SkinAsthetics
Tomatoes canbe used for Skin Care
NoveletteBodden,
Certified Aesthetician
Salsa, Bloody Mary, marinarasauce sounds like a great party, right? What these threethings have in common, other than being great things to consume,is that they're all made of tomatoes, which are rich in lycopene,a powerful antioxidant. This antioxidant, used in French skincare products for years, is now being used in American skin careproducts and supplements as the newest free-radical scavenger.Lycopene is the pigmented carotenoid substance that is mainlyresponsible for the characteristic deep red color of the tomatofruit.
If this information makesyou want to slather your entire body with tomato puree, you can.Do it yourself it's very messy, but it works. Put a ripetomato into a blender and mix it with a quarter of a cup of yogurt.Place the mixture in the refrigerator for an hour or more, thenapply it to your face and leave it for half an hour. Rinse yourface with cold water and pat dry. You might prefer a commercialversion after you have completed this messy process, but thissimple experiment is similar to the way some of the earliest researchon tomatoes as a cosmetic ingredient was done.
Tomatoes in cosmetic preparationsact as a fruit acid. The ingredients in tomatoes, including fruitacids, help the skin in a number of important ways. They do sowith natural ingredients that are not irritating to the skin.For cosmetic products, tomato extract is the desired source ofingredients because it is most readily available to aid the skinand the skin's metabolism. Beta-carotene, another important naturalantioxidant is also abundant in tomatoes
Tomatoes originated in SouthAmerica, and were taken from Mexico and introduced in Italy byexplorers in the first half of the 16th century. Thomas Jeffersonwas one of the first to grow tomatoes on his farm in Charlottesville:he called them "Love Apples" and he considered themto be a vegetable. As to whether the tomato is a fruit or vegetable,it is actually both.
Botanically it is classifiedas a fruit belonging to the species Lycoperisicon esculentum,but horticulturally and legally it is a vegetable.
Dr. James A Duke, a formerscientist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, identifiesover 330 known chemicals in tomatoes, including all of the commonso-called fruit acids as well as vitamins. Many of these chemicalscould well have healing effects on the skin, though sufficientinformation to be precise is lacking. Acetic acid, linoleic acid,citric, lactic, fumaric, biotin, chlorophyll, and folacin arejust a few of the chemicals that could contribute to the effectivenessof tomato extracts in cosmetics.
Novelette Bodden
Spa Novell