Smooth as Silk: 8 Home Remedies for Softer Skin

Achieving smooth, touchable skin is a common beauty goal. Often, as we age, we notice the texture of our skin starts to change. This can be due to things like sun exposure, acne, weather exposure, or the natural loss of the collagen or elastin that helps keep our skin plump and youthful. You may notice more uneven texture on your face, or that the skin on your legs isn’t as pleasant to run your hands across. There are also many benign skin conditions that can change the feel of your skin, such as Keratosis pilaris. If its winter or you live in an arid climate, dryness can also cause your skin to feel rough and itchy. Even the way you sleep can affect your skin’s texture!

As you can tell by now, the reasons your skin is feeling rougher can be myriad. Luckily, there are many simple things you can do in the comfort of your own home to help restore some of your skin’s smoothness. People are often surprised by the easy changes they can make to their skincare regime that will result in noticeably softer and smoother skin. All you need is consistency and time to see the changes start to happen!

Here are eight home remedies for getting softer skin: 

Eliminate inflammation

When people think of inflammation, their mind often goes to things like aching joints or injuries. Under many circumstances, inflammation is a good thing. However, inflammation can affect many parts of your body in subtle ways you may not have noticed. Internal and external inflammation is often linked to inflammatory or allergenic foods, such as gluten and dairy. 

These hard to digest foods can wreak havoc on your tender skin. Cortisol, the stress hormone, can also lead to inflammation. Chronic stress can mean that cortisol is continuously attacking your body. Eventually, this leads to inflammation and the faster breakdown of elastin and collagen.

To remedy this, play with removing allergenic foods from your diet and focus on reducing stress.

Exfoliate with chemicals

While we admit that it may sound extreme, exfoliating using the right chemicals can actually be a much gentler and more effective way to exfoliate your skin. Often, we have a tendency to be too rough when we manually exfoliate our skin. This can cause micro-tears in the skin, which can lead to acne breakouts, further inflammation, flaky patches, and overproduction of sebum--all things we hope to avoid!

Instead, look into using an acid exfoliant like glycolic acid, mandelic acid, or AHAs or BHAs. As a beginner, you’ll want to start with the lowest possible concentrations so that you don’t burn or irritate your skin. As your skin becomes used to the acid, you can gradually increase the levels.

With chemical exfoliants, it’s best to apply them at night and also to use sunscreen meticulously, since they can make you more susceptible to sunburn.

Moisturize the right way

Keeping your skin properly moisturized is a fundamental component of keeping your skin smooth and plump. Your face should be moisturized twice daily: once in the morning and once at night. If you are using serums to help minimize signs of aging, like those from Sente Labs, then ideally they should be applied at night, along with your acid exfoliants. Sunscreen should only be used during the day and washed off in the evening.

Also, no matter how excellent coconut oil may be, it’s not enough of a moisturizer for your face. Moisturizers contain humectant ingredients that help draw moisture into the skin, something oils do not do.

Stay hydrated

While moisturizer is an essential component of a healthy skin care routine, it won’t save your skin if you’re not keeping yourself adequately hydrated. Your skin is an excellent indicator of your body’s overall health, so if you’re dehydrated your skin will be the first place, it starts showing. The body is composed mostly of water, so if you want to keep your skin healthy and glowing, it’s essential to drink lots of water and limit your intake of soda, caffeine, and alcohol.

Get the right nutrients

A healthy diet is a crucial part of keeping your skin healthy and smooth, but certain nutrients are incredibly beneficial for the overall health and appearance of our skin. Essential fats, zinc, Vitamin E and C, selenium and protein are all vital in maintaining your skin’s smooth, healthy appearance. 

Fish, avocados, and walnuts are all excellent sources of these nutrients. As are citrus fruits, sweet potatoes, and broccoli. Keeping your diet stocked with fresh, healthy produce, lean proteins, and nuts and legumes are all great ways to keep your skin looking young and dewy.

Exercise

While we all know exercise is good for us, helps us lose weight, and prevent many chronic diseases, did you know that exercising can also help your skin’s appearance? Exercise helps increase blood flow, which brings oxygenated blood to the skin’s surface and carries with it nutrients. This helps tone the skin and boost collagen production in the skin. This helps plump and smooth the skin.

Cleanse gently

While you should always remove your makeup before bed and regularly cleanse your skin, you have to be cautious not to strip your skin when washing. Many people with oily or acne-prone skin mistakenly believe that harsh ingredients that strip the skin of its moisture will help reduce their skin’s oil production. 

However, this actually causes the opposite to occur. The more moisture is stripped from the skin, the more your skin will overproduce oil to make up for the loss. Instead, use the gentlest cleanser possible and stay away from harsh, foaming cleansers.

Don’t overwash

Further to cleansing gently, you should be careful not to overwash your face. In general, you should avoid washing your face any more than twice per day. If you exercise strenuously, wash your face with a gentle cleanser to remove the sweat and prevent breakouts, which will help keep your skin smooth and soft. If you have very dry or sensitive skin, you may only be able to wash once a day to prevent flaking or redness.