Natural Skin Care Part 1 - Kitchen Stuff
 

The most basic thing you can do is take some item from your kitchen, mush it up, grind it up, mix it with water, mix it with oil ... something. And then smear it on your face and enjoy! :) So here's a list of things you can use straight out of your kitchen w/out too much fuss and muss.

Yogurt - for oily skin and helps clear up mild acne
Egg white - tightens pores, soothes, minimizes redness
Banana - fruit acids help slough dead skin cells, lots of B vitamin, good for wrinkles
Avocado - extremely moisturizing
Cucumber - very astringent, good for oily patches, tightens pores. Also good by the slice for puffy eyes.
Honey - anti inflammatory, soothing
Dried milk powder - soothing, moisturizing (mix with a little distilled water)
Oats/oatmeal - soothing, exfoliating, moisturizing (mix with a little distilled water)
Vitamin E oil - regenerates skin cells, helps minimize scarring,
Avocado oil - moisturizing w/out being oily or greasy
Olive oil - very rich moisturizer, might be a little oily for some people
(not a kitchen item, but regular uncoated asprin is nothing more than salicylic acid and is great for pimples - just crush and mix with a little water and apply to a pimple - it'll dry right up)

You can combine these things as well: Take any of the above and mix them to work on whatever skin issues you want to fix. Oatmeal makes a great base for a mask, if you grind it in a food processor or blender. Take the oat flour/powder and mix it with enough of whatever other ingredient to make a paste and leave it on your face until it's dryish. Then rinse off with warm water.

The ones I use most are egg white and honey, oats and banana, and oats and water with a bit of vitamin e oil.

There's also some basic kitchen type stuff you can apply to your hair:
Vinegar - shine, detangle, restore ph, use as a rinse after shampooing (cider vinegar brings out the shine more in brown hair)
Baking soda water - removes buildup, rinse after shampooing
Egg yolk - moisturize, put on hair before washing and leave for 5ish mins, rinse with COOL water
Olive oil - moisturize, apply to ends only, not scalp and leave for anywhere from 30 mins to overnight.

Any of the above can work for your body as well - I've done an oatmeal mask on my back (when I had someone to help apply it! :) ) and I've used the banana and oatmeal thing on my arms, since I have keratosis pilaris (those clear/whitish hard bumps).

You can also make a great exfoliating scrub with sugar. I don't like to use it on my face because it's a bit harsh. Mix white or brown sugar with any type of oil and use it as a scrub. Add in some ground oats for different levels of exfoliating and the soothing qualities of oats. Rinse well.

Ok, that's the easy kitchen stuff. I'll dig up the herb stuff next ... :)

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Oh my goodness, I just looked this up, I have this on my arms, my children hae it on their legs, my oldest, on her face. I never new it had a name.

Oh it's very common. The dermatologists treatment for it is salicylic acid cream ... sometimes I do the crushed aspirin treatment on my arms and shoulders to help get rid of the bumps.

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You just rocked my whole world PC! Thank you very very much. :)

Awesome list thank you! I didn't know about most of those.

I have been washing my face with honey for a few years now and it is awesome but I didn't know about all that other stuff!

How do you apply olive oil to moisturize? Does it cause anyone to break out? I need do to something to get my skin through the harsh New England winter, but I'm worried about using oil...

I bought an avocado yesterday for my face. I love avocados so much, a favorite food that's a pretty rare treat - it feels wrong on so many levels. I'm going to have to 'accidentally' spread it on my lips so I can lick it off!

I just apply it with my fingers. It's never made me break out. In general oil by itself is not what causes breakouts. Clogged pores cause pimples ... and oil by itself won't clog pores. The clogs are caused by a mixture of natural oils from your skin (sebum) and dead skin cells that don't get sloughed off. And in fact, under moisturizing can make breakouts worse because your skin gets dry and then goes into overtime to make more oil/sebum to make up for it.

If you wash and exfoliate (not roughly, just with a washcloth), you won't get the buildup of dead skin cells and that will help a lot with breakouts.

Honestly I moisturize with olive oil all the time (and coconut oil and other oils) and they've never caused me to break out. Make sure your skin is still slightly damp when you apply it - it'll help hold in the moisture. :)

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Hey PC... I smashed up the avocado and used half for guacamole. My husband commented that it looked yum and went to another part of the house. I proceeded to spread the other half over my face and retired to the office to work on things while noshing the guac. He came in to ask me a question... the look on his face was priceless! I guess he assumed I was being a REALLY messy eater. :)

Another fabulous and easy thing you can use is:
* Brown sugar
* Honey (or olive oil)

I mix them together in a little bowl and bring it into the shower with me. I put it all over my body and use it as a scrub. It works beautifully and it's so easy!

~CGH~

Thanks PC, I think I'll try using a cotton ball first. I also made the sugar scrub this morning and it worked better than the one I usually buy!

Hey, thatnks for all the info!!
Never heard of someone washing their face with honey.

That is hilarious lol.

hehehehehehehehehe

What is the ratio of sugar to honey that you use for the sugar scrub? I love this thread! My skin is so extremely sensitive and I get so tired of the ONE thing that I can wash my face with, but good ole' stuff from the kitchen, I can use that!

thank you!