Do you clean your tongue? {Oral Hygiene}

I wanted to talk about how to detox your body and then, I came across an article which said that tongue cleaning was a habit which has been carried out since centuries and it actually has a great importance for our body according to Ayurveda. I was a little surprised to read that because I had always thought of it as a habit which has to be carried daily after we brush our teeth and I thought its importance was limited only to hygienic purposes. But, what I came to learn about was that it is one of the ways to help our body get rid of toxins. 

The question which pops to our minds is How? During our sleep, body gets rid of all the toxins in our body, right. So, how do all these toxins get out of our body? Sweat, urination or excretion. Yes. But, some of the toxins also get deposited as a film on our tongue. So comes the ritual of tongue scraping in the morning to remove this film of toxins. The bacteria present in these toxins are also the cause of bad breath. And, they prevent our taste buds from getting a proper taste of the food. How? Because, they get deposited continuously and if not cleaned, the deposits can become pretty thick and the food we eat is not actually tasted by our taste buds. Ultimately, we do not get the feeling of satiety which the taste buds trigger to the brain because taste buds do not know that we are eating. So, we end up overeating and gaining weight in the process. So, I hope you realise how important it is for us to clean our tongues everyday.

Now, how do you clean your tongue? Using a plastic tongue scraper or your brush? Well, both of the methods are not advisable. Plastic is not good for health and the brush actually does not clean the tongue. It just disturbs the bacteria and sometimes, the bacteria can begin breeding in the brush too which is definitely not good for your dental health. So, you should use a tongue scraper made of gold, silver, stainless steel or brass to avoid toxicity from metals. Be gentle while using the scraper but firmly remove the debris from your mouth. Hold the scraper on both sides and place it at the back of the tongue near the tonsils and start scraping from there. Repeat the movements 5 times. Clean the scraper properly and disinfect it occasionally using baking soda.

Today's Lesson: Detox your body by making tongue scraping a habit.

Why are clay masks so important in skin care?

A few days back I had hosted a poll about what do you do when you get Breakouts. The choices were: Sit at home, hide with Make up, rely on home remedies or make a change in diet. Not many people voted. But, among those who did, most of them chose home remedies and the other popular option was hiding with make up. So, today, I would be talking about one home remedy which can be used to overcome the breakouts phase and that is using Clay Masks. They are also very useful for reducing the pimples.

Clay is a naturally occurring material which is formed over long periods of time by gradual weathering of the  rocks and they are rich in minerals especially silica. They have the property of hardening as they dry. They absorb all the toxins from the skin as they dry up. And, clean up the pores. They are more suited for oily skins. But, when we have breakouts, the basic reason is change in the skin texture. The skin is not able to eliminate the toxins from the body by its usual process of using the pores. Thus, the breakouts are a way of eliminating the toxins. So, using clay masks absorbs all these toxins and clean up our skin internally. And, the breakout phase gets over. But, for the people with dry skin, they should always moisturize properly after using a clay mask as the natural oils are also absorbed by the mask.

So, next time your skin breaks out, you know what to reach for.

A note: I am hosting polls to interact more with you all. So, it is my genuine request that please vote. It would give me an idea what should I write about next time. And, it would take just a second of your time.