Catherine Deneuve Drinks Lemon Juice Every A.M. for Her Skin. Should You?

Molly Shea
·Beauty and Health Editor

Actress Catherine Deneuve (Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage)

French actress and style/beauty/life icon Catherine Deneuve spilled her beauty routine to Into the Gloss, and boy, is it everything we’d ever dreamed of. She filled in readers on her favorite makeup (and sold me on giving kohl-lined eyes a real go), why wearing a full face of makeup can be good for your skin, and why slathering on lotion every night might not be. But my biggest takeaway wasn’t anything to buy or debate with my derm — it’s that Deneuve has joined Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyoncé on team Lemon Water in the Morning.

“Every morning I drink lemon juice,” she told the beauty site. “It’s not so much that it cleanses anything, but I do think it’s very good for your skin and the whites of your eyes.” It’s refreshing to hear Deneuve credit something so cheap and accessible (and healthy!) for her timeless beauty. But do her claims check out?

Doctors haven’t linked lemon juice to skin (or whites of the eyes) benefits directly, but many experts do believe drinking the vitamin C-packed juice can have other advantages that may help your face look brighter and less tired.

The acid in lemon juice “works with the body to nourish and to enhance proper function,” Roxanne Sukol, MD, a preventive medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Institute, previously told Yahoo Health. By drinking lemon water, you’re giving your body more time to take in and process the nutrients in the foods you eat afterward, she said. This slow absorption is good for two reasons: It conserves the stores of insulin in your body (insulin is important in regulating the amount of glucose in the blood), and it also helps your body get more out of the food you eat. Plus, quick absorption of certain “stripped” carbs — such as white flour, corn starch, and corn syrup — can be a digestive nightmare, she added. Better digestion can mean brighter, firmer skin, though the two haven’t been officially linked.

But while lemon water may help your skin look happier, it can do the opposite for your teeth if you’re not careful. “By adding [acidic] lemon to water, you are increasing your risk of eroding the enamel away, which can cause issues over time,” Matthew Messina, DDS, told Yahoo Health last year. “Once enamel is eroded away, it can’t be replaced.” That doesn’t mean you should skip the lemon water entirely — there are ways to consume it and end up with a Deneuve-level complexion and smile:

  • “Drink it as part of a meal, not by itself, to help stimulate saliva production,” Messina advised. Saliva “washes harmful acids and food particles away from teeth and helps neutralize acid, protecting teeth from decay.”

  • If you want to drink warm lemon water first thing in the morning, try waiting until it cools a bit, and then use a straw. This “may help to push the liquid past teeth,” Messina said.

  • Drink lemon water before brushing your teeth, so the acid isn’t hitting enamel directly (morning tooth scuzz has purpose!). Then, “it’s best to wait a little while to brush your teeth, approximately 30 to 60 minutes,” he said.

Read This Next: Victoria Beckham’s Leg Looks Digitally Altered Because Magazines Just Can’t Get It Right


Let’s keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.