Ever woken up in the morning and your face is all puffy and you think, ‘oh God, I look… fat?”
Well, cheer up because that’s not fat that’s looking back at you but a whole lotta water. That’s right, water retention or scientifically known as edema is a condition that occurs when water leaks into your body tissues from the blood because your lymph system fails to remove fluid properly causing swelling in areas such as your feet, legs, hands, arms and your face.
Bad face days are just as common as bad hair days and no matter how much makeup you apply to try to fix your face it just isn’t going to work. Our health is reflected in our faces, it tells us if there’s something wrong with our bodies or diets and it’s a sign that we should take immediate action. For example if we’re going through hormonal changes, we get pimples. If we lack exercise we develop heart problems or high blood pressure.
Believe or not, puffy faces do not mean that we’ve been drinking too much water. Instead it’s quite the opposite. When we don’t drink enough water, our bodies will absorb whatever water it can and cause our blood vessels to enlarge resulting in a puffy face.
To avoid dehydration, drink up a glass of water every night before you go to bed and if you wake up to a puffy face, make sure to quickly drink more water. Stay away from tea and coffee because as much as you need the caffeine to kick start your day, they actually flush more water out of your system.
In order to keep your skin bouncy and supple, you need some fat in your intake (some but not a lot!), beta carotene and vitamin C. These nutrients keep your face rosy and glowy so if you’re feeling a bit dull and puffy, blend yourself a glass of watermelon juice and drink up!
You can opt to use quick skincare products like the O’slee Slim Face Medi Deep Clean Mask (RM79), Clarins Shaping Facial Lif (RM225) or the Bio-Essence Face Lifting Cream With ATP (RM110) to help drain out water retention in your face in the long run.
Alternatively, use natural methods like placing chilled sliced cucumbers on your face for 5-10 minutes in the morning to refresh and soothe swolled parts of your face.
Tea bags also have a similar effect and the tannic acid in it also acts as an astringent that can tighten the skin around your eyes. In general, anything cold can help reduce swelling so always have an ice pack in your fridge in case of these puffy face emergencies.
After you’re done cleansing your face, massage and apply pressure to areas under your eyes, behind your ears and your temples as those are where your lymph nodes are located. Also don’t forget to get at least 8 hours of rest a night!
