Healthy Skin From The Fridge
Have you ever squished a piece of ripe banana and applied it all over your face? Or, have you ever taken a spoon of raw sugar and scrubbed your hands with it? What about a touch of butter on your lips, or sliced cucumber on your eyes?
These are all grandma's recipes for a glowing complexion and healthy skin. I also read somewhere that Cleopatra even bathed in milk.
Why don't we take a moment to revive those good old, natural, eco-friendly ways of using food stuff to maintain healthy skin? These treatments won't cost you extra money because you are using only a tiny portion of your everyday groceries. You will reduce your trash, and the water you use to rinse your skin is free of chemicals. The best part: these are all edible!
Eat Your Face Mask
Here are some time tested ideas and a few of my own. Find out which methods your skin likes the best.
- Squish a small piece of ripe banana and mix it with a spoon of honey. Apply on face, let dry, rinse with cool water. Pat your face with a soft towel.
- Using a pestle and mortar, pound some mint and basil leaves. I have even used this on a skin rash that I developed on my hands for unknown reasons. Amazingly the rash disappeared after one application!
- Mix together a teaspoon of milk cream and whole wheat flour to a smooth paste.
- Make a paste of 1 tablespoon of plain yogurt and flour.
- Grind a cup of raw, dry garbanzo beans into a fine powder. Store it in an airtight jar. Use a teaspoon full mixed in water or milk once a week as a facial scrubber. You can use it as an alternative to soap, too.
- Apply a pinch of clarified butter or ghee to heal dry, chapped lips. Go ahead and eat it!
- When you eat an orange, save the skin and let it dry completely. Grind into a coarse powder and use it as a face scrubber. Also, take a piece of fresh orange skin, squish it and rub the juice on your face. These smell heavenly as well!
- Wet your palms and take a teaspoon of unrefined sugar. Scrub all over your palms. Rinse with cool water.
- Make a paste of any over ripe fruit or vegetable such as strawberry, watermelon, banana, cantaloupe, cucumber or squash and apply as a face mask.
- Gently massage your face with a spoon of olive oil. Scrub with a teaspoon of flour. Rinse with cool water.
- Grind a cup of blanched almonds to a smooth paste. Mix in 1 tablespoon honey. Store it in an airtight jar.
