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Today’s post is all about the real benefits of lemon for skin that you HAVEN’T heard before.

If you were to look up ways to use lemon for your skin, you would pull up all the same information on every website. For years, there have been little homemade skin care items with lemon juice that can help a variety of things.

The interesting thing, most of these DIY I have tried over the years don’t work! If you don’t know the science behind lemon, you won’t understand how to really benefit from it.

First, be sure to read this post on the health benefits of lemon. Today, we are focusing on the real benefits of lemon for your skin!

PIN THIS: The Real Benefits of Lemon for Skin That You Haven’t Heard Before

On this post we did many years ago on why you should eat lemon for your health, we touched on the fact that the lemon peel has most of the benefits. The juice is also great, but the peel is really packed full of all types of vitamins, minerals, and proteins. So, let’s see how this relates to your skin!

The Powerhouse Chemicals in Lemon for Skin

Vitamin C

All parts of the lemon contain a large dose of vitamin C. The juice and the peel both contain vitamin C which is why I love to make this lemon powder, and I also ALWAYS add lemon juice to my collagen tea.

Citric Acid

Lemon is very acidic, more than most fruits which is why it is so sour to the taste. Citric acid is one of the main acids found in all parts of the lemon as well.

Terpenes

Have you ever heard of terpenes? Probably not! Terpenes are large groups of volatile unsaturated hydrocarbons found in essential oils of citrus. This hydrocarbon is responsible for the scent and flavor of lemon found predominately in the lemon peel.

There are all different types of terpenes. According to this research article on the NCBI website, there are three major types of terpenes in lemon peel oil:

• limonene
• limonene/beta-pinene/gamma-terpinene
• limonene/linalyl acetate/linalool

Although there are other chemicals found in small doses throughout lemon, these are the main components we will focus on today!

How to Use Lemon for Skin

There are numerous ways to use lemon for your skin. Each part of the lemon is beneficial for different things due to the chemistry of the juice, peels, and oils.

Lemon Juice

Just squeeze FRESH lemon juice out to add to any recipe or information listed below. Always use fresh lemon for the full chemical benefits.

Lemon Peels

In order to use lemon peels for you skin, you need to be able to remove the oils from the peel. This is going to be different than how we used lemon peels to clean. You want to keep as much of the vitamins in the oils as possible.

Peel a few lemons and add them to a mortar and pestle. Rub the lemons around until oils are released. It won’t be much, BUT it is very potent. You don’t need much for the skin.

Lemon Essential Oils

Contrary to many articles you read online, lemon essential oil does NOT contain vitamins. This is all due to the chemical nature of oils and vitamins. Essential oils are non-polar substances and most vitamins are polar substances, especially vitamin C. It does not transfer over during the process of making the oils. Lemon oils contain terpenes though as we mentioned above which are still amazing for skin.

The reason the lemon oil from the peel will still contain the vitamins is due to how little you are really pressing it.

Real Benefits of Lemon for Skin

Before we talk about all the benefits of lemon for skin, I want to point out some important information. Lemon is highly acidic. NEVER use it directly to skin. It must always be mixed or diluted with something. If you read an article online about putting lemon directly on face, just click away. Acids can harm and burn skin when used directly.

VERY IMPORTANT: Always use small doses of lemon for anything listed below, and ALWAYS test a small area of our skin for sensitivity!

Lightening/Brightening

Lemon juice is great for brightening the skin. The vitamin C and citric acid both remove dead skin, decrease pigmentation tones, and brighten skin. You can also use the lemon peel for this too.

Ways to do this:

• Mix a little lemon juice with cleanser
• Add some lemon juice to toner for additional brightening (I like to add a squeeze to this rose toner once a week)
• In the mortar and pestle you used to get the oil out of the peels, add a few drops of rosehip seed oil and apply to your face. You can do this after removing makeup and before applying moisturizer before bed.

Tightening/Brightening with Lemon Oil

Like mentioned above, lemon essential oil works a little different. The terpenes do a good job of tightening and brightening as well, but you will want to use it differently.  The best way to do this is add one or two drops (a little goes a long way) of lemon essential oil to a homemade mask that you will be washing off. You can also add this to any store-bought mask like a clay mask. Again, be sure to only use one or two drops!

You can also try out a little lemon oil in our DIY under eye mask for additional brightening.

Blemishes

Tea tree oil is always my favorite for blemishes, but lemon can be very good for this too. Dilute some lemon peel oil with a little water, dab onto blemish before bed. It will dry it out overnight plus kill off any bacteria.

The terpenes in the lemon essential oil are also a great anti-inflammatory, so you can add a few drops of lemon essential oil to some carrier oils like grapeseed oil to dab onto blackheads or pimples for overnight treatment.

Exfoliate

With the different acids in lemon juice, it can exfoliate skin really well.  Squeeze some fresh lemon juice into a little baking soda. Gently rub in a circular motion, then rinse with warm water.

VERY IMPORTANT! Only use this once per week because it works so good. You don’t want to go overboard with the exfoliating!

[Tweet “The real benefits of #lemon for #skincare #science @chemistrycachet”]

Other Ways to Use Lemon

• Make lemon powder for gardening and health
• Eat lemons for all these amazing health benefits!
• Cleaning everything!
• Lemon Collagen Smoothie
• Collagen Concoction

Enjoy trying out lemon in a new way!!

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