Fall is a great time for skin because it is pumpkin season. Those festive orange gourds are everywhere, and they’re really good for your complexion. Not only are they tasty, but they are also full of skin-beautifying antioxidants and vitamins that can help boost collagen production and repair skin damage. Even better, those benefits work whether you consume it or apply it topically.
Here are five ways pumpkin can save your skin this fall.
1. As food
Actually, eating pumpkins is a great thing you can do for your skin. Like many brightly colored foods, pumpkin has a lot of vitamin A and C and antioxidants that are good for building collagen and fighting skin damage due to environmental causes. Also, it is very delicious and in season. I’m not sure a PSL actually counts for this, but if you want to eat a pumpkin pie and say you’re doing it for beauty, I’m not going to stop you.
2. As a drink
Pumpkin also makes great soups and smoothies, which is a good way to get some of those skin-beautifying ingredients into your system if you don’t actually feel like eating a whole pumpkin pie. Alcohol consumption is not great for one’s skin, but pumpkin is. So if you mix the pumpkin with the alcohol, maybe you can even things out. (Sorry, but pumpkin spice vodka is definitely not a skin-beautifying ingredient. You’ll need to use actual pumpkin if you want the vitamins and antioxidants.)
3. As a mask
Pumpkin enzymes make pumpkin an excellent choice for a face mask or a peel. A glycolic acid peel helps exfoliate your skin without relying on harsh physical exfoliation with beads or seeds or things like that. It’s gentle and reveals pretty new skin while helping to diminish the look of fine lines and adding conditioners that help repair damage. Also, it smells like pumpkin, which is always nice.
4. As an oil
Coconut oil has been getting all the attention, but pumpkin seed oil should not be ignored. Oils are a fantastic way to moisturize skin and hair. You can also eat it, and if it is half as multi-purpose as coconut oil, I’m pretty sure you could use it for anything. Bad dye job? Try pumpkin seed oil. Common cold? Take some pumpkin seed oil. Well, it won’t help with those things, but pumpkin seed oil has vitamin E, collagen-boosting zinc, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids.
5. As a body scrub
I am not a fan of physical exfoliation on delicate facial skin, but on the body, it is great and so relaxing. The stores are full of pumpkin body scrubs right now–and Etsy is a treasure trove of organic, handmade, artisanal products–but you can even make one yourself with leftover pumpkin goop from your jack-o-lantern. Try mixing a can of pumpkin with some sugar, honey, and cinnamon and scrubbing it all over your body. Also maybe eat it with some graham crackers, because it sounds really tasty.
