From lemonade to lemon-flavored candy, who doesn’t enjoy lemons? This fruit isn’t just limited to food and drink, however. Lemons also carry a pleasant, fresh scent that has made it a favorite in everything from body sprays to dishwashing liquid. Learn how lemons play a part in healthy skin and what you can do to include more lemon in your life.

Lemons have been in use long before our time and were heralded for its benefits by great civilizations, including ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece and the peoples of Asia. Lemons are one of Mother Nature’s natural ingredients in beauty and skincare. Whether you use lemon by itself or combined with other essential ingredients, your skin and hair care can learn a lot by adding lemons into the mix.

In addition to drinking lemon water (not lemonade, but lukewarm water mixed with freshly squeezed lemon juice) as a means of flushing out toxins from the body, this beverage also aids in treating cellulite. To really target cellulite issues, use lemon-based cellulite oil and rub it vigorously onto the affected area. With daily application, your cellulite will slowly start to disappear.

When used on the skin, lemon juice is an effective natural exfoliant and works to gently remove layers of dead skin cells from your complexion and other areas of the body that suffer from rough textured skin. Its natural lightening properties also make it ideal in brightening dark patches of skin and age spots. To create a gentle exfoliant, rub half of a fresh lemon and ½ teaspoon of sugar granules over the affected area for a few minutes and then rinse or wipe off. By doing this once a week, the darkened area or age spots will gradually begin to fade away.

This same method also works in treating small wrinkles and blemishes. Rub half a lemon onto your skin and let the juice set for two hours before rinsing. For best results, after rinsing, follow up with a light application of olive oil. This homemade treatment promotes skin renewal, causing new layers of healthy skin cells to show up, creating a rejuvenated complexion. It’s best to use this treatment in the evening, as going out into the sun afterwards may cause a bleaching effect.

Lemons work perfectly as a natural astringent. If you don’t want to spend money on skincare products such as toner, turn to the lemons in your refrigerator for assistance. To tighten large pores, squeeze a lemon into a glass jar and apply some of the juice to your face each morning. After 10 minutes, rinse with warm water and moisturize.

Adding lemon juice to the hair has been shown to aid in preventing and controlling dandruff. To avoid flaky scalp, mix a few tablespoons of lemon juice with warm olive oil and massage it gently into your scalp. Let the lemon juice and olive oil set for 15 minutes and then shampoo and rinse as usual. This mixture helps to control the sebaceous glands that produce oil, so your hair will also come out with a nice, healthy shine.

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