Thursday, June 20, 2013

Nourish your skin

Over the course of a year I have discovered you really only need 5 ingredients for beautiful skin. You may have seen 4 of these tips in beauty magazines or websites. Many have surfaced on pinterest as DIY beauty pins. Simplify your routine and stick to these ingredients, unless you have an allergy or sensitive.

#1 Raw Honey
#2 Witch Hazel
#3 Coconut Oil
#4 Tamanu Oil
#5 Allantoin



Raw Honey

Wash your make-up free skin with raw honey daily. Pull back your hair and pour roughly 1/2 teaspoon in your hand. Rub your hands to warm the honey a bit and then rub it gently on your face. I like to leave it on for at least 2 minutes. Rinse with warm water. You will be amaze how nicely it washes off without leaving a sticky residue.

Honey is a humectant. Raw honey contains parts of the hive and crystals that serve as an exfoliate. You would want to store your honey wash away from moisture and light. Keep a separate container from the honey you consume. I use a 4oz baby jar (sterilized) stored in the medicine cabinet. I purchase my honey locally from Truly Pure & Natural.

Take the Crunchy Betty challenge and continue using this wash for two weeks. I noticed my skin was much smoother by day 2. After rinsing I applied a small amount of Tamanu oil onto my scars and acne. I used a dab of lotion including allantoin where the wrinkles are most noticeable.

Witch Hazel

A wonderful natural astringent with anti inflammatory & oil controlling properties. It's best used in it's purest form obtained from soap and beauty suppliers. The 2nd best formulation would be by Dickinson's which contains 14% grain alcohol (gives you that tingling feeling on your skin). Dickinson's now offers towelettes for on the go. It feels really soothing after spending time in the sun.

Coconut Oil

Ditch that eye make-up remover and replace it with coconut oil. It nourishes your skin but don't apply too much because it is know to be comedogenic and acnegenic as well. Coconut oil does contain a very effective anti-oxidant that is known to soothe chapped or sun burned skin while reducing itching and inflammation. It is also the main ingredient in my homemade toothpaste and deodorant. You can find those recipes linked here.


Tamanu Oil

Every now and then I will order something different to try on my skin and hair.  While reading Crunchy Betty's honey wash challenge I reviewed her oil cleansing method. I have tried this but later learned that coconut oil indeed is acnegenic. Crunchy Betty reviewed some exotic oils. I decided to try one from my favorite supplier-Bramble Berry-and attempt OCM with sunflower oil and and some tamanu oil.

Once again I am reading claims that this oil can heal this or soothe that. Yea right I said. I thought that about avocado oil and sunflower oil. Oddly enough I had a few fresh scars when my order arrived. I opened the bottle and was consumed with a nutty scent. I really like it but it might be an acquired smell. I applied it twice a day. Little goes a L O N G way. This oil is extremely thick, thicker than Avocado oil that I am use to. In just 3 days my fresh scars were fading. I started to apply it to older scars and sure enough they are fading too. Is it really a magic oil? Maybe it's skin type specific. I know many who had wonderful results with avocado oil while I did not. Keep that in mind when trying different oils. Keep trying to you find one that works.

Now I haven't started the OCM. I am still a bit scared of all that oil sitting on my skin without washing it away with soap. I do use a mixture of sunflower and tamanu daily on acne, bug bites, and scars. I started this after the two week honey wash challenge. They work beautifully together. If I feel a bit oily I use use some Witch Hazel.

Allantoin

Allantoin is another new ingredient to me. It's actually been sitting in my wishlist basket for months. I make my own lip balm and during the end of winter my husband was requesting a tub for his chapped lips. He told me what brands that failed and which one worked. I compared the ingredients and discovered the winning lip balm contain Allantoin. This was the first I had notice this ingredient.

There are "claims" that it stimulates new tissue formation. It has been approved by the FDA to temporarily prevent and protect chafed, chapped, cracked, or windburned skin. Sounds like something my sensitive skin would love so I included in my next lotion recipe. WOW It's super silky feeling. Again I am applying this over old scars found on my legs and arms with the tamanu/sunflower blend. I think allantoin and tamanu together would be a wonderful addition to a lotion recipe. I did want to test them separately first.


Everyone is different. What worked for me might not work for your skin however you won't know till you try. Here are 5 ingredients I can not do without. Pick one and run some tests. You might be surprised at what you discover.

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