Can we call banana the queen of fruits? High in carbohydrates, mineral, and vitamins, it is renowned among athletes to boost energy before and after exercise. Banana is even renowned in people who are getting weight loss program. It has many benefits from the healthy one until the beauty one. Not only its fruit, even the whole plant can be used for many things. Awesome, isn’t it?
The other magic that banana can offer is the beauty benefits. Either you eat it or using the banana for hair mask or facial mask. According to some studies, banana can really help you to get shiny-moisturized-pimple free face and shiny-clean-dandruff free hair.
Uses
For beauty purpose, you can use both of the flesh and the peel. You can use it as hair and facial mask or simply eat it as nutritional food to nourish your hair, skin, and nails.
Nutrients
Below are the nutritional values of one medium size of banana (118 g) = 105 kcal
| Nutrient | % Daily Value* |
| Carbohydrates | |
| Dietary fiber | 3,1 g |
| Starch | 6,3 g |
| Sugars | 14,4 g |
| Fats and Fatty Acids | |
| Saturated fat | 1% |
| Polyunsaturated fat | 0,1 g |
| Omega 3 fatty acids | 31,9 mg |
| Omega 6 fatty acids | 54,3 mg |
| Protein and Amino Acids | |
| Protein | 3% |
| Vitamins | |
| Vitamin A | 2% |
| Vitamin B1 | 2% |
| Vitamin B2 | 5% |
| Vitamin B3 | 4% |
| Vitamin B5 | 5% |
| Vitamin B6 | 22% |
| Folate | 6% |
| Vitamin C | 17% |
| Vitamin D | 1% |
| Vitamin E | 1% |
| Vitamin K | 1% |
| Choline | 11,6 mg |
| Betaine | 0,1 mg |
| Minerals | |
| Calcium | 1% |
| Iron | 2% |
| Magnesium | 8% |
| Phosphorus | 3% |
| Potassium | 12% |
| Zinc | 1% |
| Copper | 5% |
| Manganese | 16% |
| Selenium | 2% |
| Flouride | 2,6 mcg |
| Sterols | |
| Phytosterols | 18,9 mg |
| Others | |
| Water | 88,4 g |
*% Daily Value for adults or children aged ≥ 4 years old, based on a 2,000 calorie reference diet. Daily values may be higher or lower based on individual needs (affected by gender, age, body mass index, and activities).
Beauty Benefits of Banana
We often think to treat skin, hair, or nails from the outside. But sometimes we forget to nourish it from the inside. Nutrients deficiency can lead to unhealthy skin, hair, and nails condition. Beautify skin, hair, and nails only from the outside, is like try to fix the problem without fix the source of the problem. No matter how hard you try to fix it, the problem will always appear again.
Banana contains macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats and micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals that both are needed to maintain the healthy skin and protect skin from environment exposure.
Unlike the other organs, skin needs nutrition from outside and inside. Skin is composed of two layers, the epidermis (the upper layer ) and the dermis (the underlying layer). Epidermis doesn’t have blood vessel which carries nutrients to nourish our skin. Blood vessels are found only in the dermis. That’s why we still need to treat skin from the outside to nourish the epidermis.
Let’s try digging out the benefits of each nutrient contained in the banana that can make skin, hair, and nails healthy! If you want to check your daily needs of each nutrient, you can check it in http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/dri_results.php. It will calculate your daily needs based on your gender, height, weight, and level of activities.
Generally, skin needs carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Glucose, the component of carbohydrate, provides backbones for modification of proteins and fats that compose the epidermis. Sterols and ceramides (fats) are needed for the formation of the stratum corneum (the outer side of the epidermis). Stratum corneum can absorb fat-soluble materials put on the skin. That’s why we can put on some materials to nourish the epidermis.
Amino acids (the compounds that making up the protein) are needed for the production of both dermis and epidermis and producing the proteins and enzymes needed to protect epidermis. Since hair and nails are made of the protein called keratin, people who don’t get enough protein from the diet, tend to have dry and brittle hair, making it looks dull and result in hair loss.
Fatty Acids
Deficiency of essential fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can lead to skin lesions, hair loss, and brittle nails. Studies showed that omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids can protect the skin from UV light exposure; prevent skin aging; improve skin moisture, elasticity, and firmness; also accelerate wound healing.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is an essential nutrient for renewal of skin cells, keep skin smooth and glowing, protect skin from UV light, accelerate wound healing, and control excessive oils which also play the part of its effect on treat mild to moderate acne.
Vitamin B complex
Vitamin B-complex is needed for a healthy skin and hair. Many beauty products add vitamin B complex as its ingredient. Below is the benefits of each vitamin B.
| Vitamin B1 (thiamine) |
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| Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) |
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| Vitamin B3 | The complex of vitamin B3 is made of niacin and niacinamide.
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| Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) |
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| Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) |
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Vitamin C
Vitamin C can protect the skin from the damage caused by UV light exposure. Vitamin C is not a sunscreen so it is better to still use sunscreen when you do activities outside. Because of its antioxidant properties, vitamin C can neutralize free radical that can lead to skin aging. Studies showed that vitamin C also accelerates wound healing and deficiency of vitamin C lead to dried skin.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D plays an important role in the regulation of the process of skin renewal. This process is essential in wound healing and the barrier function of the skin. Vitamin D can also protect the skin from the damage caused by UV light exposure and regulate the hair growth hence prevent hair loss.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E has positive effects on hair density and brittle nails. It also It also helps maintain skin moisture and protect skin from UV light. Vitamin A, C, and E are antioxidants that can neutralize free radicals hence prevent skin aging caused by it.
Betaine
Betaine is used in cosmetics for hair-conditioning and skin conditioning agent. It can keep the moist and used as an anti-irritant.
Like mentioned above, the outer layer of the epidermis is stratum corneum. Stratum corneum is composed of ceramides, free fatty acids and sterols. This composition make the material from the outside is hard to penetrate the skin but help the body from water loss. This capability of stratum corneum is dependent on its elasticity and its elasticity is dependent on its composition of fats. This fats also plays an important role in skin moisturization.
Sterol is good for healthy skin, but if we apply cholesterol containing product on the skin, it may lead to inflammation and acne. Surprisingly, it doesn’t happen if we apply phytosterol containing product on the skin. Phytosterol even shows anti-inflammatory effect. Beside of its effect in rejuvenating the skin by improving its elasticity, phytosterol also triggers collagen and hyaluronic acid production. Hyaluronic acid help with skin repair after exposure from UV light (sunburn) and increase proliferation of skin cells.
Ripe banana peel alone can be rubbed on the face for removing darkness and cleansing. Banana peel also usually used for treat bruise, insect bite, itchy skin, and moisturize the dry heels. But you can add the other ingredients to get the best for your hair and skin. Here some of the simple treatment for your beauty hair and skin.
Beauty recipes for smooth, shiny, and dandruff-free hair
Recipe 1
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Recipe 2
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Beauty recipes for skin
Moisturizing mask (good for oily skin, too)
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If you want to add some fragrances in your mask, you can add lavender oil for relaxation. Lavender oil can be used for all types of skin. If your oily skin is pimpled too, you can also add tea tree oil. Besides work as a fragrance, it can help to treat acne. You can also use patchouli oil, ylang-ylang oil, jojoba oil, or peppermint oil. If you have dry skin, you can add rosemary oil, chamomile oil, neroli oil, or geranium oil.
Hydrating mask
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Gentle Exfoliating Scrub
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Other Ways to Eat Banana
Maybe you start to consider eating the banana every day to get its beauty benefits. But maybe you start to think, would it be boring to eat it just like the usual. Don’t worry! Here we sum up some simple recipes of banana so you can eat it different ways every day.
And please keep in mind, despite its beauty (and health) benefits, don’t over eat it. Eat it too much (8-10 bananas outside of you regular meals), it may cause gain weight.
BOB (Banana Oat Ball)
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Instructions
French Toast
Who doesn’t like french toast? Maybe you want to eat it with fewer calories? Try to skip the egg, sugar, and butter and instead, use banana. Try to change the milk with almond or soy milk.
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Instructions
Rehydrating Banana Smoothie
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Frozen Banana Popsicle
Craving for a cooling snack in hot weather? Why not try this one?
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Instructions
Chocolate Banana Ice Cream
Want to eat free-guilty ice cream when in weight loss program? Try this one!
Ingredients
Dairy-free choco chips or another sprinkle that you like
Instructions
Banana for Skin and Hair Benefits already have proven evidence, many beauty product use all of its nutrients to make great products.