Food Goods - Watermelon

a beautifully carved watermelon 

Being that I have not been getting sleep lately, my look has been dreadful. I feel tightness in my face from the amount of stress I have endured these past two weeks. Aside from the tightness in my face, I lack moisture because I haven’t been eating well or taking care of my skin the same way. Therefore, the pollution in the air and damaging sun has fully absorbed into my skin. Thankfully, I found a quick solution that was in the fridge—watermelon.

Watermelon is full of vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin B1, potassium, and magnesium. Watermelon is also an antioxidant which is great for beauty purposes to fight wrinkles, fine lines, and aging. It is a great thirst quencher for a hot summer day or when you just don’t want to eat, like I haven’t lately. Watermelon boosts the body with energy with high water content so you can skip out on a few things.

When purchasing my watermelon, the important thing is to find a sweet, juicy red filling. You can look at the ends of the watermelon to distinguish whether or not this watermelon is good—the smaller the circle, the more red the filling. The most important way to find a juicy watermelon is to pick up the watermelon and tap it. If you hear or feel and echo of vibrations, that means the watermelon is full of juice. The best thing of course is to buy a watermelon slice where you can see the inside of the watermelon, the redder the better.

My variety use of a watermelon:

• Watermelon rind – Using the tasteless part of the watermelon, rub all over a clean face and neck for five minutes or so, leave on for 10-15 minutes. I suggest cutting your watermelon out of the rind and not using left over bitten up rind because it will be a lot smoother and easier to glide along the face. Doing this made my skin automatically smoother and cleaner. It also helped to brighten up my skin and provide color to my skin again. I did not look as dead as I did earlier in the day. All you really need is one rind, just have a pairing knife by you when you are rubbing all that goody into your face. Take off a thin layer when it starts to get dry and if you want to maximize your use, use the other side of the layer that you just sliced off because there's still a lot of juice there. You can use one rind (depending on size) two times rather just one so don't waste it!
• Watermelon and salt – It may sound weird, but salt goes well with a lot of fruits. Because many fruits are high in sugar, you should not dip fruits with sugar and replace it with salt. This generally helps those who have allergies to pesticides on fruits as I have written in my blog before. Just be sure to not use too much salt and overpower the fruit.
• Watermelon smoothie – Nothing beats having a refreshing blend of watermelon juice that is full of vitamins for the body. Blend it with ice and any other fruits of your liking instead of grabbing an ice cream for a healthy option.
• Watermelon puree – You can simply drink this watermelon puree, but I also recommend using it as a mask. If you have the compressed masks at home (like those that I picked up from a Japanese store in my last blog), you can just let the watermelon puree soak into the mask and leave it on your face and neck as a refreshing mask. It has the same uses as the rind, but better since you are using the part with the most vitamins.
• Watermelon scrub – All it takes is a cup or two of blended watermelon and lemon juice stored in a fridge for a week prior to use. This scrub will exfoliate and relieve your tired skin, adding color and cleanse to your natural color.
• Watermelon Soju – I think this is the best way to have a watermelon for many people. Although I don’t drink, I love the thought of incorporating soju and maybe a little sprite for fizz (and to lighten the alcohol) for a healthier drink. I admit, I like making things for others to enjoy because I enjoy making others happy :]

There are so many ways to incorporate watermelon into everything you do, try mixing up your watermelon with other fruits for a fruit salad. Look into other way to incorporate your watermelon into your beauty. You can add equal amounts of cucumber juice for a refreshing mask or close your open pores with a frozen ice tray of watermelon juice and crushed mint leaves. Remember, be creative!