Of course, you must have heard that steaming is amazing for your skin. Well, yes, it is. Why? It deep cleanses the skin by removing the dirt from the pores. One can make the steaming process exciting by adding herbs to it like tea tree oil for acne prone skin, eucalyptus oil for people prone to headaches and cold or even tea leaves for a simple refreshing feeling or you can give yourself an aromatherapy session by adding essential oils to the water. Apart from just simply hydrating the skin, the essential oils would also work on your skin and provide various benefits depending on the ones you have used. But, there is a time limit for the steaming process too.
Dry Skin: 1-2 minutes (at max 3)
Normal / Combination Skin: 5 minutes
Oily Skin: 10-15 minutes (depending on the dirt clogged in your pores)
Now, one more thing to remember is that steaming your face is not a routine work. It is a therapy and like all therapies, it should be done regularly for maximum results but not daily.
Dry Skin: once in 2 weeks
Normal / Combination Skin: once in a week
Oily Skin: at max. twice in a week
The reason why I have combined normal and combination skin is because of the fact that combination skin has both dry and oily areas. So, if taken for less time, the dirt and oil in the clogged pores wouldn’t clean well and if taken for more time, it will lead to patchy areas.
Beware of taking steam more often than necessary. Why? Excess of everything is bad and excess of steaming will cause your skin to become dry and dry skin is more prone to aging. Regular steaming is advisable for clearer skin. So, stick to the time lines and be regular to reap the benefits.
One more word of caution for people under 25 who think they have not yet reached the age of aging. Aging is a process and not an age. It can begin at any time depending on various factors like your hormonal balances, your diet, your skin care routines, medicines and supplements taken by you and finally on the environmental factors like sun, rain, wind, pollution, dirt, time spent in air conditioned environments and dependency on technology and gadgets. So, if you think that since your skin is not aging right now, a little deviation form the skin routine is possible. Think again. Everything you do with your skin will show once you reach the age of 35. So, it is best to start taking care of it at whatever age you are.
Surabhi says
July 2, 2011 at 6:30 AMnice… can you please tell some thing how to give a steam treatment to hair……
Monu says
July 3, 2011 at 3:59 AMGud Work!!
Divya says
July 12, 2011 at 1:10 PMNice post 🙂
swati says
July 12, 2011 at 9:04 AM@Surabhi its kinda difficult…actually there are two ways…one is to wrap a towel dipped in really hot water and squeezed properly but this is actually a messy method as the towel dries up really quickly and you have to do it a lot of times….another is to use a steaming equipment….cover your head and enclose the steam to direct it to your head…this way the steam will come on the forefront part of your hairlines…for the back part, bend backwards so that the steam is directed towards the middle part of your head….this is actually little difficult and do this in presence of someone otherwise you might hurt yourself or burn yourself coz steam burns the skin very easily….the best way to is to buy the head equipment available in the salons but I am not if it comes for domestic use!!! so the towel method remains the best one though I use the team equipment as I am used to it now 🙂 hope this helps!!!
swati says
July 12, 2011 at 9:05 AM@Monu thanks a lot 🙂
swati says
July 12, 2011 at 2:30 PMthanks Divya 🙂
Deepak says
February 20, 2016 at 6:15 PMitss been good I appreciate urr statement. but could u tell me dat before taking steam if we use aloera vera gell for face and then take a steam .. is it the ryt combination or matching mixture ..?