Body Skin Care Routine and Tips for Underarm Problems

Photographer: Nara Pratama

Often we get too focus on taking care of our facial skin that we forget to take care of our body skin. We might think, “Ah, what people will notice more is my face, so it's better for me to take extra care of my facial skin than of my feet, or underarms, and so on.”

Well, those often-forgotten skins are more important than you may have given thought to.

Your skin is your largest organ; it protects our bodies from the outside world. If you are not taking care of it, not only may it lead to unattractiveness, it can also lead to serious disease and infection.

My mom is not a fan of makeup, but skin care is her thing, especially body parts. Everything I know about body skin care I learned from her. Since I was 13^th she’s been telling me how important it is to take care of your body skin, that it is a long-term investment. At first I doubted her, but looking at her beautiful and glowing skin at such age, I thought to myself, “Maybe this woman does know what she’s talking about!” So, I decided to do as I was told, and I couldn’t be more thankful. :)

Today I’m going to share with you the things I regularly do to keep my body skin smooth and healthy:

1. Body Scrub (before shower, once a week)

Body Scrub is used for exfoliation. It helps get rid of dead skin cells and your skin renew faster. It also keeps pores clean, and prevents clogging, which can cause body pimples!

2. Body Lotion or Body Butter (after shower or at bedtime)

Your skin can become dry, rough and looks unattractive due to environmental factors like climate and air conditioning. That’s when body lotion and body butter come to the rescue! They can moisturize your skin, keep it hydrated and make you smell good!! I opt for a body butter if I've used a body scrub beforehand because it is more moisturizing than a lotion, but the downside is, it's kind of greasy and it will leave your skin sticky.

3. Sunscreen (when I’m going to be out in the sun)

Every article I read about beauty regimen has one thing in common: wear sunscreen everyday. Yes, it is THAT important especially when the ozone layer is depleting. Sunscreen can protect our skin from harmful UV radiation that can cause skin cancer (the scariest threat!!!), brown spots and skin discoloration.

4. Drink a lot of Water (as often as I can)

Yep, as simple as that. Drinking water is the easiest and cheapest way to flush toxins and poisons out of your body, hence healthy and glowing skin. I always keep my 690ml bottle filled with water by my side. J

5. Underarm Protection

This is the tricky part of all! I’m going to explain about this part a bit longer.

There are three noticeable underarm problems that can affect our daily lives: underarm odor, underarm hair, and dark underarms. Let’s take a look at them one-by-one, shall we?

a. Underarm Odor

You might think our sweat causes it, but actually sweat is odorless! The real culprits are the apocrine glands. They produce high protein sweat which when brought together with bacteria that live on the skin, can give off some funky smells. (Click here for the complete article in Indonesian language)

Solutions:

-Keep the armpits clean by washing them regularly to keep the number of bacteria low

-Get rid of the underarm hair because it holds back the evaporation of sweat

-Use a deodorant as it can slow down the production of sweat. Less sweat = less odor.

b. Underarm Hair

Many believe that it is such a huge turn-off when women have hair under their armpits, no matter how beautiful or sexy they are.

Yeah I hate them. We all hate them. But we can’t make them stop growing. At least I still don’t know how. So, what we can do is to get rid of them temporarily, either by shaving, plucking or waxing.

Solutions:

-Shaving

Image credit: Nugcafe

For facts and myths about shaving, click here.

-Tweezing or Plucking

Image credit: Beauty Impex

Click here to know how to tweeze the safe way.

 -Waxing

Image credit: A Spa to Remember

-Epilator

Image credit: Philips

Epilator is a bit expensive but it's a really life safer and worth the investment! It is an electrical device which removes hair from the roots and provides lasting smoothness. Just like waxing or tweezing, only more efficient. :D

c. Dark Underarms

It’s not enough to just get rid of the underarm hair; some of us also have to suffer from dark underarms. Dark underarms are bound to leave an impression that one is poorly groomed. It could also affect one’s self-confidence especially when wearing sleeveless shirts in public. You can’t raise your hands freely; reaching books from high places or tying up your hair becomes a very uncomfortable situation.

One of the main factors responsible for the occurrence of dark underarms is shaving. When you shave your underarm hair, you only remove the top layer of your hair and leave the roots below which can show through the skin’s surface; making your underarms appear darker. Another factor is when we shave, some of our skin got shaved too and it can cause skin irritation, resulting the skin to form a layer of dead skin cells, which makes underarm skin appear darker.

Solutions:

-Wax it out! Or use epilators! They are a bit painful but they remove hair from the roots, so you can get that bright, smooth underarm skin that you desired. They won't hurt as much after several times anyway.

-Just like this article says, you can use a deodorant with Omega 6 that can help speed up the skin regeneration process and moisturizing cream to nourish underarms skin. For example: Dove Ultimate White Deodorant.

-Need more solutions for dark underarms? Click here.

***

Now that your body skin is healthy, smooth, and bright, especially your underarms, you can confidently wear sleeveless shirts or dresses anywhere and anytime you want!! :D

X O X O,

Elle Yamada

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