The Beauty Of Sushi: You Can Use Your Favorite Cuisine As Skincare
Women are always down for sushi: It's the perfect cure for a bad day at work or the dinner of choice among friends before a girls' night out.
If this were a love story, sushi would be the fresh, veggie-loaded Romeo to our hungry-mouthed Juliet.
We love it so much we'd bathe in it if we could -- and in fact, you can.
How's this for a complementary surprise?: In the beauty world, many of sushi's most popular ingredients are known as cure-alls. (Which means you don't have to rely on just ordering it to feel and look great.)
So order a bento box, pull on a cozy bathrobe and let sushi give you on a spa date.
Here's how to get your beauty routine rolling:
1. Nori Face Mask
The chewy, dried seaweed wrap also has anti-inflammatory properties, making a nori face mask a no-brainer for those with acne-prone skin.
Follow the advice of xoVain's Trista Crass and soak a few sheets of nori in water before applying them to your face for calm, even skin in no time at all.
2. Rice Water Toner
The white rice you rely on for sticky, carby goodness is actually one of the most versatile ingredients in your bento box.
Historically, Japanese women evened out their complexions with rice water, thanks to its sizable concentration of skin-firming B vitamins like folate and thiamine.
While it's available for purchase, make like Martha Stewart and DIY your own with Free People's simple, 15-minute rice soak.
Rice Water Bright Cleansing Foam, $7, Amazon
3. Wasabi Massage Oil
Lime green wasabi can do more than just clear our your sinuses. Your favorite spicy condiment can help ease sore, cranky muscles after a tough workout or a rough week at the office.
Thanks to a compound called 6-MSITC, wasabi's repeatedly shown it works as a circulation-boosting anti-inflammatory supplement.
Try it out yourself with a StacyKnows's homemade massage oil recipe, a version of the one used at Austin's Lake Austin Spa Resort.
4. Avocado Hand Treatment
Give the most Instagrammed fruit a break from your sushi-ordering hysteria. Instead of biting into avocado's creamy green flesh, take advantage of its high biotin content to renew the scaly skin on your hands.
Paradise Grove recommends making a hand mask, sort of like a guacamole dip for your skin.
5. Ginger-Mustard Foot Soak
After a sushi dinner, pickled ginger is the perfect palate cleanser. Likewise, after a long day, you can use ginger as a spa treatment to get you refreshed for tomorrow.
The pungent root contains the compound gingerol, an antibacterial powerful enough to kill any foot funk while still soft enough to soothe your tired skin.
Try Wild Turmeric's mustard-ginger foot soak and pair it with a cup of hot ginger tea.
6. Clarifying Egg Shampoo
The Egg Custard Tamago is one of sushi's most popular dishes thanks to the popularity of 2011's "Jiro Dreams of Sushi."
Instead of debating an egg's perfect texture, harness its protein and lecithin, a moisturizer, to produce softer hair still strong enough to resistant to breakage.
Once a month, try a homemade egg shampoo and a cool shower.
Hair-growth forums swear by an egg wash's ability to transform your lazy locks into a mane worthy of an Ariana Grande-inspired ponytail.
7. Kombu Bath
Sushi rice is often cooked with a piece of kombu, a type of dried kelp with flavor-boosting properties so your grain doesn't taste as dull.
Aside from being a dietary dynamo, the kelp's also been proven to improve elasticity in skin and keep you looking youthful, like an aspiring Meryl Streep.
To get your own fountain of youth, try a kombu bath with strips purchased from your local health food store or Asian supermarket.
