Cucumbers and skin care wisdom from Mom

Last weekend while visiting my mother in New York, I revisited an old trusty beauty trick that I hadn't done since the last time I was with her. This is not new information, but for anyone who isn't familiar with it, it's really worth knowing. And it's as convenient as stroll to your salad drawer.

Cucumbers are amazing for your skin and a godsend, in particular, for your eyes. They're mostly water and have the same PH as your skin, and what little of them is not pure water is loaded with vitamins. Most notable of those vitamins for those of us with under eye circles is vitamin K (which, thanks to simisoskin.com we know is the secret weapon for actually reducing the circles themselves, rather than just covering them up).

As a part of her morning ritual, particularly in the summer, my mother lies on the couch with her feet up on the arm and a cucumber slice on each eye and listens to the news for 10 minutes or so. She swears it's incredibly invigorating, reduces morning puffiness, and contributes to her lovely skin. I must say, having spent the weekend partaking in this ritual, I could not agree more.

In addition to slices on the eyes, my mother always puts aside the skin she has just pealed from cucumbers when making a salad, and rubs the inside of them on her face for a refreshing late day dose of moisture. (Which she can do because she never wears makeup, but I don't recommend this for anyone wearing anything on their face that they mind getting smudged)

Just a little background on this source of skin care wisdom:

My mother has never dyed her hair, which is now gray and usually in a bun. Nor has she ever used gel, anti frizz serum, smoothing balm, spray, setting lotion... nothing. Ever. She also never wears makeup. I've seen her apply mascara a couple of times about a decade ago, and once she wore some lipstick, but mostly only because I begged her to try it so I could see what it looked like on her. How she wound up with a beauty product addict for a daughter is beyond me.

She is, however, quite the expert at skin care. Her skin has always been spotless and smooth, and only now, at 64, is it starting to show a some signs of age (which I've told her she can mask with makeup, but of course the answer to that is always "get away from me with that spackle" and frankly, she doesn't really care about the lines, and I love her for that.) As much as she eschewed painting colors on her face, she always had lovely jars face cream around the house, ready to be applied at a moment's notice. She is also a big fan of all things natural, and can always whip up a topical potion of some sort from the refrigerator when we decide to play beauty spa.

As four our diametrically opposed attitudes toward makeup, it has worked out quite well for me. Her skin care line of choice is Lancome, which anyone familiar with the brand's counter at department stores can tell you, often offers gifts of full sized makeup freebies with purchases totaling approximately the amount she pays for her favorite creams. With a Lancome habit like hers, she gets a lot of these gifts. And guess who the beneficiary of all that free makeup is...