Does Putting Cucumbers On Your Eyes Actually Do Anything?

DIY beauty with food is both fun and explorative. Beauty blogger Kimberly Loc tells Nutritious Life that an apple mask can brighten the skin. An egg mask for your hair can give your strands an extra dose of protein. Cinnamon can be used to calm down a ravaging breakout, and a scrub that includes dark chocolate can leave your skin baby soft.

Yes, beauty remedies involving food can be effective and much cheaper than the products we add to our shopping carts. However, there is one routine we see so often that we've forgotten to question its purpose. We're talking about placing slices of cucumber on our eyes. Does the thinly sliced green vegetable placed directly over our peepers even do anything? Or should we just keep those slices in our iced beverages and salads where they belong? As it turns out, placing cucumbers over your eyes makes a lot of sense.

Cucumbers can help the skin around your eyes look and feel better

"Applying cucumber slices to the eye area can help to reduce puffiness because the coolness of cucumber slices acts as a vasoconstrictor, slowing blood flow," esthetician Erin Larson explained to Allure. Dermatologist Dr. Robert Anolik added, "[Eye] puffiness can occur with vessel dilation and swelling; the cool temperature of the cucumber assists in constructing those blood vessels, relieving puffiness."

We'll always say yes to less puff and reduced redness around our eyes. This little spa extra may also keep us from rubbing our eyes if they are dry or irritated. According to Healthline, the hydrating and anti-inflammatory properties of cucumber can also make the skin around our eyes look more revived.

There is no reason to wait for your next trip to the spa for this effective and affordable beauty remedy. If you have a cucumber in your fridge, why not place a few slices on your eyes while listening to a podcast or taking a break to meditate? While you're at it, consider throwing on a brightening apple mask or whipping up a dark chocolate scrub. DIY treatments with food can make us feel great both inside and out.