Getting flawless and healthy skin is the dream of every woman but maintaining it can be a tough task, thanks to the deteriorating air quality and excessive smog. Many of us think that outdoor air pollution is the only reason, which leads to skin problems. But this is not true, indoor air quality is equally responsible. Indoor air pollutants such as dust, cigarette smoke, VOCs, irritants cause a lot of harm to your skin.
Read on to find out how air pollution affects your skin and how you can protect yourself from unhealthy air quality.
How Air Pollution Affects your Skin?
Skin Dryness
Air pollution and smog agents can cause oxidative damage to the skin cells. The air pollutants increase free radicals and toxins in the skin, which lead to allergic rashes, itching, increased skin sensitivity, and blotchy skin. The free radicals interfere with your skin’s ability to produce collagen, which plays an important role in keeping your skin firm and healthy. When the contaminants present in the indoor air comes in contact with your skin, they can interfere with the ability of your skin to regulate moisture, thereby leaving your skin dry, wrinkled and clogged.
Premature Aging
Air pollutants, whether indoor or outdoor, remove oxygen from skin cells. As a result, your skin looks dry and sagging. The ability of your body to fight free radicals reduces as you start aging. The air pollutants increase the number of free radicals present in the air. The combination of free radicals and UV radiation decreases the production of skin collagen, which causes your skin to lose elasticity. Lack of elastin makes your rough and lead to premature aging.
Acne
If you have tried everything and your acne problem persists, air pollution may be one of the main reasons for your everlasting problem. VOCs, cigarette some as well as overexposure to UV rays contribute to the generation of free radicals and contributes to acne.
How To Protect Skin From Air Pollution?
Here are some of the effective ways of how you can protect your skin from the harmful effects of air pollution and keep it healthy.
Use an Air Purifier
The first step to keep your skin safe from pollution is to improve the quality of indoor air. Reducing your exposure to air pollutants to keep yourself safe from pollution. Bring in a HEPA air purifier, which effectively removes hazardous indoor air pollutants. Air purifiers from renowned brands remove pollutants such as dust mites, cigarette smoke, PM 2.5, pollen and mold spores to keep you healthy. In addition to keeping your skin healthy, air purifiers also keep your lungs safe.
For your reference here are: Best Air Purifiers in India for Home 2017
Stay Hydrated
Another effective way to reduce the ill effects of indoor air pollution is to stay hydrated. Drink a lot of water every day to reduce the drying effects of indoor air pollution. Drinking water also ensures that your skin remains fresh for a long duration of time. Besides, you also need to eat plenty of water-based foods such as watermelon, apples and antioxidant-rich citrus fruits.
Home Remedies to Save your skin from Air Pollution?
Long term exposure to pollution can cause serious effects on the skin like wrinkles, redness, blotchiness and many others. Below mentioned are few home remedies to protect your skin from the harmful effects of air pollution. Some of these are mentioned below:
- Make sure to scrub daily
- Moisturize to nourish your skin
- Massage your skin once a week with almond and coconut oil
- Use face pack for deep nourishment and healthy glow of the skin
Last Few Words
Air pollution can affect your skin adversely and make it dull and unhealthy. In worst conditions, it can cause redness, eczema, premature aging. There are home remedies can protect your skin from air pollution but, it is equally important you keep the indoor air clean. Keeping the indoor air clean will avoid different types of health problems such as asthma, breathing problems and to keep your skin healthy.