There are three things you should do regardless of your skin tone and type: cleanse, moisturise and use cocoa butter! Too many dark skinned people make the mistake of settling for body treatments designed for Caucasians (that is whites). But if you are dark-skinned – and are proud of it! – you should consider these simple steps to nourish your skin especially as the harmattan season will soon be underway.
1. Cleanse Always
Choose a cleanser that will remove oil and dirt without stripping your skin. Oil-based removers are perfect for dry skin, and others have acne-fighting ingredients built in. If you choose a cleanser with an ingredient that includes salicylic acid to help fight and prevent blemishes, be sure similar ingredients are not present in your moisturiser. The combined effect could be too harsh for your skin.
2. Don’t Forget to Moisturise
Those with oily skin that are prone to acne sometimes choose to skip moisturiser. Instead, choose a light one with ingredients designed to control oil or prevent and treat acne. If you skip moisturiser, that can make your skin feel as if it’s too dry, causing it to produce even more oil as protection. Applying moisturiser ahead of time will give you a bit more control. There are many brands in the market – Dove, Nivea and other such type.
3. Include Cocoa Butter in Your Beauty Regimen
Cocoa butter is the cream that is made from cocoa beans. It has an almost chocolatey scent, and is used as a fragrance as well as an ingredient in skin care products. Cocoa butter is an excellent moisturiser for the body. Some body butters use cocoa butter as a primary ingredient because of its moisturising properties.
During cold harmattan months, dry skin may become whitish which makes the skin look scaly and dull. But cocoa butter can improve the texture of the skin, making it smooth and satiny. These are some of its beneficial effects:
- Rubbing it all over the body in the morning will keep that whitish tinge away, and moisturise the skin all day.
- Cocoa butter can help keep stretch marks from appearing on healthy skin; it can also help to reduce the appearance of stretch marks that have already formed on the skin. Using cocoa butter frequently – at least twice a day – will result in a noticeable lightening of stretch marks.
- It also helps to reduce the appearance of dark spots that are caused by hyper-pigmentation. Using cocoa butter on your face and body will give you more even skin tone.
- It can also be used on the legs and other parts of the body to even dark spots from hyper-pigmentation resulting from acne or insect bites. They can also be used to make old injuries and dark spots from chicken pox, ring worms, mosquito bites and burns fade and maybe even disappear.
- Cocoa butter may also be used on the lips to eliminate dry skin and chapped lips during the harmattan months.
- Cocoa butter as a hand cream, can soften the hands after washing them.
Be the best you can be in your natural skin tone. Black is indeed beautiful!
See Also: Should You Really Wash Your Face with Sponge?
