Lemons are very high in natural fruit acids that rejuvenate the skin.

If life gives you lemons…use them as beauty aids. The sour fruit’s glucose and mineral content also helps replace loss of the body’s fluids through sweat, especially during the summer months. It stimulates blood circulation, reduces arterial pressure, and activates bile and intestinal secretions. From a cosmetic viewpoint, lemon acts as a bleach and astringent. The only thing to remember is not to use it undiluted, as it can be harsh on the skin.

Bran, gramflour and oatmeal are a few of the ingredients that hold the key to a glowing, well scrubbed complexion.

Our grandmothers swore by the exfoliating properties of chokar (wheat husk) mixed in malai that sticks to the bottom of the pan after the milk is heated. The scrub was used for rejuvenating and removing dead skin. Coarse gram flour or besan is yet another effective homemade scrub they used. Traditionally used, a turmeric scrub, over time, is known to remove facial and tender body hair altogether.

The shine, the stickiness, the irritating oiliness. Oily skin can be a pain. But maybe the ways we were using to wash down the oil on our faces was actually making it worse. Read on to get over the old soap and water routine.

Around 30 to 40 per cent of us are born with overactive oil glands and the situation is aggravated by hormonal changes such as those experienced during adolescence, pregnancy, and diet. Climate is a key factor too. It is said that oil production de increases 10 per cent for every one degree increase in temperature, which makes residents of our part of the world very vulnerable indeed!

CLEAN!
Wash your face with a gentle, oil- and fragrance-free cleanser; preferably a nondetergent one labeled pH balanced.
If you have oily skin all over your face, use a cleanser that contains benzoil peroxide or salicylic acid.
Don’t scrub - irritated skin swells around the pores, which can cause breakouts.
Skip toner unless your face is very oily, otherwise it might dry out the skin.

TREAT!
Apply a topical acne treatment containing benzoyl peroxide, glycolic acid, or salicylic acid over your entire face, not just where blemishes have already erupted.
At night, use a drying spot-treatment product and dab oil-free moisturizer on dry areas.
In the morning, apply an oil-free sunscreen gel over the entire face.

Thought you had waved goodbye to zits at puberty? Maybe not. Dr. Judith Reichman has details on treatments for adult acne

A: Male hormones, which even women’s bodies produce, are to blame.

As teenagers, about 85 percent of women suffer from acne. No, it doesn’t come from eating chocolate or not scrubbing your face (or scrubbing too hard). It comes from the outpouring of those male hormones, or androgens, which occurs at puberty.