How does your skin look after a summer of gardening and other outdoor activities? Your skin could probably use a little TLC right now. As a gardener (or farmer) you are prone to dry skin, sunburn, skin irritations, and nicks and lesions to the skin, even puncture wounds and insect bites. Being in the sun can also lead to hyperpigmentation spots on both the face and the hands (another reason to wear gloves). Here are some tips and best products to use to keep your skin healthy.
Use a good soap that doesn’t dry your skin out, we use shea butter, as well as a sugar scrub to get dirt and debris off the hands. An exfoliating scrub is particularly good for removing resins and hard to remove dirt. I always use a scrub after picking calendula.
Knuckle Balm is a gardeners balm that can help with dry fingers, peeling cuticles, and any damage done to your skin from scrapes and lesions. Knuckle Balm is a calendula and plantain balm that is also very soothing to irritated skin. Does your skin get irritated when working in tomatoes or hops? Try Knuckle Balm. It is important to use products like this to maintain the skin barrier function.
Perhaps you are feeling sore from all that bending and pulling? Joint Jam to the rescue. Joint Jam contains arrnica, comfrey and a blend of essential oils and menthol that help sore muscles, joints and tendons.
At the end of the day, after gardening, your face will need a good antioxidant rich face moisturizing cream. Springtide Gold contains vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, green tea, calendula and fennel extracts to help repair skin damaged from the outdoors. We also use peptides to help boost collagen production. While it’s good to wear sunscreen and a wide brimmed hat, your skin will still suffer damage that needs to be addressed.
Using a face mist after gardening is great. A face mist can provide immediate soothing relief from heat. Sweating can change the pH of skin, so a pH balanced spritzer can help restore that pH as well as the protective nature of your skin. For added benefit, keep one in the refrigerator. Our mists are distilled from herbs we grow on our farm. They are refreshing, soothing, pH balanced to skin and help restore a tired spirit too.
And you won’t want to go out without NoSkeeto to keep the bugs away. Safe for organic gardening, our NoSkeeto is deet free and made from essential oils. I like to wear a light long sleeved shirt to protect my arms from bites as well as from the sun.
To help with hyperpigmentation or sun spots that occur on both the face and the hands, try Starbright mask. Hands are the first place to show aging, even if you do wear sunscreen. Using a mask 1-2 times a week can help reduce hyperpigmentation.
Overall, gardening has been found to improve health. Plants help to purify air. They use CO2 and generate oxygen. The physical activity from gardening increases blood flow, delivering nutrients to your skin and other organs. Gardening reduces stress and increases well being. And if you are gardening veggies, then you definitely have better nutrition than most, getting those nutrient dense foods directly. You can read more about the health benefits of gardening here.
Try these products yourself, and give them as gifts. Let us know what you think. And keep gardening, it’s well worth the effort.