by Chris Miller
Keeping your bathroom stocked with skin care products can get pretty pricey. Very few of these products are made from organic ingredients, which means you’re mostly paying for chemicals and additives you’ve never heard of.
If you’d rather take a natural (and inexpensive) approach to your skin health and beauty, here are some effective ingredients that might just be sitting right in your own pantry.
Eggs
The proteins found in egg whites are very beneficial for your skin, helping to tighten and shrink your pores. Slather egg whites liberally on your face and allow to dry.
It will form a strange sort of face mask, so try not to speak or alter your face while it dries. Wash it off after fifteen minutes, and you’ll feel a huge difference in the texture of your skin.
Potatoes
Potatoes contain enzymes that brighten your skin and get rid of dark circles under your eyes.
Slice up a potato thinly, and place a slice over each eye. Apply them for 30 minutes a night to allow the starches to soak into your skin.
You’ll eventually see the dark spots disappear after a few weeks.
Many people also use cucumbers for the circles and swelling under their eyes, but potatoes have proven to be more effective in brightening the appearance of the skin.
Lemon
Working much like the potato, lemons are useful for bleaching the skin and brightening any dark spots. The acid in lemon makes it work quickly and effectively to shrink pores. Not only working as a toner, lemon juice can also help with acne scars and fighting wrinkles.
Mix lemon juice with a gritty exfoliator, or if lemon juice is too harsh opt for orange juice (the citric acid is nearly as effective). Both juices can irritate skin if used too often, so only apply it to problem spots once or twice a week.
Coffee Grounds
Coffee grounds aren’t just good for adding great texture to your at-home microdermabrasion recipe; they also are rich in antioxidants and skin-tightening properties.
Used coffee grounds usually work better than fresh ones in hydrating and infusing the skin with nutrients. Some studies have actually shown that it’s capable of preventing skin cancer!
Mix grounds with olive oil, and exfoliate for a nutritious and beautifully-scented skin treatment.
Oatmeal
You may have remembered taking an oatmeal bath with the chicken pox as a child. While that seems like a strange old wives tale, oatmeal is great for helping any skin irritations! Its soothing and moisturizing properties are great for a wide range of rashes, swellings, and injuries.
You can also use it as an exfoliator with any of your favorite oils or bases.
A common recipe is to combine oatmeal and honey for a gritty face wash that does everything from exfoliate, sooth, and enrich your face with nutrients.
Green Tea
Green tea is a great antibacterial cleanser that contains many beneficial nutrients for your skin. While drinking green tea consistently can also do much to rejuvenate your skin, it’s great as a topical treatment as well.
Boil some tea and dip a washcloth in to cleanse your skin. If you are experiencing puffy eyes, prepare two green tea bags and place them over your eyes to see the swelling go down within minutes.
Coconut Oil
While less commonly found in the average pantry, coconut oil is one of the most all-around beneficial home ingredients for beauty. Its antibacterial properties and moisturizing nutrients make it an excellent cleanser and moisturizer.
It’s also a great topical treatment for bug bites, rashes, sun burns, and just about any other skin irritation you can think of. It can also be used as a face wash, lotion, shaving cream, and also as a hair conditioner. There are very few beauty areas that coconut oil can’t help to improve, so invest in a bottle of virgin oil and use it for everything.
While some skin care companies promise great things from their chemical products, most of your skin needs have already been addressed by Mother Nature. While all of these ingredients are natural and fairly harmless, dab a bit on your wrist before committing to a full treatment to make sure you don’t have any unknown skin allergies that can hurt you. If you’re good to go, you can really keep your wallet full and your health measures organic by taking trips to your pantry instead of your salon.
(Chris Miller is a professional writer, blogger, and fitness enthusiast. Chris enjoys learning about new health products, procedures, and ideas. He’s also an advocate for consistent skin care and exfoliation. For more information on weekly proper care, visit Riiviva.com.)
Very interesting stuff that I never knew about foods. Once again, we see that healthy foods do more than just trim our waist line. Would coconut oil also work well as a lotion for hands?
The skin care products that you have mentioned are easily available products. These products are tasty as well as healthy. Thank you for sharing nice information on this article.