When it comes to cleanliness, I am a freak. I like everything neat and clean. I judge people based on their cleanliness and the best way to judge to person’s interest in hygiene is by looking at his or her elbows and knees. Most of the times, people spend thousands of rupees on expensive spas, facials and haircuts and would neglect their joints. Over a period of neglect, these joints get dark and ugly and are really very tough to clean. The main reason why people have dark and rough joints like elbows and knees is that they don’t scrub them hard enough. These joints are like cuffs and collar of a shirt. Nobody would notice if they are clean but everyone turns up their nose at them if they are dirty. On the same grounds, just like cleaning cuffs and collar take a little extra effort, so does keeping our joints clean and smooth, but the results are amazing. If while reading this article, you have secretly checked your elbows and knees, here are a few tips you clean your joints.
1. Lemon and sugar: Lemon contains vitamin C, and is a very good cleansing agent, when it is used to clean your flooring tiles, your utensils, even your cloths, why can’t you use it to clean your body. Seriously! Lemon is very beneficial for skin. Drinking lemon juice regularly give you a clean and radiant skin. If you are tired of seeing your elbows and knees dark and rough despite those expensive spas, here is a tip to quickly clean your dark joints. All you have to do is take a cut and squeezed lemon (you can use the one you just squeezed to drink the juice to get radiant skin) sprinkle some Sugar on it, rub and massage your joints with that squeezed lemon. Sugar helps to remove the dead skin and lemon helps to cleanse it. Sugar is widely used to scrub and exfoliate the skin and you thought sugar is harmful, well not always!
2. Turmeric, honey and milk: Turmeric has antiseptic qualities and is a natural bleach, and Honey and milk help to moisturise the skin. All you need to do is mix some honey turmeric and milk together and apply it to the affected area, leave it to dry and wash it off after a while. Applying mixture regularly to your knees and elbows will help to clean and soften your skin.
3. Gram flour and lemon: As we know lemon is a natural bleach, adding it to gram floor, enhances it’s properties. Gram flour cleanses the skin while mildly exfoliating it. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on gram flour, mix it well and gently massage your elbows and knees in circular motion. The gram flour will remove the dead skin and lemon juice will clean the dark patches. Leave it on for a while and wipe it off with damp cloth or cotton pad after few minutes.
4. Cocoa butter or shea butter: Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter are natural moisturisers which help to soften the skin thus helping remove the darkness caused by dry and flaky skin. Apply cocoa butter or shea butter to your joints regularly to keep them soft and smooth, thus preventing them from being dark and rough.
5. Aloe vera: Aloe vera is a very multi-talented plant. Its leaves store huge amount of water, which in fact is the aloe vera gel that everyone is talking about these days. Aloe Vera Gel is very cool and moisturising in nature. Regular application of aloe vera gel helps to smoothen the skin and prevents it from becoming dry and flaky.
A few other things to keep in mind is use sunscreen lotion regularly to prevent yourself from the harsh sun rays and pollution, moisturise your body regularly and keep yourself hydrated. Try to use natural oils to moisturise your body like mustard oil, coconut oil or sesame oil. If you inculcate these tips in your day to day life, you will never have dry and dark joints and won’t have to separately find time to keep them clean and healthy.