Avena Sativa: sounds like a long fancy name, but it’s the easy way to better skin.
You may have no idea what avena sativa is, but it’s actually a lot more common than you might expect. Go into your kitchen, open up your pantry, and find the oats that you use to make oatmeal, granola, and muesli. Read the label on the product, and you’ll see that you’ve got a container of avena sativa in your hands.
Avena sativa, also known as oats, is one of the best ingredients that you can use to improve the health of your skin, nails, and hair. Here are some of the things that oats can do for you:
- Eliminate acne — This may sound too good to be true, but it’s not! Using oatmeal as a face scrub does wonders to improve skin health, and it can get rid of the excess oil on your skin. When you wash away the oats, it will exfoliate your skin to eliminate any dead skin cells.
- Moisturize the skin –– Oats contain a certain protein called beta-glucan, and this protein is known to protect your skin against damage. It forms a layer of protection on your skin that keeps it from being damaged. The beta-glucan also helps to penetrate the layers of skin more deeply, ensuring that whatever healing nutrients are in the skincare products are then transferred deep into the lower layers of skin.
- Promote healing –– Thanks to the protein in oats, your skin will be much better able to repair any damage or injuries. Protein is needed in the production of collagen, the nutrient that keeps your skin young and fresh. By giving it more protein directly, your skin will be much more easily able to produce collagen.
READ MORE: 10 Foods That Increase Metabolism
- Deal with dryness — Worried about your dry skin? You’ll find that an application of oats or oatmeal to the dry spots will do wonders to moisturize the area. Oats are a natural moisturizer, and they contain polysaccharides that protect your skin and prevent it from drying out. You can use oats as a face or skin mask not only to deal with simple dryness, but also any skin condition linked to dryness as well. It can even help to reduce the flaking and peeling so common with dry skin.
- Prevent itches –– Got an insect bite that’s driving you wild? The bite is flooding your body with inflammatory chemicals, and these chemicals are causing both swelling and insatiable itching. Oats, however, contain anti-inflammatory properties, which means that they can help to reduce the swelling. By eliminating the swelling problem, you can get rid of the itching as well.
- Tone your skin –– If you’re worried about dark spots or age spots on your skin, you need more oats in your life! Applying oats or oatmeal directly to the dark patches will help to lighten your skin, keeping the skin tone even all over your body. If there are blotchy areas on your skin, applying oats to the area can be the best way to deal with the problem!
- Treat skin conditions –– Oats may not be medication, but they’re the next best thing! Not only can avena sativa (oats) help to reduce the itchiness of skin rashes and prevent the dryness caused by a wide range of skin conditions, but they can even help you to deal with chicken pox and treat the rashes caused by contact with poison ivy.
If you don’t have a ton of natural, raw oatmeal on your hands to whip into DIY beauty solutions, that’s OK. It’s easy enough to find avena sativa-enhanced lotions, body washes, and shampoos at your local drugstore. One of the most popular finds is Aveeno (and now you know where the brand’s name comes from).
For a homemade oatmeal body scrub, try this recipe:
- 1/2 cup of steel cut oats
- 1 cup of whole milk
- 2 tbsp honey
Simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes until oatmeal is soft and silky. Let it cool for 30 minutes, use as a body scrub either alone or with a loofah.
Don’t have that kind of time? Our fave shortcut is the new Aveeno Sheer Hydration Lotion— it goes on super smooth, hydrates, and leaves a soft, silky feel behind with no wet or greasy touch.
