Learn to make a face mask for every need--from ingredients you probably already have on hand. In many cases, you can create more potent and effective face treatments than anything you can buy in the store, because your homemade creations utilize only active materials, are always fresh and unadulterated, and are suited to your specific needs.
Issue: Irritation and Dry Skin. Mask: Aloe-Banana Split
Indications: Sunburn, insect bites, rashes, eczema, rosacea, inflammation, dry skin.
Ingredients: Aloe, banana, avocado, yogurt, honey.
Instructions: Mash all ingredients together. Apply to clean skin and leave on for 5 minutes to a whole hour. Rinse off, but do not soap.
Why Is It Amazing? All the ingredients here are extremely soothing and calming. Banana, avocado, and aloe are all very moisturizing. Avocado contains wonderful oils that nourish skin, and we all know aloe is a miracle for burns and irritation. Banana is mucilaginous and full of vitamins, while yogurt is both calming and smoothing due to its mild acids. Honey is the ingredient that ties this formula together and provides exceptional benefits of its own--honey is antibacterial, moisturizing, and nourishing. Designed for dry or combination skin, this mask is suitable for all types, including acneic skin, because of the antibacterial/antimicrobial properties in the honey. Moisturizing is always important for oily skin because one of the reasons the skin produces too much oil is that it believes it's too dry and must overproduce to catch up. Help your oily skin out by supplying healthy moisturizing nutrition so that your oil-production can take a break.
This mask will deliver nutrition and moisture to the cells and plump them up, making it great for before a night out.
Tips and Tricks: Use fresh aloe squeezed from a plant like the one in the photo, alcohol-free aloe gel from a bottle, or aloe vera powder. Use equal parts aloe, banana, avocado, and yogurt, approximately 2 T each, then add 1 T honey and mix well. Toss any unused mask mix.
Issue: Oily, Clogged, and Acneic Skin. Mask: Clay Smidgeons
Indications: Oily skin, clogged pores, cystic acne, whiteheads, dull skin.
Ingredients: Bentonite, green, French, OR white clay, apple cider vinegar.
Instructions: Measure 2 T clay and mix with up to 1 T ACV to create a paste. Apply to clean skin and rinse as soon as mask is dry, 5-10 minutes depending on thickness of application.
Why Is It Amazing? Clay is a natural purifier with intense absorbent action--it draws oil, sebum, and pollution out of your skin, leaving it clear and soft. Apple Cider Vinegar is another multi-purpose healing agent that establishes proper acid (Ph) balance in your skin, is gently astringent, and makes a potent drawing mask along with the clay. Rich in minerals from the earth, gentle yet powerful, and delivering dramatic skin-tightening and pore-shrinking results, this mask is a cleansing miracle when you feel greasy or clogged.
Tips and Tricks: Bentonite clay is the strongest, and should only be used on "tough" skin. French or green clay is gentle and good for all skin types. White clay is extremely gentle. Use organic Apple Cider Vinegar "with the mother." This means that the cultures are still alive and delivering the maximum benefit.
Issue: Dull, Slack Skin, and Dark Spots. Mask: Egg on Your Face
Indications: Rough skin, dull skin, tired skin, slack skin, dark spots and discoloration, and scars. This is a buffing, tightening treatment that firms skin and makes it glow. Great before a night out.
Ingredients: Egg white, aspirin.
Instructions: Crush 5 or more non-coated aspirin and mix with the white of one egg. Apply to clean skin and let dry. Rinse when ready.
Why Is It Amazing? Egg whites have proteins that knit together and draw your skin tighter, and aspirin comes from the bark of the White WIllow and gives us salicylic acid. The acid will resurface your skin and treat inflammation while the egg white makes your skin smooth and taut--without feeling stiff.
Tips and Tricks: Again, make sure you use non-coated, non-buffered aspirin, and crush with the back of a spoon in a small bowl. Separate one egg and mix the white with the aspirin. Whip well and apply to the face--it will be a little runny, but you do not need to apply a thick coat. I do not add any thickening agents to this mask because I do not want to interfere with the key action of the two stars. If you want a thicker mask, let a layer dry slightly, then add more. Over time, you can treat spots and discoloration with this mask.