in half, remove the seeds, and apply the cut area to your face in a gentle, circular motion. As with all things lemony, however, you should shy away from using this technique if your skin is overly sensitive or dry; the special substances found in lemon juice can dry your skin out more than it already is if you don't use this fruit juice carefully and in the right situations.2. Make a Lemon Juice Toner
Toners tighten up your skin, which can help reduce the signs of aging. They also make oily skin more manageable, and they can help unblock your pores if you have acne. To take advantage of the power of toners, however, it can sometimes seem like it's necessary to resort to artificial options with potentially dangerous ingredients. However, it's easy to make a simple toner that incorporates lemon juice that works just as well as the name brand options you might find at your local drug store.How to Make and Use a Lemon Juice Toner
• Combine two tbsp. of lemon juice with 1/2 cup of diced cucumber• Add three cups of cold water, and mix the ingredients together
• Soak up the solution with a cotton ball, and apply it to your face
When you're done applying your toner, you can leave it on your skin or wash it off after about 15 minutes. This toner solution stays good for about a week if it's refrigerated, so you can use it again any time that you feel like your skin needs a refresher.
3. Create a Zesty Exfoliating Scrub
We all know what a pain it can be to suffer from dry or rough skin. Whether it's on your elbows, knees, or face, rough skin can become much worse in dry conditions or during the dead of winter, and it can easily become irritated and inflamed. In addition to the discomfort factor associated with dry skin, this condition can also be quite unattractive, and it's important to have various tools at your disposal to combat this unfortunate skin condition.Whatever the cause of your dry skin may be, there's a simple way that you can use lemon juice to return your skin back to its soft and supple state. Follow these steps to make and use a powerful but gentle lemon juice exfoliator:
Lemon Juice Exfoliating Scrub Instructions
• Mix 1/2 cup of lemon juice with one tbsp. of olive oil
• Add one tbsp. of honey, and mix the solution with a whisk
• Add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar, and stir the solution with a spoon
• Apply the solution to areas with dry skin while you're in the shower
Once you've made this mixture, keep in mind that it doesn't need to be refrigerated when it isn't in use.
4. Strengthen Your Nails with Lemon Juice
Lemon juice isn't just for your skin; you can use it on your nails too. When you apply lemon juice to your nails, this antioxidant-rich substance will reduce any nail hyperpigmentation, and it will also make your nails stronger and more resistant to damage. Here's one of the easiest and simplest ways that you can use lemon juice to improve the health of your fingernails:Strengthening Nail Dip Instructions
• Mix one tbsp. of lemon juice and three tbsp. of olive oil in a shallow bowl• After removing any polish from your nails, dip them into the bowl
• Leave your nails in the bowl for about 5-10 minutes
Since lemon juice can react to sunlight, you should apply sunscreen to your hands after washing off this nail strengthening serum before you go outside. Use this solution again any time that you want to lighten your nails or give them extra protective power.
5. Take Advantage of the Cancer-Fighting Benefits of Lemons
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, and lemons are packed full of this powerful healing substance. Antioxidants fight free radicals, which are special types of atoms that can wreak havoc on your cell integrity; it's even possible that high concentrations of free radicals can cause cancer.A recent study pointed out that eating lots of citrus fruits can fight cancer. While you shouldn't attempt to beat cancer with lemons alone, eating these fruits can provide your body with the resources it needs to keep cancer from occurring and push back the growth of any existing tumors.
All citrus fruits contain the various vitamins and other substances that fight cancer, but lemon peels also contain a special substance called D-limonene. If you've ever tried to eat a lemon peel raw, you know that this isn't the most appetizing proposition, but dried and grated lemon peels can add a special zest to many dishes, and you also gain the benefit of protecting your body from cancer when you eat this sour garnish.
Unless you're eating the peel as well, there's no special way that you should consume lemons to exploit their anti-cancer properties. Whether you like adding lemon juice to your water, using lemon juice as a flavor enhancer with salmon, or simply eating lemons raw the best, any of these methods will provide your body with the tools it needs to strive to remain cancer-free.
6. Use Lemons to Fight Wrinkles
Greater than normal exposure to UV rays is the primary cause of early wrinkling, but environmental factors like pollution and decisions like smoking can also make your skin wrinkle earlier than it should. Even if you take perfect care of your skin for all of your life, during your waning years, your skin will start to wrinkle anyway. Over time, your skin's levels of collagen and elastin decrease, which means that your skin will start to sag and lose its plumpness. These two factors inevitably lead to wrinkles, but you can fight back against this skin issue with the simple power of lemons.
Lemons contain lots of vitamin C, and scientific research has indicated that this substance can reduce wrinkles in a number of different ways. First, topically applied vitamin C reduces the oxidative stress caused by UV exposure. Since vitamin C contains high levels of antioxidants, it beats back the effects of free radicals, which are the primary mechanical causes of dropoffs in collagen and elastin production. With free radicals out of the way, your skin is free to start producing normal levels of these substances again, which causes your skin to rebound to its previously youthful appearance.
Even with all of the special benefits of vitamin C factored in, lemons have another incredible attribute that is all their own. According to one study, it appears that lemon oil has an increased capacity to reduce oxidative stress on the surface of your skin above and beyond plain vitamin C. The authors of this study labeled the special substance that makes this effect possible "Lem1," and every type of lemon oil that you might see at your favorite health food store is guaranteed to be packed full of this substance.
7. Detox Your Liver with Lemons
Your liver works hard every day to remove toxins from your system, but it could always use a little help. Over time, the efforts of your liver to keep your body clean and healthy cause it to become suffused with all of the substances that it has taken into itself, and you should give this martyr of an organ a little bit of help by trying out a lemon water liver detox.Lemon Liver Detox Instructions
• Combine one whole lemon and 1/2 cup of water• Add one raw egg or one tsp. of lecithin
• Add 2-3 tsp. of raw coconut butter, one vitamin E capsule, and one knob of fresh ginger
• Blend all of these ingredients in a blender or food processor
It's best to drink about half of this mixture before breakfast, and you can then hold on to the rest of it in the fridge. Just make sure to drink the rest of your liver detox mixture within about 24 hours. Soon after you drink your mixture, the incredible combined effects of the pectin, choline, and lecithin in this detox drink will start to help your liver heal and thrive.
8. Fight Acne Scars with Lemon Juice
Even years after you've gotten over a bout of acne, this condition can leave traces of its existence behind. Especially bad acne cysts can leave persistent scar tissue behind, and in places where scar tissue is present, collagen can't protect your skin's plumpness. In the worst case scenario, this can lead to sagging and creases in unnatural areas of your skin where acne scars have interrupted your face's smooth, uniform appearance.By reducing the presence of free radicals in your skin, vitamin C promotes collagen production, which can fill in the areas that acne has laid to waste. Plus, the antioxidants in vitamin C also help to break down scar tissue itself, which means that topically applied lemon juice can help your skin heal from the lingering effects of acne on two fronts. Here's one of the best ways to take advantage of the acne-healing effects of lemon juice:
Topical Lemon Juice Acne Treatment
• Mix two tbsp. of lemon juice with four tbsp. of raw coconut oil
• Apply this mixture to the damaged areas of your skin, and allow it to sit for about three minutes
• Rinse your face with warm water, and apply your favorite all-natural moisturizer
You can keep this substance in your fridge and apply it once per day. Within a couple of weeks, you should notice the prominence of your acne scars decreasing and the collagen levels in your skin getting closer to their normal levels.
9. Make a Lemon Juice Tooth Whitening Scrub
Once you've tried all of these methods for improving the health of your skin and nails with lemon juice, you can also try using this potent substance to naturally increase the whiteness of your teeth. Everyone wants their teeth to be white, but most tooth whitening treatments are full of toxic ingredients. Here's my favorite natural lemon tooth whitener recipe:Whitening Lemon Tooth Scrub Recipe
• Mix lemon juice into baking soda until it reaches a paste-like consistency• Apply it to your teeth with a Q-tip
• Scrub your teeth with a toothbrush, and rinse
Keep this simple solution on hand for whenever you feel like your teeth are looking a little drab. Like all of the solutions we've covered, this lemon tooth scrub is cheap and easy to make, and since it doesn't contain artificial ingredients, it won't hurt your body.