Homemade beauty treatments

Save money and protect your skin from harsh chemicals by trying these homemade cleansers and facial masks:

Natural Facial Cleansers

Gentle Oatmeal Facial Cleanser

Ingredients

1/2 cup Oatmeal or Cornmeal

2 tbsp of plain Yogurt [Add enough yogurt to form a paste]

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients.

Smooth over entire face avoiding eye area.

Allow to sit for 10 min and rinse.

Coconut Cleanser

Ingredients

3 tsp Coconut Oil

1 tsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Glycerin

2 tsp Water

Instructions

Melt ingredients together in a double boiler.

When melted, remove from heat and beat with a whisk for 5 minutes.

Transfer to jar when cooled.

Apply it on the face and rinse it.

Sweet Oil Scrub

Ingredients

1 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar

Instructions

Mix ingredients in a bowl.

Apply to skin in a circular motion for a minute or 2.

Rinse with a warm cloth and water.

The cleanser will feel greasy but after you rinse and pat dry, skin with be silky soft!

It is great for removing eye makeup.

Creamy Oatmeal Facial Cleanser

Ingredients

1/2 cup Oatmeal

2 tbsp heavy Cream (or milk)

Instructions

Grind the oatmeal to a finer dust using a blender or coffee grinder.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Smooth over entire face in a circular motion.

Rinse well.

Olive Oil Cleanser

Ingredients

1 tbsp Castor oil

1 tbsp of Olive oil

Green tea leaf extract.

1 drop of Essential oil.

1 tbsp Jojoba oil

Instructions

Mix up the ingredients.

Apply to skin in a circular motion for 2 minutes.

Using a warm face cloth, rinse and wipe off face.

Your face will feel very oily while you are cleansing. Do not worry. The face cloth will remove the excess oil.

When you dry your face with a towel, it will still feel oily but the results are super soft skin!

Lemon and Yoghurt Facial Cleanser

Ingredients

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

2 tsp plain Yoghurt.

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

Apply on face, leave it for 10 minutes, and then rinse with warm water.

Honey Facial Cleanser

Ingredients

1 tsp Honey

2 tsp of Lemon Juice

1 tsp Yellow Sugar

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

Apply with circular motions.

Leave on for 5 minutes.

Rinse with lukewarm water.

Egg Cleanser

Ingredients

1 tsp Lime Juice

1 tsp Honey

Egg White

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients.

Homemade Facial Mask Recipes

Grape Cleanser

The grape cleanser is a naturally refreshing mask and the best part is that it is the easiest mask around and guarantees great results. All you have got to do is peel and split 2-3 grapes and rub the insides of the same onto your face and neck. Wait for a few minutes before washing the mask off with cool water.

Lemon Delight

The ‘lemon delight’ mask may not be as convenient as the ‘grape cleanser’, but the results are only that much better. Beat an egg white and squeeze the juice of half a lime into it, mix well and apply the mixture all over your face. The inconvenience begins when you have to let the mask stay overnight. In the morning, wash your face with warm water. This is when every bit of inconvenience caused will seem worth the while. A glowing face is guaranteed for you.

Dry Skin Destroyer

For this mask, you will have to mix a teaspoon of butter in a teaspoon of water and apply the resultant mixture on your face. Let the mask stay on for 15-20 minutes before washing off with cold water. With the frequent usage of this ‘mask’, you will learn to realize that dry skin is really not too much of a problem.

Oily Skin Annihilator

Opt for this mask if you think your skin is too oily for your liking. Begin by mixing a teaspoon of brewer’s yeast with plain yogurt and applying this mixture on your face. Wait for a good 20 minutes before washing your face with warm water. Follow this up by washing your face with cold water. This helps close the pores on your face.

Honeydew For You

Begin by washing your face with warm water. This helps open up pores. Towel dry you face and apply honey all over the same. Let the honey-mask stay on for around half an hour. Just make sure you’re indoors with the mask on and not anywhere too close to a beehive! Wash away the mask with warm water and then cold water to close the pores.

Almond And Egg Ecstasy

This mask is a mask ‘carved out’ for the purpose of dealing with dry skin. Beat a single egg and add a teaspoon of almond oil to the same and mix thoroughly. Apply the mixture on your face and leave the same on for around 15 minutes. Then rinse off the mask with cold water to reveal a glowing face. This mask is ideal for people with dry skin and is also noted for the instantaneous results it almost always guarantees

Sent in from Sister Fatima KZN

Surveying a Sample of New Age-Defying Potions

Soomaya Gaffoor

One month ago I found a grey hair. I looked in the mirror, and suddenly there it was. This long, grey strand of hair. I took a closer look, and horror of horrors, there was more than one! Where the hell did they come from?! I had to sit down. This was too much. Just the other day, I had walked into a room and completely forgot what I had gone in there for!

And, I had started calling my three year old daughter by my sister’s name. Only my mother does that!

It seems like all hope is gone. Somehow, I have reached the ripe old age of thirty! What am I going to do?!

I speak to my sister. She’s a beauty therapist. At least I can do something to make sure I look young. She tells me I need to start using a good face cream to make sure those dreaded wrinkles and crow’s feet don’t start appearing. So I look for a good face cream. I didn’t know they were so expensive! After much searching, I eventually find one that’s not too expensive. It’s supposed to even out my skin and prevent dark patches, and make me look radiant. Yay!

So I start using the face cream. But now I notice stretchmarks on my body! Okay, I’ve had two children, so stretchmarks are bound to appear at some time, but why now?! I’ve got to do something! I go to the shops and find out that they’ve got a whole shelf dedicated to my dilemma! These creams are also very expensive, but according to one of my friends, they work. I choose the one that combats stretchmarks and gets rid of cellulite. Not that I have cellulite. No. I’ve just got a teensy little problem on certain parts of my body. Looks like orange peel.

As I’m going to pay, I notice the hair dyes, and remember my three grey hairs. Well, since I’m here, I might as well sort that out too. I choose a reddish colour. I saw this teenager with the exact same shade of hair, and she looked wonderful.

Now the amazing thing is, right next to the hair dyes, there’s a shelf for vitamin supplements. I take a closer look, and suddenly there’s this young, beautiful, toned girl asking me if I’ve tried the new range of slimming tablets on show. Man, I just hung my head in shame and said no. So, she proceeded to show me all the different types. There’s one you can take in the morning, one you can take at lunch, one for the evening, and, for a limited time, there’s all three selling at a special introductory price. “Does it work?” I ask her. She gives me a very understanding smile and says that yes, it does work. So I take all three, and a bottle of herbal tablets that’s supposed to make you concentrate more easily, and head for the till.

As soon as I go home I start using my purchases. I line up all my tablets in a neat row so I know which one to take when. My husband looks like he’s going to ask me about them, but before he does, I growl at him. He backs off. I then proceed to the bathroom to line up my creams, so I don’t forget to use them.

So that was one month ago. Since then, I’ve used my new hair dye, and now I have hair that’s a wonderful shade of orange. Very attractive, or so my husband tells me. I’ve stopped using the tablets. They gave me an infection. I don’t want to talk about where. As for the cellulite cream, I’ve decided to just buy big, tight underwear instead. I’ve heard it helps.

The face cream works. But I do feel like I need to use a proper cleanser first. So today I went to the shops again to look for a cleanser. I also needed some spices, so I stopped at the spice stall first. There I met this lady who asked me if I ate a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, and what did I use on my face because she just thought that I had the most beautiful looking skin, and I should really just thank God for giving me such radiant looking skin.

I thanked her, and as I walked off, I thought that maybe this was a message from God that I didn’t need to buy the cleanser. After all, I do have radiant skin!