Baking ingredients beauty benefits

It is close to Christmas time and preparations are already under way. Excitement is starting to show and if you are anything like me, you are already imagining your perfect Christmas holidays. What is your favourite part of it all? I am most excited about all the baking that will soon take place and all the aromas of spices that will consume my kitchen air space. But did you know, many of the baking ingredients can be used for beauty purposes as some are very beneficial.

• Cinnamon
Adding a tablespoon of cinnamon a day to your food will help you get rid of toxins as it provides the body with fiber, thus leading to your skin not being clogged and your skin tone improved. It has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, antiseptic and anti parasitic properties which help with skin conditions such as acne, different skin infections, eczema or to soothe and soften the dry skin. It is also a good exfoliant and can be used as a hair mask to stimulate the scalp and provide nourishment to hair follicles. Some use it for plumping their skin (mainly lips) as it stimulates blood vessels and brings blood and oxygen to the surface. However, use Ceylon, not Cassia cinnamon as Cassia has high percentage of coumarin which can cause allergic reactions so before anything you should do a patch test just to be safe.

Cinnamon

• Ginger
Rich with antioxidants, ginger helps with getting rid of toxins and stimulates the circulation delivering more nutrients to the skin. As cinnamon, it also helps with acne by killing the bacteria responsible for creating acne and can also reduce the visibility of white scars by rubbing it directly on the scarred area. Ginger can help with hair growth by increasing the scalp circulation and stimulating the hair follicles. Also it is rich with vitamin, zinc and phosphorus making it good to use if you have dry hair or suffer from hair loss and split ends and it's antiseptic properties help fight dandruff.

Ginger

• Coffee
Caffeine is good for reducing eye puffiness by constricting the blood vessels under the skin sufrace. It's antioxidants eliminate free radicals that cause ageing of the skin which is why it is popular ingredient of anti-ageing creams. Also adding ground coffee to a homemade body scrub helps reducing the visibility of cellulite by extracting water from fatty cells and thus tightening the skin. Caffeine is also beneficial for hair growth. It penetrates into the roots and stimulates them while preventing hair loss and increasing hair growth and it's life cycle.

Ground coffee

• Cocoa
Cocoa is rich with antioxidants and fatty acids so it moisturises the skin and promotes collagen production. Cocoa powder contains lots of minerals such as calcium, potassium and zinc. Cocoa butter has many purposes and can even be used with your shaving lotion to prevent any irritation. It has healing properties so you can use it for any scars or even stretch marks or if you are struggling with chapped lips which is why it is an ingredient of many lotions, moisturizers and lip balms.

KRAŠ cocoa powder

• Sugar
If you are living healthy lifestyle, the possibilities are sugar is something you steer clear from. But did you know that sugar is a source of glycol acid which is commonly used in skincare products for it's capability of penetrating into skin? It reduces wrinkles, acne scarring and hyperpigmentation and exfoliates upper layer of skin. Also sugar scrubs are more hydrating than salt scrubs which can strip skin of its natural oils. Use brown sugar scrub for the face and sensitive skin since it is softer than granulated one.

Sugar

Hope this was somewhat informative to you. Are you familiar with using any of these products in your beauty regime? Or will you give it a go after reading this?
Thank you for reading if you came this far and hope you have a nice rest of the day!