Natural Skin Care Remedies Straight From Your Kitchen

Save money on skincare and use natural ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen cabinets!

Raid your cupboards

To make your own exfoliant and face masks, just go to your cupboards and look for flax seeds, oatmeal, and honey. If you don’t have these ingredients, you can find all you need for skincare in the food section of a good grocery store and pay a lot less than if you bought a fancy bottle of lotion.

Here’s a list of items you want in your skincare cabinet, depending on your skin type.

• apple cider vinegar
• oatmeal (look for the good coarse stuff in the bulk buy section)
• flax seeds (bulk buy)
• eggs
• honey

Other ingredients include fresh avocado and cucumber, for occasional use when in season. You will want a coffee grinder to grind the ingredients for the exfoliant and face pack. I am recommending flax seeds because flax oil is expensive and has a short shelf life. The seeds keep for a while, especially if refrigerated.

Exfoliate your skin once a week

Exfoliating removes the dead skin cells to expose the fresh new skin underneath. Your skin produces a whole new layer every 28 days, not every day, so you only need to scrub the old cells off once a week. Less often if you prefer. Grind a teaspoonful of oatmeal and one of the flax seeds in the coffee grinder until fine and mix with bottled or boiled (not boiling) water to a wet paste.

Scoop some of the paste with your fingertips and rub it onto your face in a circular motion. Be gentle and avoid the soft skin around your eyes. Depending on your skin type, you’ll want to use more or less of each ingredient. If you have dry skin, try just the flax seeds; for oily skin, the oatmeal can be used alone.

You can wipe cucumber slices over your face for a minute before using the exfoliant if it has been a while since you did a scrub. The mild acid helps to release the skin cells.

Soothing face pack

For oily skin, try the white of an egg mixed with two teaspoons of ground oatmeal. You can also mix it with yogurt or water and add a teaspoonful of apple cider vinegar. Leave on for about 15 minutes.

For normal or dry skin, mix ground flax seeds with a teaspoon of honey and enough hot water to form a smooth paste. Leave on for ten minutes.

If avocados are in season, mash a spoonful with ground oatmeal and add a spoonful of apple cider vinegar. Use water if necessary, to get a paste. Leave on for 10 minutes.

Your skin is what you eat

Flax seeds have Omega 3 fatty acids and are beneficial to every cell in your body, and will really help your skin glow. Add some ground flax seeds to a banana milkshake and drink it while you wait for the face pack to work its magic. If you have high cholesterol, add oat bran too, but drink it quickly before it thickens. Oat bran and flax seeds help strip cholesterol.