Tip Tuesday: DIY Beauty Solutions H-Y (Plus a bonus C)

For a summary of Tip Tuesday, see here.  For part one of diy beauty tips, see here.  And for a video of bunnies wiggling their noses, see here.

Honey
Used as: Cleanser, mask, scrub
Good for: Everyone
Bad for: People who don't like stickiness
I've already done a couple of posts on the wonders of honey, so I'll keep this brief.  Honey is great.  You can use normal honey, raw honey (opaque and light yellow in color), or Manuka honey (full of super nutrients, with a price tag to match).  I've used normal and raw, and prefer the latter because it's less sticky, but both work well.  You can put it on dry skin as a mask or cleanser, or use it on wet skin as a quick cleansing treatment.  Honey combines well with yogurt and aspirin in masks, and with sugar as a scrub.  The possibilities are many, and the results are great––it's moisturizing, anti-bacterial, and it smells and tastes nommy!

Jojoba Oil
Used as: Moisturizer, hair treatment
Good for: Everyone
Bad for: No one
Jojoba (apparently pronounced hə'hoʊbə, who knew) oil is very similar in composition to the sebum and oil produced by your skin, so it can help convince oily skin to stop producing so much oil by making it think there's enough already (I have yet to try this, so cannot vouch for it, but am intrigued!), and its moisturizing properties make it good for normal and dry skin, too.  It's also great for moisturizing hair and reducing frizzies.  You only need a leetle beet, no more than a few drops, which is good because it can apparently be expensive.  It should be available at natural food and health stores, and if you've ever used it, I'd love your input!

Tip Tuesday: DIY Beauty Solutions A-G

For a summary of Tip Tuesday, see here.  For reviews of diy beauty I've personally used, see here (or click on the "diy" tag at the bottom of this post).

There are many appealing things about diy natural beauty.  For one thing, you get to feel like a mad scientist, and who doesn't love that?  (If you don't, go away, this post is not for you.)  For another, you have control over exactly what you're putting on your skin, which means you can avoid ingredients you know irritate you, and don't have to worry about the negative effects from chemical additives.  This does not mean, however, that diy beauty is without its hazards, so please, use caution!

So, here is the first half of the many ingredients you can use in your beauty concoctions (though there are even more that I'm not covering here!), as well as what problem areas they address, and the major concerns to keep in mind regarding side effects and the like.  I hope this is helpful to you, and I welcome any diy suggestions of your own in the comments!  H(oney) through Y(ogurt) will be posted next week.

Apple Cider Vinegar
Used as: Toner, hair treatment
Good for: Acne-prone and/or oily skin
Bad for: Sensitive skin
ACV, as it's known in the biz, is used as a toner to restore the pH balance of skin and help combat acne.  I've never used it, but the intertubes say: it smells nasty, though the smell dissipates after application; you should mix it with water (start with a 1:8 ratio of ACV to water, then increase the amount over time); organic is generally gentler than conventional ACV; and tread with caution if you have sensitive skin.  If you pour it through your hair, it helps get rid of residue and build-up from hair products, though unless you want to smell like a salad, you should probably shower and wash your hair afterwards.

Aspirin
Used as: Mask, toner
Good for: Acne-prone, oily, and/or sensitive/red skin
Bad for: People who are allergic to aspirin
Aspirin, it is claimed, is a source of salicylic acid once it breaks down, though the Beauty Brains did a post about this and said the science isn't really there to back the claims up.  I've tried mixing aspirin in with a yogurt mask, and saw a decrease in redness and swelling, but that could have been due to the other ingredients in the mask.  To use, crush 4-6 uncoated aspirin tablets (uncoated can be hard to find, though health food-type stores often have them) and add a few drops of water to make a paste.  As a mask, you can either spread it over your face like that and let it sit until it dries, or you can mix it with yogurt or honey.  I prefer to do the latter, because the powder has a tendency to fall off as it dries, and mixing it with something else gets rid of that problem.  Some people swear by it as a toner, though when I tried it as such, I got really annoyed with the little pieces of aspirin that stuck to my face.  Do not use this if you have an allergy to aspirin (though I hope that would go without saying!).

Cucumber Toner

I recently decided to try adding shredded cucumber to my go-to sea salt toner, since cucumber is recommended for oily skin.  Now, I love eating cucumber.  It is the vegetable I crave most often.  The crunch!  The juice!  So refreshing.

Sea Salt Toner Update

A week and a half ago, I wrote about using sea salt as a toner (original post here), and have changed a few things since then so figured I should share.  For one thing, I decided I needed to get some more sea salt, preferably something that's not years old and of questionable origin.

Sea Salt Toner

I'd read about using a sea salt toner to help with oily skin on MUA, but didn't have any sea salt at school, and didn't want to buy a big bag that I'd have to leave behind when I came home.  I kept it in mind, though, and a few days ago mixed up a batch using some sea salt I'd gotten many moons ago when I got my cartilage pierced.  I think any kind of generic sea salt should do the trick, and table salt would probably work too, though it's lacking many of the minerals that sea salt has.