Cilantro is a kind of herb originated from the cilantro plant (Coriandrum sativum), which also produces seeds commonly known as coriander, used widely as spices for cooking. Cilantro blooms and harvested annually, and has to be replanted upon being harvested. The herb itself is identified by the green colored and citrus flavored leaves.
Cilantro has gained so many renown of being one of the many “superfood”, due to its abundant nutritional contents, mostly vitamins and minerals. Thanks to that, people have been using cilantro as cooking spice for a while now. Internally, the nutrients contained n cilantro can help reduce the adverse effect of toxic metals such as aluminum, arsenic and cadmium. Those toxin can make their way to the endocrine system, muscles as well as the bones. The chemical compounds contained in cilantro can help cleansing the body from all the toxic metals threatening the body. They work by binding themselves and pulling the toxin along with them, allowing the toxin to be released naturally from the body.
Used externally, cilantro prove to be beneficial for skin health. The usage mainly to cure and soothe many skin problems. Of course, the effect of cilantro for skin health don’t stop at that, so here are some of the benefits of cilantro for skin.
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1. Help Soothe Irritations
Our skins can suffer a wide variety of irritations, including hives, sunburns, and poison ivy. Skin irritations are mostly caused by allergies and some caused by histamines in our bodies. Cilantro contains some anti-histamine substances that serve as suppressor for histamine so it can be used to soothe skin inflammation and relieve swelling caused by allergen. To treat skin irritations, we can blend cilantro with coconut oil and apply it to the part of the skin affected by allergies.
Moreover, researches have found that cilantro contain many beneficial essential oils, in which substances such as cineole and linoleic acid are present. Those two substances have antirheumatic and antiarthritic properties, which serve to reduce swelling in skin. Besides allergen, swelling in skin can also be caused by kidney malfunction and anemia. Therefore, consumed internally, cilantro might also help treating inflammation by improving kidney function.
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2. Prevent External Skin Infection
While the benefits of cilantro might be already well known from its internal usage, its external usage is also quite similar, if not better. Some researches have already found that cilantro in fact have some anti-bacterial as well as anti-fungal substances called dodecenal which can kill various bacteria and fungi that tend to infect our skins. We can use cilantro as a balm by mixing it with coconut oil and apply it to the infected area.
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3. Protect Against UV B Radiation
Sun ray is not always beneficial for our bodies. That is because there are invisible ray called Ultra Violet ray, whose radiations can cause damages to our skins such as sunburn and worse, skin cancer. Fortunately, cilantro can be used as skin protection especially against sun ray and heat so we won’t have to worry about getting heat rashes and sunburned when the next summer comes.
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4. Treatment for Smallpox
People nowadays are fortunate enough to have decent health care and vaccination they don’t even need to worry about catching smallpox to begin with. However, if they somehow belong to the unfortunate few, rest assured because nature has provided all that is necessary to treat smallpox, both to cure it and to prevent smallpox from happening. Cilantro contain anti-bacterial as well as anti-microbial substances, which is said to be effective to treat smallpox.
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5. Treatment for Blackheads and Acne
Although many people probably aren’t aware of it yet, several blogs and websites do exist who discuss the alternative usages of cilantro as a skin-care product. For those who are troubled by facial skin problems like blackheads and acne, they can use cilantro mixed with lime juice to be applied on the desired areas. Wait for an hour after application and wash it off with warm water afterwards. We can also use that method for our daily facial care, which leaves us with clean and refreshed feelings.
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6. Good for Greasy Skin
For some people, it only takes humid air and hot weather to ruin their day. Especially true for those living in tropical countries, our skins are prone to get greasy and oily after being exposed to heat and humidity for a while. The oily skin leaves us uncomfortable, desperate to take another shower. Luckily, by applying cilantro juice to our skin we can bid the oily skins farewell because cilantro is said to be able to absorb excess oil from our skins.
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7. Useful as Anti-Ageing Supplement
By now we have learned that cilantro contain so many antioxidants that can boost our immunities and deter free radicals from damaging our body. Both consumed internally and externally, the vitamins in cilantro can work hand in hand as anti-ageing substances. Vitamin A can be easily solved in the body and helps maintaining skin and membranes health. Vitamin C on the other hand, is a potent antioxidant that actively fight free radicals and thus delaying the sign of decay on skins, such as wrinkles, sagging skin and also pigmentation.
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8. Lighten the Lips’ Colors
People who have dark lips’ colors because of various reasons such as smoking, dryness, or bad eating habits can reverse the effects by using cilantro. Simply by applying cilantro juices just as described on paragraphs above to our lips can lighten the dark colors of our lips.
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9. Cure for Dry Skins
Health benefits of cilantro on skin, somewhat related to the previous paragraphs, some of the inflammations and infections are caused by dry skins. Not only that, skin dryness can be unpleasant to look at and just plain uncomfortable to have. Fortunately, with cilantro as natural moisturizer, those who are concerned about and having trouble with keeping their skin from dryness can rest easy.
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10. Serve as a Mild Anti-Depressant
Cilantro oil, with its relaxing and tranquillizing effect can be used as a mild anti-depressant. It is useful for those dealing with stress and extremely beneficial for those who have sleep disorders like insomnia.
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11. Used as Wound Treatment
The substances contained in cilantro have potent antiseptic properties, allow us to heal our wounds faster. Antiseptic works by deter the growth of microbes in the wound areas by activating the white blood cells. Simply apply the cilantro juice to the wounded area to fasten its recovery. Although for major wounds it is best to be treated immediately by more experienced and professional practitioners.
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12. Might Treat Hair Loss
The micronutrients in cilantro can provide the necessary nourishments for the scalp to grow hair. Cilantro contains vitamin A, C & K which are just the right nutritions required for promoting hair growth. Of course, not only is cilantro able to promote new hair growth, the effect can also help maintain the health of the current hair and prevent them from falling excessively.
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So, those are the health benefits of cilantro on skins. The most potent health effect of cilantro is its antioxidative properties. Being antioxidant, consumption of cilantro both externally and internally can greatly help getting rid of toxic metals out of our bodies. That is because cilantro in fact contains so many vitamins and minerals, which is why besides its growing popularity in culinary usages, it is also used as medical/therapeutic alternatives.
We found out that cilantro is not only beneficial for our internal health, but also for the outer parts of our bodies. Usages of cilantro in the cosmetic industries have been widespread for quite a while, which indicates the increasing awareness of the plant’s benefits for both beauty and health of our skins. Of course we can argue that beauty products derived from natural sources are way better than those produced chemically, with less to no risk as well. Anyway, thank you for reading, we hope that by reading our articles you can both be entertained and informed.
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