Ayurvedic beauty: uncover your most radiant complexion with his ancient balancing system.(PERSONAL CARE: NATURAL BEAUTY)

The Ayurvedic approach to beauty is based on India's 5,000-year-old system of natural healing, which takes into account not only your body's constitution, but your personality as well, in order to keep both in balance.

"We consider the way a person sleeps, digests foods, deals with stress, and processes the elements through the body," says Patty Schmucker, a Los Angeles-based Ayurvedic beauty consultant. "With this holistic approach, creating radiant skin is addressed not only by quality natural and botanical products applied to the surface of the skin, but also with adequate hydration, an organic diet, mediation, and exercise. Ayurvedic products inspire people to make overall lifestyle choices that support radiant health."

Ayurveda provides a treasure trove of sound health and beauty recommendations that have now been validated for effectiveness by Western science. You can easily incorpo rate Ayurveda into your skin care routine by looking for natural products made with traditional therapeutic ingredients such as neem, ashwagandha, amla, tulsi (holy basil), ginger, and turmeric.

What's Your Dosha?

Because Ayurveda brings characteristics of our constitutions (doshas) together, it is important to know your dosha type (vata, pitta, or kapha) when choosing cosmetics and skin care products.

The rata dosha is light, dry, and cool. If your skin is thin, dry, fine-pored, and delicate, you probably have vata skin. When out of balance, it may become excessively dry or subject to eczema. Vata skin tends to wrinkle more as it ages. Look for products containing hydrating ingredients such as olive oil, sesame oil, jojoba, shea butter, and vitamin E.

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