Le Mie Ricompense
Before you buy yet another skincare product that promises to give a dewy glow, add more plants to your home instead. Houseplants are good for hydrating your skin, scientists have confirmed. And what welcome news this is as we fall into colder weather and the central heating starts clicking on across the country, leaving us with dry tight faces.
According to a new study commissioned by The Royal Horticultural Society, when plants lose water through their leaves (a process called transpiration) it increases the moisture in the air. Moisture your skin will happily drink up. “Indoor plants may be a simple and affordable way to reduce air dryness indoors and alleviate symptoms of dry skin,” RHS chief horticultural scientist Tijana Blanusa told The Telegraph.
Plants that make the best dry skin soothers are those which require more water to grow well (thus expelling more) and those with large canopies, as a greater surface area distributes more water droplets. Check out our big Alocasia and deep purple Calathea for big foliage.
Check out - Top 3 Calathea Plant
“Plants increase the humidity through the natural process of evapo-transpiration - water loss from the soil and plant leaves,” Dr Blanusa said. “Depending on plant type, size, and condition within a room, plants can lose as much as several hundred ml of water per m2 of leaf area. A plant like peace lily, about 50 cm tall and 30 cm wide, can transpire 100 ml of water and more in a day; that’s an equivalent of a small teacup evaporated in a day.”
“In our study of seven varieties the best performing were peace lily (Spathiphyllum) and ivy (Hedera) but there are likely to be many other species whose characteristics lend themselves to the job and need to be tested still.” Other varieties recommended in The Telegraph article include the Areca Palm, which has one of the highest transpiration rates of any houseplant; the Rubber Plant which transpires well without requiring lots of water; and the Spider Plant, which requires little attention but pumps out the moisture. Your new skincare regime – surround yourself with plants. Not forgetting bedroom plants for an overnight moisture boost. It’s the very definition of natural beauty care.
Check out - The Wellbeing Benefits of Indoor Plants
