Natural Beauty Secrets for Your Face

By BlackBeauty. With beauty products getting more varied, and even pricier, it can be sometimes hard to find what works for you. As facial skin is usually the most sensitive, and the most prone to natural elements like the sun and the wind, it should be well taken care of to avoid dryness, loss of elasticity, and premature aging. I had the same problem. With an extremely sensitive face, prone to redness and inflammation, I had a tortuous journey to discovering what works for my face. Later, I found more safety and refuge in all-natural products. Take a look at some of the beauty products on your counter. They are packed full of so many chemicals, both naturally and artificially derived, such that if I picked up one ingredient from the product label of, say, your facial cream, and asked you what it was, you wouldn’t know. So it makes sense to say that you don’t know what you are putting on your face. Doesn’t that make you think? How about returning to nature’s goodness? With the recent explosion of natural products like Shea butter, milk, and honey as ingredients used in the beauty industry, manufactures are looking for natural and safer ingredients to include in their products. If a skincare product claims to contain “pure and organic” Shea butter which will do wonders for my skin, how about I go to the market, and buy that same fresh butter, and apply on my skin directly. Makes more sense to me, and made some visible, remarkable difference on my skin when I did that. Actually, our facial skin only needs simple, natural, and essential ingredients, free of the so many preservatives you find in manufactured products.There are so many natural products, full of vitamins, minerals, and suppleness, to give your face even better nourishment than those pricey facial moisturisers and washes. Like someone once said: if it’s good for my skin, then it should be good to eat. Sounds like a great rule to try adhering to. For this week, let’s have a look at 3 all-natural products that work wonders on the face. Honey

For facial skin, honey is like liquid gold. I totally cannot do without it as it occupies a constant space on my bathroom counter. Full of skin-beneficial vitamins, enzymes, and softness, honey nourishes and heals the skin to an amazing firmness and silkiness. It is a humectant, which means that it attracts and retains moisture in the skin. Your face will surely thank you! It doubles up as a cleanser and moisturizer. It also has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties which will help fight whatever is causing your pimples and acne. It is slightly drying and also incredibly moisturising which makes it good for an effective two-in-one moisturizer – dries up excess oil and hydrates extremely well at the same time. Facial Recipe: As a face wash – Pour a little honey into your palm. To warm it up, rub your palms together for a few seconds. Alternatively, you may place the honey in a little bowl, and put that bowl in a bigger bowl of warm water. Place the honey on your face and massage gently for a minute or two. You can leave it on your face and rinse off after washing your body. Rinse with warm water first, then cold water. Pat dry. As a face mask – Apply honey gently and equally to your clean face with your fingertips. Keep the eye area clear. Leave it on for about 15 to 20 minutes. Wash off with warm water and end with a splash of cold water. Tip: For extremely oily skin, mix honey with freshly squeezed juice from a lemon. Apply to the face as a mask. Wash off as usual. Eggs

Eggs are not just good for you to eat; they’re great for your face too. Want to firm up sagging skin on your face? Instead of leaning on those expensive creams that promise so much, crack open an egg. An egg is a complete food, full of protein and vitamins and minerals. It makes a nourishing and firming face mask for the skin. A fresh egg has two components – the albumen (egg white) and the yolk. The egg white contains protein while the yolk is packed full of fat. Egg whites cleanse, exfoliate and tighten; where egg yolks moisturize, feed, and soothe your skin. This is a perfect combination for any face mask. If you have oily skin, you may want to use the egg white alone. It will help heal acne and pimple prone skin, minimise pores, and control oil. If your skin is dry, you may use the egg yolk alone on your face. However, using both the white and yolk works quite well for all skin types, especially for normal and combination skin. Facial Recipe: Separate the egg white and yolk into different bowls. Whisk the egg white and spread gently all over the face and neck with your fingertips. Keep the eye and mouth area clear. After 20 to 25 minutes, when the mask hardens, wash off with warm water. Afterwards, spread the egg yolk in the same way as you did the egg white. Leave the mask on for another 15 to 20 minutes. Wash off with warm water, and rinse with cold water. Tip: If you don’t like the smell of raw eggs you can mix the egg with some honey. Or if you have oily skin, add a few drops of lemon juice to the egg white, this will help drain excess oil. Baking Soda

Baking soda is chemically known as bicarbonate of soda. This pure naturally occurring substance is usually used in cooking and as a leavening agent while baking. The properties it has which make it a great tenderizer for your meat is the same one it brings to your skin – makes it supple as a baby’s bottom. Baking soda has a mild gritty feel and works as a gentle cleanser and exfoliator when massaged gently onto the face. It is environmentally friendly and fragrance-free, an inexpensive way to peel away dead skin cells on the face and maintain a smooth and supple skin. Replace all those expensive facial scrubs, masks, and chemical peels with a mix of baking soda. Facial Recipe: Mix a little baking soda with lukewarm water. Apply onto slightly damp face, massaging gently. Rinse off thoroughly with warm water. Pat dry with a clean face towel. Tip: For an extra moisturizing feel, mix with honey instead of water. Or for a great exfoliator full of nature’s goodness, add some oat flour into the mix to form a smooth paste. Apply on the face as usual. Note: If you’re not using any natural product as a wash, always apply them on a clean face when using as a mask. And don’t forget to extend each and every application to your neck, too. Next week I will share 3 more inexpensive all-natural products you can use to nourish and care for your face. Till then.    

About the Author BlackBeauty is a writer, fun lover, hair and beauty buff, and an artist. She is a jack of all trades and master of all which can be seen in her awareness of a wide variety of topics. She is quite a luddite, but she can do email, and a bit of Facebook. You can send her an email at blackbeautywrites@gmail.com, and she will reply.