You’re doing everything right, cutting out cigarettes and alcohol, drinking enough water, and eating your wholefoods, but your skin still needs a bit of a helping hand.

The world’s natural pharmacy can assist, with herbs such as milk-thistle to give your liver a welcome boost, aloe vera to calm down any inflammatory skin reactions and to keep your bowel healthy, and psyllium husk (Ishphagula seed) to keep your digestion regular, important when flushing toxins out of there.

Other great ideas include soy lecithin which can unclog a fatty liver (which you get with all kinds of toxins, not just fatty foods), green tea which contains powerful antioxidants to neutralize toxins as they are released from your body’s cells and works as an excellent facial toner, and burdock root which is fabulous for cleansing the blood and clearing up any skin breakouts you might be suffering.

A good detox kit will have a decent dose of the herbs mentioned above and should include specific amino acids (the building blocks of protein and important for enzymes in the whole body, including the liver). L-Methionine is an amino acid that the liver can convert to glutathione; this is a powerful antioxidant and helps protect the liver from free-radical and toxin damage.

Vitamins and minerals for skin health

Other things to consider include making sure you are taking a good quality multivitamin and mineral formula as this will contain other powerful antioxidants and substances vital to neutralising or converting damaging toxins. They’ll also make sure you keep your energy levels up and regulate sleep, which is as important to a good detox regime as anything else and is vital for repairing damaged skin and keeping your skin looking vibrant.

Specific minerals to look out for are selenium and zinc as these are excellent at helping escort unwanted heavy metals, such as mercury and lead, out of the body. Magnesium is also a powerful stimulant to detoxification, but should not be taken in large doses straight away as this could cause a healing crisis (headaches, skin breakouts, and other problems). Gradually building up from a 200 mg dose of Magnesium Citrate, for example, to a 400-800 mg dose short-term may help in ridding the body of toxins (dosage varies depending on size, age, and intention, and should be discussed with your naturopath).

After the harshness of winter weather, your skin can start looking less than tip-top and needs a little love and pampering to get it glowing and healthy. Spring and summer are perfect times to get motivated to do something about problem skin as we’re all looking to keep cool in skirts, shorts, sandals, and beach-wear. Don’t hide under a big old sweatshirt because you’re skin’s not ‘perfect’, let your skin get a little sunshine and fresh air and follow these top tips for skin detox to give that epidermis a happy glow.