Is your skin freaking out and wish you could heal it naturally? Check out this little chat with my Ayurvedic Professor, as we share, Dr. Jay’s Quick Beauty Skin Ingredient—a fantastic skincare ingredient…(ta da da dummmm):neem.
What is Neem?
Neem is a tree that is called Azadirachta indica or Indian Lilac. It’s native to India and typically grown in tropical and semi-tropical regions. The bark, leaves, and seeds are used to make medicine and has been an integral part of Ayurveda for the health benefits associated with it.
This herb is a great natural beauty product. Neem has powerful anti-bacterial, anti-viral and skin-protecting properties- helping with acne, skin rashes, and calming down aggravated skin. Soothed, calm skin does not get taxed or age as quickly. Excess Pitta, or heating, in Ayurveda is considered a primary way to accelerate aging.
How To Use It
Topically, you can apply neem simply by using water and mixing it with equal parts powdered neem, creating a thin paste. You can do this daily, even using it as a cleanser. This will help in keeping your skin calm, reducing any heat from irritated skin.
Internally, neem is great in purifying your blood. It’s suggested you buy capsuled neem, as this will be easier to ingest. You can find it here online, or ask your local health food store to carry an organic brand. The same goes for powdered neem (as long as it is organic!).
Hope you had fun watching my quick little video above and find this tip to be useful! Please give these tips a try and let us know how it worked for you (we love before and after pics!).
Sending you love,
Kimberly
If trying to conceive, I would be careful with neem oil. In primate and rodent models, it has been shown to induce miscarriage when consumed. Here is a peer reviewed journal article with details: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9228306.
Neem has been demonstrated to work as a spermicidal agent and has also been studied in ingested form. When married men ingested it for 6 weeks in a trial, it was 100% effective at preventing pregnancy during the entire year while they took it. The effects were reversed 6 weeks after they stopped ingesting it. You can read about some of the other traditional Indian applications as birth control on this site: http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-birth-control.html. There are peer reviewed study links at the bottom of the page.