The main product for preparing such cosmetics at home also needs to be chosen correctly. In terms of variety, any potato will do. Pink, with yellow or white flesh - does not play a special role. The main thing is that he is not old. It is better not to take tubers that have been stored for more than six months. Potatoes that are limp, sprouted or have turned green are also not suitable. The vegetable turns green if it is stored in the light. At the same time, harmful substances are formed in the pulp, which can be toxic and cause negative reactions.
Potato tubers are mainly used for masks. Both boiled, thoroughly mashed, and raw, grated on a fine grater. There are also recipes using potato juice or starch.
How do potatoes in a mask affect the skin?
A well-groomed girl is a beautiful girl, and everyone knows this rule. Indeed, it is absolutely not necessary to dress up in branded items and buy expensive cosmetics, you just need to take care of yourself. Neat hair, clean skin, ironed clothes - all this catches your eye first. Especially the skin! Many girls envy those who do not have pimples, scars and age spots.
Unfortunately, many of these problems are directly related to diet or genetics, but any dermatologist will tell you that care plays a fundamental role, and even if you have a few pimples on your face or suffer from acne, the right skincare products will help solve this problem and make skin is more fresh, renewed.
Few people know, but good facial care does not necessarily mean expensive store-bought jars of creams and serums. Any girl and woman can take care of her face without spending a single penny. How? Using homemade masks! Surprisingly, it turns out that everything that can help us improve the quality of our skin and make it ideal is often in our refrigerator.
The variety of homemade masks is amazing. Some give a whitening effect, others help moisturize the skin or even remove age spots! And all this can be achieved with ordinary products such as sour cream, bananas, turmeric or potatoes. Yes, yes, you can have potatoes too! This product is very beneficial for facial skin and gives it a maximum of vitamins and other important components. How exactly do potatoes affect the skin? Find out below!
- The main advantage of potatoes is their positive effect on aging skin. Most often it is used specifically to rejuvenate, tighten the skin and even out the complexion.
- Potatoes contain starch, which has a rejuvenating effect on the skin. It is starch that helps make the skin smoother, silkier and more radiant. It also works great against pigment spots.
- Potatoes contain 75% water. This is a big plus for those whose skin is constantly dry. This means that potatoes perfectly moisturize the face and stabilize the water balance in the skin.
- You can find various vitamins in potatoes, including several vitamins from group B. Thanks to them, all skin processes are stabilized, due to which acne goes away, the production of collagen and elastin increases, and the functioning of the subcutaneous glands improves. Accordingly, the skin produces less oil, pores become less clogged and the skin always looks flawless.
- Vitamin C has a rejuvenating effect on the skin, which helps smooth out wrinkles, tighten pores and make the skin elastic and firm. Potato masks will help tighten the skin, get rid of sagging parts of the face and even remove a double chin.
- Potatoes contain vitamin K, which does an excellent job of removing age spots and freckles. This component has whitening properties, which means, among other things, your skin becomes lighter and more radiant, and your complexion is evened out and its color becomes more fresh.
- In addition to all these vitamins, potatoes contain several more very important components. One of them is lutein. An excellent component that protects the skin from external negative influences such as sun, wind, frost and so on.
- The most useful components in potatoes include choline . It is doubly useful: this component not only smoothes the skin, tightens pores and removes wrinkles, but also serves as a barrier to infections and inflammation. Your skin will be fully protected if the mask contains potatoes. In addition, choline helps treat acne.
- Last but not least, the micronutrient is selenium. This is the component that, more than any other, is responsible for protecting your skin from the inside. Selenium strengthens the immunity of the epidermis and helps the skin not to react to infections or negative external factors.
Why is starch useful?
Potato starch contains all the necessary substances for making effective homemade masks.
Provided that high-quality potatoes were used to produce starch, and not Chinese ones with green skin (which contain a colossal amount of harmful substances):
- Ascorbic acid is one of the best and most accessible antioxidants, which stimulates regeneration and reliably protects all cells from destruction at the structural level.
- Choline is a substance responsible for the excessive production of sebum by the glands on the face. With dry skin, choline can interact with vegetable fats - they will smooth out its drying effect. Reviews of using starch for the face against wrinkles confirm this fact.
- Niacin is a special vitamin that normalizes redox reactions, preventing cells from slowing down and being destroyed. Launches the hidden capabilities of all molecules of the epidermis.
- Folic acid is a reliable skin protector from toxins, completely collects them in the area of application and removes them naturally.
- Potassium is a structurally important element on which the quality of work of other moisturizing components depends. It protects water molecules and prevents the skin from losing them.
- Iron is important for proper blood circulation and accelerated, complete nutrition of all layers of the dermis. Participates in oxygen supply, without which the skin cannot function properly.
- Other minerals – regulate water-salt balance and help fight inflammatory processes.
Against the background of such possibilities of starch, many aspects of its additional effect on human skin stand out. But how is it different from Botox?
Benefits of potato masks
It's amazing how beneficial these masks really are for your skin. Of course, you can use only potatoes to improve the condition of your skin and get rid of many problems. For this you only need boiled or raw potatoes. You need to either rub it on your face, or (if it’s boiled potatoes) make a kind of puree out of it and apply it to the skin for a while. However, homemade masks are good because no matter what component you put in your mask, it will not become worse.
You can collect a real bouquet of vitamins and useful components in your mask. The main thing is to understand which products will have a positive effect on your skin. Below you will find all the benefits of masks with potatoes and other ingredients.
- Banana combined with potatoes is a wonderful duo . Banana contains a lot of useful vitamins and other components that have rejuvenating and moisturizing properties. Vitamin A in the composition promotes skin regeneration, therefore, in combination with potatoes, your skin will look even more youthful. Banana can also remove redness and heal damage, so if you don’t know how to quickly get rid of a wound or scratch on your face, apply a mask with banana.
- Egg yolk combined with potatoes. Probably everyone already knows about the use of eggs in cosmetology. This product has a great effect not only on hair, but also on facial skin. Egg yolk nourishes the skin well and removes irritation and redness. In addition, it perfectly removes the effects of allergies and evens out skin tone and color. Often, egg yolk in combination with potatoes is used to combat fine wrinkles.
- Apples and potatoes are not a new combination for those who regularly make homemade face masks. Apples have firming and rejuvenating properties - it’s not for nothing that they are called “rejuvenating”! This combination is considered a real breakthrough for those who constantly buy creams and other products with a declared “lifting effect”, but do not get any results. This mask will help remove wrinkles, even the deepest ones, and make your skin several times younger!
- Lemon and potatoes . Probably few people know that lemon is a very beneficial product for the face. It is rarely used in cosmetology, because there is a fear that lemon has a sharp, aggressive allergic reaction. And although citrus fruits have this property, in this case the risk of getting an allergy is very small. At least for those who do not suffer from allergies. Lemon refreshes the skin and tones it. It also does a great job of removing excess subcutaneous fat and helping to clean out pores.
Rules of application
Be that as it may, simply making a mask and applying it to your face is not enough to get the desired effect. Of course, you won't have to perform rituals or spend a lot of time on what will be described below. However, when using masks (any kind, not just homemade ones), it is important to always follow the rules that will help you achieve the best effect and protect your skin. Here are some of these guidelines:
- Before applying the mask to your face, wash your face . Moreover, there should be no traces of makeup on your face. This is a very important rule, because applying a mask to dirty skin is simply pointless, and sometimes even harmful and dangerous. So before applying the mask, wash your face well with gel or foam, wipe your face with toner or micellar water, and you can apply a homemade mask.
- Use only fresh products. Anything stored in the refrigerator tends to spoil. You may get an allergy or unpleasant consequences on your skin after applying a spoiled banana or missing sour cream to your face.
- Apply masks on a day when you don't need to go anywhere . After you have applied the mask, ventilate the room and do not apply cosmetics to your face during the day. Many people want to freshen up their face before applying makeup, and in general this can be done, but not with all masks. It is better to carry out the procedure the day before the intended event where you want your skin to glow and be flawless.
- In general, when it comes to applying these masks, it is best to do it at night. This way, your skin will be restored and in the morning it will be soft, smooth and velvety.
Difference from Botox
Those who write positive reviews about starch masks against wrinkles were able to evaluate its properties for themselves. Especially that such recipes are tens of times safer than Botox injections. Even with daily use, such substances cannot cause any harm. But botulinum toxin, which is administered using syringes, blocks neuromuscular transmission in cells.
Such a blockage interferes with the functioning of nerve endings and muscles that are involved in the formation of wrinkles. But constant stay in a state of atrophy and freezing cannot be positive in the long term.
Any injections are short-term in nature. And there is no evidence that after 15-20 years of regular use they will not cause optimal consequences. Another significant disadvantage of Botox is the blocking of natural facial expressions. Often, after such injections, the skin becomes plastic, the face seems to freeze, and natural beauty disappears.
Another significant drawback of such injections is a possible side effect that leads to facial asymmetry. Especially when injections are given in the eye or lip area.
Contraindications
Any product has its own contraindications, because we are all different, and someone may be intolerant to one or another component of the mask. Of course, this needs to be carefully monitored, so before you make yourself a mask, make sure that there are no items on the list of contraindications that may apply to you . So, the contraindications to using a mask with potatoes are as follows:
- allergy to components in the mask;
- damaged skin (deep wounds, inflammation, irritation);
- rosacea;
- acute stage of herpes;
- Rosacea.
What result
Potatoes are rich in various vitamins and microelements that help improve skin condition and trigger all important processes in the body. What results will you achieve by using a potato mask on a regular basis?
- The functioning of the sebaceous glands will improve.
- The process of producing natural collagen and elastin will improve.
- You will get rid of age spots or allergic spots.
- You will get rid of wrinkles, your skin will be smooth and soft.
- Small microcracks and wounds on the face will heal, and the pores will narrow.
- The skin will be elastic and elastic.
- A potato mask will work as a preventative against the appearance of acne, pimples and blackheads.
- You will receive protection for your skin from the effects of ultraviolet rays from the sun.
- The skin's immunity will be completely restored, and the water balance will also improve.
- You will get young, renewed, smooth and healthy skin.
Reviews from women
After using potato masks, many women are satisfied and notice that wrinkles are smoothed out, and the skin becomes fresh, toned and elastic.
Maria, 27 years old: “ I liked the potato mask with oatmeal, which relaxes you literally in a matter of minutes. And the skin after it is fresh and rested. Now, when I cook dishes with potatoes, I always leave a couple for myself for beauty treatments.”
Svetlana, 49 years old: “A friend recommended a mask made from raw potatoes. I’ve been using it for two months now, as the effect of it is simply amazing - wrinkles become less noticeable, the skin tightens. I look younger and fresher."
Oksana, 33 years old: “I am the honorary owner of capricious, allergy-prone skin. It’s hard for me to choose a treatment for myself, but I finally came across potato masks. Not only do they moisturize, nourish and soothe the skin, they also do not cause allergic reactions! What I’ve been looking for for so long.”
Tips from cosmetologists
You always want to hear an expert opinion and find out what people who understand the issue of cosmetology think. Below you will find recommendations from leading cosmetologists who will share their advice and tell you how they feel about homemade masks. Many girls are worried that it is important to select such masks according to their skin type. On the one hand, it’s right to always think about whether this or that mask is suitable for your skin type.
However, you can always draw this conclusion after one use of the mask. Don’t rack your brains - just make such a mask and look at the effect. It is usually visible immediately after the first application. If you like the effect, apply the mask several more times and monitor the condition of your skin. If its condition suits you, this mask definitely works and gives the result you were looking for.
Attention! Never use boiled potatoes while they are hot. This is a huge mistake. Many cosmetologists are surprised why people don’t think to cool potatoes or ignore these instructions in the instructions. When you use hot potatoes on your skin, you risk not only drying out your skin, but also burning yourself.
Before inventing a mask yourself and mixing any component with potatoes, make sure that someone has already done this, read reviews. You risk combining incompatible products, which will have a negative effect on your skin. Up to irritation and allergic reaction.
Many masks cannot be used in the area around the eyes. If you apply a mask only from potatoes, and there are no other components in it, you can apply it to the area around the eyes. Apply the mask immediately after preparing it. Don't put it off until another day. The point of masks is that you make them from fresh, good ingredients that will immediately give you all their vitamins and minerals. There are exceptions to this rule, but they need to be carefully studied. As a rule, it is best to apply all masks immediately.
Do not ignore the rule of applying cream after using the mask, if so indicated in the instructions . This is an important point that helps close pores, moisturize and nourish the skin. By avoiding this rule, you may either not get the desired effect, or even get a negative reaction from your skin.
Wash well both before and after applying the mask. The point is to thoroughly rinse off all remnants of the mask. You can do this with water first, and then in good lighting, examine your face and wipe it with a cotton pad with some toner or micellar water.
There are girls and women who choose special varieties of potatoes to make a mask. In fact, there is no difference here, and it only makes the whole process more difficult. Don't bother so much - just use the potatoes you have at home. The point of these homemade masks is to save money and time. You just take what you have in your refrigerator, quickly mix the ingredients, apply and rinse off - that's it!
Potatoes are a very aggressive product, so you shouldn’t leave them on your face for longer than 20-30 minutes . As a rule, this applies specifically to raw potatoes, but it is better not to neglect them even in relation to boiled potatoes.
Regular use of the mask is the key to success. Regularity is important in any care, and homemade masks are no exception. To achieve the best effect, it is recommended to make this mask 1-2 times a week (or alternate with other mask options). You can undergo skin treatment with a course that will last 2 months. During this time, make masks exclusively on potatoes. Then take a break for 2 months, and after that the course can be repeated.
Note! The main thing in regularly using masks is to monitor the skin and its reaction to the mixture that you apply to your face. If you notice that your skin has become somewhat dry rather than soft, and wrinkles have become even more noticeable, most likely the mask is simply not suitable for you.