Thursday, April 19, 2012

Facial Care

There is nothing worse then bringing home a new skin care product only to realize it doesn’t work well with your skin type.  All the face washes, toners, lotions, scrubs, masks, make up removers and more that are out there contain many harmful chemicals.  These chemicals are linked to cancer, allergies, dermatitis, respiratory distress, endocrine disruption and potential effects on the reproductive system.  They also have negative impacts on our environment.

It is amazing how well homemade facial products work.  Not only do they work well, they are easy to make and you may already have all the ingredients right in your own home.  You will save a ton of money and you don't have to use the same product for months, you can keep switching it up, adding or taking out ingredients to suit your own skins needs.  How satisfying to know what is really in your own skin care products; to be using all natural ingredients-most of which you can actually eat.  You will also leave a smaller carbon footprint by not buying and disposing of numerous product containers and reusing old ones to store homemade products. 

Here are some homemade recipes for skin care products, I hope you enjoy them and please let me know how you liked them

WASH

Cocowash
-1/2 cup Coconut oil
-6 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-10 drops Tea Tree Oil
-Oatmeal (Optional)

NOTE: You can use Olive Oil as a make up remover.

TONER

Use any of the following:
-Apple Cider Vinegar
-Lemon Juice
-Cucumber Flesh

MOISTURIZER

Aloe Repair
-2 tbs Aloe Vera Juice
-1/2 cup Coconut oil
-1 tsp EV Olive Oil
-Use Grape Seed oil by itself (great for repairing skin around eyes)

NOTE:  Aloe Vera Juice has to be kept int eh fridge so to keep this moisturizer in your bathroom, omit the AVJ and put it on like you would a toner afterward.

SCRUBS

Sugar Scrub
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1 tsp of olive or Grape Seed oil 
-1/2 cup coconut oil

NOTE: You can also add any of the following ingredients
-8 drops of Tea Tree Oil
-Oatmeal
-Lemon Juice
-Plain Yogurt
Sea Salt Scrub
-2 tablespoons Sea salt
-1 tablespoon extra virgin Olive oil
-1 tablespoon dark organic Honey

Gently massage into skin to exfoliate.
MASKS

-1 tbsp oatmeal, finely ground
-1 tbsp plain organic yogurt
-A few drops of honey

Add the yogurt to the oatmeal in a small bowl and mix together.  You can warm the honey by using a hot spoon.  Stir the honey into the yogurt and oatmeal mixture.  Apply the mask to the face. Leave it on for 10 minutes.
Honey Bee Mask
Banana Cream Mask
-1 Banana
-2 tablespoons Plain Yogurt
-1 tablespoon organic Honey
-1 tablespoon Oatmeal flour
-mineral water

Warm honey by putting it in a metal bowl immersed in hot water. Mash the banana, add the other ingredients.  You can use Oatmeal flakes if that is all you have.  Leave the mask on for 20 minutes.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love these recipes and want to try them. Been looking for store bought natural cleanser and moisturizers and found Neutrogena Naturals (no phthalates, petrochemicals, etc) but the fragrance is kind of strong.

Anyway, wondering what is the shelf life of the homemade skincare? Since it has no preservatives, I'm assuming it goes bad faster.

Thanks! And great blog! :)

Ecoblogical said...

Hi,
There really is no such thing as 100% natural store bought skin care products. They may say that on their label but compare their ingredient list with my chemical list to pick out harmful preservatives. In order to keep products from going bad they have to add these, that is why home made is the way to go when wanting 100% chemical free. Fragrance can be one of the worst ingredients unless its an organic essential oil.
With regards to shelf life of homemade products, the masks should be made as a one time use and not stored; the scrubs can be kept in the fridge until the exp. dates on the products bottles (ie coconut oil), actually grapeseed oil is used as a natural preservative in body products for short term storage; the wash I have kept in the bathroom (not in the shower)for up to a week but does better kept in nthe fridge especially in summer where the heat melts the coconut oil and it may go rancid, a few drops of GSO will help as well. I usually keep a large container of wash in the fridge and then put smaller ones into the bathroom; anything with aloe juice should be kept in the fridge but cocnut oil or EV olive oil can be kept out in a cool dark place. I know tons of people who wash and moisturize with olive oil alone and has had great outcomes.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask anymore questions and thanks for Reading, Stephanie

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