Regardless of whether you take extra special care of your eye area or not, we will all start to show signs of aging, which include under-eye bags and dark circles.

Why Do We Get Dark Eye Circles?

There are many factors that determine how quickly you begin to develop dark circles or how dark your circles become.

The most important factor is aging. As we grow older, our skin naturally loses collagen and grows thinner, therefore, the veins around our eyes begin to show through, making the color of our skin appear darker.

Exposure to the sun also plays a big role in speeding up the rate at which the collagen in our skin breaks down. While you can try to protect your eye area from the sun, there are still other factors that are out of our control, such as our genetics.

Individuals who have inherited fair or thin skin tend to show under-eye circles more easily than others. This is because when their blood pools in the capillaries under their eyes, it is more obviously seen through lighter or thinner skin. As blood accumulates under the eye area, the capillaries tend to stretch under the weight of the blood, which results in blood pooling and even darker under eye circles.

Dark under eye circles and under eye bags can also be a matter of allergies, such as allergies to dust, mold, or seasonal allergies. This can cause an inflammatory response, which results in the inflammation of our blood vessels, including those under our eyes.

5 Ways of Getting Rid of Dark Circles and Under Eye Bags

While we can’t avoid dark circles altogether, there are a few remedies we can use to fight the hands of time and nature’s elements to keep our eye area looking younger and bag-free for longer.

1. Cucumbers

Cucumbers can be used as a really effective cold compress, as they also have skin-lightening and mild astringent properties. Simply, chop a fresh cucumber into thick slices and refrigerate them for 30 minutes. Once cold, leave the slices on your eyes for 10 minutes. Afterwards, rinse your eye area with warm water.

2. Cold Tea Bags

If you don’t have anything else to make a cold compress with, substitute with tea bags. Green tea is an especially good tea bag to use as it contains antioxidants that have anti-inflammatory properties, which soothe strained capillaries in your under eye area.

To prepare your tea bag compress, soak a tea bag in clean water and then leave it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Once cold, place the tea bags on your eyes for 10 minutes, then remove and rinse the eye area with warm water.

3. Rose Water

Rose water soothes and rejuvenates tired skin. It is also a mild astringent and works well as a skin toner. To apply the rose water to your eye area, soak cotton pads in the water for a few minutes, and then let the pads sit on your closed eyelids. Leave them on your eyelids for about 15 minutes.

4. Vitamin E Oil

Vitamin E combats the negative effect of free radicals, which cause wrinkles. At night, gently massage a drop of oil into the skin under or around your eyes. Leave the oil on your skin overnight and rinse it off with warm water in the morning.

5. Coconut Oil

Coconut oil uses its anti-inflammatory properties to effectively lighten dark under eye circles, as well as moisturize the skin to prevent wrinkles and fine lines. Coconut oil can also be gently rubbed into the skin of the eye area and left overnight to be rinsed off in the morning.