Tips for All Around Healthy Skin

Soap

First, make sure the soap you’re using isn’t causing more dryness. I only use African Black Soap for my face and body. You can get it in bar form (it’s cheaper), but it’s also, well, black, and has ashes in it, so some people think it’s too gross to use that way. Luckily, you can purchase it in liquid form (you’ll still need to get over the color), or you can make your own by heating up some black soap bars in a bit of water and straining the liquefied soap into a bottle. A word of caution: authentic African Black Soap is grainy and looks like the soap in the link above; it’s more brown than black. A smooth jet black bar is probably dyed and is more of a marketing ploy than anything else. Don’t waste your money, this kind will probably stain your shower and won’t provide you with many benefits anyway. African Black Soap is the only kind that has helped my skin retain moisture while really cleaning and helping a lot with my skin irritation/allergy issues, and I’ve tried many things.

Lotion

I’ve found that one of the most important things about lotion is when you put it on. I put it on directly after I get out of the shower. A lot of articles recommend putting it on within 3 minutes of getting out of the shower so that your skin absorbs the maximum amount of moisture from it. This works very well for me. I prefer to make my own lotions for both my face and body by using a blend of pure aloe vera (not the stuff you can get at Walmart; whatever you buy should be edible and needs to be refrigerated after opening), coconut oil, grapeseed oil, Vitamin E, and essential oils. However, I also realize that many people don’t want to go through the hassle of making their own, and I like to have a bottle of lotion on hand in case I run out of the homemade stuff and don’t have time to make my own. With the combination of using a great soap and applying lotion right after showering, I can’t say that I’ve noticed a significant difference between the different brands I’ve used. I typically just make sure they’re all natural and tend to buy whatever is on sale at Whole Foods. Right now, I’m using Nature’s Gate Herbal Lotion, and while it seems to get the job done, my skin feels kind of sticky and taut for the first 15-20 minutes after putting it on. My favorite store-bought lotion is probably Kiss My Face Peaceful Patchouli. It absorbs very quickly, is all natural, and makes my skin feel silky after I put it on. If you’re not a fan of patchouli, they have a bunch of different scents you can choose from. The other nice thing about this brand is that it’s available at Walgreens and Stop and Shop, so if you don’t have a Whole Foods nearby, you probably won’t have to go all the way there to get it.

Exfoliating

Exfoliating your skin can help circulation and cell regeneration, but it can also contribute to dry skin issues if it’s done too often. I only exfoliate once month, and when I do, I just use coconut oil mixed with sugar and sea salt (with essential oils added). You can also exfoliate with a washcloth, brush, or glove, but if you do, use it right before you shower while your skin is still dry.

Why I Started Making My Own Skin-Care Products

A lot of people have asked me why I started making skin-care products, so I thought I'd share a bit about the skin issues I've experienced. Trust me when I say I was incredibly doubtful that all natural ingredients and products could possibly come close to having the healing benefits of synthesized ingredients specifically created to treat certain skin conditions. Turns out, I was wrong.

I've had dry patches of skin on my upper arms for a couple years, but this summer, whatever skin condition I had completely ravaged my arms and legs, leaving me incredibly itchy and with scabs covering a great deal of these parts of my body. Convinced I had poison ivy at first, I went straight for the calamine lotion, which helped with the itching temporarily, but only dried out my skin and made it itch worse than ever. So, I switched over to Aveeno's more moisturizing hydrocortisone cream. Again, this stopped the itching, but at $8 for a 1 oz. tube, I didn't see it as a very cost effective solution for my issue. I continued to try a wide variety of lotions, serums, and creams, and while some gave me short-term relief from the itching, none of them really seemed to be helping my overall condition or actually healing my skin.

At this point, you're probably wondering why I didn't just go to a doctor. Well, the answer is two-fold: 1) I anticipated allergy testing, which often involves blood samples and needles...and I'm a baby. 2) I was trying to avoid steroids because they can really wreak havoc on your body and overall well being.

Then one day I was in Whole Foods looking at some of the lotions and creams they have. One of the ladies working there asked if I needed any help and I showed her the dry, scabbing patches on my arms and asked if they carried anything that might help. She said she knew of the perfect thing and led me to an all natural salve that she said she swears by for any skin irritation. At $10 for a 24 gram jar of herbal oils, I hesitated, but finally decided to buy it. I had tried everything else, so why not? When I got home, I put the salve on my arms and legs and it quickly soothed the itching. Great, but so did a lot of other products, so I remained skeptical. I continued to put it on my arms and legs right after showering in the morning and before bed, and within less than a week, my skin began to heal. Although the jar was 24 grams, a little went a very long way, and I still have about 1/3 of the jar left. Considering my experience with the salve, I began to do a bit of research into various natural oils and herbs and their healing properties. Along the way, I learned about some of the scary potential risks of using some of the products marketed to improve skin quality. For example, hydroquinone, an ingredient found in many facial creams that even out the tone of your skin, has been linked to cancer, organ-system toxicity, allergies, and immunotoxicity. You can check out more about which cosmetic ingredients are potentially toxic at http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

Surprisingly, a lot of the ingredients used in lotions and moisturizers can irritate allergies and people with sensitive skin. Weird. So, I tried shopping for body lotions that only contained ingredients that I could pronounce and only if I knew what the ingredients were. Without a strong background in chemistry, I found this was an incredibly costly and time-consuming task and probably wouldn't be sustainable. I also considered buying all of my lotions and skin-care products at Whole Foods, but as I read many of the label ingredients it occurred to me that the formulas weren't all that complicated and I could likely find the ingredients to make those products. So, after a little hunting around the internet, I found some lotion recipes, which I experimented with until I made a product that I liked.

Since throwing out all of my store-bought skin care products, the scabs and sores on my arms and legs have completely disappeared. There are some scars left, but they're fading as well. I also threw out all of my chemically infused facial washes and lotions, and my face is also beginning to heal. Although my acne isn't completely gone, the overall quality of my skin is much better. Before, my skin would be chronically dry and covered in acne, but I've found that many of the ingredients in the store-bought products were probably irritating my skin further because it feels so much better since I've started making my own facial wash and creams.

I could be completely wrong, but it seems to me that the synthetic ingredients in products are created to emulate one desirable quality of a natural substance while eliminating or neglecting the therapeutic value of the whole element or plant. I can only speak from personal experience, but this neglect and selective emulation seems to leave synthetic products lacking and unbalanced. Now combine that theory with the knowledge that at least 60% of anything you put onto your skin is absorbed into your bloodstream and you might start looking at the ingredients on your products a bit more closely. I mean, seriously, you wouldn't eat hydroquinone, would you?

Oatmeal Lavender Bath Salts

After giving out my handmade gifts for Christmas, my mom asked me to put together a gift basket for one of her friends whose birthday is coming up. Since today was frigid and snowy, I was in the mood to make some bath salts to put in the basket. As with all of my blog posts, if you don't feel like getting together all of the ingredients and making this stuff, just ask me and you can buy any of the finished products (or gift baskets) from me. My mom just told me to put together a $25 basket, which you can see here:

Anyway, this recipe is super easy and most of you probably already have the ingredients laying around. Also, I acquired a kitchen scale so my recipes will be more precise from now on! Yay!

Ingredients:
1.5 oz. oatmeal - put in a food processor so it's very fine
2.5 oz. epsom salt
2.5 oz. sea salt
5-10 drops of lavender essential oil

Mix it all together with a spoon and pour into a pretty bottle. Done!

Turmeric Facial Moisturizer

Here's a recipe for a naturally tinted facial moisturizer. I used turmeric because of its amazing skin benefits. Just do a google search for "turmeric skin benefits" and you can read all about it. A word of caution if you're going to attempt this: use the turmeric sparingly and only use a little bit when applying it to your face; using too much turmeric can give your skin a yellowish hue. However, if you do end up using too much and you look like Lisa Simpson, don't panic: it's removable with a little sugar and water mixture.

Ok, so here we go.

In a double-boiler (or mason jar in a pot of water), combine the following ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Grapeseed Oil
1 Tablespoon Castor Oil
1 Teaspoon Beeswax
1 Teaspoon Vitamin E Oil
2 Capsules Turmeric - You can also purchase turmeric as a cooking spice, but I bought it in capsule form.

Heat and stir until almost fully melted, then turn the heat off and keep stirring until the beeswax has completely liquefied. Then, pour your moisturizer into a container, let it cool for a couple hours or stick it in the fridge. Only apply a little bit to your face because a little goes a very long way. I was nervous about turning my skin yellow with this because my skin is so fair, but instead it just gave it a deeper tone. In fact, my sister said she thought I had gone tanning when I saw her after using this only twice.

Oil-Based Face Wash (Yes, Seriously)

Using oil to wash your face sounds disgusting and completely counter-intuitive, right? Well, not exactly. After years of trying to figure out how my skin could possibly be super dry AND acne prone at the same time, I finally got rid of all of my drying acne "solutions" that I've probably spent hundreds of dollars on over the years. As it turns out, drying your skin out won't solve any of your skin problems and caking on chemicals just doesn't sound all that appealing to me. So, after some research, I found that some people are suggesting that some acne issues are exacerbated by products like benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid because the skin has to produce an incredible amount of oil to counteract the drying effects of these ingredients, thus producing more acne. I'm not a dermatologist, but it makes sense to me.

The first time I washed my face with oil, I used pure coconut oil, rubbed it between my palms for a few seconds and rubbed it on my face. Then I ran a clean washcloth under hot water and placed it over my face for about a minute. This is supposed to open the pores and pull out impurities, but I think that if you just apply the oil in a hot shower in the morning, you'll get the same effect. In any case, coconut oil was too heavy for my skin and it didn't seem to absorb very well. Other people swear by it though, so I say give it a try if you're thinking about switching to an oil-based face wash.

After trying a bunch of different oils and mixtures, I finally came up with one that I'm really liking. Even after you rinse it off, your skin feels soft and smooth, but not greasy.

Here's What I Used (Measurements are not exact, at all)
1/8 cup grapeseed oil
1 tsp. castor oil
1 tsp. witch hazel
1 cap-full tea tree oil (about 1/2 tsp...I think)
1-2 drops of peppermint oil

Shake it all up in a bottle and use it to wash your face and remove makeup (yup, you can throw out your synthetic makeup removal products too!). I have incredibly sensitive skin and it doesn't irritate my skin, so I'm thinking this recipe should work for most people with sensitive skin.

Homemade Peppermint Honey Lip Balm

This was my very first homemade undertaking, but one of my favorites because it was so simple and I ended up making a ton that I gave out as Christmas gifts. The measurements don't need to be exact really, just remember that the more beeswax you add, the harder your lip balm will be. You can find all of the ingredients I used online if you don't want to go to the store.

Preparation & Ingredients
Containers: I knew I needed small containers to hold the lip balm, and I'm sure I could have found something online, but then I noticed when I was painting one day that I could use small paint solvent cups instead. You can find these at Michael's or AC Moore if you don't have any hanging around.

Beeswax: The next somewhat obscure ingredient I needed was beeswax. Apparently Whole Foods doesn't sell this, but, again, Michael's and AC Moore do! They both always have 40-50% coupons in their weekly flier, so I printed one of those and ended up with a big block of 100% pure beeswax. Plus, if you're a teacher, you get 15% off if you bring your teacher ID or a pay stub with you to the store. If you know someone who keeps bees, you could also ask them to purchase some. I still have over 3/4 of the block I bought left and I've used it for quite a few projects so far.

Virgin Coconut Oil: This is easy to find. You can get it at pretty much any grocery store. I got mine at Ocean State Job Lot because it's only $5 for a 14 oz. jar.

Grapeseed Oil: Again, easy to find at any grocery store.

Honey: I'm not even going to address the acquisition of this. However, I will say that I think raw honey would have dissolved and blended better, so I'll probably get some for next time. I know Whole Foods sells raw honey, and I'm guessing a lot of other grocery stores do too, but I haven't checked.

Peppermint Oil: Just make sure it's pure extract and not imitation.

Combining the Ingredients
People suggest using a double boiler to heat the ingredients together. But, I'm cheap, so I just filled a pot up with water and put a mason jar in it. It worked fine. Also, I didn't need to worry about ruining any pots because beeswax is next to impossible to wash off of whatever you put it in.

I put the following ingredients into the mason jar and put my stove on medium-low:

• 1 part beeswax (again, the measurements here are approximate)
• 1 part coconut oil
• 1 part grapeseed oil
• A little honey (not really sure how much I put in, I just kind of squirted some out of the bottle)

Stir your concoction frequently and turn the stove off once the mixture is almost completely melted. Continue stirring until all of the ingredients are melted and blended together.

Pour the mixture into your paint solvent cups (or whatever you're using), quickly add a couple drops of peppermint oil to each cup, and stir a bit before the mixture begins to harden. You don't want to add your oils until after you remove the mixture from the stove because it evaporates quickly, but the mixture can also start to look chunky and gross if you don't add the peppermint oil soon enough and the mixture has already started to harden. Just work quickly and you'll be fine though.

And that's it. Now just wait for your lip balm to harden (or put it in the fridge if you're impatient) and you have your own homemade peppermint-honey lip balm.