Natural Skin Care

If you choose to go the homemade route for your natural skin care, there are a few staples you will want to keep on hand. This article highlights the must-haves for a natural skin care pantry.

Avocado

Avocadoes are wonderful to eat and great for your glowing skin. Not only do they provide 25 essential nutrients, they are also rich in oil and healthy fat.

To make up a healthy avocado concoction at home, mix a frothed egg yolk with half of a mashed avocado. The mixture should be the consistency of a clay mask. Apply to clean skin. Let sit for 20 minutes, and then wash with warm water on a washcloth. Finish with a cool astringent. This is a wonderful natural skin care remedy for dry skin. It’s also great to use on your entire body.

You can also simply peel an avocado, use the meat for guacamole, and rub the inside of the peel on your face. The oil draws moisture to your skin. Leave it on for 15 minutes before rinsing. Avocado slices can be used instead of cucumbers to draw puffiness out from under the eyes.

Olive Oil

In the Mediterranean, women have been using olive oil as an all-purpose skin and hair treatment for centuries. It brings shine to the hair and smoothness to the skin.

Olive oil is a great moisturizer. If your hands are very rough, buy some plain white cotton gloves, massage olive oil into your hands before bed, and sleep with the gloves on. You can do the same thing for your feet; just rub the oil in and sleep in socks. Your feet will feel so much better in the morning!

Use olive oil anywhere you have dry skin, including on chapped lips. Add a couple of tablespoons to a bath to help moisturize and soothe your skin. If you want to give your hair the royal treatment, massage a couple of tablespoons into your scalp and hair. Put on a shower cap for half an hour, and then rinse the oil out. This will prevent dandruff and split ends, as well as making your hair shiny.

Olive oil is a great natural cuticle moisturizer. Just massage a couple of drops into your cuticles to eliminate roughness, or soak your fingertips in olive oil for 30 minutes before giving yourself a manicure to eliminate the ragged spots in your nails and cuticles.

Salt

You may not think of salt as a part of your natural skin care arsenal, but it is a very useful product. Epsom salt is wonderful for soothing sore feet (add two cups of salt to a bucket of warm water) or any other sore body parts.

Epsom salt is also a great natural exfoliator. Just rub salt onto damp skin wherever you have rough patches, or all over your body. The rough edges of the salt will slough off your dry skin, leaving smooth new skin all over.

A cup of Epsom salt combined with a cup of lemon juice in a gallon of water can be used to help remove product buildup in your hair. Mix up the concoction and let it sit for a day before using. Then pour the mixture onto your hair, let it sit for 20 minutes and wash your hair as usual.

Milk

Everyone knows the legend that Cleopatra bathed in milk to keep her skin soft and clear. Modern women can use this beauty trick, too. However, instead of breaking the bank with real milk, you can simply use powdered milk!

Mix three cups of powdered milk with a quarter cup of oatmeal and a third a cup of ground almonds. You can also add essential oil or even dried flowers to make it smell nicer. Add a scoop to the bath for a gentle treat. This makes a great gift for stressed-out friends, too!