Extensive skin care through Chinese herbal ingredients is in practice since centuries.
Practices related to protection from harmful elements, hydration, toning, complexion enhancement, whitening and overall skin health care are the goals of Chinese skin care routines.
Goji, Bei-Qi (Radix Astragalus) and Huang-Qi (Astragalus roots) are the most commonly used Chinese herbal roots for skin care.
- Bei-Qi has the taste and smell of legumes. It is said to produce its most effective results when used with honey. It has the anti infectious characteristics against skin diseases like edema, skin inflammations, bacterial infections etc.
- Hung-Qi herb is known for its medicinal properties to enhance skin complexion, whiteness and beauty. Goji is antioxidant and helps in treating acne, psoriasis, food allergies, swelling, bumps and other common skin disorders.
Chinese Skin Care Steps
Herbal Tea for blood purification
Blood purification is one of the primary treatments in Chinese skin care methods. It is believed that bad blood can give room for many types of skin disorders which cannot be cure by applying external creams and lotions on the skin surfaces.
Overcoming spleen deficiency, enhancement of red blood and white blood cells, increasing the level of oxygenation and promoting haemoglobin levels are considered to be basic for skin health. It is achieved by using Huang-Qui with tea leaves and water for preparing herbal tea.
For this you need :
- 2 teaspoons of the root powder
- 2 teaspoons of green tea leaves
- 1 cup of water
- ½ teaspoon of sugar to taste
- ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder for flavour
Prepare the tea and consume it once in two days. It helps in keeping your blood supply to skin layers pure.
Herbal Chicken Soup for skin nourishment
- 1/4th kg of chicken thigh
- 10 grams of Huang-Qi
- 10 dates
- 10 grams of Goji berries
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon of ginger garlic paste
Wash the chicken and take out the bones. Take one bowl of water and soak the chicken along with the berries and Huang-Qi roots for about 30 minutes. Open the dates and take out the seeds.
Take a heating bowl and pour three glasses of water. Add all the ingredients with salt to taste. Boil till the chicken becomes soft and ingredients mix well.
Now you can serve it hot. This recipe is said to be highly beneficial for skin nourishment and glowing.
Herbal Fish soup for Collagen
- 2 cups of cod fish
- 10 grams of Huang-Qi
- 10 grams of Bei-Qi
- 20 grams of sea fish
- 10 grams of Goji berries
- 1/2 cup of any dry fruit
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon of ginger garlic paste
Wash the fish and take out the inner fine bones. Make sure that the bones are removed completely.
Add the fish to one bowl of water with salt to taste. Add Huang-Qi and Bei-Qi roots and let it soak for about 30 minutes.
Now boil all the ingredients into a heating bowl with salt to taste. Boil till they become soft and ingredients mix well. Now you can serve it hot.
This recipe is said to be highly beneficial for collagen growth, skin elasticity and tightness, complexion enhancement, hydration and brightness improvement.
Herbal Fruit Juice for complexion
- 2 kiwi fruits
- 10 grams of Huang-Qi
- 10 grams of Bei-Qi
- ½ cup of pomegranates
- ½ cup of ripe guava
- ½ cup of cut Goji berries without seeds
- ½ cup of dark grapes
- ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder
- 1 teaspoon of ginger
Add Huang-Qi and Bei-Qi roots with all the cut fruits into one bowl with water and let the soak for about 30 minutes. Now bled the ingredients and prepare a fine juice.
This recipe is said to be highly beneficial for complexion enhancement, skin whitening, skin layer strengthening, and tone improvement.
Chinese Skin Care Recipes for External Use
Multipurpose Skin Care and Beautification Recipe
Take 10 grams of Huang-Qi and 10 grams of Bei-Qi and soak them in two small cups of coconut oil in a bowl. Coconut oil is also one of the organic ingredients which have the properties to provide many skin caring treatments like hydration, lightening, complexion enhancement, protection from UV radiation as well as for enhanced production of collagen in your skin layers.
Take a few drops of Neem oil and add it to the ingredients. Now you need to boil the coconut oil along with the roots until they mix well with each other.
Take two teaspoons of essential oil, one teaspoon of lemon juice, one teaspoon of honey and one teaspoon of Aloe Vera liquid. Add them to the boiling mix and let it simmer in low flame for 2 more minutes.
Take the bowl from the stove and let the ingredients cool to lukewarm temperature. Add two teaspoons of turmeric powder and stir until it becomes a paste. Massage on your skin areas in face, legs, hands, arms, shoulders, neck, back and rest of your body.
You can use a cotton cloth to form a rounded “ball” which can be dipped into the liquid and massaged gently. The massaging process itself may take about 1 to 2 hours as you give breaks in between and let the skin absorb the ingredients completely.
Your skin will be able to experience the effects as the ingredients penetrate the skin layers. This is a multipurpose recipe for the creation of protective structure around skin cells and tissues. It enables skin cells to retain moisture.
Coconut oil acts as complexion enhancer and skin beautifier. The herbal combination with other ingredients helps in increasing skin glow.
You need to prepare this recipe for single use whenever needed. Regular applying of the recipe on your skin leads to removal of dead skin, nourishing of new skin layers, provision of elasticity and tensile strength to skin layers, enhancement of skin immunity and overall skin care and beautification.
This is actually a combination of Indian and Chinese herbs and Ayurvedic ingredients prepared as part of trial and error process. You can try it out for couple of weeks and see if it works for you. Consult your doctor before trying this recipe.
Check this: Ayurveda For Organic Skin Care