Our bathrooms bloom with bottles upon bottles of beauty products that came with a whole new set of rules of what to do to our bodies. Sweet Sirens' serenades of beauty magazines with their still shots of everlasting perfection transfixed us. And living in comparison makes the world seem unfair as we see it through doomscroll of social.
I really hope that in your lifetime you sifted and sorted your way through synthetic skincare and figured out that all of these products were just chemicals dressed in spurious splendour. Gaining the knowledge that Cucumber Face Toner from The Body Shop had never encountered a cucumber and was just scented rubbing alcohol was tough on your skin.
If you can't put in your mouth, don't put it on your face. Attend your home spa via your pantry which guaranty to have a few mentioned below ingredients for DIY face masks to moisturise and pamper your skin.
1. Avocado
Avocados are full of good fats and moisture for your hair and skin. Girls, rejoice, as this noble fruit delivers a big caress of lusciousness to your skin.
2. Banana
Bananas are full of potassium, which helps to strengthen hair, repairing damage and preventing breakage. They are also full of powerful antioxidants like vitamin A, C and E and zinc, which can prevent ageing and nourish the skin.
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Combine one teaspoon of mashed avocado or banana, or both with equal amount of Berry Ripple Exfoliating Masque for delicious boost for your skin.
3. Egg
Egg yolks are rich in sulphur content, which helps in relieving dandruff symptoms and in maintaining a healthy scalp. Egg yolks are a wonderful source of lecithin, which aid in moisturising and strengthening hair. Lecithin acts as a natural emulsifier, yep, just like in your leafy greens salad dressing, which means that it binds together the ingredients of a homogenous mixture.
Egg whites have astringent properties which will tighten the skin and make enlarged pores less obvious - despite what you might have heard, there's actually no real way to 'close' your pores, just ways to obscure them.
4. Honey
Sweet and dewy, honey is a balm for our skin - a wonder ingredient, particularly manuka honey. Chemically, manuka honey is like regular honey except it contains more of methylglyoxal and does not contain or has low amounts of defensin-1. The higher amount of methylglyoxal is believed to give manuka honey an advantage when it comes to healing wounds since it is better at preventing harmful biofilms on skin’s surface. These surface films contain substances that reduce skin’s ability to recover from damage. Massaged on to affected areas, honey helps with the appearance of scars and increases both healing and tissue regeneration.
Also honey is an excellent humectant, a compound which attracts and retains the moisture in the air nearby via absorption, drawing the water vapor into or beneath the skin’s surface. Humectants also increase the solubility of other active ingredients in the mix, raising the active ingredients' ability to penetrate skin, or its activity time.
As with any natural ingredient, the quality and how it’s sourced can impact performance. Aim for raw, unheated honey as processed honey has been stripped of its valuable vitamins, minerals, probiotics, enzymes and glucose oxidase – an essential aspect of honey's healing. Avoid honey from supermarkets, because a lot of what's available in the convenient aisles is just overpriced high-fructose corn syrup.
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Add healing properties of honey to Chamomile Tea Soothing Masque - one teaspoon of each will create a blend that delivers replenishing nutriments while balancing and calming easily upset skin.
5. Oats
Researches have proved the presence of different types of phenols confers antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Together with studies which have shown that oatmeal provides clinically effective benefits for dry and compromised skin by strengthening skin barrier. The high concentration in starches and beta-glucan is responsible for the protective and water-holding functions of oatmeal. In short oats are powerhouse when it comes to helping reduce skin inflammation and as such is ideal for sensitive skin and to treat and relieve symptoms of variety of skin conditions (i.e acne, eczema, psoriasis and seborrheic dermatitis).
6. Papaya
Called “fruit of the angels” by Christopher Columbus, papaya is renowned for papain enzymes and alpha-hydroxy acids, which help clear away dead cells as well as feed your skin with vitamins A, C and E.
7. Spices
Nutmeg is known in Ayurveda for its antiseptic and antiviral properties, which makes it great for helping to heal acne and reduce scarring.
Turmeric Ongoing research has shown turmeric and the curcumin, active ingredient it contains, play a weighty role in promoting healthier, normalised skin. On skin, in vivo research has shown that turmeric and its derivatives interrupt signaling in surface cells that trigger signs of irritation. Turmeric helps calm skin and may even be a factor in reducing the look of acne-related redness by modulating pathways to restore a healthier, more even appearance.
Also turmeric is jam-packed with antioxidants, similarly due to its curcumin content (although it contains other antioxidants). Applying turmeric to skin can help offset signs of environmental damage and, to some extent, thwart the skin-damaging effects from UVB light. As with many antioxidants, turmeric requires protection from air and light, as routine exposure causes it to break down and limits its availability to skin.
Add to the mix turmeric's ability to boost skin's hyaluronic acid content, meaning turmeric can also be considered hydrating, and we are dealing with one of the most powerful ingredients out there.
8. Yogurt
It's alive. Full of beneficial enzymes and probiotics, and is a superfood for your skin. Plain yogurt contains zinc, which is anti-inflammatory and promotes cell production; lactic acid, which is mildly exfoliating and great for wrinkles; calcium, which is an antioxidant and facilitates skin renewal; and B vitamins, which help keep skin glowing. If yogurt is all you have out of the ingredients listed above, great! Use it solo as a moisturising treat for skin and hair. Choose yogurt that has no milk solids added in its ingredients list.
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As one of the most potently rich superfoods in the world, matcha provides antioxidants 17 times that of blueberries and 60 times that of spinach. Paired with highly hydrating rose petals and orris root, this masque will leave your skin supple and deeply nourished. Activate by adding one teaspoon of natural plain yogurt.
“Do you know how beautiful you are?
I think not, my dear.”
Hafiz
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