I've blogged here a lot about the Cosmetic Database and how a lot of our skin care products and make-up have hazardous chemicals in them. I won't get on my soapbox again, I promise.
For me, I felt as if I needed to make a change in my skin care regimen so I researched various brands and purchased new facial cleanser and moisturizer that was free of these chemicals. The problem? They're fricken expensive!!! The face wash and moisturizer I chose were $25+ each and this is about average.
And we all know I'm fricken cheap so there was just no way I could keep spending that much. Also, since I switched, my face has been breaking out a lot so these expensive products weren't even working for me.
In all my research, I kept coming across websites on making your own skin care. I dismissed it at first because it sounded too damn complicated and time-consuming. In my head, I imagined you had to go to specialty stores to buy natural oils or ingredients and it'd be just as expensive in the end.
I woke up yesterday with 3 new pimples on my chin and I figured I had to try something new.
What I found has turned out to be so much fun! My assumption that homemade skin care was complicated and time-consuming was so wrong! I learned that certain foods have specific purposes- moisturization for dry skin, treating oily skin, exfoliation, and even some foods that are best for acne-prone skin. You can take any of these ingredients and in any amounts to make your scrubs, cleansers, and moisturizers based on your own skin type. You just mix and mingle until you find one that works for you- how fun is that?
And even better, most of the ingredients you probably have in your kitchen already and if not, they're not expensive at all- cucumbers, olive oil, bananas, yogurt, honey, etc.
Here's a list of foods that help with acne.
Here's are some ideas for hair, face, skin, etc.
Here are foods that help with moisturizing if you have dry skin.
...and here are a bunch of natural exfoliators.
So here's what I decided to buy today:
All of these ingredients are optional! It depends on what you're trying to do with your skin. The castor oil was the most expensive thing at $13.99 but the bottle is huge. You can certainly buy a smaller size for cheaper but this size will last me forever. I only used a tablespoon or maybe 2 and that's it!
The grapeseed oil cost $4.49 but could easily be replaced with olive oil. I read that people with acne prefer grapeseed oil so I decided to give it a try. I probably used about 5 tablespoons of the grapeseed oil so that bottle in the picture will last quite a while.
Here's what I spent in addition to those two items:
2 bananas: $.42 (I have 1 banana left, I ate the rest of the banana)
1 lemon*: $.39 (I squeezed the lemon & only used 1 tbsp so I have a lot left!)
1 cucumber $.33 (I cut this & used 2 slices for my eyes so I have a lot left!)
Apple cider vinegar*: $.92 (Didn't end up using this)
Organic, plain, yogurt*: $3.49 (No "single-size" available, had to buy large container)
Honey*: $3.49 (I only used a squirt)
Case of small glass jars*: $6.99
*Will be continuously used
We didn't have any honey, apple cider vinegar, yogurt, or glass jars in the house. If you already have any of these things, you probably just need a few fruits or veggies!
Here's the final result-
1. The exfoliator (left)- that's actually my used coffee grounds from my morning coffee! Can you believe it? I never-in-a-million-years thought I'd scrub my face with USED coffee grounds but I'll tell you what, I absolutely loved it! I mixed the grounds with olive oil until I got a nice texture. I didn't measure, just kept pouring until I thought it would "spread" okay over my face. This was by far my favorite result of today! I will never buy an exfoliator again because my skin felt amazing after using this! (I only plan to use this on my face twice a week probably but I will use it all over my body as well.)
2. The cleanser (middle)- I used:
1/3 of a banana,
1 tbsp of lemon juice,
1 tbsp yogurt,
and a squirt of honey.
I used this cleanser tonight and I liked how it felt. In fact, the smell was amazing. My only unknown is that I didn't wear makeup today so I wonder how it will feel tomorrow when I have makeup to try and get off.
3. The moisturizer (right)- This is a mixture of the castor oil and grapeseed oil and that's it. Again, I didn't measure but I tried to use 4:1 grapeseed oil for castor oil. I used this tonight and my face feels a little oily. From what I've read, it will soak in but I may have used too much grapeseed oil or I may have simply applied too much. Since the ingredients are natural oils, you need very little so I'm thinking I simply used too much out of habit.
Overall, my face feels softer, smoother, better than it has in quite a while. Only time will tell if it helps with the acne but it's fun and certainly cheaper than the alternative so that's good!
Do you think you'll give it a try?
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