Beauty

 

I have had much fun gathering a few fun DIY beauty tips.  I love how most of them are natural, inexpensive and use ingredients you already have at home.

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10 Must See Beauty Treatments To Do AT Home

Oatmeal & Baking Soda Exfoliante via Our Best Bites
“Try this baking soda exfoliant for super soft skin.”

Black-head Remover via Stylebees
“Use half lemon from the fridge (doesn’t matter if some juice is already squeezed from it) and put 3-4 drops of honey on it. Rub the lemon on your face, emphasizing trouble areas. Leave the lemon and honey mixture on your face for 5 minutes and then wash it with cold water. You will be able to see the results immediately. Additionally, lemon juice will also fade other marks/spots on the face and honey will moisturize.”

Lavender Facial Toner via New Nostalgia
“Most commercial toners have alcohol and chemicals in them and are too harsh.”

“How to get white nails after so much nail polish — make a paste using 1 tbsp peroxide and 2 1/4 tbsp baking soda. Let this paste sit on your nails for 5 minutes and voila! White nails! REMEMBER THIS AFTER USING Dark NAIL POLISH!”

Best Moisturizing Hair Treatment– Coconut Oil! via New Nostalgia
“20 minute pre-shampoo coconut oil treatment REALLY helps dry or brittle hair.”

Minimizing Pore Baking Soda Mask via ehow
“After you’ve washed your face, place 2 tbsp. baking soda in the palm of your hand and add just enough water to form a thick paste. Massage the paste into your face, resisting the urge to scrub, for about 30 seconds. Rinse the paste away with cool water. You should notice that your pores are smaller almost immediately. After a week of this regime you’ll see visible results as your skin becomes clearer and less prone to breakouts.”

“Soaking feet in vinegar (apple cider being best) for the softest feet ever!  Also great for tired feet, toe nail fungus, foot fungus & athletes foot.”

Whiten Teeth For Cheap via New Nostalgia (not natural, but inexpensive!)
“I’ve used this for years and love it.  I usually use it while I am in the shower.  It seems like it is the only place I get away with not talking for 10 minutes!”

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I make this simple homemade 2 ingredient lemon facial scrub about once a week.  It is so easy to throw together, and it leaves my skin very soft, smooth, & exfoliated.

Start by juicing a half of a lemon.  I like to use the lemons in my refrigerator that are on the verge of being too ripe to eat.  This is a great way to use those lemons up!

Don’t underestimate the power of a simple fork!  I have several fancy lemon squeezing gadgets, but when I am just doing a lemon half, I just grab a fork.  It is amazing how much juice a simple fork can extract!

I add about 1/8-1/4 cup of organic sugar, and stir.  This makes enough for several applications, but in time the sugar dissolves, so I usually let my girls know that I have homemade lemon sugar scrub and they love doing “facials” with it.  They end up putting lots around their lips so they can lick it off.  Lemonade!  It is delicious and ends up being a great lip scrub, too!  You could also take leftovers in the bath with you for a great body scrub.

I put some of the mixture into my palm, and rub in circular motions all over my face.  It feels so good!  I love a good scrub!  I then let it sit on my skin a few minutes until it gets sticky and feels a bit hard.  Then I get a microfiber facial washcloth nice and hot, and just lay it on my face for a few seconds.  The steam opens the pores and softens the sugar mixture.  I then wipe off and rinse well.  I will often follow with a dab of coconut oil for moisture.

Lemons do have a lightening quality about them and I notice it has faded sun damage that I have on my forehead.  It is also great for breakouts.  It seems to really help with blackheads and just clearing the junk out of my pores.  I love it!

2 Ingredient Lemon Facial Scrub

 1/2 lemon

1/8-1/4 cup sugar

Juice lemon.  Add the sugar and stir.  Apply to face in circular motions and gently allow the sugar to scrub your skin.  Let sit for a few minutes.  Use a hot washcloth, lay on face to steam for a minute, then use it to wipe of scrub.  Rinse well & moisturize.  Use once a week.

You might also like:
Homemade Organic Eye Makeup Remover
Homemade Face Moisturizer
100% Natural Oil Cleansing Method
My Favorite Pre-Shave & Post Shave For The Softest Legs

A Guest Post from Kendra @ Our Homemade Happiness
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I’ve been using olive oil to wash my face for the past two months. Yeah, you heard me right. I wash my face with oil. Sound like an oxymoron? Here’s how it works: like disolves like. The clean oil dissolves the dirty oil from your face, all without stripping your skin’s natural protective oils. This all natural, gentle cleansing approach is called the oil cleansing method or OCM in the blogosphere. Not only do I save money compared to my old Clinique face wash, it also doubles as my eye makeup remover. Yay for simplifying! The best part? My face has never looked and felt better. 

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You’ll want to use a little castor oil mixed with a carrier oil. Castor oil is very cleansing. Start with one of the following ratios listed below. If your skin feels too oily, use more castor oil. If your skin feels too dry, use less castor oil. Castor oil is very drying, so don’t use too much. You should be able to find these oils at your local health food store,Amazon, or Mountain Rose Herbs. It may take time to find what works for your skin. When I started OCM, I used 100% olive oil because my skin was so dry. Now that my skin has adjusted and isn’t dry anymore, I use 10% castor oil, 90% jojoba oil.

• Oily Skin: 30% castor oil to 70% carrier oil
• Normal Skin: 20% castor oil to 80% carrier oil
• Dry Skin: 10% castor oil to 90% carrier oil
• Really Dry Skin: 0% castor oil to 100% carrier oil

• Jojoba–all skin types, especially acne-prone, oily, sensitive, and normal
• Sweet Almond–all skin types, especially oily and normal
• Avocado–all skin types, especially dry, itchy, sensitive, and aging
• Apricot Kernel–all skin types, especially dry, sensitive, aging, and normal
• Grape Seed–all skin types, especially acne-prone and oily
• Kukui Nut–all skin types, especially dry and normal
• Olive–all skin types, especially dryRinse Face. Rinse face with water.

First: Rinse Face. Rinse face with water.
1. Massage with Oil. Lightly massage oil in a circular motion over your face for two minutes. Massaging your face can lead to firmer, more radiant skin by minimizing fine lines and wrinkles, releasing tension, and improving circulation. Just remember that when you’re getting bored and wondering if the two minutes are up yet.
2. Remove Eye Makeup. Gently rub oil across your eye lids and eye lashes to remove eye makeup.
3. Steam. Soak a washcloth with hot water. Hold it over your face for 10-15 seconds.
4. Wipe Off. Gently wipe oil off your face and eyes with your washcloth. When I’m finished, my face feels clean and moisturized, never greasy. I’m still amazed that oil can clean my face.

(Don’t forget to admire your beautiful, glowing skin in the mirror.)

Customize with Essential Oils

You can make your cleansing oil even more luxurious and customized to your individual skin type by adding essential oils. Essential oils are natural compounds extracted from parts of plants, flowers, and trees. They have been used throughout history for their medicinal and therapeutic benefits. They are extremely concentrated so you only need to add a few drops to your bottle of oil. Never use undiluted essential oils on your skin. Click here for more essential oil safety. You can find essential oils at your local health food store, Amazon, dōTERRA, or Mountain Rose Herbs.

• Mature Skin/Wrinkles: frankincense, helichrysum, geranium, lavender, myrrh, sandalwood, carrot seed
• Dry Skin: rose, lavender, geranium, sandalwood, rosewood, ylang-ylang, chamomile
• Oily Skin: lemon, cedarwood, cypress, juniper, lavender, lemongrass, grapefruit
• Acne-Prone Skin: tea tree, lemongrass, lavender, geranium, peppermint, rosemary, sandalwood

Questions About OCM:

How often do you wash your face with oil?

I do OCM most nights to wash my makeup off, but many people do it less often. I wash my face with water only when I shower in the morning. I don’t use facial cleansers anymore because they strip too much of the skin’s natural protective oils.

Do you need to moisturize after OCM?

My face was quite dry when I started OCM, so I had to moisturize. Over the past two months of doing OCM, my face has gotten less and less dry so I don’t even need to moisturize anymore. But I do it anyway to help prevent wrinkles (it’s never too early). I also use oil to moisturize, which you can read about here.

Does washing with oil make you break out?

No, I get less blemishes now then I did before OCM. Occasionally I’ll get a tiny blemish when I’m lazy and don’t wash my makeup off at night. Do OCM for at least three weeks to give your face adequate time to adjust. Be patient. It took some time before I figured out what oils worked for my skin and for my face to adjust to this new way of doing things.

How does OCM save you money?

Here’s how much money I’m saving by switching to olive oil/castor oil. Not only do I save money, I don’t have to worry about all the chemicals in commercial cleanser anymore. I also use oil as a natural make-up remover so that saves me even more money.

$3.90/oz. Clinique Foaming Cleanser ($19.50/5 oz.)
$1.68/oz. Olive Oil ($9/24 oz) & Castor Oil ($10/8 oz.)

Read More About OCM:
The Oil Cleansing Method
Nitty Gritty on the Oil Cleansing Method

 

Hi, I’m Kendra!  I blog about all things homemade, especially cleaners, skincare, and healthy eating.  I started my blog, Our Homemade Happiness, after my husband suffered from mono symptoms for over two years and his blood results showed some liver disease.  Since the liver is responsible for filtering out chemicals and toxins from the bloodstream, I started to realize how many chemicals are in everything we buy, from processed food to household cleaners, lotion, and even air freshener.  I’ve become inspired to rid my home of as many chemicals as I can, one product at a time, and blog about it along the way.