Body & beauty

Hydrate your skin and hair: natural ingredients and products

Take your skin and hair hydration to the next level with natural ingredients and products to make you look your very best!

Hair goes through a lot – with dyeing, bleaching and washing – so just like our bodies, our locks need a drink in order to keep healthy. This hair hydration advice from the experts will leave you with gorgeous hair and skin: win-win!

Healthy skin: the benefits of skin hydration

H2O is the simplest and most accessible beauty saviour for dehydrated skin. Drink plenty of water to aid digestion and leave skin with a beautiful glow. “Skin looks plumper when it’s more hydrated,” explains Shona Wilkinson, nutritionist at Superfood UK. “Drink plenty of water so that the body can eliminate toxins effectively. When our body struggles to eliminate toxins through our digestive system, they can come out through our skin.” So if you’re wondering whether drinking water will hydrate dry skin, the answer is yes and you’ll soon notice a difference in your complexion once you get into a good routine.

For plenty more methods to enrich your dry skin, read our guide to different ways of locking in the skin’s moisture.

A wonder ingredient for instant hydration of dry facial skin is hyaluronic acid. If you haven’t heard of it, take a look at everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid for SOS hydration.

Natural moisturisers for every skin type

Whether you have oily skin or sensitive skin, finding a natural moisturiser that really gives the benefits of hydration and keeps it feeling plump and glowing all day long is tricky, especially when there are hundreds of creams and oils lining the shelves. However, in our guide to 7 of the best natural day moisturisers, you’ll find blends of the best natural, hydrating ingredients for supercharged skin care: check them out!

How to boost your hair hydration

Coarse, dry hair? We feel you. Winter can wreak havoc with our hair texture, so here’s how to keep your locks looking shiny and spectacular.

Natural essential oils for your hair

Silicone is a synthetic ingredient commonly used in commercial shampoos and conditioners. On the label you can expect to find it listed as either silicone, or dimethicone. It’s a wax-like ingredient which gives a soft feel and appearance of shine and gloss to your hair. When you dry your hair using a blowdryer, the heat will also cause the silicone to expand giving the illusion of thickening your hair.

Silicone: is it bad for my hair?

Manufacturers add silicone or silicone derivatives to haircare products to counteract the oil stripping effect of SLS on both hair and scalp. But really, silicone doesn’t add any hair hydration value for your locks: it doesn’t penetrate the shaft, instead it simply sits on the surface of your scalp and hair giving you a false sense of healthy hair.

It isn’t a harmful ingredient as such, but underneath this synthetic ingredient your scalp and hair are suffocating, and your hair is becoming drier despite feeling sleek and glossy. Over time this could lead to split ends, hair breakage, hair thinning and even hair loss.

Avocado oil for hair vs jojoba oil for hair hydration

The Handmade Naturals hair care range is silicone free and offers a choice of wash-off conditioners or leave-on hair serums blended from high-quality nourishing oils. They help to condition your hair, reduce frizz and define your curls. As a pre-wash conditioner, use either plain oil such as organic coconut oil, organic argan oil, camellia oil or a blended oil like Handmade Natural’s Hair and Scalp Conditioning Hair Oil for optimum hair hydration.

Gently rub a small amount of oil into your scalp and spread towards the rest of your hair, using it sparingly. Leave on your hair for approximately 30 minutes before washing off. After shampooing your hair, try one of the brand’s wash-off conditioners. To add nourishment and moisture to your hair, the company has blended organic aloe vera, panthenol (provitamin B5) and small amounts of vegetable palm-oil free glycerine with hair nourishing oils such as organic argan and coconut, murumuru and macadamia, olive oil and jojoba, to condition and detangle your hair.