Skin School Series: Redness + Rosacea

Did you know that lifestyle and diet can drive or mitigate redness? So many of us have experienced redness from time to time, and many others of us experience it regularly. Note that redness or skin sensitivity (Rosacea) is a symptom of an internal imbalance, not the root cause.

The symptoms can vary in severity (light to dark red, etc), and the root cause depends on your specific dosha makeup. For example, a Pitta’s inflamed sensitive skin is usually caused by excess internal heat, while that of a Kapha could be due to an excess of toxins or sluggish circulation. Therefore long term results start with the right lifestyle and diet changes.

Read on to learn about our recommendations for tackling redness based on your dosha.

If you haven’t taken the quiz yet be sure to do so here:

How Vatas can protect against redness:

When you have naturally delicate skin that is prone to be dry and dehydrated, your skin can become inflamed when your skin is dehydrated.

Inflamed Vata skin types tend to be light pink rather than deep red, and will present with dry and flaky skin, instead of rash-like bumps.

Skincare

This sensitive dehydrated and dry skin condition can be alleviated with skincare that is gentle but also nutrient rich.

Products:

Diet:
Try to eat cooked, moist foods packed with nutrients. Also grounding carbs like squash and other sweet root vegetable, that can be put into soups and stews. Try sweet, moist fruits like melons and bananas

Stay away from dehydrating foods like caffeine and dry foods like popcorn.

Lifestyle:
Try to meditate, do qigong, stay warm, and take time for yourself.

Pittas + Redness:

Pitta skin types tend to inflame easily. The root cause is usually internal heat caused by excess Pitta behaviors of being controlling, over working, excess perfectionism and competitiveness.

Pitta skin imbalances, like rosacea or rashes, are usually seen in the t-zone and when severe can affect the eye area. Skin can range from pink to deep red in severity. In extreme cases, areas of the skin can be covered in blemish-type bumps

While skin flushing is a Pitta norm, severe symptoms of rosacea (Stage 2-4) and acne rosacea can be avoided by using soothing skincare and lowering Pitta tendencies that lead to high stress.

Skincare:
To keep skin healthy and calm, the following gentle and protective skincare is recommended:

Products:

Diet:
Avoid spicy food, alcohol, acidic food, and red meat.

Try to eat a lot of lightly steamed vegetables, whole grains, sweet fruits, and root vegetables.

Pittas are natural vegetarians as it is a more cooling, less acidic diet

Lifestyle:
Stress is a big contributor to redness, so try to not take on more than you can handle. Make sure you get a lot of relaxation. Try to release any jealousy, and competitiveness. Work to calm the mind.

Kaphas + Redness:
Still waters run deep is a good analogy for how a Kapha rolls.

While inflammation is not a hallmark of this dosha type, when a Kapha is afflicted with this skin issue, it is both deep and stubborn.

Common symptoms include redness with puffiness, as well as Acne Rosacea

The inflammation is caused mainly by holding toxins, and poor or outdated habits. Since Kaphas resist change, redness could be caused simply by continuing to use skincare products that now irritate or dehydrate the skin

Skincare:
To reduce redness and congestion, skincare needs to include gentle stimulation and light yet purifying and protective moisturizers.

Products:

Diet:
The best foods for Kaphas are lightly cooked foods, lean meats, dry foods, legumes, above-ground vegetables, and northern fruits (berries, apples). They can be more lenient with fatty foods at this time of year. Avoid sweet and cold foods.

Lifestyle:
Try to shake things up in order to break out of your routine. Intense cardio works well to calm the system down.

For more information check out this article:
https://pureandsimple.ca/blogs/all/facial-redness-rosacea-treat-it-naturally

Thanks for tuning in to our third and last lesson! We hope you learned something this fall about how balancing your dosha is a great way to holistically achieve clearer skin.

Love,
the Pure + Simple Team