I’ve travelled to Japan before and even stayed with a few of my Japanese friends. They’re polite, disciplined and one of the kindest people you will ever meet! Apart from their healthy way of life, I also admire their beauty and skincare routine.
They have flawless skin, I mean, you’ll rarely spot acne, scars or marks on their skin. It largely has to do with their active lifestyle more than the products they use. They exercise regularly and maintain their physique by eating right. Their diet is packed with proteins, nutrients and vitamins. At least once a day, they have to drink either kocha (black), kuromamecha (black bean tea), genmaicha (rice) or matcha (green) tea. This helps with digestion, calms nerves, has anti-ageing properties, reduces fines lines, banishes wrinkles and clears skin up. As for their diet, foods like tofu, seaweed, fish, natto, miso soup, all help in the production of collagen and reducing the appearance of spots and wrinkles on the face.
Getting back to skincare now, the Japanese skincare routine is not as complicated as the K-beauty. Korean skincare has many steps though as compared to the Japanese skincare.
However, the main focus here is cleansing. Once or twice a day, you pick, cleansing is important. I recommend using an oil-based cleanser as it will easily remove impurities like makeup residue, dirt and bacteria. Instead of rubbing, apply the product in circular motions – this a much gentler approach.
Post cleansing, use a serum or moisturiser to brighten skin and give it a hydration boost. Here are a few products I tried last week.
Please Note: I got some products from India and the others were gifts from my friends from Japan. Don’t worry, I’ll give you alternatives too.
Here are the changes I made in my skincare routine and diet
To cleanse my face, I used The Body Shop’s Seaweed Deep Cleansing Gel Wash (Rs 795). This one works like a charm on combination skin. Plus, the tube is travel-friendly.
The next product that I used was something called Dot Washy. If you have a strawberry nose, you should give this grey bar of soap a shot. You’ve got to lather it up and gently scrub your nose and cheeks. Since I have blackheads, I did this, if you don’t, you can skip this step. A friend of mine bought this as a gift from Kyoto for me. I doubt it’s available online, but if you can’t find it, The Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Blackhead 3 Step Sheet (Rs 200) is pretty good too.
After patting your face dry, you can either use a serum or moisturizer – I went with the latter. The Nivea Skin Milk (Rs 199) in India is pretty good too. The one in the picture is from Japan and there’s not much of a difference between either product.
Also, I tried this experiment for one week. At the end of the routine and week, my spots were still visible, but they became lighter. I have to admit that my skin did feel cleaner, clearer and softer. Take a look!
I’ve also started eating more soup and drinking more tea. Cleansing your skin should not feel like a chore. You should enjoy the process and pamper your skin to the fullest. A happy girl equals happy, glowing skin. If you’d like to share any more skincare tips and hacks or probably heard of a cooler version of a Japanese skincare routine, do let us know!
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