Saturday, June 03, 2006

Clay and Herbal Masks (Natural Skin Care)

Making your own skin products is addicitive!

For clay masks, I like using rhaussoul clay (good for all skin types including drier skin) or green clay (normal to oily). Other good clays: kaolin (a gentle white clay from China) and Bentonite, a soft but very drawing clay (draws/binds toxins).

There are a lot of ingredients you can add to clay masks. Add any of the ingredients, depending on what kind of mask you want. I don't really measure but just add a small amount of each ingredient. I make it fresh each time but you could store it in the fridge for a few days (be sure to add vitamin E, grapefruit seed oil, or essential oils to help prolonge self life).

-hydrosols, aloe, herbal infusions (tea)-basically to wet the mask and also add moisture and nutrients
-honey-helps pull out toxics, and softens skin
-egg-pulls out toxins, softens skin. If you use the egg yolk it add moisture (for dry skin), and the white part for oily skin. I like using the whole egg.
-mashed fruit or juice: the natural acids helps exfoliate dead skin cells, and also moisturize skin. Not for sensitive skin. Fruits that you can use stawberries, tomatoes (oily skin), bananas (moisturizing), avocado (moisturizing)
-mashed veggie or juice: carrot (good for all skin types esp. dry), cucumbers (soothing and moisturizing, good for puffiness)
-milk/cream--cleanser and also softener.
-witch hazel--astringent. Better for oily and normal skins (dry skins add hydrosols, aloe, and herbal infusions)
-yogurt-cleanser and softener. good for all skin types
-carrier/base oil--to seal in moisture and add vitamins.
-1 to 2 drops of essential oil--for fragrance and for specific skin conditions

If you want an exfoliating clay mask add:
-oatmeal--good for sensitive skin
-almond--good for all skin types
-brown or white sugar
-baking soda

I do not recommend using salt on your face (too gritty, though salt makes a great body scrub) or aspirin (I know a lot of beauty mags and ladies rant about the effectiveness of aspirin masks, but considering the skin is very absorbant, I am wondering if any of the chemical components of aspirin can reach the blood stream through the skin. I have not read much about the topic, but I believe it is better to be safe than sorry, especially when there are other just as effective exfoliants).

For an herbal mask (without clay) you can use a base of either honey, yogurt, egg, fruit, or one of the exfoliants, and add any of the other ingredients. Let your imagination run wild!

2 comments:

Flippou said...

Thanks for the info. I have very oily skin and I tried the bentonite clay mask from Noxzema. You can really feel it work, but it is heavily fragranced which sometimes makes my face break out. Do you know if there are any bentonite masks that aren't perfumed?

Thanks,

GF

Solarkat said...

Hi Ginger Fizz

Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you :)

I highly recommend making one yourself!

You can buy pure, 100% bentonite clay at places like Mountain Rose Herbs, Garden of Wisdom, and Camden Grey (online store; links on right side of main page of blog), or possibly your local health food store like Whole Foods.

Cheers,
Solarkat