All-natural DIY beauty masks and scrubs

These four quick and easy homemade masks will not only improve the condition of your skin and hair – they’ll also save you money and prevent you from using products with harmful chemicals. There’s a solution to your skin and hair issues, and they’re hiding in your kitchen!

Face mask

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp. of honey (Raw or manuka honey if possible, but regular honey will work as well)
  • 1 tbsp. of oats (Organic if possible – do not use oats if you’re gluten intolerant)

Optional add-ons:

  • 1/2 banana (if you have dry skin)
  • 1 egg (if you have oily skin)

I cannot rave about honey enough – it has so many beauty benefits! It’s a natural humectant, which means that it retains moisture. It’s also naturally antibacterial, so it’s perfect for acne prone skin, as well as dry skin. Honey also contains gluconic acid, which is a mild alpha hydroxy acid that brightens and evens out skin tone, while also lightening scars.

Oats are a mild exfoliator that will remove dead skin and dirt. The optional add-ons can help to cater the recipe to your skin needs; using a banana will help your skin increase its natural moisture level, whereas using an egg will tighten the pores and reduce oil.

Instructions: Mix all the ingredients together in a blender or mash it up in a small bowl. Apply evenly all over clean dry skin and leave on for 10-45 minutes. Once you’re ready to wash it off, use warm water and pat dry to reveal soft and healthy skin. Don’t forget to moisturize after as well – never skip this step!

Hair mask

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of coconut oil (Organic virgin and cold pressed if possible)
  • 1/2 an avocado
  • 1 egg

Many oils cannot actually penetrate the hair shaft because of their molecular structure, however, coconut oil has an itty bitty molecular structure and penetrates the hair perfectly! It’s extremely moisturizing and great for the scalp (especially if you suffer from dandruff or dry scalp). Coconut oil is also easier to wash out than other popular hair oils, such as olive oil or castor oil.

Avocados promote shine, and are full of healthy fats that your hair will eat up. We can’t forget protein, and that’s where our friend the egg comes in. Eggs are packed with protein, while also providing a medium that makes the mask easy to rinse out.

Instructions:

1. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so pop it in the microwave and warm it up for 30 seconds. Using warm oil will also open up the hair shaft, and increase the effectiveness of the mask.

2. Mash up the avocado, and beat the egg, or simply put all the ingredients in a blender and voila! Your hair mask is ready. You may have to adjust the amount of each ingredient depending on your hair length and thickness, but just increase the amounts until you have enough.

3. Apply the mask evenly, starting at the tips and working your way up to massaging into the scalp. Leave it on for 30-45 minutes, then rinse, shampoo and condition. Trust me when I tell you that this mask really works, it will make your hair incredibly soft and manageable without making it greasy!

Body Scrub

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup ground coffee
  • 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 tbsp. cinnamon
  • 1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Coffee doesn’t just wake up your mind; it also wakes up your skin! It’s a great exfoliator, and the caffeine in coffee increases the circulation in your skin, meaning a tighter and brighter complexion.

Sugar is a fantastic mechanical exfoliator – just make sure you use finely granulated sugar, as we don’t want to use anything too abrasive.

Olive oil is a fantastic moisturizer for the body, and even once you rinse it off, it leaves a very fine layer of moisture. Cinnamon not only smells great, but is also full of antioxidants and pumps blood to the skin’s surface, resulting in glowing skin!

Instructions: First mix the coffee, sugar, and cinnamon together in a small bowl then add the olive oil and mix it until you have a thick scrub.

I keep this scrub in an old glass candle jar that has a lid (Tupperware will work just as well) and I use it in the shower as often as I can. It really removes all the dead skin, and is a great exfoliator that keeps ingrown hairs and dry skin at bay.

Lip Scrub

Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp. of brown sugar (white sugar will work as well)
  • 2 tsp. of coconut oil (olive oil will work as well, it just doesn’t taste as good!)

Instructions:

Melt down the coconut oil in a small bowl, then mix in the sugar.

The coconut oil (or olive oil) is a great lip moisturizer, and the sugar will get rid of any rough patches. This is the quickest and easiest scrub, and it tastes/smells so amazing! Just scrub the mixture all over the lips, rinse off, and apply lip balm (you can also use coconut oil as a lip balm). You will have perfectly kissable lips in no time at all!

Tags

DIY masks, DIY scrubs

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content