I have always suffered with having dark bags under my eyes. It frustrates me as it ruins a lot of pictures where I become incredibly self conscious about myself. However, through research and experimentation, I have found a number of tricks to help deal with the bags under your eyes.
Firstly, I want to cover something important. The bags under your eyes are largely genetic and you might not be able to completely get rid of them. These are just some potential solutions that can help a bit.
1) Use A Second Pillow
Think about how you sleep and how elevated your head is. If you sleep on your back, you need to have two pillows under your head in order to stop the blood rushing down. You want to drain the fluid from this area and adding a second pillow massively helped me! If you sleep on your front, it could be worth switching it up and sleeping on your back instead.
2) Apply Tea Bags
Many people state how well this works for them. I found it helped a little, but you need to keep it up on a regular basis, so it only works if you’re willing to commit to doing this.
You steep two tea bags in hot water for 3-5 minutes. You then place the tea bags in the fridge for 20 minutes. Afterwards, you should squeeze out any excess liquid and leave them for 20 minutes, before placing the tea bags under your eyes.
3) Cut Down On Salty Foods
When you eat junk food, or any food that is high in salt, it can cause water to be retained and can lead to swelling. The excess sodium in the diet does cause puffiness and the area under your eyes is very thin, making it more likely to be noticeable.
Beyond the puffiness, you may also notice bloating if you’re consuming too much sodium.
4) Under Eye Creams
The jury is out on a number of these and whether they’re any different to your usual serum’s, however serums in general can have some great ingredients for anti-ageing and reducing wrinkles.
I have tried a number of these to little effect, but I did see some positive changes after using Shiseido anti dark circles eye cream. You apply it before your moisturiser after washing.
5) Cut Back On Alcohol
If you’re consuming too much alcohol, you may suffer from fluid retention. If you are drinking alcohol, try to have a drink of water in-between each alcoholic beverage.
I’m not going to say give up alcohol, as life is about living, but I wouldn’t have too many drinks before a day where you’re going to have photos taken, so no drinking the day before a wedding!
6) Increase The Amount Of Sleep You’re Getting
I used to have really bad bags under my eyes in sixth form. But looking back, it now seems obvious. I only got 6 hours sleep a night, yawning constantly throughout the day. Nowadays I go to bed each night at 10:30pm and my under eyes look a lot better!
Try to get a good eight hours each night and make sure to avoid blue lights before going to bed. Yep, that means putting down your phone and maybe reading a book instead.
7) Cold Compress
This won’t help long term, it’s a short term fix to make you better that day, but it does work! Whenever I think of a cold compress, I always think of the opening scene of American Psycho where he goes through his morning beauty regime.
The cold temperature of the pack will help to reduce redness in the eyes and calm any swelling. It will improve the blood circulation, applying for 5-10 minute sin the morning. Don’t ever put them on for more than 20 minutes though.
8) Watch Out For Allergies
It is completely possible you’re suffering from allergies, which can give you puffy eyes. If this is the case, you may be able to pick up some over-the-counter treatments from Boots or Superdrug.
9) Drink More Water
It seems weird to highlight water as a solution when I’ve already mentioned fluid retention from salt being a culprit in under eye bags. However, dehydration can make the bags look worse, which is why they tend to look worse when you’re hungover.
Try to keep a glass or a bottle of water near you at all times and set yourself a target for how much you should drink in a day, to make sure you’re getting enough.
10) Quit Smoking
We always hear about the effects of smoking, from the damage it causes to our lungs to how it speeds up the ageing process, but one area not often spoken about is how it can also negatively affect the skin under the eyes.
Nicotine can also effect our sleeping patterns and getting enough sleep is another factor I’ve mentioned on this list.
11) Keep Calm
When you’re stressed, you release the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol damages absolutely everything, while it also breaks down collagen and engorges blood vessels. You should therefore attempt to remove stress from your life any way possible, such as taking on yoga and meditation or reducing any tasks in your day that cause you stress (yep, easier said than done). Remember to take some ‘me time’.
12) Remove Make-up Before Going To Sleep
When you leave make-up on your face over night, you can suffer from breakouts and it can also increase puffiness around the eyes. Instead, you need to get into a pattern of using a micellar cleansing water on a cotton pad to wash the make-up of your face.
13) Cucumbers
I’m sure you’ve seen the shots of people in a spa or at home beauty treatments with cucumbers covering their eyes, well this is for good reason.
Cucumbers work like the cold compresses when kept cold in the fridge, while they also contain Vitamin C and folic acid to reduce puffiness and stimulate antioxidants.
14) Wear Sun Cream
As part of the 10 Step Korean Skin Care Routine, using an SPF every day was an important step to protect your skin against the damaging rays of the sun. It might sound weird, coming from cold England, to put on sun cream every day, but you can opt for a moisturiser which has SPF included, worth paying that little extra for. Try to opt for at least SPF 30 for optimal results.
