For most of us, having oil-free skin is a blessing, isn’t it? But many of us at a certain age wonder how our skin is producing too much oil! While it is not a secret, it is blind to some that skin reflects our body intake. The food we eat has a lot to do with our body weight, health, mood, and skin.
With the changing lifestyle, food habits, and pollution, our physical health carries weight for its consequences. While it is completely fine to have oily skin, we might want to look into the cause of skin producing extra oil.
Some foods trigger the glands that produce oil/sebum on the skin. The control on a diet has to be necessarily considered. Oily skin not only makes your face look greasy but causes acne, dullness, blackheads, and skin problems. Let’s move forward to catch the information on what makes our skin look oily.
What Causes Oily Skins?
Besides food and drinks, there are specific reasons for causing oily and greasy skin. The oily skin makes us feel less confident. Below are some of the reasons behind oily/greasy skin:
Genetics
In some cases, it could have come from heredity, which means someone from the family faced a problem of oily skin, which is the cause of your greasy skin. Hormones are said to be transferred genetically, which could be one of the reasons.
Environment
Vehicle pollution and dirt from the environment increase the chance of causing skin problems.
There are various skin-care masks available online which remove impurities and protect your skin from any bacterial infection causing skin problems. Using such masks ensures healthy skin.
Excessive cleansing
While facing oily and greasy skin, you wash it frequently, making the skin dry and producing more oil to protect the skin from damage. Instead of washing your face with various chemicals, soaps, and face washes, try rinsing it twice a day for better results.
A variety of products and face wipes are available which possess the properties of water for oil-free skin and a smooth look.
Under cleansing
Most of us can agree that sleeping without washing a face makes the skin oilier in the morning due to the under-cleansing of the skin. While it is essential to not over-clean your face twice a day, it is a must to control oily skin, leading to acne, large pores, and a greasy look.
Hormonal changes
Hormonal changes mostly hit with puberty which gave many of us nightmares of having oily and acne-prone skin. During hormonal shifts, sebum is produced, an androgen that increases in the body during menstruation, puberty, and even in diseases.
Hormonal effects in a body are natural and should not be provoked or restricted until suggested by healthcare providers.
Cosmetics
Products used on the face or body sometimes contain harsh chemicals which produce oil. Using poor-quality cosmetics can damage skin pigments and lead to skin problems.
Use quality cosmetics available online to reduce the oil-free glowing skin.
Stress
During stress or depression, the body starts producing cortisol hormone, which releases oil into the skin, causing oil and grease.
To avoid this, start doing meditation, yoga to relieve stress and induce glow on your skin.
Moisturizing effect
Sometimes moisturizers are not suitable for our skin, especially if our skin is always oily. Reduce or don’t use moisturizer in case of the skin producing excess oil.
When the need for moisturizer prompts, keep oil-free moisturizers handy, which do not feel greasy and absorb in the skin instantly.
9 Types of Foods & Drinks That Make Our Skin Oily
As it is correctly said, our diet reflects on our body, and that is why it is essential to take a healthy diet to get in shape and even for healthy skin. Oily skin is caused by various reasons, one of which includes food and drinks we eat. Here is a list of tasty but unhealthy foods and beverages for your skin which you should avoid:
Fried & Oily Foods
We all love fried foods, and why not? They taste so amazing, but studies have shown that consuming oily foods induce omega-6 fatty acid, leading to oil and acne on the skin.
It is known that fried and oily foods are highly health-impacting and should be avoided, especially if we already have oily skin.
Saturated and trans fats are to be blamed for being the leading cause of inflammation which makes your skin produce oil. Food such as French fries, chips, etc., have such high content.
Frying cannot be eliminated but using olive, and avocado oil can save us. Moreover, air-fryers are the best for getting that crunch without any harm to our skin or health.
Refined Grains
Refined flour is a harmful substance for our body, and food produced by it, such as bread, cookies, pasta, cakes, and pancakes, are regular products we intake. Refined grains lose fiber during processing and include a glycemic index that hits the sugar level in our body.
However, it has to be substituted with multigrain, corn, and wholewheat products.
Sugary Sweets
We all love sugar, and it is undeniable most of the time! Unlucky us as refined sugar consists mainly of glucose. It is unhealthy for our bodies. Also, a high intake of sugar can increase inflammation and reflect oil on the skin.
The cause of acne and grease on the skin is also because of direct sugar intake. Sugar cravings are tough to control, and for that, everyone must include natural sugar in their daily routine instead of refined sugar.
The seasonal fruits may help in maintaining the cravings level down and keep the gut system strong.
Natural juices without sugar are healthy as well, including them in your diet do wonder to the skin. Consider having fresh juice for glowing and healthy-looking skin.
Dairy Products
Dairy products have health benefits, but dairy products should be mentioned when talking about oily skin. Reducing consumption of highly saturated dairy products such as ghee, cheese, butter, and cream should be significantly considered. Dairy products have hormones that clog the skin and trigger the sebum glands.
Consumption of almond milk and soy milk can save us from all that, and curd and buttermilk are some excellent choices to reduce skin greasiness. They work as cooling substances.
Red Meat and Processed Substitutes
Red meat can bring an oily shine to your skin. Red meats such as sausages, beef, lamb, bacon are highly saturated and cause inflammation.
As a result, oil production on the skin increases, which causes that greasy shine none of us wants.
There are many substitutes for soy products that are highly processed and contain saturated fats. They are unhealthy for our skin, and overconsumption can lead to various health problems.
Salty Foods
We know it is one of the regular tastemakers in every home and every dish, but salt has some harmful skin-destroying properties if consumed in excess.
Salt can cause dehydration, and the body combats that by producing excess oil. We should consume salt in limited amounts to avoid oily skin and other skin issues.
Alcohol
Alcohol is diuretic in nature and causes dehydration in our bodies. It makes our skin dry. To cope up with this dryness, our skin starts producing excessive oil to keep itself moist.
This oil ruins the overall health and glow of the skin. Alcohol drinking makes us sweat more and dilates the pores, which results in excessive oil production.
Go for fruit juices and alcohol-free beers instead.
Caffeine
We know how much you love coffee but see its excess consumption leads to what! The stress hormone cortisol increases the production of oil from the sebaceous glands.
On top of this, caffeine consumption leads to sleep loss, which induces stress and worsens skin issues with oil and acne.
You must avoid too much coffee if you care about your skin health.
Soft drinks
It is disheartening that soft drinks contribute to oily skin, but sugar-containing soft drinks have an Insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), a peptide hormone that increases oil production.
Diet soda and sparkling water could be a treat for taste buds on the contrary.
Our food intake has a lot to do with our skin health, and due to the easy availability of processed foods, our lifestyle agrees to consume unhealthy foods which directly affect our skin.
For alive and kicking skin, one must consume a minimum of 8-10 glasses of water daily. Avoiding above mentioned foods and drinks can help in reducing oil and grease from your skin.
While these foods degrade our skin quality and damage is irrefutable, cucumber is one superfood that brings the glow to your skin.
And remember, “Beauty is only skin deep”!
