By: Fehmida Bholat

Getting clear skin is an arduous battle. It’s frustrating, expensive and so time consuming. It’s also extremely profitable for the beauty industry that plays into people’s self consciousness.

Instead of slathering up your skin with expensive and brutally painful creams, balms and scrubs, natural ingredients and home remedies are beginning to gain popularity for their soothing and inexpensive ways of clearing up skin.

There are many ways to achieve clearer skin by just going down the grocery aisle or looking into the old Arab home remedies for beautiful skin.

Middle Eastern women are renowned for their stunning skin, in part due to their genes and partly because of the natural home remedies they use. These age-old secrets can spare you from the harsh, drying chemical peels to be found in drugstores and department stores.

Some of the best ways to promote beautiful skin are to look to the ways of the past. Chemicals often do good in the short term, but you have to know that it’s not only what you put ON your skin, but IN your body. Keeping good eating habits and taking care of your body is essentially the best way to have and keep clear skin.

The following are just a few of the secrets to getting clearer skin in no time without spending a fortune:

1)    Aloe Vera gel: This has been around for centuries as a natural skin soother. It’s anti-inflammatory and has a lot of moisturizing properties, as well as minimizing acne scars. Ready-made products can be found almost anywhere, but you can make your own gel from the aloe vera plant yourself.

2)    Sleep well and drink plenty of water: If your body is out of balance because of a lack of sleep, your skin will reflect your tired body. Sleeping well and getting enough hours of sleep ensures that not only your mind but your body and skin is rejuvenated overnight.

Drinking plenty of water also is very important to the health of your skin—this is something that people have known for centuries. Water purifies the body and clears up the skin, and contains none of the harmful sugars and acids of other drinks.

3)    Exfoliate with oatmeal: No need for expensive scrubs—oatmeal will do the trick. Exfoliating is very important to helping scrub off the dead skin cells that pile up and can create breakouts. Exfoliating helps remove any excess skin as well as dirt and oil, and leaves your face feeling clean and fresh. Oatmeal mixed with water is a great gentle scrub and is a cheap solution for clear skin.

4)    Frankincense Oil: This is usually associated with the three wise men and the Christmas story, but this rejuvenating oil has been used for centuries by Arabs in Yemen and Saudi Arabia as a way to promote healthy looking skin and good health overall. Rubbing the oil into the skin, it can be used to remove boils, treat acne and other skin conditions like eczema.