Tomatoes are the key ingredient in many of your favorite foods, from marinara sauce to ketchup. But did you know that you can use tomatoes as part of your skincare routine? Whether you’re making a homemade mask with fresh tomatoes yourself or prefer to buy products with tomatoes as an active ingredient, here are the numerous benefits.

Lycopene is the main “magical” ingredient in tomatoes.  Skin with high lycopene content is often compared to the softness and youthfulness of a baby’s skin. Lycopene also helps the skin by protecting your skin from the sun’s harmful UV rays (it does NOT completely protect the skin, so you still need to apply sunscreen daily). The lycopene also helps fight cellular damage and reddening of the skin and also retains the moisture, therefore preventing fine lines and wrinkles.

Regular application of a topical product with a tomato juice base can help shrink the size of your pores and give your skin a natural glow (tomatoes have a lot of Vitamin C, which is known to brighten skin). Try rubbing a halved tomato directly onto your skin or mixing it with other ingredients (water, lemon juice, or avocado for example) to form your own DIY skincare scrub or treatment.